I’ve been working on a big project that I’m excited to finally share with you! It’s a work in progress that began back in November.

This is the exterior of the home I’ve been working on in West LaHave, Nova Scotia. I took this photo early this year, thank goodness that snow is all gone now!

Over the past few months, I’ve been working away at designing a custom kitchen, and three custom bathrooms for this newly built home. I’ve also done some interior design work, including colour design and a furniture layout design. Like I said, a big, big project- and of course, I’m loving every minute!

For now, I’ll going to focus on the kitchen, and I’ll share more about the bathrooms and interior design in upcoming blog posts.

The homeowners are a wonderful couple from Ontario. They fell in love with the area while visiting friends who live in the beautiful coastal village of Lahave, Nova Scotia.

They decided to build their dream home on a scenic piece of waterfront land and chose Gillis & Company Timber Framing to design it, and create the stunning wood framing that you see in the photo above. The house was constructed by the skilled people of StoneHaven Builders.
After seeing the home in person, I knew I had to design a kitchen that really accented the beauty of the natural timber framing, and also incorporate elements that reflect the coastal landscape.

I chose a soft and natural colour palette of watery greys and blues. Penny round marble mosaic tile will create a feature wall behind the stove, and white subway tile will be used for the backsplash.

Here is a little before and after of one corner of the kitchen. More photos to come once the kitchen is complete!

The henhouse team hand built and finished the custom cabinetry. The lines are clean and simple, I really wanted to accentuate the strong architectural features of the space, and not compete with them.

The island is a really special piece. It’s a focal point, and I chose finishes that would make it stand out. The quartzite top is gorgeous, and was a last minute find that I fell in love with (more on that story later!).

 The peninsula was designed to look like a sideboard, and can be used for storage and display. It also helps to define the kitchen from the living area in this open concept space. The top is cherry, and we went with a slate paint colour to tie into the stone flooring the runs through parts of the main floor.

Things are still progressing with this project and I can’t wait to see it all come together. More posts about this dream home to come soon!

A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to visit the dream home of one of our customers,  located in the beautiful and scenic South Shore region of Nova Scotia.  This home is made for relaxation and entertaining with a good dose of fun!

The homeowners are long-time customers of ours and we’ve built several pieces of furniture for them over the past decade. The pieces have really stood the test of time; they still look great and fit in perfectly with the fun cottage aesthetic of the home. We thought we’d share some photos from our visit, take a look!

Here are photos of the house and barn, which have both been completely renovated to suit the homeowners. The barn is the ultimate entertainment retreat; outfitted with a professional grade kitchen, a sauna, sixteen-person hot tub, steam room, weight room, an office, a living area, and a home theatre. You can imagine why we didn’t want to leave!

By re-using the old exterior barn-wood  for the interior walls, the main living space in the barn showcases the character and history of the old structure.

 We made these two matching cabinets for storage in the living area of the main house. The large rope-pull drawers are on castors and provide easy access to the firewood.

Here are the beds we made to furnish some of the guest bedrooms in the house. Sappho’s daughter Lila is showing off the sleigh bed, which has a pull-out bed built just underneath.
For the washrooms, we made some fun wall-cabinets and a tall armoire to store towels and bathroom basics.

It was really fun to be a part of this South Shore dream home. We hope these happy customers will enjoy their henhouse pieces for many years to come!