Katie O'dwyer Rioux Calgary Decor spring 15 merged compressed

Calgary

DECOR

Anything

GOES!

Spring 2015

On the cover

DECOR is published by The Calgary Sun 2615 12 St. N.E. Calgary, AB, T2E 7W9 403-410-1010

PhOtO COuRtEsy DECORAtING DEN

Ed Huculak Publisher & Director of Sales Dal Lewis Assistant Director of Sales Kathleen Robinson Special Sections Editor

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Anything goes!

If you’ve heard small rooms should be painted white or that metals, woods or patterns should never be mixed, forget what you thought you knew.

Vibrant paint colours are on trend for rooms of every size and perfect co-ordination has been cast aside for an anything-goes approach.

Ensuring everything completely matches can make a room look and feel dated, while mixing old and new will automatically make your room more interesting.

When visiting homes of friends and family, the rooms you love best are likely the ones where you can really feel their personality shine through.

Injecting your own style into a space rather than simply purchasing a matching set of furniture and bedding can be intimidating, but actually takes some of the pressure off the design process.

It also means that in the future, you won’t have to redo an entire room all at once. You can periodically add pieces that catch your eye, including this spring’s hot trends, without over-analyzing

DECOR 3

whether they’ll fit in.

The new looks for spring incorporate copper and blue, especially turquoise or aqua.

Even if you already have gold and silver in a space, don’t hesitate to include copper as well, which adds warmth to a room.

If you’re not ready to repaint, you can incorporate turquoise or sea blue tones into your space with colourful lamps and patterned throw pillows.

Add more than one pattern into a space to bring in the unexpected and create a cheerful, lively atmosphere.

No matter what elements you ultimately choose, all that really matters is that you love them. You don’t need a rule book, just trust in your own instincts.

— Carrie Kelly

PhOtO COuRtEsy uRbAN bARN

Many of us would like the individual pieces in this room, but would never envision making them work together.

And yet, the mixture of these patterns, colours and textures together — as created by the Decorating Den — manages to make each one even better.

SPRING 2015

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Spring 2015

anything CARRIE KELLy Special to the Calgary Sun

great design technique for a challenging space such as a curved wall.

Whether you decide on a mural or solid paint technique, don’t be afraid of colour.

“Colour can give you a big reward. The worst case scenario is you have to repaint,” says Rioux.

Heather Draper, interior designer and owner of The Heather Company, believes the ceiling of a room should receive just as much consideration as the rest of the space.

Paint over white ceilings in the same colour as the walls and select an interesting light fixture that will stand out, she suggests.

You can also take a room from bland to brilliant by using wallpaper on the ceiling, especially in the centre of a tray ceiling.

“Papering the ceiling is such an amazing detail,” Draper says.

She loves creating interesting spaces with unexpected elements.

When designing a room, she often uses furniture and accessories in ways that don’t match their original purpose.

“We have been so conditioned as to how we should use things that we don’t think about what we actually need,” she says.

She likes the idea of using a bufPhOtOs COuRtEsy thE hEAthER COMPANy

You don’t have to be a design expert to create a beautiful space.

Some of the best rooms emerge by simply bringing in colour and pieces you love, without worrying what others may think.

Katie Rioux, interior decorator and owner of Calgary’s Decorating Den, encourages her clients to step outside the box.

“As long as you’re confident in your style and selections, your room will reflect that. Trust your gut,” she says.

The bottom line is that you’re the one who has to live with it.

“There are not that many wrong ways to do things,” Rioux says. “If you like modern and rustic, you can marry them. Mixing patterns is OK.” Mixing prints can be intimidating, but the result can be stunning.

If you keep the colours in the same family, you can pair an upholstered geometric print with printed wallpaper and patterned draperies without overwhelming the space.

Wall murals are a great way to bring your personality into a space and provide that wow factor. It’s a

gOES

PhOtO COuRtEsy DECORAtING DEN

PhOtO COuRtEsy DECORAtING DEN

4 DECOR

fet hutch in the bedroom in place of a dresser, with a tiered cupcake stand to house jewelry.

Don’t worry about ensuring all your bedroom furniture matches.

If you have three key pieces of furniture in your bedroom, such as the bed, nightstand and dresser, have two of them match and throw in one that’s different.

When choosing artwork for walls, Draper advocates finding items you love that add texture to your space.

In place of prints in frames, she has hung beautiful bowls on a wall and made a statement with vintage window panes without glass.

