Justin’s dream. But to had my reservations
Interior designers Colin and Justin reveal how renovation project nearly ended their marriage
patio doors and floods and timber shortages halting renovations to deliveries going missing or arriving smashed to pieces, everything that could go wrong went wrong.
The boys, who have become household names in Canada, took on the Louisbourg hotel in the depths of winter, when temperatures dropped to -20 degrees.
Justin said: “The working title of this programme was Colin And Justin’s Great Canadian Adventure and now it’s called Hotel Hell. Starting the project in the middle of a pandemic when guests and tradespeople could not come meant the place was more scary than the hotel in Jack Nicholson’s The Shining.
“We had a six-hour power outage in the middle of our first snowstorm. We had to go for a drive in the car to keep warm.
“But we needed to make it a success as we had emptied our bank account and ploughed our pension into the purchase.”
Colin added: “The worst day had to be when a delivery of crockery we had been waiting on for a long time arrived and 499 pieces out of the 500 were smashed to bits. It was peeing with rain. Justin held up the one surviving plate and I said to him, ‘I don’t think I’m meant to be here.’ I was ready to throw the towel in.
“Just at that moment a tiny lady dy pulled up in a car and said, ‘The e ladies of the United Church thought you might like some lunch.’ It was a sign from the universe we were not alone. In a way, that bowl of soup and the ham and cheese sandwiches saved our relationship and the he hotel. From that moment, we were determined to get through it – even if it was just for the sake of the 700-0strong local community who needed us as much as we needed them.”
Since opening in June, the hotel has been running at 95 per cent capacity, their two restaurants have been full every night
and the couple have had guests from around the world. The designers have been working flat-out doing everything around the hotel themselves, from making cocktai ls and cooking to unblocking toilets and fixing TVs. Colin said:s “Necessity has made uus jacks of all trades. We ttake it in turns doing breabreakfast and lunch and we both do dinner.” JJustin added: “We are always busy and folk seem to love the ScoScottish feel of our restaurantsresta – sausage and mashm is one of our bestsellers.”bestsellers.
“Our season ends mid- October and we will split the winter between our apartments in Toronto and Glasgow.” The pair can’t wait for their show to start tonight at 9pm. Justin said: “We hope people will love coming with us on our frantic Canadian adventure.”
We needed it a to make as we success our emptied had for account bank e purchas the