Milt

Consider your audience. That was the reverberating phrase that went through my thoughts while making the design decisions for this 50+ condo project. The overall feel of the home was traditional but it desperately needed freshening up. Simple but stylish traditional updates throughout the entire home made a huge impact while keeping as many of the wonderful existing elements as we could.
Starting at the entry, there was a massive amount of storage in the house so we actually eliminated the coat closet and opted for a useful built-in seat with coat hooks. The living room had a fantastic gas fireplace so we simply removed the outdated applied fretwork and fluting, then painted out the wood. Because the tiles were in perfect condition, I painted those too. That’s all it took to completely modernized it. We also added a beam that gave architectural interest to the vaulted ceiling, painted all the walls and increased the size of the baseboards for a more substantial and balanced look. All that was left to do in this room was to soften it with textural curtains and create a functional furniture layout grounded with an area rug and punctuated with art and the large clock.
It is difficult sometimes to know when to draw the line on spending costs. The kitchen was functional and had room for a small table to enjoy the mountain view. We opted not to open it up to the living room and instead gave it a major facelift. We painted out all the cabinets and added much needed crown moulding to them, replaced all the appliances, updated the backsplash and faucet. We changed all the lighting throughout the house.
In the primary suite, I felt it needed something special to give it a more stately look. We added the applied moulding to create a feature wall. This treatment was also carried through to the ensuite bathroom. The two rooms now feel cohesive and this treatment emphasized the large vanity with its beautiful quartz top and mirror. The six foot tub was luxurious. We definitely wanted to keep that. All that was needed was to change the outdated tiles. We chose an extra large format, timeless white and used a stacked pattern to give it a modern touch which echoed the pattern in the kitchen.
The rest of the house was completely refreshed with new carpet, fixtures, paint, all new lights and  some vinyl tile flooring.
This home had amazing views, fantastic hardwood floors, great sized rooms, loads of storage and multipurpose spaces. Our goal was to enhance and honour its original architecture while updating it for us as well as the next “seniors” to enjoy.