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Considering hiring an Interior Designer?
Read this first.
Hiring an Interior Designer is one of the most personal decisions you can make. Whether you’re building, remodelling, or redecorating, your designer will be working closely with you on creating the most intimate spaces in your life for months, or even years.
You may even be considering whether hiring a designer is the right decision for you at all.
While I can’t answer the question for you, I’ve been on the other end of clients desperately trying to fix mistakes they’ve made in hiring the wrong designer or going it alone. So I hope that these considerations will be useful in helping you make your own personal decision.
Latest video
The Contemporary Coastal
Do you want to see how we transformed this cozy cottage into a beautiful contemporary coastal retreat? In this video, Heather walks you through our design presentation where you’ll see before + afters of the Design Plan.
the cd interior design library
Because reading is fundamental…
We’re an open book when it comes to sharing our tips, tricks, mistakes, and how-to’s here inside the CD Library. We understand that not everyone is inside our service zone (Windsor to Chatham and surrounding areas), so sharing what we know in order to help you select the best Interior Designer for your project or learn more so that you can try your hand at DIY is the purpose of these educational posts.
If you’re simply here for some fun Before + Afters, skip down to the Reveal or All Posts section instead! We try to post new projects at least monthly.
Design Principles
Making Red Oak Trim and Cabinets Feel Updated and Chic
This post is for everyone who loves their wood trim and doesn't want to paint it! It's funny to me how the default it simply to paint everything white these days. Right now we are seeing an insurgence of wood -- particularly white oak -- at the forefront of trends...
How To Create a Home Environment that Improves Mental Health
According to the centre for addiction and mental health (source: CAMH): In any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians experiences a mental illness or addiction problem. By the time Canadians reach 40 years of age, 1 in 2 have—or have had—a mental illness. So look beside you. ...
5 Regrettable Custom Kitchen Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them)
Kitchens are the heart of the home. Yet, so many kitchen renovations lack heart and soul and leave homeowners underwhelmed and disappointed. Custom kitchen renovations can be scary. It’s a big investment and something that will impact your home’s look, feel, and...
5 Expensive Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Sofa
Your sofa will likely the one of the most expensive -- and most well-used -- piece of furniture that you buy for your home. It's someplace that you'll sit with your family or friends for hours at a time, so it needs to be comfortable! But it also needs to be...
Project Planning
How To Budget Your Redecorating or Renovation Project
Budget. It's the least sexy part of a renovation or redecorating project... One of the first questions I ask my interior decorating + design clients is "What's your project budget?" The most common reply is..."I don't know.... $1,500 maybe? $5,000? I have no clue...
How to Communicate Your Design Style to Your Builder, Architect and Interior Designer
Every time I ask someone what their style is, they respond with some phrase that includes the word modern. "I like modern with clean lines" roughly translates to "I have no clue what my style is, I just want it to look new". "My style is modern farmhouse" roughly...
Mistakes To Avoid When Building a House
Building a home can be one of the most rewarding yet frustrating processes. I can't tell you the number of times I've been called in towards the end of a build because the homeowner is exhausted, frustrated, way over budget, and feels paralyzed from making another...
Where To Begin When Building a House
Building a home is one of the most exciting and rewarding things that we can do. It can also be the most stressful and financially painful. If you're lucky, you'll only build one or two homes in a lifetime. So it stands to reason that, as a homeowner you'll never...
Before + Afters
Project Grandma’s Got A Brand New Bag
INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECT: Project Name: Grandma's Got A Brand New Bag Scope: Kitchen + Bathroom Design Location: Chatham, Ontario Details: Growing Family with a toddler and another on the way! THE CHALLENGE: This lovely mid-century home...
Project I Want To See The Lake
INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECT: Project Name: I Want To See The Lake! Designer: Laura Varela Scope: Interior Design, Cabinetry Design and Full Outfitting Location: Stoney Point, Ontario Details: Busy professional couple who own multiple business. ...
Project Glam Is My Favourite Colour
INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECT: Project Name: Glam Is My Favourite Colour Scope: Full Home Remodel and Outfitting Location: Chatham, Ontario Details: Entrepreneurial family with two young kids THE CHALLENGE: These clients were moving from a large...
READ
Our Latest Interior Design Projects in Windsor and Chatham and helpful guides.
Project Grandma’s Got A Brand New Bag
INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECT: Project Name: Grandma's Got A Brand New Bag Scope: Kitchen + Bathroom Design Location: Chatham, Ontario Details: Growing Family with a toddler and another on the way! THE CHALLENGE: This lovely mid-century home remained in the family...
Project I Want To See The Lake
INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECT: Project Name: I Want To See The Lake! Designer: Laura Varela Scope: Interior Design, Cabinetry Design and Full Outfitting Location: Stoney Point, Ontario Details: Busy professional couple who own multiple business. THE CHALLENGE: These...
Project Glam Is My Favourite Colour
INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECT: Project Name: Glam Is My Favourite Colour Scope: Full Home Remodel and Outfitting Location: Chatham, Ontario Details: Entrepreneurial family with two young kids THE CHALLENGE: These clients were moving from a large newer-build to this...
