Using Advanced Painting Techniques

This is the back splash I did in a home a little over a year ago now. See those tiles - that's paint.

After ripping off the old boring white tiles the wall behind was gouged and a total mess. My client was really worried that the wall was going to have to be replaced - how was she ever going to get it nice and flat again.

I showed her that she wasn't going to have to. We patched all of the big holes and smoothed out the worst gouges but then left it pretty rough to improve the life-like look of the tiles.

I chose colours that would accent her new counters and flooring, showed her how to create the "grout" lines and away she went.

We did a light wash over all of them to make them look a little aged and coated them with 4 coats of gloss to pretect them.

Now she's got a fabulous feature in her kitchen without the mess and expense of installing tiles

When picking colors for your home - sometimes it's easier to let nature do all the work

Nature has one of the craziest palettes I can think of. Where else do you have a red, blue, and black color scheme that looks so good. In this picture you can see how a really light blue of the sky looks beautiful with the cherry red maple leafs. So you could use the blue for your main walls and have a red feature - or you could have a red room with blue accents. The truck of the tree looks almost black in this photo - this could be your trim!

I know that technically a fence is part of nature - but it is made out of wood and it proofs a really good point here. The fence is a really dark almost purple brown - the leaves are a beautiful mixture of bright and medium greens - and they look great next to the brown. This is a great scheme for kids rooms - hear me out...

Kids love being warm and cozy and they love bright colors. Well bright colors don't usually evoke warm and cozy but you can mix them together to get both effects. Dark brown walls and bright green accents! For little girls - dark brown or burgundy walls and pink accents - it's awesome!

This picture again proofs that nature knows what it's doing. It's not afraid to put colors together! Bright blue and a yellow green - gorgeous. This about what a beautiful bathroom this would make!

This important thing to remember when picking out paint colors is that it's just paint - it's cheap and fairly easy to apply. Don't be afraid to do something bold because you're worried you won't like it - if you don't - you can just paint over it.

I always tell my husband that I'll put it up and if he doesn't like it I'll take it down (this has yet to happen). I'll pick a crazy color scheme and he'll look at me like I'm crazy - but once it's up I yet again proof why I'm the color expert.

Bold bathrooms make a color statement!

This is a bathroom that I did about 3 years ago. I had a hard time convincing the client to go with avacado green but - as usual - once it was up they loved it.

The bottom of the room is done in Benjamin Moore's "Avacado", the top half of the room is done in a really pale yellow-orange. This combination gives it a really antique look.

To really make this bathroom punch I got them to paint all of the moldings black. The mirror frame, the baseboards, basically any horizontal line. It's really what finished the room off - without it the room wouldn't be the same.

If you look in the mirror you can see the plaid green, yellow and black shower curtain that I picked out - again keeping with the antique feel.

Bathrooms tend to be fairly small rooms - make sure the colors are bold so that they can at least make a big statement!

As always - make sure to contact me directly with your color selection questions. And remember - putting color in your house is really what makes it your Home.

Warm colors and warm tile

Hey folks,

So I recently worked on this bathroom for a client and I was amazed at how a tiny little space could be so warm and inviting! Before it was all white walls, with white tile. There was an old dingy sink basin - it had no life to it.

I took the client down to our local hardware store and picked up some tumble/honed marble. It can be on the expensive side but we got it on sale and it's beautful! I matched it up with a dark, bronzy red and now the owner never wants to leave.

She loves lighting some candles and relaxing in her new bathroom. She says that the warm bronze paint color really looks great when lit by candles and that the tiles are so warm when she finally has to step out of the tub.

I think something that's really important to rememeber is that this bathroom is in a two-bedroom high-rise condo. So many people won't try something like this because they think it can only be done in a house! Nonsense! As long as the taps aren't leaking - you can instal tiles in your bathroom - no matter what kind of house you have!

Use your bedroom to express your style!

Afraid of making a mistake in the common areas of your home? Start with your bedroom!

Your bedroom is your sanctuary - do whatever you want to it - it's yours! This is one of the rooms in your house where you should really do whatever you want to do. And because you don't usually show this room to guests - feel free to go a little bolder. Try something new.

The picture above is from a bedroom that I helped a client design. She liked contemporary style and wanted her bedroom to be really unique.

We picked out a couple of colours that she really liked - a series of blues complimented by a rich chocolate brown.

I chose a soft, wedgewood blue as the main color and then I showed her how to easily use tape to create the large squares for her feature wall.

Navy blue velvet curtains finished the look off.

Kitchen designs that stand the test of time

What percentage of time do you spend in your kitchen? If you're like me, I bet at least half of the time you spend at home (not including sleeping) is spent in your kitchen - that'll add up to a lot of time!

Better make sure it's a room you enjoy being in...

Kitchen design is always a hot topic, there are tons of companies and designers out there that specialize just in kitchen design - and they will charge you an arm and a leg for it!

Last year this client asked me to come into her home to "update" her kitchen. The flooring was white vinyl, the counters were pink, the curtains were purple, and the backsplash was cheap white tile- it was awful.

I helped her pick out a new vinyl floor, we got her countertops changed, painted the walls a beautiful red and showed her how to make her backsplash the focal point.

By the way... those tiles on the backsplash - those aren't tiles at all. We painted them on!

Everybody has differnet tastes and styles - it's always been my mission as a designer to make sure your home reflects your style. Sometimes just picking colors can be an awakening for a client but sometimes putting the color on the walls is the awakening.

All of a sudden the home owner looks at their space in a new way. They see lines and details that weren't there before - suddenly eveything pops and their house has now become their home.

This is the beauty of a contemporary color scheme - the lines. When your home has special architecural features you need to emphasise them. White on White doesn't make much of an impression. Some designers like to leave all the walls white and then make a statement with accessories - I agree this can look nice but it doesn't do a lot of justice for the home.

I love emphasising lines and color is a great way to do that. The picture above is in my own home. The ceiling is vaulted upwards of 20 feet. The ceiling is painted white and the wall that stretches up to it is orange - now this is a statement. If the wall was white you wouldn't notice the line of the wall as much as you do here - it would just blend into the ceiling.

View the lines of your own home, and select colors to help them pop. It's always going to be dramatic and it will always be a conversation starter.