At Home with Kim Vallee

30-minute Me Time

Clever Kitchen Organizers at Ikea

The kitchen is the hub of the house. For that reason, it must be a place where it feels comfortable for the cooks and the rest of the family. More and more kitchens integrate areas for kids to do their homework and play. The two most common area of frustrations in a kitchen are storage and [...]

Unique Organizers and Small Storage Solutions

When everything has its place, you do not lose time looking for it. There is a therapeutic effect of living and working in an uncluttered space. We also need a few storage solutions and organizers to be on display to be practical. For that, you need items that feel more unique than the utilitarian objects. It [...]

Rejuvenation of a 1959 Split-Level Family House

I spot this split-level renovation in La Presse last weekend. Montreal-based architects Marie-Claude Hamelin and Loukas Yiacouvakis, founders of YH2 imagined this major renovation for a couple with 3 young children. The split-level house contains 4 half-levels. It used to look like the typical split-level house built in the 1960s. Now the house does not show [...]

Social Kitchen Design for my Friday’s Quick Links 2009.03.06

The best trend that happen in kitchen design has to be the social kitchen. By social kitchen, we mean a kitchen space that acts as the hub of a house. You aim for bring the outside in and vice versa. + The excellent kitchen designer Susan Serra of The Kitchen Designer shares her top social kitchen [...]

Innovative Living Arrangements

With the baby boomer generation getting older and the increasing number of people living alone, new experimentations in how we cohabit will multiply. After a certain ages living with roommates is out of the question. But living alone has its inconveniences, especially as we are getting older. Multiple factors will trigger dwelling experimentations from [...]

Home Office on a Budget | Daily Quick Links 2009.01.05

+ If you dream of a George Nelson’s Swag Leg desk for less, check out the swoop desk at CB2. At $329 USD instead of $1800, you will have money left to accessorize your home in style. Via Apartment Therapy New York + Equip yourself with the walnut waste can and the walnut desk accessories, exclusively [...]

Modern Take on an Old Barn Kitchen

This open-plan kitchen and dining room look amazing. It takes guts to design a black kitchen. It takes finesse to make it works. Fashion designer turned interior designer Charmaine created a space that is airy and sophisticated in a house she shared with her husband and young daughter. The Key Design Elements Charmaine played with contrasts to add [...]