Project I Want To Paint It Black
INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECT: Project Name: I Want To Paint It Black Scope: Kitchen + Dining Room Design Location: Chatham, Ontario Details: Retirees with a close-knit family THE CHALLENGE: This kitchen had been well-loved over the past few decades, but it was time...
Project It’s Modern It’s Cabin It’s Cozy It’s Chic
INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECT: Project Name: It's Modern. It's Cabin. It's Cozy. It's Chic.Scope: Full-Service DesignLocation: Chatham, OntarioDetails: Family of 4 with two teenage daughters. THE CHALLENGE: Every member of this family had their own distinct style...
Project Timeless Is Forever
INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECT: Project Name: Timeless Is Forever Scope: Kitchen Design, Addition of a Walk-In Pantry and Kid's Workspace Location: Belle River, Ontario Details: Busy Family THE CHALLENGE: The kitchen was dated and worn out. The client wanted...
Project Personality Is My Middle Name
INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECT: Project Name: Personality Is My Middle NameScope: Full-Service Furnishing + DecorLocation: Chatham, OntarioDetails: Busy Professional family with a toddler THE CHALLENGE: This home had great bones, but it was quite vanilla. Black...
THE CASUAL ECLECTIC MID-CENTURY MIX
INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECT: The Eclectic Mid-Century MixFull-Service Property Outfitting Lasalle, Ontario THE CHALLENGE: Mixing the households of the client's late mother along with a couple with distinctive styles proved challenging! He loves mid-century, she...
The Approachable Law Office
STYLING PROJECT: The Approachable Law OfficeChatham, Ontario THE CHALLENGE: This law firm is known for being relaxed and inviting. They were taking over a former office and wanted to ensure that it didn't feel stuffy so that new clientele would feel welcomed...
The Classic Urban Cottage
INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECT: The Cozy Urban CottageFull-Service Design THE CHALLENGE: This home backed onto beautiful green space, but simply didn't feel like home. It was builder-basic and had a massive grey wall that drew the eye to a transition space. They...
The Classic Cozy Hangout
I'm so proud of this client because their business has exploded and the wanted to express their new-found success by ridding their home of the hand-me-downs creating a beautiful and functional space for their family and friends to hang out in. This design featured her...
The Contemporary Coastal
Do you want to see how we transformed this cozy cottage into a beautiful contemporary coastal retreat? I'm going to walk you through the design presentation. This one here is going to be installed probably late October, mid November. So you'll definitely get to see...
The Tropical Contemporary Kitchen
Do you want to see how we transformed this kitchen? I'm going to walk you through a DIY concept presentation that we did for this kitchen here. Let's dive right in! So first of all, let's take a look at the layout. There wasn't a whole lot that we could do in terms of...
The Earthy Casual Studio
Do you want to see how we are helping make this beautiful apartment a home for a client? We're going to be doing the install in early October here, but I wanted to share with you the design plan and the presentation and how we're moving this forward. So this design...
The Light + Airy Hangout
This family felt as if they had outgrown their home. They went from a family of four to now hosting 10 people for regular family dinners now that their kids were grown, married, and had kids of their own. You'll see in the video the before pictures and just how...
The Laidback Contemporary Coastal
Do you want to see how we transformed this empty space into a laid back contemporary coastal? I'm going to walk you through the DIY presentation that we created for the client. So this one right here was a DIY plan, which means that we do the design, the renderings,...
The English Countryside Kitchen
Do you like to see how we transformed this kitchen into an English countryside kitchen? Well, let's dive right in! So this kitchen in particular, what we were going for was a really primitive style kitchen with a bit of an English countryside twist. So we're looking...
The Industrial Farmhouse
Let's talk about how we transformed this open-concept living room into a beautiful industrial farmhouse space! In the video, you can see what we were working with before: a lot of brown and greyish tones kind of kicking throughout the space. A really lovely floor...
The Easy Breezy European Traditional
Do you want to see how we transformed this living room into a beautiful European traditional space? So as you can see in the video, this room is a bit of what I call a bowling alley. It's long and skinny. We have an awkward fireplace placement in the corner of the...
The Transitional Lakeside Retreat – Part 2
The clients loved their family room and sunroom so much that they asked us to do a DIY project for their formal living room incorporating most of the furnishings that they already owned. They didn't want to do a big overhaul, but the space was feeling dated and tired...
Making Red Oak Trim and Cabinets Feel Updated and Chic
This post is for everyone who loves their wood trim and doesn't want to paint it! It's funny to me how the default it simply to paint everything white these days. Right now we are seeing an insurgence of wood -- particularly white oak -- at the forefront of trends...
The Transitional Lakeside Hangout
Sunroom BeforeThis will forever be one of my favourite spaces and couples. The clients came to us after having a previous experience with an interior designer that wasn't so great. Unfortunately, this isn't the only time that we've come into a relationship with...
Creepy Basement Turned Modern Family Hangout
Do you want to see how we transformed a creepy, old basement that was made of concrete block into a super stunning basement with a laundry room, a playroom, a games and hangout space, and a living area? As we recorded this, the project is under construction, and the...
Art Deco Kids Room
Hey there! I'm going to walk you through another project reveal! Now, this is a condo design that we were working on in Toronto. This one went through a number of iterations because the client changed their mind and design direction, so it was really fun to see all of...