Author: joannalane01

This is one of my favorite spaces in our home. This is our family room that is open to our kitchen and at the other end of the house from our main living room / dining room area.  There use to be an old fireplace in this room. I had no desire to maintain the old fireplace, deal with dirty wood being brought in all the time, or the nuisance of ‘making a fire’ so when we renovated the room, we tore it back to the fire box and capped and sealed it.

What about heating you ask? Let’s face it most real wood burning fireplaces actually suck the heat out of your house. And I wasn’t concerned about it being a heat source as we have a heat pump on this floor (a mini split one all three floors). It’s at the other end of the house but it’s strategically located to blow straight down both sides of the main floor. The one on this floor is our most powerful one at 18,000 BTU and it works like magic even at this end of the house. This end is maybe one to two degrees less than our main living room/dining room space where the heat pump is located.

Since heat wasn’t an important factor (thanks to our heat pumps), we tore down the ugly old fireplace and created our faux fireplace in its place. Yes, we thought about installing an electric fireplace but I figured we didn’t need it as a heat source so why spend the money on one? And honestly, I liked this look better! I wanted it to feel somewhat authentic though so I insisted that we would keep some of the dust and charred wood bits on the bottom.  So truth be told – the bottom of the firebox never gets cleaned.  And we joke and say our ‘fireplace channel’ is the lake out the window that is always moving (except when it freezes over). We’d never consider living without heat pumps now. We love the even, economical heating during the colder times and let’s not forget the air conditioning setting for the summer – BONUS!

To learn more about heat pumps and NS Power’s heat pump financing program click here.

Let’s talk about this thing on the wall. Bet you thought I was talking about the wall baskets, but I’m not. You likely didn’t notice it – I’m talking about the heat pump in my living room. We were spending a fortune on oil heating, and after much researching by my fiancé on alternative heat sources, we decided on mini-split heat pumps so we could use different settings on each floor.To be honest we were a bit unsure of the location of the heat pump on our main floor at first. Here’s the thing – during a reno or new build people can get hung up on something visual when they are focusing on just that one item. I see clients do it all the time. When the room is not furnished or decorated, it’s easy to think that a heat pump won’t blend in with your home’s décor.

The way I see it – it’s not a lot different than an appliance in your kitchen. In fact it’s way more discrete than that. I’ve never shared a photo of a project and had someone comment about a heat pump in the room. I think most people would agree it really just fades into the background. So, if you’re contemplating getting one but are hesitant because you don’t want to notice it on a wall, I’d say don’t worry about it. And with white walls (my favorite colour!) it will blend in really well! Your pocket book will thank you too!

Want to learn more the benefits of heat pumps and NSPI’s financing program – click here.

We had the pleasure of styling a gorgeous wedding for an amazing couple – Sandy and Allen.

Their big day was  held at the Halifax Seaport Market in downtown Halifax.  We had an amazing team of vendors that worked with us for pipe and drape, harvest tables, the large floral chandelier, the love letters, the gorgeous floral and on and on.  We brought in two lounge areas and other larger pieces such as the cake table, and guest signing/gift table.

Getting married and looking to create an amazing venue? We’d love to help!

Sharing some photos we took of a recent set up for our wonderful clients Amanda and John who were married in the gorgeous Farm at South Cove.

We set up three lounge areas in this beautiful barn venue.  Two lounge areas were set up next to each other near the dance floor, with another more masculine lounge area in the loft area.  We pulled from our extensive wedding furniture inventory that includes rugs and pillow inventory to complete the spaces.

If you are looking for wedding furniture that is unique and will take your wedding venue to the next level give us a call or send us an email.  View our amazing pieces by clicking here.  We’d be honoured to help make your day amazing!

We had the privilege of working again this year with Stonewater Homes to complete the interior design and decorating of the spring QEII Lottery Dream Home.

This gorgeous 4,000+ sq ft home is located in beautiful Indigo Shores.  See below for photos of the home, or visit it in person at 570 McCabe Lake Drive.

Ticket sales support the QEII Health Sciences Centre – visit  www.qe2homelottery.com to buy tickets or get information on the hours the home is open for viewing.

Interior photos by Atlantic Aerialworx.

Our clients mean everything to us and we sure feel thankful for the special ones that we get the privilege to work with. This past summer we were invited to a home in Enfield to complete a family room makeover.

This wasn’t an ordinary family room; it had incredible potential with gorgeous vaulted ceilings and sun lights. With a large family our client wanted a space that could accommodate seating for everyone and still be super comfy and cozy for those family game nights, relaxing with friends or holiday get-togethers.

Our client loves purples and pinks and we were tasked with creating a space that was a touch girlie, but balanced enough that her husband would still enjoy the room. We designed a new floor to ceiling fireplace to be the focal point in the room. We also installed some new pot lights, replaced the old fan with a gorgeous hanging chandelier, and of course, some fresh paint.

This condo located in the beautiful south end of Halifax with gorgeous views of the city was just oozing with potential; however a full remodel of this unit was in order. To give you a sense of what I was dealing with the entire unit was outdated. We’re talking pink and beige walls, popcorn ceilings, an old oak kitchen, old laminate, original lighting, carpet throughout the bedrooms; basically everything felt old and outdated in this place.

From the moment I walked through the space I could envision a modern transformation of this spectacular living space. Our work included a new modern kitchen being installed, new flooring throughout, new doors and trim, new paint and lighting and we fully furnished and decorated the entire condo. Oh, did I mention the dreaded popcorn ceiling – yes it went bye bye!

The best part of this project was that our client wanted a bedroom for his daughter that she would love and feel at home in.  We had so much fun creating a Scandinavian style bedroom with blue accents (her favorite colour) and incorporating a hanging chair. We thought it was so sweet that his daughter’s happiness was so important.  We think he should get best Dad of the year award!

I’m so incredibly excited to have won Canada’s Professional Stager of the Year in the Vacant staging category (RESA – Real Estate Staging Association). Top 10 has been an honour by itself with so many incredibly talented stagers across Canada. So winning top place is very humbling! I couldn’t do it without my amazing team! When I started Staged for Upsell almost 5 years ago this wasn’t even on my radar or something I would have thought was possible. I’m pretty lucky to get to do what I love everyday!