Sasen Renovations is excited to be amongst the ranks of our most skilled peers as one of the Ovation Award finalists. We thought we would share some of the story about how this project came to be: Purpose of the project: To turn a tiny spare room that became a haven for junk storage into a usable and magical study land for two sisters. The room is located in the basement of the home and so it was important to make the room cozy and warm in order to make the most use out of it. The Scope of work (redacted): Install custom day bed with one off valence and coffered barrel vaulted canopy Install two custom desks Fabricate and install one hanging barn door Panel and refinish walls Install wall covering and heritage trim Install ornamental additions including pulls, handles, cover plates etc. and theme specific lighting The Key Features of the job: The door: Our past blog post covers this door and how it was created. The door was salvaged from 100% recycled 2X6 Douglas Fir. This came from a renovation project of a colleague on the North Shore. Originally, this wood was part of the framing in a 70 year old home. The material was then hand crafted by Matthew Senf and finished by our designer, Lucy Tartaglia. For a video, visit our blog post How to Reclaim Wood Barn Door. The Walls: The base of the walls are trimmed out with an overheight baseboard and a thin profile, beaded wainscoting topped with a heritage cap rail. All the wood panel and trim have been finished with a three-part antiquing process comprised of base coat, distressed top coat and pigmented glaze finish to give the whole room a patina of well lived in warmth. A heavily patterned and theme specific wall paper makes up the balance of the field of wall topped off by a 4″ roman Ogee crown moulding painted and antiqued to match the millwork. The Desks: These desks, and their accompanying chairs, were rescued from being thrown away. The chairs had some appliqué details added and were recovered to match the day bed. The desks, once appliqué, moulding and routered details were added, were antiqued and finished with the same patina and technique as the wall panelling, trim and millwork. We want to thank Lucy for her hard work on this project and congratulate her as well. Thank you also to all of our subtrades who worked with us on this room to create a masterpiece out of a small space. What do the kids think? “The room is very warm and cozy…it’s fun to do our homework there now and to hang out with our friends.” Mission accomplished! Ovation Awards Finalists Before Image: After Photos of the Cinderella Study:  

Sasen’s 2015 Here at Sasen, we are looking forward to a new year of connecting with our clients and community around creating beautiful homes. We want to take a moment to reflect and appreciate the people and projects we were involved with in Sasen’s 2015, so we put together Sasen’s 2015: A Year in Review.  We started 2015 off by wrapping up projects in North Vancouver and Burnaby. Soon after, Tyler, one of our Project Supervisors accepted the Ovation Award on behalf of Sasen for Best Heritage Renovation. We returned to New Westminster and Vancouver to complete second phases of renovations. Sometimes it’s easier to break up a renovation into different phases, and we are always happy to catch up with past clients! Spring usually brings us into major construction season, but this year we moved into our biggest ever design and permit season yet. Simultaneously our valued crews and subtrades were on the scene at multiple projects in Burnaby, West Vancouver and Vancouver. Connecting with community extends beyond working with our valued clients. This year’s team building event was a volunteer day building the Robson Redux design installation that promotes connecting people to each other and to their city. Things were certainly heating up on Robson, when the Sasen crew spent the summer day helping construct the Porch Parade. We value the collaborative efforts between designers, builders and the community that pull together to bring unique projects with the Robson Redux design challenge. We can’t wait to see what project will hit the street this coming summer! For some R&R, we gathered for the summer BBQ with friends and family. Matt, Sasen Renovation’s principal, and his wife Rosie and their two daughters served up grilled treats and cool drinks on a beautiful summer day.  Sasen’s 2015 Wraps Up: As the weather cooled, our team continued the hard work, stopping briefly to celebrate two finalist nominations for the Georgie Awards.  Powering through house raising, Vancouver’s new permitting rigors, renovations with amazing views and all the in-betweens, time flew by. Before we knew it, Christmas season was upon us. It is our Sasen holiday tradition to join together and enjoy a meal and the company of those who have helped make Sasen’s 2015 a success. Every year, we connect with amazing new clients. 2015 was no different. We have really been blessed with the opportunity to grow our community of discerning home-owners who know the value of not just a house- but a home. Thank you for your patronage and for sharing your homes with us. So far, 2016 is promising to be a productive year. We are looking forward to what this new year has to bring!      

Everyone loves having their hard work recognized and we at Sasen are grateful to be named 2016 Georgie Award Finalists. Sasen Renovations is a finalist in two categories: Best Kitchen Renovation over $100,000.00 and Best Outdoor Living Space. Both of these projects, Casa Luminosa and La Dolce Vita, have distinct feel and show the breadth of design options for an eating space that connects with the outdoors. Casa Luminosa, located in North Vancouver, is a modern kitchen renovation and addition that focuses on the home owner’s existing landscape features. The landscaping incorporates a variety of plant species and takes advantage of Vancouver’s hospitable climate conditions. For these discerning clients, the complete reinterpretation of their kitchen was so expansive and central to their living space that an entire addition was built solely for it.  All the services were moved from the original location at the front of the house to accommodate the new, open-concept layout of the kitchen which now faces the expanded living room and the serene back yard greenery.  Every effort was made to maximize light and circulation with new, oversized skylights and a unique, custom window surrounding the suspended hood vent. The show piece of this new kitchen is the cabinetry.  True to the modern, mid-century feel of the rest of the home, the grain matched, quarter cut, black walnut cabinetry exhibits a unique, repeating “stripe-like” pattern that is subliminally underscored by other features in the space such as the dry stack rockwork on the central fireplace and the bamboo grass feature wall at the far end of the living room.  This striking pattern, along with the volume of light filtering through the space, gives the sense of an over-height largeness to an area which is no more than 200 SF in size. We are proud that this project is one of the 2016 Georgie Award finalists particularly because of the home owner, who welcomed our team and forged an ongoing relationship as we worked. In addition, we partnered with numerous trades and Synthesis Design, whose design choices made this project what it is. La Dolce Vita, located in Burnaby, is a Tuscan outdoor kitchen that incorporates a family’s Italian background with the ultimate goal of hospitality. From the chameleon like colour of the curved, stamped concrete walls and stairs right up to the wrought iron handle accents on the cabinet doors, it is plain to see that this Tuscan inspired, back yard retreat was conceived of by people who love to cook and who love to eat even more!  The gracious and inviting space was created around an open, outdoor fireplace and kitchen complete with sink, fridge, BBQ and side burner and is anchored by a full sized, dual fuel forno (pizza oven).  Unending split-faced granite masonry and natural Sicilian Anzio granite are complimented by the custom Kaya Batu millwork fronts and carved bolster elements.  The hand worked copper detail of the chimney caps and hood vent cover catch and throw light from the fireplace and pizza oven up onto the coffered ceiling laid out painstakingly around the 6 skylights.  The careful shaping of the post and beam wraps blends an old world Italian feel to the open structure and the architectural bolsters which adorn all the post and beam connections were inspired by the owner’s trip to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York city. In the evening, when the sun is setting and the oversized, amber glass carriage lamps are dimmed low with the fireplace crackling and the smell of fresh pizza coming out of the oven, one would almost believe they were living la dolce vita in Tuscany....

Sasen brought home our first 2015 Ovation Award win for Best Heritage Renovation! The restoration of Queens is the kind of work Sasen loves to be part of. New Westminster is home to wonderful heritage homes that are being restored to their former glory, and we are incredibly proud of our work! We love awards because they are super rad! However, the primary reason we are excited about our 2015 Ovation Award win is because it reminds us of the experience that we all take part in when transforming something at a high level of craft. When most people think about renovation, they think about either the end result or the woes of the process. We, on the other hand, think about the team of people, including the clients, and how to navigate through the process. This process is what we do, and we enjoy the challenge! The end result might be an award winning project or a family’s basic new recreation room. They are all exciting experiences that connect our company with amazing clients. Our Vancouver renovation projects are about changing the space where our clients live, entertain and care for their families. Each renovation is driven by a different motivation: how is the space going to be used? And as a team, we apply the process to the individual situation. Are you looking to unearth the lost heritage elements of your ageing home? Do you need a space for your family to relax on weekends? A suite for your in-laws? What rewards us is when we navigate this process, the technical aspects and the tricky bits, and produce for our clients exactly what they dream up; A beautiful project that suits their needs, displays craft and style and changes the way they use their space. Once again, this is also an opportunity to thank our talented team who work together to make it happen! We want to give special thanks to Eric Pattison of Pattison Architecture, Bob and Sheila the home-owners, Yoshi, Peter, Tony, Stephan and Shawn and all of our talented sub-trades that made this project a reality. Thank you!

Sasen Renovations is a finalist for this year’s GVHBA Ovation Awards. The Ovation Awards recognize excellence and innovation within new home building, renovation and design. It is an opportunity to showcase the hard work that goes into this industry. It takes an extensive team for each one of these projects to come together and the Ovation Awards are a place to recognize the value of these challenges and successes. This weekend, the finalists, along with the sponsors, will come together to find out who will take home the prize! Of course we are crossing our fingers for a win, but at the end of the day, it is a privilege for any team to be up against other talented and hard working Vancouver renovation companies. This year, we are Ovation Awards finalists for Best Heritage Renovation. We are up against Shakespeare Homes & Renovations and Reid Developments. Heritage renovation takes finesse and patience and we applaud our competition for also being involved in restoring the well crafted buildings. Heritage renovation is a place where a company really shows their skill in being able to work with and around the building’s existing intricacies, while updating systems and styles to be consistent with modern building requirements. The 2015 Ovation Awards will be held this Saturday, April 25th at the Marriott Vancouver Pinnacle Downtown Hotel. And we hope it will be as exciting as it looks from past years! We again would like to thank the owners of this heritage home for their dedication and value of heritage renovations. We are now working again with these clients to update a bathroom. Stay tuned for photos of this project and more, including photos from the GVHBA Ovation Awards gala.

As we move into the new year, we want to take a look at some of our accomplishments of the last year, and the 2014 Royal City Builders’ Awards mark a wonderful achievement. Sasen Renovations has been recognized once again for our strength in heritage renovations. We took home the 2014 Royal City Builders’ People’s Choice Award this year. The 2014 Royal City Builders’ Awards acknowledge professionals building in New Westminster. New West is home to a variety of beautiful heritage homes, many of which require updating. It takes both talent and patience to work on heritage homes and is something we are fond of at Sasen. This year, the 2014 Royal City Builders’ Awards were hosted by Todd Talbot, known for his presence on Love It or List it Vancouver. We are especially grateful to our hardworking team here at Sasen Renovations for the talent and adept ability to craft something new while respecting the existing heritage properties of the home. We would also like to thank Eric from Pattison Architecture, whose knowledge and experience allowed for the success of this project. Pattison Architecture has won many Royal City Builders’ Awards over the years, a testament to their experience. Of course, we also want to thank Bob and Sheila Innis, the homeowners, who hold a strong appreciation for the heritage value of the home and who have updated this property with the ability to envision the new with appreciation for the old. Bob and Sheila, thanks! This project in particular was interesting due to the artifacts we were able to source, including photos of the original building. As we worked on this project, Sasen Renovations found key pieces of the original building hidden behind a variety of a new changes. We were able to restore the heritage home to be a younger, more updated version of what it was in its glory. In addition, Sasen was able to modernize the kitchen while still allowing for the flow of the home to transition seamlessly. The end result was fantastic! We look forward to taking on more heritage projects, and projects that allow us to practice and respect the craft that is at the core of what drives Sasen Renovations!

Sasen Renovations is kicking off 2014 with the exciting news of becoming a Residential Renovation Georgie Award Winner at the awards ceremony for 2013 Georgie Awards. We took home the award for the Best Residential Renovation under $300,000. We turned a house into a home, and it took dedication and finesse. Even during demolition, this project required consideration and attention to detail. A New Westminster renovation and a heritage renovation at that, we had to keep in mind the delicate and beautiful parts of the home that were being preserved. This project included both an interior renovation portion and exterior New Westminster renovation portions. The interior allowed Sasen to demonstrate our experience with bathroom remodelling, kitchen renovations and the ability to focus of the fine interior finishes while preserving the heritage portions of the home. We created a continuity of design and style, assisting the client in making design decisions that would blend together new and aged portions of the heritage home. The exterior renovation really embellished the bones of the existing structure, but this part allowed for more than just esthetic quality. Replacing the windows meant the home owners can live in greater comfort and be more energy efficient. The sooner an older home takes on a energy effective renovation, the longer the home owners can enjoy the benefits of a greener home. The 2013 Georgie Award ceremony was wonderfully done. It was such an honour to be surrounded by so many of the talented professionals working in Vancouver renovations and Vancouver home building. We enjoyed the evening as much as we enjoyed bringing home the award and recognition for our entire team’s hard work. We couldn’t have done it with out the talented Sasen Renovations team and those who partnered with us to make this project a success. We are confident the 2013 Georgie Awards will be the first of many awards to come! To visit the Georgie site, follow the link below: http://www.georgieawards.ca/winners/view.aspx?id=2682

Sasen Renovations has become a Georgie Award finalist! Sasen has been repeatedly producing high standards of craftsmanship and our hard work is soon to pay off! Two of our recent projects have now been contended as finalists in two separate categories that will hopefully become award winning projects. The renovations include both interior renovations and an exterior renovation portion. Becoming a Georgie Award finalist is our dream becoming a reality. It seems dreams come full circle. We know exactly how our clients feel when we bring their dream homes into reality. As we have grown and developed Sasen Renovations into the balanced, consistent and reputable renovation company it is now, we are grateful to see more and more happy clients enjoying their dream home. We have worked side by side with them to build these dream homes and our clients to come will know how hard we work to make our renovation projects and our company something to be exceptionally proud of. Tune in for the upcoming results of the Georgie Awards. Below is one of our New West Renovations that is a contender for the Best Residential Renovation under 300k. Before….           After…             This was only the exterior! This renovation is a heritage renovation and as such, required a lot of considerations. The homeowners wanted to turn their home into something that would be true to its character while modernizing and making the required adjustments. In doing so, of course, we focused on the practical aspects bringing it up to code, while refining the esthetic aspects. The exterior design elements flowed into the inside renovation, allowing the home to maintain continuity between both, while bridging the divide between modern and heritage.