Creative Work Studios

When we relocated to Bonavista, we knew we weren’t just moving our home - we were moving our work studios too.

Both my husband Johnny and I work from home.  He’s a photographer; I create surface patterns.  We love working outdoors, near or far — capturing images and gathering inspiration.  But we wanted a place to return to… to design, edit, write, sketch, produce, dream, plan, and create.

When we purchased Dunn House and began restoring it with Bonavista Living we had the opportunity to reimagine the space around how we truly live and work.  We kept it as a four bedroom home - one for us, one for guests, and two that became something just as essential: Johnny's Studio and Kate's Studio.

This project has come such a long way, and this week we got our first look at the completed work spaces.  Finishing details, like the heating registers, lighting and electrical plates, still need to be addressed, but the space is clean, fresh and ready for magic. I don’t quite have the words yet for what this process has meant.  Maybe one day I will.  But for now, I can say this: I feel incredibly lucky.

Building a life as an artist isn’t easy.  It requires determination, resilience, passion, and persistence.  But it’s also a huge privilege and an immeasurable joy.  To have spaces where we can make, play, and bring ideas into the world… it feels like a dream realized.

Standing in these studios now - blank, quiet, full of possibility.  It feels like the beginning of something new.

We came here to start a new chapter.  And now, we have fresh, open pages to fill.  I can’t wait to create here!

This is what the two studio spaces looked like before:

The anticipation of what lied ahead (stood inside what would become Johnny’s studio):

The Face of Dunn House

Very excited to show a first look at the beautiful new face of Dunn House.  The incredible Bonavista Living team have been lovingly working on the restoration of the front facade to include, new wooden clapboard, cedar shake roof, hand crafted windows and the rebuild of the lovely front vestibule.  The work is not yet completed and there are still lots of special details to come including a new front staircase and installation of our front door with stained glass panels.

The project has come such a long way and I don't know about you, but I think Dunn House is smiling.

Midsummer Update

Bonavista is alive with whales, capelin, cod, puffins, foxes and flowers. And what a complete joy it is to have reached this special stage of our house project. The house's exterior is looking so pretty with the cedar roof, beautiful siding, hand crafted windows and doors and dreamy paint. Inside, the insulation, electrical and plumbing are completed and the walls are now going up. It feels very exciting to see the rooms take shape and our vision coming to life.

We have also been making so many big decisions for all of the special details that will go into the house. Picking lighting and fixtures and also designing the kitchen. Feeling so much gratitude to have such a special life experience and to be working with such an incredible, skilled, positive and genuinely wonderful team at Bonavista Living.

A Moment in Time

This weekend I spent a few hours inside Dunn House soaking up a special moment in time.  The electrical and plumbing have now been run throughout, most of the exterior is now wrapped (with the exception of the front vestibule which is getting rebuilt, will share more on that later) and the roof is completed.  The project is about to move onwards to the next stage.  This week insulation is getting installed and then after that drywall will start to go in which is going to completely change the space.  I am so excited to see the interior transform as the walls go up but I realized that this time has been so special, experiencing the raw interior and seeing the original bones of the house.  It was so nice to take some time to sit in the space.  

Thank you so much to the amazing Bonavista Living team for all of your incredible hard work to get the project to this stage.

April updates

Our new home is undergoing the most special transformation.  It is a unique stage of the process, a true metamorphosis is happening.

The Bonavista Living team have worked so hard to repair, reinforce and care for the bones of the house.  We faced some small timeline setbacks over the winter due to inclement weather, however in the past few weeks there has been an amazing flurry of activity as the installation of siding, windows, electrical wiring and plumbing has begun.  As these huge tasks continue, work will also soon begin on the installation of our ducted heat pump system and insulation.  It is wonderful to see so many elements coming together for the house.

Johnny and I feel very lucky. The team we are working with are amazing.  Everyone is so friendly, patient with our questions, helpful, collaborative and extremely skilled. 

What a unique life experience this is.  Feeling gratitude.

Exterior Colour Palette

Picking the exterior colour palette for Dunn House has been a joyful experience.  We knew all along that we would find our inspiration in the natural environment here on the Bonavista Peninsula.  We have loved discovering so many unique and beautiful palettes in the wild but after much consideration we settled on the prettiest muted green and blue for our exterior colours.

We are so grateful to the wonderful team at The Paint Shop in Bonavista who have been so helpful and have made the experience even more enjoyable.  We have selected Benjamin Moore stains and paints and the colours we have chosen are…

Clapboard:  Moonlight White

Window sashes:  Hollingsworth Green

Doors:  Serenata (blue)

It is very exciting to see the exterior house details come together.  Thank you so much to the Bonavista Living team for all of your hard work and perseverance on our project through the winter months.  Excited to share more soon.

