‘DREAM’ RENOVATION BY WESTEND BATH AND KITCHEN BETTER THAN MOVING
Janice Brown and her daughter Kourtney spent years looking at show homes in their Orléans neighbourhood for renovation and decorating ideas.
Now, thanks to Westend Bath and Kitchen, their 27 year old home is an updated “show home” itself and they didn’t have to move.
“The combination of materials and the free-standing, modern-looking tub are the most prominent features,” says Westend designer Peter Schneider. “Throughout most of the house there is the same modern theme.”
Janice and her husband Ken had raised a family in the two-storey home they had bought new, and they still loved it when they began looking around 10 years ago.
Nevertheless, Ken’s wife and daughter came back from the show homes and told him “we’re selling, that these new houses were what we needed.”
“I went to look,” he says, “and while the more open concepts were inviting, the fact that they were smaller or much larger in size and were priced higher than ours meant in all cases we would have to mortgage again.”
Further, he says, those new homes on their “postage stamp lots” didn’t offer the features they had dreamed about in a home. “We wanted modern spacious bathrooms with granite, glass, tile and good lighting and ventilation.
In their kitchen, they envisioned granite counters, tiled floors, efficient lighting, a slideout pantry, cupboards and drawers in the right places, a great stove vented to the outside and a counter-depth fridge. “We wanted power for our centre island and space underneath for the heavier things we use there. We had no idea what these dreams would cost. We talked and talked and everyone else said, ‘let’s just move.’ ”
They procrastinated, not wanting to leave their longtime home, but not wanting “a nightmare” in order to stay.
More time passed — “this was a hard choice” — and Ken didn’t want to let go, even though family pressure was building on him to “get with the plan.”
Visits to showrooms followed to get an idea of costs and procedures to realize their new renovated home.
One Saturday the couple stopped into Westend Bath and Kitchen “just to gather more data and look at more options.”
Their Westend visit ended up being love at first sight. “We met a man who was our age and we talked for hours about our dream,” says Ken, describing designer Peter Schneider.
“Peter smiled through it all and kept saying ‘we can do that.’ He showed us albums of work they had done, from simple jobs to major renovations. What beautiful work it was! The showroom was impressive as well.”
Within a week, the Browns were back to look at what Schneider had designed. “To our surprise, he designed it exactly as we had seen it in our mind. Still without commitment, we chose cabinets, tiles, granite, a European Spa free-standing bathtub, rain head shower system with body jets and a bench in the glassed-in shower. We picked faucets and sinks right down to grout colour. We were afraid that we had gone too crazy and this had been a silly exercise going nowhere.”
Peter presented them with a revised design package and pricing. “We flipped through the pages and then looked at each other. My wife’s eyes were smiling, and our dream was born!”
Peter gave them a detailed plain language contract and estimated the work would take eight weeks.
“Work was well planned and executed and the team of renovators were kind and considerate and real professionals. Every day they asked if we were happy. ‘Is there anything you want? Is that as you want it?’ And even though there were small changes along the way which could not be helped, Westend stepped up when it was their issue or we worked things out if it was ours.”
The Browns were thrilled with their total renovation that included the kitchen, ensuite, powder room and laundry room, and continue to recommend Westend Bath and Kitchen highly.
“We are glad we went with an experienced, established, outfit,” says Ken. “They knew what they were doing, had the background and resources to deliver, and the pride in their work to give us our dream.”
Westend Bath and Kitchen’s showroom, located at 1660 Woodward Dr., is open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For more information please visit www.westendbathandkitchen.com.