Page 2 – Claire Jefford

Kitchen and Bath Industry Show 2025 in Las Vegas

What a week it was at the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas! In this blog post, I’ll be sharing beautiful products and stunning showroom vignettes to glean inspiration from for your next interior design project.

Specifically, Caesarstone, Artistic Tile, Cafe, and Monogram. These brands were not direct sponsors of the Designhounds event that I was a part of, but you can see those suppliers in a previous KBIS 2025 blog post I wrote here.

Caesarstone

Caesarstone has been our preferred supplier of choice for many years when specifying quartz products for client projects. There are so many brands on the market that have emerged over the past few years, it’s honestly over-saturated at this point.

I tend to not only work with brands who have beautiful products, but other factors are how great my reps are and if my trades are happy to work with the materials. Caesarstone ticks all those boxes for me.

Caesarstone Isobellia Porcelain surface

Caesarstone Crestone Porcelain surface

Caesarstone Rossa Nova Quartz surface

While they did have some more colourful lines, the images shown above were showcased in these simple vignettes that were easy to photograph.

Artistic Tile

I love a bold and vibrant pattern tile! Artistic Tile always has a gorgeous booth that attracts a lot of attention.

Artistic Tile green block pattern

Artistic Tile green leaves

Artistic Tile green patterns

What I do find disappointing is that while the most colourful displays get many ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from designers, as well as being super ‘Instagramable’, the opportunity to use these statement patterns for mainstream residential projects, for the most part, rarely presents itself.

Artistic Tile patterns

Artistic Tile Morrocan pattern

Artistic Tile red green black

You can argue that it’s because the products don’t appear to be timeless, and definitely not the ‘safe’ choice, but there’s no denying they would bring a distinct style and add extreme personality to any space.

Popular colour trends in the Artistic Tile booth leaned towards pretty blushes, sage greens, and soft blues.

Artistic Tile pink mosaics

Artistic Tile blush colour

Artistic Tile shower wall tile

If you like these Artistic Tiles and want to use similar colour schemes for a decorating project, I’ve selected four of my Perfect Colour Palettes to make it easy for you. Each of these includes similar hues as well as other coordinating paint colours, and I give you the best white paint to pair with trim and ceilings. They are:

Cafe Appliances

Although I’ve never specified Cafe or Monogram appliances, hands down, their vignettes are consistently two of the most breathtaking booths at KBIS. A must-see for every designer.

And why is that? Because of the array of COLOUR and fun patterns they infuse into these kitchen designs!

Cafe Appliance KBIS 2025

Cafe Appliance aubergine coloured cabinets with gold hardware

Sleek, dark, matt gray Cafe Appliances

Similar colours to this vignette can be found in my Perfect Colour Palette for Agreeable Gray from Sherwin Williams.

Cafe fridge matte gray finish

Cafe fridge spring-themed kitchen

Cafe Fridge copper trim interior

I loved the copper-toned detail on the door baskets and shelving inside the fridge. This is a nice, added touch that is unexpected yet classy. This colour of trim would compliment both the copper sink and pendant lighting in my kitchen design very nicely.

Cafe Appliance fridge copper trim

One of my ‘Favourite Finds’ as a Designhound was this Dual Dispense Autofill Pitcher. The water dispenser in our fridge is quite slow and takes quite a bit of time to fill up a glass of water – okay, well maybe it takes a minute but it feels like a long time! I thought this was brilliant and that it would be handy to have a full jug of cold water on hot summer days or when setting the table for the family.

Cafe fridge water filter

White Cafe Appliance summer theme

This final image from the Cafe booth was my daughter’s favourite. Elise told me to save this image so that when she gets her own place, this can be our inspiration to draw from for the colour scheme. She loves colour, just like her mama!

My Elephants Breath Colour Palette includes similar colours, specifically the pink, green and creamy white you see on the cabinets. Plus, I carefully selected some deep, moody plums and brown tones that you could coordinate beautifully with the popular violet-gray paint colour from Farrow & Ball.

Monogram Showroom

While Monogram is a well-respected manufacturer of high-end appliances, for me it’s the exquisite design and unparalleled details that draw me to their booth year after year.

