The Blind Thistle

Ah no worries I haven’t gone off the deep end!

I’m just talking about your home, your abode, the place you unwind, si casa…and how you style it.

Have you ever thought about why you decorated your home the way you did? Did you just place things willy-nilly, choose finishes at random and hope for the best? Or were the details and layout of your home a deciding factor at all?

For me, the house or space tells me what to do. Seriously! As an experienced Interior Designer I was trained to on how to make a space look its best and it was usually done from the office studio. Yes, we would have on-site visits where we gathered information and created plans but the “magic” was all done in the office. Often times we didn’t have the opportunity to go back to the site- such as a new build or a demolished space. This process worked but I feel it had its flaws because we could not see the choices in the space so inevitably the finishes would look different when installed.

Don’t get me wrong the finishes would still look good together and created a cohesive look, I mean what kind of designer would we be if they didn’t?

Personally I like to spend time in a space before deciding what will be done with it. This is particularly true when comes to my own personal living spaces.

Case in point:

My first apartment on my own was a small, yet bright walk up, just steps from the beach in Toronto. Because it was loaded with original architectural features I didn’t feel the need to go overboard with the furniture or accessories. I let the period details speak for themselves. I opted for simple furniture and added a few simple color blocked walls for interest.

My first home was a 1940’s wartime bungalow. It was small, dark and needed big updates. The house had a (very) few neat features such as art-decor-ish door and window frame details but that was about it. Did I mention it was dark? Because of this I actually opted for darker wall and cabinet colors because let’s face it, any light and bright colors in this almost non-existent natural light environment were just going to look drab and dreary. I had black, yes black! hallways but added white picture frames to make it pop. I even had an all black powder room but with white fixtures for contrast it was stunning.

Do you get my meaning now about letting the house speak to you?

All you have to do is look….and listen.