“I love to cook so that I knew I wanted to design my own kitchen and create the room mine — something which would let me entertain while creating a meal,” Tyler Wilman says. As soon he bought his Vancouver apartment he envisioned the changes he wanted to create. A graphic designer, Wilman is drawn to bits which tell a story, and personalized the distance with bits from his childhood home, Vancouver estate revenue and Craigslist finds.
in a Glance
Who lives here: Graphic designer Tyler Wilman
Location: Vancouver’sMt. Pleasant neighborhood, B.C., Canada
Size: 640 square feet, 1 bedroom, 1 bath
That is intriguing: The penny tiles in the bathroom are made from real pennies.
Megan Buchanan
Wilman installed floating shelves from the living room to create a feature wall. Ampersands, bits of timber block type and typewriters reveal his fascination with typography.
Megan Buchanan
Wilman installed abundant brown hardwood floors in the living room and kitchenand painted the fireplace wall a deep chocolate brown. The medium tone of the flooring joins together the mantelpiece, tea crates, guitar and image frames. Most of the walls are impartial to offer a blank canvas to get Wilman’s mementos and art, including his very own. The doors lead into a huge balcony with views of the North Shore mountains.
Rug and crimson chair: Ikea
Megan Buchanan
The timber column accentuating the gas fireplace is from Wilman’s childhood home. The classic tobacco tins are Craigslist finds.
Megan Buchanan
A contemporary couch contrasts with vintage London tea crates, too from Craigslist. Wilman employs the crates as side tables across the apartment and as a nightstand in his bedroom. “It is amazing what you can discover on Craigslist if you are patient and persistent,” he says.
Megan Buchanan
An antique camera set lines a floating wall shelf in the living room in front of framed comic book covers and candleholders made from old piping. Included in the collection is your very first camera which Wilman learned to take with, a graduation gift from his parents. “The Pentax K1000 takes the most amazing black and white photos, many of which I display on my walls,” he says.
Tyler Wilman
The accumulated pieces around Wilman’s apartment, like this London tea crate, invite one to wonder where it has been and what it has observed during its travels to Vancouver.
Tyler Wilman
Wilman employs the rotary phone he learned to speak on to buzz people to the apartment. An antique typewriter, one of two in the apartment, sits behind.
Megan Buchanan
“I took out part of a wall and moved the bulk of the kitchen along the south end of the apartment, extending it to what was the dining area,” Wilman says. “The renovation fully opens up the room, allowing for more natural lighting to the kitchen”
Tyler Wilman
A sketch reveals Wilman’s vision for the back wall of the kitchen: ample cabinetry using the full height of the room, glass shelves above the sink and a clean white backsplash with horizontal accents.
Megan Buchanan
A huge farmhouse sink sits between butcher block counter tops.
Tyler Wilman
This sketch of the opposite side of the kitchen shows the initial concept for its range and bar locations.
Megan Buchanan
Tyler Wilman
A nonfunctioning but charming radiator salvaged from renovations in the Dodson House hotel in Vancouver adds appeal.
A glance into the restroom from the background reveals Wilman’s unique penny flooring. It was motivated by a penny floor. “This was a labour of love to hand set all those pennies, but it had been worth the time and effort,” Wilman says.
Megan Buchanan
Wilman modified the original entryway closet to a comfy den/office. The desktop may be pulled up to lie flat against the back wall.
More closet-sized offices
Tyler Wilman
In the entry, Wilman included a barnwood shelf for keys and email, serving as yet another reminder of how old can mix with new.
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