Monogram showroom KBIS 2025

At this KBIS show, there were a lot of warm earthy tones, specifically reds. This fridge was like a leather finish with white stitching that outlined the glass windows and the drawers.

Red Monogram fridge white stitching

The double bullnose style countertop was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. These details add an extra, unexpected layer to what we are used to seeing on a countertop. The open, lined niche with inset cabinetry lighting was also pretty spectacular.

As an FYI, the hardware and cabinetry detail to the right is just for show. I can’t imagine how functional drawers of that size would be in a kitchen island design -but for the booth, and all the maximalist details, it looked amazing!

Double bullnose rounded countertop Monogram

As you can see from some of the photos shared in this post, arches and curves are still trending in interior design. However, my least favourite detail I saw was the metal grill cabinet cover and edge trim on the floating shelves.

Monogram KBIS grill cabinet cover

I totally get that the idea was to add more dimension and repeat the pattern you see on the tone-on-tone navy blue wall in the background, but this idea is so not practical for a kitchen.

All I see is the opportunity for crumbs and messy spills that would be super hard to clean. Not to mention, the likelihood of me slicing the palm of my hand open on the exposed piece of the basketweave grill on the upper shelves.

But the colour scheme is still popular, blue and white is classic as you can see here in my sister’s kitchen design and in this kitchen refresh we did for an online client we worked with in North Carolina.

Helpful Design Resources For Your Next Project

If you are planning a kitchen update or home renovation of any kind and want expert guidance at any stage of your project, I can help.

Perfect Colour Palettes

Do you like red, earthy tones? Create a whole home palette inspired by one of these 3 Farrow & Ball Paints.

Every Perfect Colour Palette I created below includes a rich red tone and other colour combinations to use in your next interior design project.

Here & Now Design & Colour Consultations

I now offer 1-hour online design and colour consultations for anyone outside of my local area.

With over 13 years experience of running my own interior design firm and working on hundreds of projects, I can provide professional guidance in any area of your home.

Learn more about this exciting new service and book your online appointment here.

I can’t wait to e-meet you and help you with your project!

Local In-Person Design & Colour Consultations

If you are local to me either in Burlington, Ontario or around the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), I would love to come to your home for a 2-hour in-home consultation.

Click here to connect with me via my contact page.

Kitchen & Bath Show 2025

KBIS in Las Vegas was an inspirational whirlwind, as usual! I was thrilled to be part of the Designhounds tour, where I got to spend time with fellow design professionals from across North America.

We learned about some very cool, and innovative new products, including the latest from Europe and the UK as part of the NKBA Global Connect division.

Compac Surfaces

First I want to share some fabulous Quartz products from a company in Spain called Compac. We had the pleasure of touring their beautiful booth at KBIS. Compac quartz is a premium-quality, high-performing quartz surface that is stunning and exceptionally resistant to wear and tear.

New introductions at this KBIS show included Compac’s outdoor material called Obsidiana. These are the first surfaces created using up to 100% recycled glass.

Designhound Domenic Marcolongo feeling the Obsidiana Compac Quartz

Obsidiana Glace Finish Compac Quartz

Obsidiana is zero waste

Recycle – as much as possible
Reuse – seek new uses so we throw nothing away
Reduce – the consumption of resources
Reconsider – everything that can’t be recycled or reused

Compac also showcased a new striking pattern in an alternate design line created in collaboration with artist Arik Levy, inspired by the frozen lakes in Alaska.

Ice Gold Compac Quartz

The material is available in different colour ways and named appropriately to reflect each one, such as Ice Gold (shown above), Ice Black (shown below), and Ice Max Viola (purple veining option, not shown).

Ice Black Compac Quartz

For the right project, this product definitely makes for a gorgeous conversation piece like no other! Learn more about Compac and all their products here.

SKS Signature Kitchen Suite

Although you would never know it to look at it, the island top in the image below is actually housing a built-in induction oven. That surface is doing double duty.

SKS Induction With Sleek Down Draft System

The pop-up stainless steel mechanism shown is a down-draft system that multi-functions as a spice rack which is all built into the countertop too.

