Interior Design by Maria Killam This post has been percolating in my head for a long time. I have touched on this conversation in other posts but have finally been able to explain this dynamic better than ever, based on the insight I’ve gained watching all the Facebook conversations that… Continue Reading →
Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers!! Here’s a new video where I’m sharing about my boards, I’m a newbie with these vidoes, so don’t judge me too harshly, but you certainly can if you want to, haha. When I was brand new at colour consulting, it took me a… Continue Reading →
Whenever I have introduced the concept of clean and dirty colours, without fail, someone raises an objection to the term “dirty”. They wonder why I don’t use a term that implies less of a value judgement like “muted” or “toned-down” or “complex”. I’ve been effectively teaching the difference in my… Continue Reading →
Today we have another guest post from Tricia Firmaniuk. How lucky I was to find a virtual assistant with the same aesthetic as me! And she’s an artist so she sees undertones from miles away. And in my experience, it is indeed rare for an artist to be able to… Continue Reading →
Maria Killam and Mom Hellen (Junttila) When I originally helped Mom decorate the first floor of her carriage house (built six years ago) we had found this area rug (below) as the inspiration starting point because she loves turquoise. Then, we painted her upstairs living room coral and in the end,… Continue Reading →
This post is written by Tricia Firmaniuk, my eDesign virtual assistant: In this post I’m picking up where Maria left off in her last post about what’s coming up in the trends and get a conversation going about black. After several years now of “airy and beachy” many of us… Continue Reading →
Lately I have been getting many emails from readers asking questions like this: Maria, what comes next??? If we are nearing the end of the gray and white “fresh” trend. What’s next!!??? I’m starting the process of updating a 1990 normal sized (1800 sf) house – nothing touched since built… Continue Reading →
If you had seen as many DIY designed houses as I have over the years, you’d understand why this post turned into a bit of a rant. WARNING: If YOU have built a new house with stone or brick, or both and are unhappy with the result, I recommend that… Continue Reading →
I received a great question the other day that I don’t think I’ve covered on the blog so here it is. I was once in a house where the homeowner had painted one wall in her kitchen 11 times. This is a similar situation: Maria, I have color problem I… Continue Reading →
So I’m an 80s child and lately we’ve discovered Apple Music for our iPhones. At Christmas, Terreeia and I treated ourselves to a new portable Bose stereo which, of course, are now wireless, and then we started creating Playlists on our phones. I created an 80s playlist which I listened to… Continue Reading →
image source I had two client visits yesterday. The first client had a great room with a fireplace. In her interior, the best place to install the TV will be above the fireplace, so we talked about installing wing chairs to flank the fireplace. She mentioned that no one would sit there because… Continue Reading →
This post is coming to you today from Tricia Firmaniuk, my, so talented Virtual Design Assistant: ___________________________________________________________________ We’re right in the middle of our busy exterior season, so if you haven’t tackled your exterior, and it needs updating, don’t worry! There is still time. Lovely brick and greige exterior from… Continue Reading →
Does your floor tile have to match your countertop or surround? One of my long-time readers posted a comment recently still haunts me. Brace yourself today my lovelies, because my post today is a RANT. Here’s what happened to my reader: “I recently stopped at a big box store to pick up some info… Continue Reading →
You asked for it and here it is! Drumroll….. a discussion of one of the most challenging neutral colour categories, taupe. Tricia Firmaniuk, my virtual design assistant is writing about this one! When Sherwin Williams named Poised Taupe as their colour of the year I was not convinced. As this year… Continue Reading →
Tricia Firmaniuk, my fabulous Virtual Design Assistant, wrote this great post about kitchens. Let me know what you think! ______________________________________________________________ How to Avoid the 5 Most Common Kitchen Mistakes Here’s a kitchen I found listed on Zillow that has clearly been recently renovated. And while the outcome is not terrible,… Continue Reading →
Years ago when colour still mystified me and I was constantly talking to other colour experts at colour conferences and at other colour courses looking for mastery, I’ll never forget one conversation I had with a colour designer who specialized in exterior colour. He said, “The problem with using neutrals… Continue Reading →
