Outdoor Dining

Although I was very excited (and bragging to my East Coast friends) about the early spring blossoms here in Vancouver, I must admit, I am really tired of all the rain!  I have found myself longing  for a warm summer night to dine al fresco.  It will be awhile here, nothing a quick trip to Mexico can't solve!  Here are some of my favourites.

Vibia Light

Love Love Love this new addition to Vibia Light's exterior line.  Called Halley, this is available in a few different forms and designed to take apart and transport.  This is a must have for my patio this summer.

Vibia Light

Vibia Light

AD April 2010

At a full city block in length, this New York penthouse has multiple terraces, including one devoted to outdoor dining.  Interiors by MAC II.

Alexis Victoria Blog

If this is what camping looks like...I am in!

To do: Buy new notebook for meetings

On todays " To Do" list was to stop at 18Karat and pick up a couple more notebooks.  For the past few years I have been using their suede unlined notebooks to take with me to all my meetings.  Unfortunately they no longer seem to have them.  I was however easily distracted by their gorgeous South Granville store.  I absolutely love this vase and need to find a home for it...maybe mine.



Amorpha Bowl

So, then I started to think about where I could find a nice leather notebook - maybe refillable would make sense.  Hermes came to mind....

These notebooks look really cute too.  This is a set of 10 individual books presented in an archival box that when layed together in the right order create a beautiful Hermes scarf pattern. 

Not that I was procrastinating today, but once I started to think about Hermes my mind wandered to the colour ORANGE in general.  I have always been a fan although must admit, I have not introduced it to many client's homes.  I love the use of orange in this Jeffrey Bilhuber interior.  The paint colour and the drapery fabric look beautiful with the touches of brown and cream.



Coordinating the paint with the leather banquette looks great in Steven Shortridge's Venice home.

These headboards were the inspiration for a client's vacation home.  I like the way single beds have designed to definitely be "grown up" in this bedroom.

For the less daring, orange can easily be added in small touches like this Brooklyn brownstone by Brandon Coburn .

Or in a bold showstopping way like this stair case as seen on Design Sponge.

Picture walls

I am always drawn to designs with great picture walls.  Be it a living room, stairway or kitchen - the eclectic use of art and photography really give a room personality.  The choice of art is always a discussion point and the photos give you a window into a more private part of peoples lives.  Here are some of my favourites:

Marlene Birger

Christine Ralph

India Hicks

David Jimnez



Marlene Briger

Canadian House & Home

Feeling Blue?

Blue is FINALLY back and in a modern way.  Over the past couple of years we have seen light blues with brown, teal blues and grey blues.  This spring we are seeing true dark blues in fabrics, tiles, paint colours and accessories.  Companies like Kravet are presenting exciting fabric collections from designers like Barclay Butera featuring some great blues! 



Barclay Butera





Architectural Digest

I love the high gloss walls featured in the Architectural Digest home below. In order to successfully achieve this look you need perfectly flat walls - preferably new drywall. Benjamin Moore is making it a little easier with their Advance line which you can clean up with soap and water.





Cole and Son Wallpaper



Trish Knight - West Vancouver Residence

Trish Knight - West Vancouver Residence

Sneak Peak of what's to come this Spring at Parliament Interiors.



Spring is coming early to TKD...

In spite of yesterday's rain, hail, and snow it is a beautiful spring day in Vancouver today.  Makes me thankful for all the colour we are seeing this year!  These are Kravet fabrics I am using to inject some spring fun into a client's otherwise elegant neutral home.  For other great PINKS check out my Inspiration Board.

Custom Faux Finished Walls

This is the powder room in a West Vancouver home I have been working on.  The client was looking for WOW factor in the transitional home she had purchased last summer.  The vanity, originally a cherry stained maple, has been painted metallic silver to blend with the walls which have a strie of golds, bronzes, and silvers together with a clear shimmery beading. 

Waterfront West Vancouver Residence

The goal for this home was to create a cleaner more contemporary space while incorporating the client's antiques and art. The kitchen is a wider low profile shaker painted white and warm gray. The counters are quartz and the backsplash glass.



