There’s No Place Like Home – A Designer’s Renovation

Good morning!

How do you like the title? There’s No Place Like Home. It’s true, isn’t it? And not just for Judy Garland, but for all of us.  Our home is a safe zone.  A place where after a long day of work, we go to throw our shoes off, eat our meals, hug our families and hide from the reality of our stresses. I say this in jest. I have 7-year-old twins.  You get it.  A renovation feels like it might just threaten that safe zone.

Continue reading “There’s No Place Like Home – A Designer’s Renovation”

A recipe for health: Creating a healthy kitchen

It’s fun, actually. Cooking with your kids. My kids love cooking, especially my son, Logan. He’s been in my kitchen since he was about four. Standing on stools, covered in an apron and oven mitts “to here”. My daughter, Zoe, well she is more of a restaurant manager. She is just like Mommy.

Continue reading “A recipe for health: Creating a healthy kitchen”

A Second Opinion

Why a second opinion, and possibly a third, is sometimes necessary.

When Sonia and Jay first called us in, they had spoken to other contractors first. I can’t remember if it was 1 or 2. What I do remember, is they had some grand plans for their main floor, and when they laid it all out for me, I truly felt they were planning too much for their space. Their intent was to open up their kitchen to their den/living room/family room, whatever you want to call it. For a townhouse whose main floor consisted of those two spaces plus a dining area, in my opinion, it seemed a bit much.

Continue reading “A Second Opinion”

Stop! Don’t hire a contractor yet!

Well hello there! If you have been following my social media for the last week or so, you have noticed that we are putting on a one hour class to teach the public how to get a proper contract and good financing for their renovations. Why? You ask, would we do this?

I guess the truth is, that both Jonathan (handsome guy in photo above), and I are very nice people. Hah! It’s true. And these two very nice people are very very tired of seeing other very nice people get into financial trouble with shady businesses.

Continue reading “Stop! Don’t hire a contractor yet!”

A little colour injection

I. Want. COLOUR!

Is there a little kid inside of you screaming for colour? It’s like this deep longing inside your soul that jumps up an down with glee every time you see bright pretty toss cushions and brightly painted walls. You are reminded of summer, and amazing vacations and sunshine and life. Oh but you can’t! What will people say? Would if you got sick of it in a year?

Continue reading “A little colour injection”

Don’t stress. Dance.

Image result for stress awareness

April is national stress awareness month. Sounds gross. Feels worse.  Stress is a real thing, unfortunately.

My assistant found this statistic:

At least 1/3 of Canadians feel that they are constantly under stress because they are trying to accomplish more than what they can effectively handle and not taking the time to decompress often enough.

Continue reading “Don’t stress. Dance.”

Revolutionary Fabrics

I have been working in the design industry for over twenty years now. Most of those years have been fabric filled.  It’s really an obsession of sorts.  My reps come to visit my office, they bring armfulls of new books. The books are filled with swatches of new and exciting fabrics, textures, colours and patterns. The smell of the fabric fills the room. The colours bounce around and the patterns dance like butterflies around my head. Okay that’s super hokey. But seriously. One the the best parts of my job is finding the perfect fabrics for a space.

Continue reading “Revolutionary Fabrics”