A Home Should Match Your Soul (The process of a renovation)
One facet of my art practice is by bringing craftsmanship into people's homes in the form of interior design and custom art. I can do almost anything, from concept design and consultation, to insertion of custom art and feature building, to full renovations and rebuilds. (For a list of the skill sets I have to offer, head
.) The work it takes to make an area full of art and intention is a lot, but at the end of the day there is nothing like being able to exist in a space that truly speaks to who you are.
This last project was a long one, but hands down my favourite yet! An incredible woman who wanted to take her personal space from a basement full of storage and difficult memories, to a full floor that would deeply resonate with who she was as a person. It was just me working on the space alone and the whole project was treated like the transformational process that a home renovation should be. There was lots of talking and dreaming and processing. The intention was that she would be able to come home and and feel completely like herself. The keywords were "juicy, playful and sensual," and the colour palette was like a Costa Rican sunset. What an awesome place and intention to start from!
I think that it's essential to have your home space match your heart space. It is the place where you spend the most time, where the things around you truly soak into your skin. When you're surrounded by things that uplift you and make you feel bright inside, then coming home replenishes you and nourishes you. But if you're surrounded by things that you feel indifferent to (or worse, make you feel bad), then that's the energy you're going to be carrying into the rest of your day.
First, we needed to clean out the rooms. The dark basement was full of storage and a full purge was in order. We made a lot of coffee and worked together for several days to go through each object and decide what things should be carried forward. Stuff holds a lot of energy, and it was important that the things kept were in alignment with the new feelings she wanted to have in her life.
When the basement was fully cleared we needed to decide on the priorities for the rooms. Of course there would have to be a bedroom, but everything else had to be decided upon. Although the whole floor was meant to be her personal space, she also has a son and wanted to make it available for him as well. Because of this we thought that a modular design would be ideal, so that every room could have multiple uses.
The first room was to become a modular lounge with boho cushions that could be made into couches or laid out flat to become a fun roll around space. One wall would get painted with magnetic and dry erase paint so that she could draw on her wall whenever she felt expressive. The goal for this room was to have a relaxing and sensual space for dreaming, rest, and sometimes hosting.
The pressboard bookshelf got ripped out of the room and a wall was built to replace it.
My FAVOURITE part of this room was the feature wall that I got to build. I painted the whole wall in a gradient from yellow to orange to pink.
Then using wood moulding I made a design that sticks out from the wall just a little. It made the whole wall look like a giant art piece as soon as you enter the room.
It was actually relatively easy to build compared to a mural, but it really made the room feel like it was full of art.
Add to that a low table, a fuzzy carpet, a bunch of boho couch cushions, tons of blankets and fuzzy pillows, with just a few cute designed objects (and a wonderful little lamp designed by
), and voila! A sexy, cozy, juicy multipurpose lounge.
I love this space so much. I don't think I ever would've thought that such a bright colour palette could also be so calm and sensual!
The next area was going to be the workout room / crafting space. The focus of this room would be beautiful storage and an inbuilt fold down table to be used for craft days. When the table was up the whole floor would be available for workouts. The room need to feel calm and meditative, but also useful.
First off the whole space needed to be painted. It was was full of dark wood panelling that made everything feel small and a bit oppressive. I loved the texture of the wood and didn’t want to remove it, but adding a few coats of bright white made it feel fresh and new again. Two of the corner walls became a calm mint green.
In the corner I built a floor to ceiling shelving unit. The open shelves would show her beautiful book collection and make sure that whatever she was storing was intentional, since she’d have to look at it every day.
The fold down table could be sat at with floor cushions. It had small shelving built in behind that was the perfect size to store craft paints, brushes and cutting boards. Whenever her and her son wanted to craft they would be able to open up the table and make a mess, then close it up again to keep the area clean.
My favourite thing about this room (and possibly the whole house) was the mural I got to paint on the feature wall. She wanted to have something that fully represented her as an individual. A piece that she could meditate on during her spiritual practice and feel grounded by.
