Reno Spotlight: Clare Designs
Everybody loves a good before-and-after home makeover story. Meet Vanessa Paisley-Clare -a full-time interior designer and CEO at Clare Design based in Kingston, Jamaica. When it comes to home renovations, Vanessa is an expert in the business with a wealth of knowledge and creativity.
In 2021, she gave herself a new challenge, one that has been on her to-do list for years. Vanessa finally decided to transform her townhouse after 7 years and make it her own. With the stamp of approval from her husband, they’ve curated this project together and plan to bring their dream home vision to life.
Project Overview
Property Type: Home
Style: Modern
Renovation: Kitchen, Bathroom, Bedroom, Patio
Project Duration: 2 Months
BEFORE
After living in their townhouse for 7 years, the fixtures and design became outdated, the kitchen had limited space and the louvre windows to the patio did not allow for much light which made the house a little darker than usual. While the backyard was spacious, the tiles were outdated and it needed a refresh to create a modern feel. Traditional 12”x12” tiling ran throughout the house with 7”x7” tiles on some bathroom walls. The tile colours were a mix of cream, brown and white in the bedrooms and bathrooms.
“My vision for the space was to have a more open concept living area.”
THE DREAM HOME
Vanessa’s dream was to create a more welcoming and spacious environment to socialize with family and friends. “ We reorganised the kitchen in a way to allow guests to help themselves without having to come into the main kitchen space.” Vanessa wanted to make sure her renovated home reflected her designer skills. Her decor theme for her home is a “modern and minimalist feel”.
A lot of thought was put into the layout of the cabinets and creating a space with more aesthetics. Vanessa illuminated the kitchen with her open concept design and mix of light cabinetry. While the base cabinets were in a dark wood, it was a perfect balance with the white quartz countertop and white shaker cabinets at the top. She incorporated a Frigidaire stainless steel appliance from Active Home Centre, which was the icing on the cake for finishing the kitchen.
In the bedrooms, she wanted a change from traditional brown tiles to more durable and stylish wood-look tiles. She opted for a dark wood colour throughout the second floor of the house, except for the bathrooms. The bedrooms are lightly painted to complement the tiles and give a balance of colour. For the bathrooms, she opted for lighter colour tiles with white wall tiles and light grey floor tiles. The master bathroom was completed gutted, where she changed the bathtub to a walk-in shower with a shower screen and matte-black fixtures. The entrance of her home was also outfitted with dark grey smooth quarry tiles, a popular option for outdoor and high traffic areas while for her patio she went with 40”x40” light grey matte porcelain tiles to compliment the rustic yet modern decor.
Even though Vanessa has made a job out designing homes, there was something much more special about seeing her own home transform before her eyes. The new space is a perfect blend of minimalist and dark warm tones.
Design Favourite: “Originally we had french doors with louvre windows which block some of the line of sight from the front of the house out to the garden area. Now with our sliding doors, we can see all the way outside from inside and it seems bigger and we can just bring the outside in.”
Budget Tip: “We made sure to select all of the pieces or as many pieces very early in the game so we wouldn’t be scrambling for things at the last minute which would have increased the cost of the items.”
STYLE SPOTLIGHT
Click on the products below that helped to showcase her style:
“My husband and I are so happy with how everything came together and we are loving all the tiles and fixture selections that we were able to get from Active to do all of the floor spaces and bathrooms in our house.”
For more on this transformation, you can view our Youtube channel here: