Interiors: Fresh and playful

When it comes to colour, this designing duo likes to keep things fun, fresh and a bit playful. “We think of turquoise as a neutral colour,” say Melissa VanToever and Carly Martin of Charlottetown’s Turquoise Shed Designs. The pair started their custom furniture refinishing business only two years ago. “We couldn’t find much that was our style in P.E.I., so we started creating it ourselves,” explains Carly. It quickly spun into a full-service design company that sees them handling everything from window coverings to whole-house jobs.

Four years ago, Melissa and her husband, John Michael Murphy, bought this 90-year-old, three-bedroom duplex (they rent out the other half) in the heart of Charlottetown. With lots of help from family and friends, every wall was torn out, allowing them to open up the main floor’s three small rooms into a single large, airy space. Even the ceiling was ripped down, exposing beams that were probably taken from old ships, still with large bits of marine hardware left intact.


Front entry
A wall between the front entryway and living room was removed, along with the ceiling. To maintain some division, homeowner Melissa VanToever’s brother built a tall storage unit, which holds a TV on one side and hooks and cubbies on the other.