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Be My Fresh Valentine!

02/13/2014
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Pat from Santa Monica sent me this beautiful image of a room perfect to post on Valentines Day! She said “I’ve found a pink living room that just makes me sigh with relaxation every time I pull it up”. I totally agree. Thanks Pat, you totally inspired this post!  Photography by Clive Tompsett Farrow & Ball…

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Sherwin Williams Sample Board Giveaway

02/11/2014
321 Comments

  SW Agreeable Gray I’m very excited to announce that as we speak, I am getting large sample boards painted in Sherwin Williams best greys and whites. There will be 25 per set and they should be ready by the end of the month! I have received many requests for large samples in SW colours,…

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13 Ways to Create Flow with a White Kitchen

02/05/2014
28 Comments

View from the Master Bedroom In early 2014 I went down to Portland to work with a design coach.  I called my friend Barbara Miller who lives there to find out if we could have a visit. Barbara said “Yes that sounds great, and why don’t you stay in my Mom’s 6 million dollar house while…

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What I did on the Way to a Super Bowl Party

02/02/2014
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Since we live in the West Coast of British Columbia and are only 2 1/2 hours from Seattle, most of us cheer the Seahawks. And, as you know, they won last night, hooray! That’s enough about that, haha. I hung out with the Mom’s upstairs at the party because truthfully, I have no interest in football.
I was in Portland last week (more about that another day) where I did a little no-tax shopping and

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Eclectic Art in the Hallway

01/28/2014
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{Front Door Colour: Cloverdale 7669} The art wall in my hallway has looked like this almost since we moved in over a year ago. I couldn’t stand the wall sitting empty so I filled it with mostly empty frames in the hopes that it would inspire me to fill them faster. It didn’t. Every time…

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5 Ways to Transform your Bedroom Right Now!

01/26/2014
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For years and years, every time I have tried to source off-the-shelf bedding for a client, I walk away from the stores, pretty much uninspired. So I end up getting custom bedding made or I’ll suggest a white or cream duvet cover with custom shams. All of that has changed with this really fun bedding…

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Ask Maria: What’s Next After Subway Tile?

01/23/2014
58 Comments

“I’m a big fan of your blog, and your e-book helped me choose paint colors I love when we bought a house last year. I love the look of subway tiles, but I’ve noticed they’ve been around for awhile. I know here in New York, I’ve been seeing them for about 10 years (they could…

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Why I STILL Say WHITE even Though It Seems OLD

01/21/2014
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{source click on image} Last summer when I wrote this post on The Best White Bathrooms, I declared that all bathrooms should be white. Some people got downright cranky and decided that I had no idea what I was talking about. Just to clarify, what I meant, was that basically, you should choose mostly white…

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Goals for 2014; What I Accomplished in 2013

01/19/2014
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{click on images for source} Remember when I spent that Saturday in December planting tulip bulbs? Well, as I was kneeling in the dirt, digging holes one-by-one, I had this epiphany about goals and visualizing and here’s what it was: If there’s something you really want in your life, and you have it written down, and…

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Details to Add When Planning Your Beach House

01/15/2014
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Terreeia and I have not been on many beach vacations together. And in the last five years that I’ve been writing this blog, only one.

So, I’ve only now figured out why couples seem to vacation a lot with other couples. It’s so that you can have a shopping/lay by the pool friend or a golfing/activities buddy.

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Dreamy Beach House in Kauai

01/13/2014
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I have known my client and good friend for many years now. I first met her when I worked at Benjamin Moore in West Vancouver.  She had just moved into a new house with her husband and was looking for wall colours. When I said I could come out to her house to help her choose…

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