Destination Style - Home and Decor Magazine

National Post Jack Kohane article

Aaron Lynett / National Post

Friday, February 5, 2010

Junk in her trunk

Jack Kohane, National Post

Frilling up a room with repurposed items isn't necessarily a home fashion faux pas. For some, like interior designer Michelle Mawby, the dividing line separating a rarity from ordinary rubbish can be blurry. "But it has to work for the space and the homeowner's tastes," insists the principal designer and founder of Lucid Interior Design in Toronto. "I like to make sure the personality of my client comes out in their home - and have a bit of fun with it, too. I don't believe in stuffy homes that aren't livable."

That zeal for livability looms large in Lucid's home makeovers from Rosedale to Forest Hill, from Ledbury Park to Yorkville. Now the term "freecycling" (passing on, for free, an unwanted item to someone who needs that item) has also entered her lexicon. When asked to join a team of garbage scroungers, builders and design professionals in the task of morphing an old 1,600-square-foot industrial building with 17-foot ceilings into a ritzy and functional loft, using materials sourced only from the trash, for Discovery Channel's Junk Raiders, Ms. Mawby agreed without hesitation. It's the very challenge she thrives on. "I consider myself the original junk raider," she smiles, easing gracefully on to her favourite plush chenille sofa in her living room. "In the world of designing, it's common to rip out and discard perfectly good interiors to make way for new interiors. The idea of creating an amazing living space out of good stuff that's been junked intrigued me." Though the green experiment was limited to a budget of $5,000 (quoted at $300,000 if done conventionally), the prospect of shaping such a special space ignited Ms. Mawby's ingenuity. She turned reclaimed materials into furniture, converted church pews into a dining room table, a baby grand piano cover into a coffee table and a car grill into a kitchen island. By finding hidden gems, transforming furniture and architectural salvage, Ms. Mawby's work delivers a touch of glam with unique pieces that cannot be replicated, giving her high-end clients the exclusivity they desire.

This flair for freecycling and penchant for pushing the design envelope also trademarks her own home, located in an upscale midtown neighbourhood. The three-storey, 3,400-sq.-ft. century house where she lives with her husband, Scott Wambolt, a telecommunications executive, and Holly, their 14-year-old tabby, is also the headquarters for Lucid

Interior Design.

Chosen for its central location, nine-foot ceilings and potential, Ms. Mawby says that a major reno was a must from the moment the deed was signed. On the outside, the exterior looked stark, with red brick and plain white trim, and as it was taller and further forward than the surrounding structures, the house appeared to "bulge" toward the street. To soften that jut, a rounded verandah was added and asymmetric flagstones for front pad car parking. New cedar shakes were applied to the roof, and the windows' wood frames were painted dark grey for a sense of rustic elegance. On the main floor inside, boxy Victorian rooms required demolition. "We tore down walls for an open kitchen connected to the family/living room and formal dining room," Ms. Mawby says. Some exquisite 100-year-old leaded windows had to be taken out, but one of them now hangs above the desk in the kitchen. Nearby, an archaic iron book press, resembling a metallic sculpture, occupies a nook. Ms. Mawby delights in improvising artwork from whimsical bric-a-brac and architectural details. A mess of doors leading from the front hall were purged and an obtrusive staircase relocated away from the foyer to free up the entranceway for a more welcoming feel. A mahogany armoire for hats and coats-from Holland where Ms. Mawby lived for a year - stands tall in the vestibule. At its sides, are decorative teak chairs sculpted by a Shanghai designer.

Midway down the landing to the basement, Ms. Mawby has designed a winsome powder room fit for a celebrity, complete with leather wallpaper, an 8x4-foot mirror set in a gold-leaf frame, chocolate and cream marble floors and a chandelier trimmed with strands of red crystals. "I love the way they reflect in the mirror," Ms. Mawby says. Her favourite room? The living/family room hangout, she anwers, because of its oak floors stained to a burnished ebony, and its intriguing mix of textures and furniture: leather, chenille, silk, cashmere; there's a contemporary plush sofa loaded with pillows, mid-century modern chairs and glass tables and one-off finds. "It's grand and comfortable with full-wall French doors looking out to the garden," she says. "They let a beautiful quality of light in."

Her home design is inspired, she explains, primarily by an enchanting historic flat with towering French doors, high ceilings and big rooms in London, England, where she lived for two years. The concept of mixing old and new in an open-concept floor plan sprang from her Amsterdam dwelling - a refurbished 1635 warehouse.

Born and raised in Richmond, B.C., Ms. Mawby attended Fresno Pacific University in California, majoring in English and theatre arts. It was here that she became hooked on set design. She later came to Toronto, attending the International Academy of Design and eventually winning an ARIDO student award in 1999.

When she approaches a renovation or remodelling project now, Ms. Mawby adheres to two tried-and true principles: the definitive "form follows function" design doctrine; and the idea that "one man's junk is another man's treasure."

But condition is important when selecting reused pieces, she advises. Aesthetics, colour, size and materials also matter. "When scouring junk you can do wonders from stuff found in dumpsters and at transfer stations," she says. "Figuring out how to incorporate found items produces a satisfying

‘Eureka!' experience."

© 2010 The National Post Company. All rights reserved. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited.

Geoff Lackner / Geoff Lackner Productions

Toronto Star Trash T

Trash Talk: Loft reno represents extreme recycling
October 31, 2009 

Ellen Moorhouse
Special to the Star

Photo By: Geoff Lackner

Renovations invariably mean garbage and dumpsters, so it's heartening to know that building with recycled materials is getting some airtime. The Discovery Channel has just finished broadcasting the Toronto-made television show, Junk Raiders¸ but you can view the six episodes online at watch.discoverychannel.ca.

In it, a team of seven people – two garbage scroungers, a designer, two builders, a labourer and electronics technician – were given a month-long challenge to renovate a 1,600-square-foot loft with 17-foot ceilings in an old industrial building, using materials from the trash.

They had to build, wire and furnish a live-work space, including bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living area which will appeal to young, hip IT executives with a taste for boutiquehotel living. Building owner Ron Smith coughed up $5,000 to cover what they couldn't find in the garbage.

(Team members guessed comparable renos would cost $150,000 to $300,000. Indeed, seven workers would gobble up $5,000 in no time.)

The show has a reality-TV tone, with artificial time pressure, Smith playing a hard-to-please client, general contractor Geoff Woodmansey acting the sergeant-major, and personal tensions manipulated by the producers for dramatic effect.

As designer Michelle Mawby, who runs Lucid Interior Design, describes it: "There were some times when we didn't like each other, and I think at the end, none of us ever wanted to see each other again."

But her design flare, the nifty ideas from the expert scroungers, the skills of the building crew and some serendipitous finds resulted in a great space with striking elements crafted from "repurposed" discards.

Leading the garbage-picking charge were diehard freecyclers Anthony D'Arcy, a property investment advisor and real estate agent (Right at Home Realty), who furnished his own house with castoffs, and Gordie Wornoff, a farm boy who learned carpentry from his dad and has been known to plunder Roncesvalles Ave. greenbins for edible produce. He calls his contracting business A Higher Plane, a playful allusion to notions of enlightenment and the reuse of old lumber.

So where did the team find stuff? Hanging out at the city's transfer station and asking drivers for materials (they also got paint free at the hazardous household waste depots), fishing in the Don River for old grocery carts, visiting house construction sites, cruising the streets on garbage day, lucking out with hotline calls after they posted flyers around town, checking out demolition at Pearson airport (this was 2008) and heading off to Habitat for Humanity's ReStore, which sells recycled materials, to supplement the free stuff.

A downtown church proved a saviour, with a treasure trove in the basement: old windows with divided panes, which Michelle used in the bathroom to striking effect to enclose the tub and shower area; church pews, which were transformed into an eight-foot table; an old oak office desk, which became a bathroom vanity, complete with handy drawers, and assorted other items.

A baby grand piano cover out of the trash became a coffee table, and an old cast iron tub, a couch (just like Audrey Hepburn's in Breakfast at Tiffany's); Anthony used weeping tile for a wine rack and paperbacks, stuffed into a wood frame, to make a chair. Gordie created a hanging light fixture with wood circles around orange shades. The team also turned old shopping carts into chairs, and Gordie used the wheels for a sliding barn door system. Technician Jean-Marc Haddad wired old TVs to create a display wall and built a bike-powered generator to power high-tech gadgetry.

The pièce de résistance, though, was the grill of a 1978 Chrysler New Yorker fronting the kitchen island. Over it is the car hood, with holes cut to accommodate some large bulbs found at the airport, while tail lights became wall sconces. A concrete counter, poured by builder Cam Pikul, was the perfect top.

What can be learned? There's an amazing amount of good stuff that's junked, but finding old wood like two by fours when you need it is a challenge, not to mention the grief of pulling nails and milling to size. But for sure, figuring out how to incorporate found items like old windows produces a satisfying "Eureka!" experience.

As well, a good coat of paint does wonders for beat-up chairs and dated kitchen cabinets. Michelle loved the loft's scarred wood floors, but to work in a living space they needed to be well varnished. "Even if you leave brick walls, you should still coat them so you don't get the residue on your hands," she says. On future projects, when interiors are being ripped out, she'll have clients call Habitat's ReStore, and she'll contact Gordie to see if he wants any of the old wood or other materials heading for the dump. As he said in the show when faced with making old wood usable: "I'd rather waste my time than a tree in the forest." (His email is gordie@ahigherplane.ca.)