We started with dozens of mood board images and from there picked out the type of shapes that were resonating. She really wanted to go for a feeling of femininity and balance with a focus on circular shapes and symmetry. I made half a dozen different sketches and we honed in on the ones she liked and the ones she didn’t. A few more redraws and we came up with something that really resonated.
Then the fun part- painting! I love painting murals. I find the whole process calming and engaging.
My first degree was actually a bachelors in painting, but I haven’t made paintings as a part of my studio practice for years. I mostly work in glass and installation art these days, so when I get the chance to paint a mural I get to do something that was one of my first loves.
This piece was particularly special because it had such a deep meaning for my client. It felt magical to work on, like painting out another woman’s power. When this piece was finished she actually resonated with it so much that she decided to get it tattooed on her body. To me, making something that another human feels that strongly about is the absolute highest honour as an artist.
The mural really completed the room. The white and green of it tied that whole room together, and the gold made it feel like a sacred and cared for space. The same gold got painted on the edges of the bookshelf to really make everything feel special.
The end result was this stunning and practical space. It felt really special, but also was super useable and set up for exactly what she needed it to be.
Next, the bathroom.
The bathroom already had good bones, it just needed a few special things to really draw it together. The sink, toilet and shower were all still modern, but the room lacked a theme and some design.
We decided to go for a Moroccan themed room, in purples and greys with low and sensual lighting.
There needed to be some storage created, and we found this beautiful wooden wardrobe on Kijiji for a great price. I painted some details in purple and gold to really give it that moroccan feel.
The metal toilet seat got switched out for a wooden one to match the wardrobe. I painted a dot mandala on it in the room colours to really make it special.
The wall also got a matching mandala. I love painting details directly on walls in a bathroom. It means that your bathroom can feel full of art without you having to worry about your art collection getting water damage over time.
Finish the whole thing off with a Moroccan lamp, matching wooden towel and toilet paper holders, and a couple of cute design elements and this room is good to go! It’s amazing just how quickly a room can transform just by focusing on a few ket pieces.
One more room to go!
The bedroom was the last to get the juicy, playful boho theme. Three walls got painted different colors of pink, with the wood panelled wall getting painted white.
We reoriented the room so that so the room could have a more zen flow. She could see her eraser board wall from her bed and have bedside tables on both sides. We found adorable side tables from a local Montreal wood worker.
Her comforter was already perfectly on theme and she found a cozy carpet to warm up the floor. She had these lamps with marble bases that I really liked, but had boring white lampshades on them. Through a bunch of Pinterest searching she found these lampshades made out of string that we both loved.
I had to make them from scratch, including soldering the lamp frame. Tying off the string took forever, but the result was amazing. The final result was these adorable boho lampshades that matched the colour scheme of the whole room.
Most people don’t realize just how long handwork takes. Generally when we buy objects the labour we’re paying for is unfair wages to individuals overseas. Because of this we have no concept of how much time it actually takes to make the beautiful objects we want to surround ourselves with. My desire is that we pay what things are worth, we buy less, and we cherish the the things that we own. I’m so grateful when I get to work with clients who commit to ethical production.
The final touch was another Pinterest idea that she had come across- painted sticks. My partner and I went on a nice walk to gather small driftwood sticks from the shore of lake Ontario. Then came the fun part of painting little designs on them with all of the colours we had used during the renovation.
The painted sticks then got hung on the wall with string to hang jewelry on, as well as getting placed in different areas as a design element. The result was fantastic and made the bedroom feel arty and cute.
I am SO grateful for all of the fun things I got to do and explore on this project. But even more than that, I was grateful to go on this transformational journey with this incredible woman. It was such an honest and intimate experience getting to create a home in alignment with how she wanted to express herself in the world. The zone you inhabit is powerful, and being able to come home to a place that matches your soul is essential. Helping this storage basement transform into a place of rest and expression and care was such a beautiful journey. I loved every minute of it.
If you were inspired by this journey and are looking are looking to create a transformational space but need help with management, inspiration or fabrication, I have well over a decade of experience and education available to assist you or your team. It all starts with a discussion of the infinite possibilities available to accomplish your goal! Head over to
where we can start our conversation.
