Skip to main content

A Window of Happiness

07/11/2012
36 Comments

Maria’s Kitchen Refresh (update) If someone had told me 5 years ago that I would eventually move back to the valley where I grew up I would have said ‘No way, never going to happen‘. We moved to Abbotsford from Victoria when I was 12 years old and I was very upset about it at…

Continue Reading

How to Mix Patterns the Right Way

07/09/2012
19 Comments

A big hello to Maria Killam’s readers! I am your guest blogger, Saffronia Baldwin, also an interior designer and author of the blog Design Like the Pros . Thank you, Maria, for this special opportunity to do a guest post. I’m sure I can speak for all of us when I say that your fabulous…

Continue Reading

Our Hedges Got Trimmed! Before & After

07/08/2012
25 Comments

Home purchase update #19 source We have to wait until the fall to rip out the front and backyard because it’s hard to grow grass in the dead of summer. The only satisfying thing that happened which certainly improved the view into the backyard was trimming the Jack-in-the-Beanstalk hedges this past week.   Unfortunately, there’s…

Continue Reading

Maria’s Main Bathroom: Before & During

07/06/2012
37 Comments

This is one of our dated bathrooms which will be renovated soon. It was so hard for me to get past just the colour in here. See the chair rail? If you have it in your house and you don’t have wallpaper above it take it out! Photos by Maria Killam I didn’t touch this…

Continue Reading

A Colourful Giveaway by Panyl

07/05/2012
74 Comments

When I received this email from Panyl, I immediately emailed them back to say I’d love to do a giveaway. Here’s how it works! PANYL is the revolutionary design material that puts all the creative possibilities of custom furniture finishes directly in your hands. Literally. See this normally white FRAMSTA Entertainment unit from IKEA? Well…

Continue Reading

The Best Colour for Vinyl Siding

07/03/2012
82 Comments

Updated in 2023. It’s anything but white. Amen. Well, did you think I would say anything else? This trend has killed every white house that ever lived because it makes every white house look the same as all the others. Trust me, I’m as sad about this as you are. Gentek Vinyl Siding White siding,…

Continue Reading

How to Inject Fresh into Your Earth-Toned House

07/01/2012
22 Comments

Yesterday I posted my Styled Interiors board from Pinterest on my Facebook Fan Page and one of my readers commented that it was her favourite board and wondered if I would post more images on tablescapes for coffee tables and end tables. So I clicked over to Ralph Lauren Home because I adore the styling…

Continue Reading

Daisies are Perfection

06/29/2012
29 Comments

Anyone that has read my blog from the very beginning might remember that until I had a custom header designed, the banner at the top of my blog was just daisies. I would rotate them whenever I found one I liked even better. This Monday I went out for my one and only run this…

Continue Reading

Maria’s Kelly Green Front Door

06/28/2012
51 Comments

So I’ve decided to keep the screen door. I tried to get a picture of it today but it was dark so I can’t post it. It’s got a retractable screen so basically it’s a white metal frame with windows. I’m keeping it because I don’t have a high end looking exterior and I love…

Continue Reading

Trend Alert: Is Navy the New Black?

06/26/2012
37 Comments

My good friend Stu Stiller is always sending me colourful emails to keep me on my toes and the latest was Kohler’s new colourful sink collection by Jonathan Adler. Images from Kohler This is Jonathan’s kitchen, he chose the green for himself. What I find fascinating about his colour choices is that this green is…

Continue Reading

Wall-to-Wall Carpeting is the Most Comfortable: Yay or Nay?

06/24/2012
44 Comments

If we were being genuinely honest we would have to say that probably the most comfortable interior environment ever invented is the middle-class suburban home. In other words, comfort, physical comfort, is wall-to-wall carpeting, lots of sofas and chairs, and everything very clean. – Fran Lebowitz Pinterest When I saw this quote the other day,…

Continue Reading

Why Homeowners Mix Styles that Don’t Work

06/22/2012
18 Comments

Now that I’m a homeowner I get it (because I notice I want to do it too). I have been in so many homes where there are conflicting styles all over the place. Interior and exterior. Tudor style trim slapped onto a 70’s box house. Horizontal stacked stone that should never have seen the inside of…

Continue Reading

Stuff Happens During Renovations

06/21/2012
37 Comments

source When you are building a house or renovating, there are so many details that need to be managed and problem solved on-goingly. For example, in my new studio, suddenly there was a baseboard heater that had been installed on the wrong wall. My bookshelves from my last office were going on this wall and…

Continue Reading

Fall True Colour Expert Training is Here

06/18/2012
12 Comments

  My True Colour Expert Workshop in Toronto was the best ever! As I said in this post, the system I’ve created for distinguishing undertones in neutrals evolves the more I teach it. Pinterest Since I have a bigger following in the east than the west it seems, I will be back in Toronto, October…

Continue Reading

My Kitchen Cabinets are in – Next the Countertops

06/16/2012
45 Comments

My cabinets were delivered on Thursday afternoon. When Richard from Quality Cabinets arrived to install them on Friday I had a question for him. I have seen so many half finished kitchens with the boxes installed without the doors, I half expected mine to arrive the same way because I thought maybe that was normal….

Continue Reading

Happiness is. . . a Little Magic

06/14/2012
9 Comments

Sometimes clients are looking for a little magic when I arrive with my box of colours. source But sometimes, magic will not erase a mint green carpet installed all throughout your house, for example. source Sometimes colour can absolutely make something old and dated look a hundred times better. Sometimes, it just takes money. Pinterest When…

Continue Reading