WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T HAVE YOUR COTTAGE AND LIVE IN THE CITY TOO? ACTUALLY, I SUPPOSE EVA GABOR SAID, BUT THAT WAS SO LONG AGO.

More and more these days, we are striving to get away and escape from the craziness of our daily lives and just relax and defragment our brains in the quiet of a small, cozy shack in the woods.  But the reality is that most of us just don’t have the luxury or the means to have that second home out in the Muskokas.

If you just adore a Penthouse view, but also love that, land, spreadin’ out so far and wide, then plant your butt right here in this room.   With the large influx of the ‘Restored Factory’ style lofts, we are often left with exposed pipes and duct work, minimizing our design choices to stay within the more modern and minimal.  Or at least that’s what we thought.   Why not mix the Country and City together?

Our client wanted exactly that.  He works and lives within the frantic hustle and bustle of the city and prefers the open concept with exposed brick and pipes, but he also likes that old school, woodsman vibe of the ‘Lumbersexual’ look that is absolutely everywhere these days.

The trick here was to use the industrial bones of the space and surround it with warmer, more rustic and vintage items. We placed a desk right beside the bed in front of one of the air ducts that doubles as a nightstand and a chrome and glass twig table on the other side.  Then we flanked two very opposing styles of art to top it off.  This also balances out those giant air ducts and makes them disappear but still allows them to be there and seem almost on purpose, like we meant to have them there.

And who could forget that amazing bed?!  I mean, really!!!  There is no doubt that this bed demands attention and creates an amazing focal point in the room but at the same time it makes you feel all warm and cozy.  Like snuggling up in the blankets, with the smell of a winter fire and Peameal bacon sizzling on the wood stove.  One of our favourite things to do is mix patterns that really shouldn’t belong together, but somehow they work.  One of the easiest tricks in doing this properly is to make sure the scale of the patterns are really quite different from each other.  In this case we used a very small navy gingham fabric for the inside of the 8 foot headboard and then wrap the sides and back with a larger scale red plaid. The headboard wraps around you like a big ol’ Lumberjack protecting you from the cold.  Let’s just stay under the covers for a bit longer, shall we?  I mean who doesn’t love a big ol’ Lumberjack?  The Heritage Maple side and foot rails are joined at the front corners with custom made ball and claw feet that are painted out in Heirloom white.  Mixing fabric and wood together in one large furniture piece is another favourite of ours.  The mixing of mediums evokes custom and bespoke.

The original hardwood floors were sanded down and simply clear coated to allow all the weathered scrapes and bumps to show through and then we placed a couple rugs under the bed to counter the coldness against the feet.

We took the industrial vibe of the city and the warmth and nature elements of the country and fused them together seamlessly to create a spectacular environment that our client will love for years to come.

I GET ALLERGIC SMELLING HAY