Trash Talk appears Saturdays in New in Homes & Condos. Send comments and questions to
e_moorhouse@sympatico.ca

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Deal With Your Hang-ups.

Next to a good mattress, nothing is probably quite as important as a great closet.

Well-planned closets have superpowers--they can make you appear more organized, allow for infinite possibilities of outfits, and even get you to work on time. For my favourite clothing item, I have designed a mythical “wall o’ shoes”--an entire wall of beautifully proportioned cubbies for little works of art I wear on my feet. Taller cubbies for boots are on the bottom row. Larger cubbies for hats and bags are utilized at the harder-to-reach top of the wall, with a stunning library ladder on wheels to easily access these treasures. Now, I just need the right house to build it in! Even if you are not a self-proclaimed fashionista, great closets are an asset to every home. All closets, whether large or small, walk-in or standard, can benefit from a good closet organizer. Available in all price ranges, from the custom designed to the DIY kits, appropriate utilization of a closet is imperative. There are many professional companies which provide in-home consultations, so now it’s easier than ever. There are also professional organizers who can help with these hard decisions.

Here are nine simple rules I use to help clients attain their ultimate closet.

1. If you haven’t worn it in two years, YOU NEVER WILL, so get rid of it. If it doesn’t fit, donate it. My favourite place for donations is Dress For Success who helps dress men and women trying to get into the workforce.
   
2. Anything with holes or rips in it, throw it out.
   
3. Keep shoes in their boxes and place pictures of the shoes at the front of the box so you know what’s inside. Not only does it keep your shoes neat in your closet, it will also keep them from getting dusty and make it easy to grab that right pair of shoes for the outfit.
   
4. Have a friend come over and go through your closet together. Friends can be more honest about what looks good on you and is worth keeping.
   
5. Place scented sachets or boxed soaps under sweaters to keep closets smelling fresh and to also keep bugs away.
   
6. Go through your closet and analyze how many black pants, jeans, white shirts, etc. that you need. Sometimes we get caught up in wearing the same things, and buying the same items when we go shopping and accumulating a lot of multiples.
   
7. Add a bright light to the closet to give the illusion of a large bright space.
   
8. Store out-of-season clothes in a spare closet, or pack away into air-tight waterproof containers. Very few of us have the luxury of a huge closet, so keeping out only the clothes that you will actually wear creates more space.
   
9. Matching wood hangers create a uniform organized look. Wood hangers are larger and help keep the shape of your clothes, but if space is an issue, invest in slim non-slip hangers.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CALIFORNIA CLOSETS

RENOVATIONANDDECOR.COM R&D AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 06

Michelle Mawby & Lucid Interior Design featured in Spectacular Homes of Toronto in stores now

Published by Panache Partners and showcasing Toronto's top interior designers, Spectacular Homes of Toronto is available in Chapters, Indigo and Amazon.com

Lucid celebrates Earth Hour in style.

Teacup Lights

Candelabra

With the rest of the world, we turned off our lights from 8:30pm to 9:30pm on Saturday, March 28, 2009. Visit Earth Hour 2009 Global on Flickr for more great images from around the world.

Lucid Interior Design Featured in "Spectacular Homes of Toronto"

SPECTACULAR HOMES OF TORONTO - On Sale Now!

ISBN: 1-933415-72-X / 978-1-933415-72-7
Price $34.95

Spectacular Homes of Toronto is a rich, engaging collection of well-appointed residences, fascinating people and innovative ideas. Designs range from contemporary chic to traditionally elegant, eclectic cottage country retreats to classic urban dwellings. The inspiring book pays homage to a diverse group of forward-thinking interior designers, from the long established to new talents who have already earned their place in the creative community.

Presenting hundreds of vibrant photographs and insightful editorial content, each collection showcases award-winning interiors and the talented designers who created them. Whether it is the designer's own home or that of a client, these stunning compositions offer a regional look at the accomplishments and diverse styles of the top design professionals working in the field today. Stylish and contemporary, these are extraordinary homes that captivate and inspire.

Exploring a mixture of styles—from sleek, fresh, and contemporary to European-inspired traditional—this volume features the work of dozens of individuals and firms including Lucid Interior Design, Gluckstein Design, Powell & Bonnell, and Kimberley Seldon Design Group.

About the Author

Panache Partners, LLC, is a publishing company based in Dallas, Texas that specializes in developing upscale coffee-table books on architecture, golf, interior design, and travel.