Design duo tackle overstuffed home in Mississauga
torstar news service
An overflowing closet can plague homeowners.
It‘s little wonder we chose to name this week’s episode “Dated, Dusty and Depressing.” Yep, a Colin and Justin triple D to perfectly describe the scene that met us as we entered the gloomy Mississauga home of Janice and Kevin. Let there be no doubt, however, that this week’s designer delinquents showed willingness beyond that of many of our subjects. In fact, they were a joy, and their aptitude at helping turn their desperate space into a sleek domestic haven was manna from heaven for your favourite Scottish designers.
So… Janice and Kevin’s problems? Well, for starters (and by their own admission), they’d become so consumed by the problems in their museum of domestic bad taste that they reckoned it could never be fixed. Both just 50, they lead hectic lives and the upkeep of their massive home had simply fallen by the wayside.
However, even though it was dated, it was immaculate, and while Kevin wasn’t adept with a toolkit, Janice had done what she could to stop it from falling apart. As a former model, she fully understood glamour — but, thanks to a bout of bad health, she’d lost her domestic momentum.
A master bedroom with all the allure of a 1970s Indian takeout place was particularly hellish. More Bollywood than Hollywood, it had burgundy carpet, red and gold flock wallpaper and a toilet that sat — literally — at the bottom of the bed. It was removed some 10 years back from the ensuite and never quite made it to the dumpster. And blimey, that ensuite! Looking for all the world like Kermit The Frog had just exploded in there (everything was avocado), we winced as we cast our critical eye around the oppressive space.
The drama continued in a walk-in closet so overstuffed it looked like 1,000 women were storing their gowns in there. Downstairs, the garage (also stuffed to the rafters) was more like an explosion in a junkyard than a place you might expect to find a vintage VW Beetle. But that, indeed, is what we found as we pulled away at mountains of broken bicycles and years of hand-me-down furniture that had long since outlived its usefulness. When Kevin admitted the Bug hadn’t been driven for two decades — and that, in actual fact, he’d forgotten he even owned it — we knew we had to help.
And so, as Janice and Kevin looked on, their jaded home rose like a triumphant Phoenix from the ashes of bad taste. We converted a spare bedroom into a walk-in closet with Jurassic proportions and Janice wept as we unveiled our stunning raspberry coloured results. Kevin’s previously chaotic garage was stripped and rejigged as the ultimate blokes’ den courtesy of a slick locker-room style refit.
And so, with one room specially dedicated to her and a space devoted to him, we turned our attentions to a shared indulgent master bedroom suite in the space formerly occupied by the scary red explosion and the guacamole mess. Five days later, an elegant dark wood and white-panelled bedroom emerged with an adjoining ensuite bathroom whose central star was a jaw-droppingly gorgeous slipper bath. Even Kevin’s eyes watered as he saw it for the first time. Hoorah!
HGTV hosts Colin and Justin continue their mission of beautification with their Canadian design series Colin & Justin’s Home Heist, airing Tuesdays and Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET on HGTV.
www.hgtv.ca
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