“Well how about a baking station?” I say as my clients and I sit and chat over what we need to incorporate into their new kitchen. “A baking station?” Their thirteen year old daughter has perked up. Head cocked. Looking super cute and suddenly excited. “Yes. I need a baking station.” She smiles at me. She is a little shy at first, but I can feel the happy vibes coming off her. She loves to bake. We have that in common. I totally get how important that baking station is. Back to the parents… “It’s too cramped. We need more space, and counter space without compromising walking space…” and the list goes on. Nothing frighteningly different. They, like all growing families, need space. They need efficiency. They require a place for their “stuff”. The fun part comes later, when I start to ask about style and colours. “We like gray. We like a little more modern, maybe a little funky. You decide.” Those words are golden. “You decide.” YOU DECIDE!!!! So off into colourville we went. With fun patterns and colours. The best part? It’s almost indestructible! New Crypton fabrics are so durable, that we can do almost anything […]
Paint above: Benjamin Moore Welcome to the new age of design. As the new generation starts to move into their new homes, condos, apartments and swanky lofts, they long for something different than what they grew up with. They want to spread their fashion wings, and let their individuality shine. We spent most of the 80s and 90s saturating homes in greens and burgundies. One of my first jobs, as a designer, was to help a client who spent a fortune on a turquoise leather sofa in the late 80s. Yes, you just read that. The millennium arrived, and as my amazing faux finisher/decorative painter Suzanne Pratt of Venetian Studios rants, “boring, blah, beige, took over!” So here we are. Most of us, are sickened at the thought of hunter green and deep wine, and bored with white and beige. So, in efforts to help us out, the world of design is giving us BLUE! And, just in time for summer! Blue, as a “staple” colour, is a leap for most people. A blue sofa? A blue dresser? A blue rug? Really? It’s not just an accent colour? NO! If you are one of those people who has been […]