Before & After Guest Blogger: Maria Killam @ Colour Me Happy

I am so thrilled to be guest blogging on Pure Style Home! Thanks Lauren for the opportunity!

My before’s and after’s are from a project that was featured on the cover of BC Home magazine  last September, my readers haven’t even seen the before’s of this loft so I’m excited to show them here!

My client Karen is a young Corporate Lawyer in downtown Vancouver who wanted her place to reflect her current level of success. I am lucky to have clients that mostly hire me because I have a talent for creating atmosphere  which happens only after the lighting and accessories have been installed. Not every designer has the luxury of finishing each space, I consider myself to be very lucky!

Karen hired me to decorate her empty loft (except for the large TV she had been given) I advised her to get rid of it. The one existing colour that we had to work with was the yellow beige broadloom because it was staying. She was renting the space so painting the white walls was not an option (in the end we created a colour block instead)

This was how it looked when all the soft furnishings had just been installed. Everything here was custom made except the 3 Malm dressers from IKEA that were used for extra storage and for the TV. It was also designed to be the focal point of the room. You can see that I repeated the carpet colour in the top panel of the drapery (and it’s in the polka dot ottomans as well).

Here is the space (photographed by me) the day before the photo shoot with everything in place. The branch was raided from a tree in my neighborhood!

I have learned that photographing interiors is all about the flowers and I went to 6 florists before I found one that had the dark purple leaf that is in the arrangement (above).

And here is the final professionally photographed image! Big difference isn’t it?


Here was her bedroom (before).

Since my client was buying everything else new, she decided (for now) to keep the bedroom furniture. The Lumpy TV had to go once again and she immediately bought the duvet cover from Macy’s when she saw it shopping in Seattle!

After

This bookshelf was at the 3rd level of her 3 level apartment (which ended on a rooftop deck, to see all the images from this project, click here:  http://mariakillam.com/yaletown.htm

BEFORE

AFTER

Thanks Lauren for including me as part of the blogging community that will be appearing here weekly! I am honoured!

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Thank you so much to Maria for showing us how to turn an ordinary rental into a magazine-worthy pad!!   Of course your colors are spot-on as always & I can't get over you finding the purple leaves for the arrangement!!  The whole place feels so young & fresh & light & modern.  Beautiful!!

xoxo,
lauren

ps-  Go here to vote for Eddie Ross's Window in THE BIG WINDOW CHALLENGE!!  (You can vote twice/ day!)