A ROOM THAT WORKS
Renovation opens up possibilities in home office.
THE KALINS knew what type of home they wanted after their move from Guelph to Waterloo Region in 2002. Karem wanted the charm of an old house she could renovate; Mark wanted to build a new house.
They did build a new house in Kitchener’s Doon area. Subsequently, they planned and executed a number of changes, including >>
>> an impressive use of mouldings and additional windows to give their home a distinctive look more like the contemporary farmhouse style Karem loves.
Some of the builder’s white slab doors were replaced with natural wood, and the new front door features a custom-made panel of red and green stained glass in a traditional flower pattern. The living room’s focal point now is a century-old black fireplace insert Karen spotted on Kijiji, cleaned up and had framed in white, including a mantel. The fireplace doesn’t work, but with seating on either side it warms up the room anyway.
However, their great space, truly the heart and nerve centre of their home, is their home office which, after a structural renovation and redecorating, now opens to both the kitchen and the laundry room off the garage.
The high ceilings throughout the house are visually dramatic, but don’t contribute to a sense of intimacy in a room. In fact, the Kalins had their builder create a fifth bedroom in what was intended to be a twostorey-high ceiling over the family room.
On the first floor, where the laundry room is one step down from the main hallway, the high ceiling simply emphasized the laundry’s long, narrow dimensions. With sons now ages 9 and 12 and growing quickly, Karem could just picture family members jostling for space as they came in from the garage and all tried to shed their coats and boots at the same time.
Also, without direct access to the kitchen or the office, which was isolated between the kitchen and laundry room, the space just wasn’t as functional as it could be.
Their home office hums with activity. Mark, a teacher, frequently uses their home computer for school projects. Their sons play computer games and do homework there. As for Karem, she recently became a consultant and trainer for Arbonne, a Swiss producer of botanically based skin care products that are new to the Canadian market. She is also the founder/designer of Smiles Made Easy, tiny notecards carrying the beginning of positive messages that the sender completes with his or her own thought and then tucks into someone’s bag or lunch box. For both endeavours, the office is her base of operations.
In their first few years in the house, the office held an Ikea desk and a metal filing cabinet; art consisted of framed album covers. The room was more practical than pretty, although the floor did have the pale maple hardwood that runs throughout the house.
In the laundry room on the other side of
the office wall, a corner sink was awkwardly positioned against the stacked washer/dryer and the built-in closet was small. Karem is an avid follower of décor magazines and HGTV where walls are always being knocked down. That’s what happened in the Kalin home when, under the guidance of designer Sophia Reay of Lemon Tree & Co. Interiors, a five-footwide doorway was cut in the wall separating the laundry room and office. The new single step up into the office was covered with a patterned sheet metal that is both durable and industrially cool. The laundry room received a new tile floor, a wood French door to replace a light-blocking slab door which opens into the main hallway, and a new double stainless-steel sink. The cupboard was replaced by a built-in set of drawers and a large framed mirror. Long shelves hold baskets of hats, scarves and gloves. In the office, new hand-milled beadboard wainscoting complements moulding around the new doorway from the laundry as well as the wall of built-in cabinetry, which features tall matching cupboards at each end and, under the window, a centre set of drawers deep enough for file folders. The cupboard closest to the laundry room holds coats and shoes; shelves in the other cupboard hold, among other things, beribboned, neatly labelled photo albums. The set of drawers is topped with a counter of glossy reclaimed wood, as is a long bench under the storage baskets in the laundry room.
A large custom-built wood desk with drawers on either side plus a hutch with shelves and four shallow drawers dominate the opposite wall. Karem, who enjoys DIY projects, covered particle board with foam and fabric to use as a tackboard at the back of the desk.
One very special feature hangs on the fourth wall, a large, joyfully colourful acrylic-protected collage of photos, drawings, typography and digital art. The Kalins spotted it at an outdoor art show and couldn’t leave it behind. Created by Toronto artist Oli Goldsmith, who defines his work as pop surrealism, it was the couple’s first investment art.
“I love coming home and seeing this pretty, organized space from the garage door,” Karem said, surveying the office. “I feel like it’s me.” >>