This is the eating nook in the kitchen. The bench is built in, with storage underneath, the table is french bistro style and the lighting is Bocci.



The millwork built into the dining room is walnut and designed to float between two walls. The table is McGuire.


This is the living room - it has large windows overlooking the ocean and has a light airy feeling.


The millwork built into this room replaces an entire wall of closets. I love the mirrored doors for creating lightness. One side of this is a 4' closet with hanging space. The other conceals home office equipment and file drawers.

Ambleside Room by Room

I have a great client in West Vancouver with a beautiful sunny Ambleside home that I have been working with for the past couple of years. Recently, we completed bedrooms for her two teenage daughters.




This first room is soft and pretty - inspired by dreams of Paris, shopping at Tiffanys and everything that glitters. The wallpaper is warm white with silvery grey and pale aqua large scale damask. I custom designed the headboard and had it upholstered in a shimmery silver velvet. The buttons are clustered rhinestones - I thought these would be easy to find in Vancouver, but ended up having to get them shipped up from California! I love the ultra feminine touches - cushions, crystals and mirrored furniture pieces.


This room couldn't be more different! I had the headboard upholstered in this fabulous stretch vinyl from Casamance. Although it is difficult to tell in this photo, the fabric appears to be black gloss until it is pulled and tufted only to reveal an intense dark teal like the sequined cushions on the bed. It has so much attitude - modern and retro at the same time. The bedding is white and black, with hits of shine in the sequins, the smoked mirror over the bed and the gloss off the headboard.

Transformation on Alberni

This is really one of those times where I am just kicking myself for not having the "before" shots! This renovation was done on a two bedroom condo just off Robson Street. The client is a young couple that decided to move downtown into a smaller space to have a more urban lifestyle. They are just in the process of moving in so there is more work to be done - but here are the first pictures of the kitchen and bathroom!

The kitchen used to be a typical galley kitchen with a pass through to a dining room next to the windows. When you first walked in, directly in front of you was a wall. As you can see, this suite is quite high up and has a city view. By removing the wall and reconfiguring the kitchen, not only does the client get a beautiful large cooking space, but they now also have a bright, sunlit home where they are reminded as soon as they walk in the door that they are no longer in the suburbs!

The island is large enough to seat 6 people and easily takes the place of the dining room which was too narrow and awkward to seat a large group.

The cabinets in this kitchen have been custom built and painted in a warm light grey and a dark dramatic charcoal. The counters are the reverse. The hood fan cover was custom built over a motor to provide more of a furniture look. The backsplash is back painted glass.

These are a couple of pictures of the bathroom - keeping with the warm greys I used a dark porcelain floor, light walls and accents of glass bars and mosiacs.

Dream Bathroom

This master bathroom is in a heritage style farm house on an acreage outside of Vancouver complete with beautiful young couple, cute little boy, two great dogs and a horse! If that doesn't make you envious, perhaps the fact that the bathroom is 400 square feet will. What you don't see in these photos is the dedicated space for the home gym, the two walk in closets and the french doors opening onto the second floor veranda which wraps the house.

All the millwork is custom designed for the bathroom with a painted and glazed finish. The vanity floats in the center of the bathroom separated from the free standing tub by a floor to ceiling dividing wall.

The claw foot tub is centered on a tiled mat of natural stone. The fireplace is two sided between the bathroom and the master bedroom.

The tile selection was really important in this bathroom as the water source is a well and I could not use anything too light in colour. We chose a porcelain tile for the main floor in a noce colour and accented it with calcutta, and glass tiles, and mixed natural stone mosiacs.

These are a couple of pictures from my contractor's home. Room by room, when time allows, I have been helping him and his wife renovate a house they purchased last year. We started with his home office then moved on to the mud room and main floor bathroom. Currently, we are working on his (almost) 2 year old daughter's room and the kid's bathroom. Alexa's room is going to be very cool - stay tuned for pictures! In the meantime, here are a few shots of the completed rooms....