Spring 2015

PhOtOs COuRtEsY uRBAN BARN

THIS IS NOT

YOUR PARENTS’ HOUSE

CARRIE KELLY Special to the Calgary Sun

PhOtO COuRtEsY KAtIE RIOux/DeCorating Den

10 DECOR

With the advent of HGTV, Pinterest and an influx of home improvement stores, it’s no surprise we’re living quite differently in our homes today compared to the ones we grew up in.

An Ipsos-Reid survey conducted for Urban Barn reveals that nine in 10 Canadian homeowners say their childhood living space and current living space differ in some way.

Open-concept home designs and the high price of real estate play a role in how and why we’re living differently. In 1984, Calgary house prices bottomed out at $68,300, while the average is now more than $400,000. At those prices, people want all the space in their home to be livable, says Sebastian Fauteux, Urban Barn creative director.

“Long gone are the days where people had a formal dining room and a formal living room that were barely used,” he says.

Today’s home décor has a more casual feel, representing family life.

And it’s not just the woman in the home making decor decisions.

“Now, a lot of couples shop together and involve the kids when making decisions,” Fauteux says.

Urban Barn’s poll reveals that 89% of homeowners consider a blend of comfort and style as the perfect décor for the living area

where the family spends most of its time.

Rather than purchasing a matching couch, loveseat and chair for the living room, today it’s all about customizable furniture and mixing styles and designs, Fauteux explains.

“The demand is high for custom products that have the right configuration for maximizing the space in the room,” he says.

In addition to sectionals, ottomans are a great option because they can used for storage, extra seating, as a serving table or to extend the sofa to use as a chaise.

In the kitchen/dining area, extendable tables are a popular choice to add extra seating as needed.

Katie Rioux, interior decorator and owner of Calgary’s Decorating Den, finds people are requesting designs that place functionality as top priority, enabling a room to do double or triple duty.

“I just recently did a home office, but we used a large white high gloss table as desk and a set of cabinets to match. This could be easily transformed into a dining room if need be,” she says.

Rioux says that along with furniture choices, lighting has really evolved. Chandeliers are no longer just for the dining room.

“Now, lighting is more of a feature. You might see a grand chandelier or funky pendants over the island,” she says.

Spring 2015

courtesy Farrow & Ball

14 Decor

A little

pAper

hAs big impAct carrIe Kelly Special to the Calgary Sun There’s nothing like wallpaper to completely take a room from bland to amazing.

If the thought of decorating with wallpaper makes you nervous, start small. But that doesn’t mean playing it safe.

Even those who are originally hesitant to commit to wallpaper are usually thrilled with the results when they see the dramatic impact it provides.

A bold print makes your room memorable and injects your personality into your space.

“When a room has beautiful wallpaper, you walk in and you don’t want to leave,” says Katie Rioux, owner of Calgary’s Decorating Den Interiors.

“The bathroom is a great little space to test it out on, but if you start with wallpaper in one room, you may become addicted.”

With a small room such as a bathroom, she recommends you

cover all the walls to reduce the boxy feel, while an accent wall better serves a larger room such as a bedroom.

Wallpaper is a good way to add interest to an awkward space, such as a high wall in an entrance.

Once the wallpaper is installed, Rioux believes the work is usually done.

No artwork is necessary when you already have a beautiful pattern, rich colour or interesting texture.

“When you wallpaper a half bath, you don’t necessarily need much more. You do it and you’re finished, so wallpaper is a pretty good bang for your buck,” she says.

With so many gorgeous wallpaper patterns, people are finding uses for them beyond covering entire walls.

A hot trend right now is framing panels you especially love and hanging them on your wall, Rioux says.

Farrow & Ball, renowned for its

handcrafted wallpaper, has tips online for creating art with a wallpaper panel, as well as how to use it to beautify a drawer, brighten up a lampshade or to create a faux headboard for your bed.

Wallpapers are generally made of ink, but Farrow & Ball creates them using paint to add texture.

If you want the beautiful look of wallpaper without any of the work, call a professional to have it expertly hung.

But if you’re willing to tackle the project on your own, Farrow & Ball has product advice sheets online to help you prepare.

First, remove any traces of dirt, old wallpaper and flaking paint so you begin with a clean, smooth surface. Take care to not stretch the paper during application, since it will shrink back when dry.

Farrow & Ball is always coming out with new patterns to make your room unique and the latest designs are inspired by traditional Japanese craftsmanship.

courtesy DecoratING DeN INterIors