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Decorating Advice

Ask Maria: Is My Living Room Too Beachy?

01/23/2016
33 Comments

Jeffrey Bilhuber  When I saw this Ask Maria question, I immediately thought of Jeffrey Bilhuber’s recent spread in House Beautiful Magazine. The answer to your question today lovely reader, is inspired by my favourite decorator. Here’s the question: I recently moved with my husband into our first house!  I have been so excited to make…

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How to Choose the Perfect Lampshade

10/29/2015
18 Comments

via pinterest The other day I was on the phone with my friend Penelope. She is a very busy woman. In addition to running her business, she also home schools her two boys. Whenever I get her on the phone (which is not often), I always try to be as interesting as possible so that she’ll stay on the phone…

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Mixing Metals: How to Update a Brown Kitchen by adding Brass

09/17/2015
37 Comments

Barbara built this house with her husband 5 years ago ago. He wanted a wood stained kitchen and although she’d love to have a white kitchen now, she wasn’t prepared to paint it in this phase of the decorating project.

Her biggest complaint was with the pendant lights, they created a lot of visual glare and she wanted them replaced.

Also, she needed drapery to block out the sun in the wintertime when it slanted through the windows.

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7 Ways to Make the Most of What You Already Have | Before & After

07/26/2015
125 Comments

Crystal called me to help her pull together her new house. This was her request:

“I used to have a colourful condo. Oranges and yellows have always been a favourite of mine, and in the last 5 years, I’ve loved pinks. I hired a designer about 6 years ago, and I guess she was successful at convincing me that colour was kids’ stuff and neutrals were sophisticated.

So out with all my stuff and in with the new. Cream, chocolate browns, and greens. I found it bland and lifeless, although yes, very nice and sophisticated. So I started adding pink with Designers Guild bedding, decorative pillows, etc. I also bought some whimsical paintings with colour punches (I’ve attached photos of them).”

I was very impressed by your colourful portfolio and would love your help.”

See the before and afters here. . .

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The Minimalist Guide to Decorating with Charcoal

05/23/2015
21 Comments

Photos by Maria Killam Recently, I had a consultation with a client who needed help creating a colour palette for her new home. She didn’t want to make the same mistakes she had made in the past and was looking for a plan. She sent me this inspiration photo for her house:  {via pinterest} I spent a few minutes…

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Where to Start When You Have a Blank Slate

05/10/2015
43 Comments

Jacqueline called me and said:

“Help! My laundry room is finished, it’s white, I followed all the advice on your blog right down to copying the shelves in your laundry room, but now that I have a white Maria Killam laundry room and I can do anything I want, I have no idea where to start!

What colour should I paint it? I painted it BM Grey Owl because I had some leftover paint but it’s doing nothing for me!”

I said, “First, Grey Owl is almost like a neutral, muted blue/green grey that would look great in a bathroom with lots of blue grey marble that coordinated with it, but for your laundry room to look fabulous, it needs a colour!

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4 Ways to Decorate Around Your Charcoal Sofa

04/28/2015
36 Comments

Today’s post is about decorating with charcoal, really important to know since it’s such a popular neutral right now!

If you have a charcoal sofa (just like during the brown trend, when most neutral-loving shoppers purchased a brown one) it’s time for me to help you bring this colour to life.

Why?

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How to Update your House From the Tuscan Brown Trend

04/02/2015
14 Comments

I was recently in a Mediterranean style home that had been built and decorated completely inside the Tuscan Brown Trend. Dark (pink beige & butterscotch) Travertine floors throughout the main floor, yellow/gold granite countertops, dark wood stained cabinets throughout, yellow walls everywhere and 8 bathrooms outfitted in very expensive finishes, most with conflicting colours in floors and countertops. My…

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The Problem with Your Orange/Yellow Floors

03/12/2015
75 Comments

I get this question so much, it’s time to focus on it for a moment. A lot of people have this problem. Or should I say “problem”? {Yellow/orange floors. Anything wrong here?} So here’s the question from a reader: “Have you ever had to decorate around a maple floor? Yes, I have just moved into what was…

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How to Choose the Right Curtain Rod Colour

03/05/2015
54 Comments

Unsure which curtain rod colour you should choose? Here’s a guide to help you choose the right curtain rod, whether you want to frame your room perfectly or have the curtain rod disappear in your room design. And before you purchase a curtain rod, read this post to make sure you measured them correctly. One…

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Fresh Solution to an Expensive Problem: Kitchen Valance

01/11/2015
66 Comments

My sister Elizabeth called me and said “Now that the Christmas garland draped above the window above my kitchen sink is gone (below) it looks sooooo empty.” Photo by Tracey Ayton And, she really hated looking at the bad transition between the end of the backsplash tile (below) which could not continue above the window….

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