Heritage Restoration

Our modern world is often busy, stressful and can sometimes be isolating too.  There are lots of tools to make life easier, quicker and more automated.  Like us, perhaps other people are also yearning for experiences which are more personal, tactile and have a human touch.  These are things Johnny and I think about often in our own creative practices.  It is so special to move to a place where there is such a thoughtful, handcrafted and carefully considered approach to revitalization, restoration and growth.  

One of the things which drew us to Bonavista was the work being done here to preserve and revitalize the town.  Many of the old buildings and houses have been lovingly restored as homes and businesses.  Skilled carpenters and craftsmen are working to create a bright and sustainable future for Bonavista. 

We recently visited the Bonavista Living wood shop to see the hand crafted heritage windows and doors in production for our new home, Dunn House.  The team have years of experience at their craft and they are also innovating, growing, evolving and passing on skills to the next generation.  

The vibe at both our house and in the wood shop is productive, light, optimistic and rewarding.  It is really special to be working with people who care so much about what they do.  We feel truly lucky to have this experience and be working with our amazing team.  

Discover more at www.bonavistaliving.com

Making a home in Bonavista

We first came to Bonavista together in 2017 when I was invited to Newfoundland to create a collection of wallpaper, and Johnny’s first visit was over 20 years ago when he backpacked and hitch hiked across the island.  We had no idea at the time, but little seeds had been planted. 

During the pandemic, we had a lot of conversations and reflections about the things that are important to us.  Like many people, we recognized how fleeting life can be and decided we would like to create something different for our next chapter.  We came back to Bonavista for 6 weeks in the summer of 2022 and during that trip, made our decision to make the move.  Our cross-Canada move from Ontario to Newfoundland has been a unique and life-changing journey of a lifetime.  

Bonavista is a truly special place, located within the spectacular UNESCO Discovery Global Geopark.  The Bonavista Peninsula is a region of wild, natural beauty and we regularly experience feelings of enchantment and wonder.  There is a well established arts and creative community here including Union House Arts in Port Union which I am thrilled to be a board member of.  There’s also the Bonavista Biennale, which is a public art event taking place every two years on the peninsula.  People here are authentic, kind, generous, hearty, soulful and have a great sense of humour.  We have made lots of new friends, some of whom have lived here their whole life and others who have moved here like us.  We are embracing any opportunity to have new experiences and learn about our new home. 

We acknowledge that the land we occupy is a part of Ktaqmkuk (the island of Newfoundland), traditional unceded Mi’kmaw territory. We also acknowledge with respect the diverse histories and cultures of the Beothuk, Mi’kmaq, Innu and Inuit of this province.  We commit ourselves to learning and becoming better allies in the spirit of truth and reconciliation.  

We understand our responsibility to be a part of caring for this special place and feel incredibly grateful and lucky to be here.

Inspired by Nature

One of the most exciting parts of the creative process for our new home is selecting the exterior colour palette for the house.  Bonavista is an extremely colourful town and each home holds its own identity through carefully chosen colours.  

The restoration of Dunn House will include the installation of new wooden clapboard siding and new heritage style wooden windows and doors which are being handcrafted by the @bonavistaliving carpenters.  The roof will be refinished with cedar shingles, which once exposed to the elements will become a beautiful silvery colour.

We have the important task of selecting a colour palette for the exterior of the house which we love, and will compliment the other buildings in town whilst also respecting heritage traditions.  For @johnnycylam and I, it is meaningful for us to select colours inspired by our natural surroundings.  Since moving here, we have loved discovering so many unique and beautiful palettes in the wild.

Today we wanted to share some of the palettes which inspired us.  We look forward to sharing the colour palette we chose a little later on! 

November Updates

It has been a very busy time at Dunn House over the past 6 weeks and Johnny and I couldn’t be more thrilled with how this project has started.  It has been a flurry of activity at the house both inside and out and we are very happy to be sharing a few updates on the project so far.  

The Bonavista Living team have been working long days to make as much headway as possible before winter sets in.  Firstly, a lot of attention has gone to the two wings on either side of the house.  Each one had a linney on the back and unfortunately they were completely rotten through.  They have now been removed, new foundations poured and as you can see in the last photo, the wing on the left hand side of the house has been rebuilt with a beautiful new cedar roof.  The team are working on the same process for the wing on the right hand side.  

Inside the house, the team have been carefully working on structural repairs and reinforcements.  They have also framed out the rooms on the ground floor and are working on the upstairs too.

The house is also now getting stripped on the exterior as preparations are made for the installation of wooden clapboard and completing the whole roof with cedar shingles.

One of our favourite parts of the process so far have been site visits with the Bonavista Living team.  It is really special to see how much the crew care about the project and the experience is positive, jovial and collaborative. 

We feel gratitude and are embracing every part of the process!