Project Sweet Maple - Dining Room Makeover

I recently had the pleasure of working with a young family to redesign their dining room. The client, Laura (of Sweet Maple), had some great pieces to start with, but was having trouble pulling it together into a cohesive look. For me, the big challenge was making the different wood tones in the room work. The floors were quite dark, the table was a rustic pine, and the console was a mid-century modern teak.
I knew that the room needed a lovely, natural rug to neutralize the competing tones.

The room also had great ceiling details, but the walls were quite plain. We added some simple paneling to give some more architectural interest. I knew I wanted to go with white walls, so paneling is also a great way to add interest to walls rather than doing it with colour. This also allowed for us to do some very bold drapery on their huge window looking into their front yard. The drapes are my favourite feature in the room!

To add even more colour, we found an inexpensive hutch and had it sprayed the prettiest blue. It was a happy accident that the colours that I proposed for the space in the initial design meeting went perfectly with Laura's vintage china. It was a design match made in heaven.

It just goes to show you that you don't need a massive budget to have a huge design impact on a space. I love how this room turned out. It feels fresh, young, and hip - perfect for the family who lives there!

See the Before's below!

Beauti-Tone Colour of the Year - You Look Mauvelous

The guest bedroom at my parent's house was in sad need of a facelift. This room was actually my childhood bedroom, and it still had the same bright yellow walls, purple border and matching bedding that I picked out in sixth grade (I've come a long way). On top of that, it had become the 'catch all' space for old Christmas decor, old furniture, and some plain old junk.

When Home Hardware approached me to try out their new Beauti-Tone colour of the year 'You Look Mauvelous', I was a bit hesitant, because as we all know, I am a white walls kind of girl. About as adventurous I like to go is a shade or two off from white. But my parents love colour so I knew this was the perfect opportunity to push myself outside of my comfort limits. I have to say, it is a gorgeous shade- a mauve tempered with enough grey to not be offensive. It looks particularly good against brass, so we accented the room with small brass details.

A sweet little white and gold starburst mirror over the bed frame adds height and whimsy.

For the accent pillows, we loved this sweet mauve floral fabric that I had left over from another project. From here, we pulled the teal blue hues to make the scheme more dynamic and lively. This throw by Sarah Richardson Design worked perfectly and added some necessary texture. 

 I think that the guest room is such a great space to use a bolder hue, because it is not a room that you see all the time and it offers a nice departure from the usual for any guest staying over.

Oh, and in case you are curious about the 'before' (who doesn't love a dramatic transformation?!):

A big thank you to Home Hardware and Beauti-Tone paints for sponsoring this post and for their lovely new colour of the year! It really is Mauvelous.

xox Tiffany