I am working with Lynn Fenwick right now to plan a renovation for 2 bathrooms in the lower level at our cottage. We did a similar project in 2016, and her help was invaluable. I find it difficult to visualize things spatially, and to know what a floor, colour, fabric, or countertop choice will look like "big". She is terrific at pointing out the pros or cons of various choices.
I first used Lynn Fenwick to help me with furniture and design decisions almost thirty years ago. She has helped me choose fabric to recover a beloved sectional sofa, and then to cover the replacement couch and loveseat when the original sectional was finally retired.
Lynn helped me with the design and multitude of choices for materials and furniture placement, paint, light fixtures, flooring – all of it, when we built our new home in 1996. In just one example, she saved me hours and hours of time helping me choose the flooring for our house- 3 carpet choices, 3 different vinyl floorings, ceramic tiles, and hardwood that all worked together colour wise. She gathered together samples in our colours, in three different price points, and helped me choose by telling me the good and bad points about each choice. This would have taken me forever, and I would have obsessed forever, wondering if I was making the right choices, where she just knows how it will look when it’s done.
Lynn allows me to be me, which I love. She understands what I am comfortable with, what my favorite colours are, and that I want things to actually work, not just look good. At the same time, she challenges me with new options, and with things that had never even occurred to me. In the new house she asked me where I wanted to look when standing at the kitchen island, and when I couldn’t decide, we included 2 electrical plugs in the plan, one on each side, and I love that I have that option now. I can plug in the mix master while facing the oven, or the frying pan while facing the cook top and sink. She asked me the height I wanted the chandelier in the front hall to hang, gave me 2 options, and the rationale for each, and the decision was then easy to make. Lynn’s experience is vast, and she knows how things will turn out in the end, which I cannot picture.
In 2016 we completed an upstairs bathroom renovation at the lake, and Lynn was involved from start to finish, using just photographs and my own measures to help us plan it out. I got discouraged at one point trying to find a bath tub that would fit, and she took the time to search for one that suited our space and needs perfectly. She challenged us to increase the size of the mirror and hang the light fixture through the mirror. She said it would look awesome, and it absolutely does. In choosing paint colours we looked through all the samples at least three times for “beiges” that did not look peachy. She didn’t give up until we had made the right choice. We also used Lynn to help us with a pantry/mud room installation at the cottage. She understood the need to keep costs down, as it’s “just a cottage”, and helped us source a reasonably priced supplier for the cupboards, which she had planned and designed, based on our storage needs, and a few pictures I had cut out of magazines with ideas that I liked. She again challenged me on the arrangement of the shelves, as I had originally gone in with one idea, but she showed us plans a few different ways, and recommended that we stack the shelves for the cooler, laundry basket, recycling, and a Rubbermaid container that makes the round trip each week to the cottage and back. I absolutely love that the space was planned to fit our needs, that everything has a place, and that it looks great, as well as functions great!
In addition to Lynn’s talents and insights, what makes it great to work with her are her pleasant personality, her sense of humour, and her real interest in how the projects turn out, and make us feel. I lucked out when I first met Lynn years ago, buying furniture, and she has helped me many times since with design decisions big and small, in three different homes. I would recommend Lynn Fenwick to anyone- she is professional, pleasant, and very knowledgeable. She makes it easier to make decisions because she has seen this colour, or this pattern, or this design before, and she just knows how it will turn out. She can see the big picture. For me, it has helped to calm my nerves, and know that I am making the right choices; ones that will look great and be easy to live with.
As for cost, Lynn’s experience does not come cheap, but what I have spent on her design fees has definitely saved me from some expensive re-dos , when I may have made the wrong choice if left to my own devices!
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