When people ask me for colour advice (at a dinner party or somewhere other than their home), they are always quick to describe the colour of their wood furniture or flooring. Usually this is because they don't have anything else they can use for colour inspiration, and they are probably quite sure that the colour of their wood should be… Continue reading
How Important is the Colour of Wood vs. Wall Colour?
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Do you choose Finishes based on Light vs. Dark?
I can't tell you the number of times I have had people say things like this: "Well I picked that flooring because it was the lightest one, I didn't want my place to look dark", or I chose that tile because I didn't want my bathroom to look dark. Design by Jenna Lyons Well that is, until the chocolate brown… Continue reading
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Vancouver Interior Designer: Which Flooring is the Best for Your Kitchen? Tile or Hardwood
Every time I consult with a client on colour for a new kitchen floor, I always steer them to hardwood over tile, cork, marmoleum or vinyl. Why? Because hardwood is like jeans, it pretty much goes with all colours. Pinterest There's nothing neutral about any of the other flooring choices. So, if you choose an orangey cork floor to tie… Continue reading
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Vancouver Interior Designer: Wood Flooring in the Bathroom? Yay or Nay
Pinterest The other day when I posted a picture of my mom's bathroom in her new carriage house and said that I love hardwood floors in bathrooms, I received a comment asking if this was something I always recommend. Pinterest So, here's the thing. I also love the seamless look from room to room and the fact that most hardwood… Continue reading
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Vancouver Interior Designer: Is Cork Flooring Trendy or Classic? Yay or Nay
Reader question: 'While checking out our flooring options we have fallen for the idea of cork! Since our three bedrooms and open plan living on the first floor is a tight squeeze we are concerned about the noise from hardwood and laminate. I have terrible allergies and carpet is not my favorite. Some of the newer cork has caught my eye and… Continue reading
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The Most Timeless Laminate Flooring
Laminate floors have come a long way from the photocopied look of the 3-planks-in-one-board from just a few years ago. Now it comes in a single plank so it looks so much nicer. Irene (my design associate) is beginning a renovation on her house this Spring and she is installing laminate floors. source Smart, because she is renovating to sell… Continue reading
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Pravada Floors – How to Choose the Right Colour Wood Flooring
My new house had 3 types of wood flooring when we moved in. Engineered in the entry hall, laminate in the adjoining family room in addition to another colour of laminate in the adjoining master. This is what the transition looked like going into the family room. I posted about this common mistake many homeowners make here. Walking through a… Continue reading
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Spectrum Stone and Maria's New Countertops
Did you know that you can't measure for countertops until after your cabinets are installed? Well, that's why it took an extra few weeks of camping outside when we first moved into our new house. Felix (the owner) & Vincent (sales) Then measurement day came, yay! One of the reasons I used Spectrum Stone to do the finishing was because… Continue reading
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Ask Maria: About Pink Beige and Yellow Tone Floors
"Hi Maria, In all my years of design school and working with a designer I have never learned the amount of knowledge about undertones and color as I have from you and your eBook. My home has Baltic Brown Countertops, with a blue green island, cabinets that are a red undertone and yellow wood floors in the kitchen. Also… Continue reading
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Ask Maria: Which Colours Don't Work with Honey Oak Trim
I get a lot of questions about which colours work with honey oak trim, so I thought it would be easier to just show which colours are not so fabulous. Since honey oak trim has an orange/yellow undertone, I would generally advise against using any shade of pink beige colour with it. In my system of understanding undertones, the… Continue reading
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The New Timeless Hardwood Floor
Okay, so first things first. I am getting emails from my subscribers saying you are receiving two emails from me. So if that's you, this is what it should like: This is the old one (below) that you should unsubscribe from. I don't even have access to the email addresses, so I can't do it for you. If you receive an… Continue reading
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The Minimalist Way to Inject Color: Before & After
When my sister Elizabeth and her husband Bill first took possession of their house she asked if she could paint the walls in her kitchen blue (they were brown at the time). I said unfortunately no, because it would look like she was ignoring her countertops and her backsplash. At the time we had to go with HC-45 Shaker Beige… Continue reading
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Ask Maria: Help! I Don't Want the Same Kitchen as Everyone Else!!
Recently, I received this question from one of my lovely readers: 'I'm trying to come up with a color of floor tile that matches a kitchen with volga blue granite counter tops, white cabinets, very light grey walls, and stainless steel appliances. I don't want wood in the kitchen or anything that looks like wood. I think too many people have that look… Continue reading
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Can you have White Cabinets with Espresso Hardwood Floors?
I was on google this afternoon, and three times in a row, with different searches, this post kept showing up right at the top: How to completely mess up your kitchen remodel: a step-by-step tutorial. This is the kitchen she coveted This DIY blogger named Kelly is a great writer and so entertaining. She generously shared her mistakes so that others could… Continue reading
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How to Quiet a Small Herd of Elephants
This is another post from my genius Director of All Things Wonderful, Irene Hill. It's been just over three years since she came into Terreeia's and my life and we cannot imagine being without her. "For those of you who have been following Maria's fabulous blog for awhile, you probably read the Two Magic Words post I wrote in October of last… Continue reading
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How to Make Standard vs. Custom Colour Choices
Have you noticed that you can listen to a salesperson list all the features and benefits of a product all day and all night, but if you don't know what colour to buy. . . ? You hesitate. You fret. You lose sleep at night. And unless you are in a position where you're forced to make decisions, like choosing finishes… Continue reading
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Soft Blues, Ethereal Whites & Grays: Before & After
Remember the exterior transformation of this navy blue house I showed you awhile ago? Well, here's the interior. Clearly my sweet reader and client Nicole has a wonderful creative eye and just needed some colour direction from me. Lovely medium brown floors. Before Walls – BM Stonington Gray After Before After The blue ceiling is BM Healing Aloe. Walls are BM… Continue reading
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The Problem with Your Orange/Yellow Floors
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 an elegant maple floors +… Continue reading
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Ask Maria: Must my Kitchen Coordinate With the Dining Room?
I’m am a big fan and follower of your “Ask Maria” series. I’ve never done anything like this before so I thought I’d give it a go. We're looking to update our kitchen and our dilemma is what color to paint our cabinets and island. Our cabinets are in good condition so we can’t justify replacing them. The sink, faucet… Continue reading
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Where to Start When You Have a Blank Slate
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! Continue reading
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