On either side, it also has refrigeration panels that lift up from below the counter, so you can store items that need to be cooled such as milks and creams, yet keep them close within reach for ease of cooking.

It’s hard to explain without seeing it. So please GO HERE to watch a video on my Instagram page. It’s very satisfying to watch!

SKS Fridge

SKS Convertable Fridge Drawer

To see other products from SKS, take a look at this blog post I wrote when I was part of a collaboration with the brand in 2024.

Impromta – Boiling Water Tap

As a Designhound, we have the privilege of selecting 5 of our ‘Favourite Finds’ from the show and placing a branded placard in the booth of that vendor.

One of my ‘Favourite Finds’ was from Impromta, a UK brand within the NKBA Global Connect division of KBIS. After their presentation, I immediately made my way to their booth where Sales representative Chris, did a demonstration to show me how their Boiling Hot Water Tap is the safest on the market.

Impromta Biometric Boiling Hot Water Tap

While this may look like a normal, albeit sleek and sexy faucet, there’s more to it than that. These patented Hot Taps provide the safest method of dispensing near-boiling water, BUT, if you’re not registered, either by fingerprint or facial recognition, you can’t turn on this feature of the tap!

Registering takes seconds & is easy to do, and each system can register up to 30 users.

Fingerprint & Face Recognition for Safety

As someone with a strong English background, as well as being married to a handsome Brit for nearly 20 years, this type of technology completely makes sense.

My Uncle Jerry was here in the summer and he drinks approximately a dozen cups of tea each day! He has one of these taps in his UK home and was raving about it when he visited us here in Toronto last summer.

The red light indicates that the boiling water feature doesn’t recognize your print

This isn’t only a great feature for making hot drinks, but also helpful when you need hot water for cooking. They also have taps that make filtered water available instantly as well.

See their website here for more details and all faucet types and styles.

To see me testing this product myself, watch my Highlight Reel from KBIS here.

It’s your turn, now. Tell me, would you use any of these superior and beautiful products in your next Kitchen renovation?

Comment below to share your thoughts.

More trends and gems to come soon from the Kitchen & Bath Show in Las Vegas!

While this is a sponsored post, brought to you from KBIS and by Designhounds, SKS Signature Kitchen Suite, Compac Surfaces, and Impromta, all opinions on these products are my own.

Safari Lake Nakuru

On day 3 of our African adventure we drove over 5 hours from Nairobi to Lake Nakuru. We were unaware of the unexpected and incredible experience that lay ahead of us for the early morning game drive the next day.

More on that a little later in the post with exceptional photos you won’t want to miss…teaser – it involves a male lion and a tasty Pumba!

Bird Paradise

Lake Nakuru in Kenya Africa

One of the things I was most excited about for Lake Nakuru was seeing an abundance of bird life. Chris and I are bird nerds, and this beautiful part of Africa did not disappoint.

Great White Pelican bird

Great White Pelicans fishing on Lake Nakuru

Pied Kingfisher in Lake Nakuru

The Ugly 5

In Africa, they have what they refer to as the ‘Ugly Five’ and the ‘Big Five’. I’ll reveal the Big Five in my next blog post, but here I want to share the Ugly Five.

Each of the ‘Ugly Five’ animals has an odd appearance and an even stranger body build. With very dull colours they don’t have the most beautiful appearance to most people.

Although I think the animals are quite cute, just not the birds in this category. The Vulture (which we didn’t get a great photo of) and the Marabou Stork are pictured below.

Marabou Stork Lake Nakuru, Kenya

The other 3 in the Ugly Five are the Warthog AKA Pumba, the Hyena, and the Wildebeest.

Warthog, AKA Pumba with dried mud on his face

Warthog Pumba kneeling to eat

Some fun facts about the warthog I never knew:

They have to eat on their elbows (or knees, I guess?) to be able to reach the grass.

They look like they are wearing high heels by the way they walk.

When the adults want their young to follow them, their tail stands up perfectly straight so the little ones can see where to follow mom or dad, which is especially helpful in the long grass.

Hyena, one of the Ugly Five

Wildebeest Sculptures. It’s the only one of the Ugly Five we did not see!

The Wildebeests are most well-known and guaranteed to be seen during the Great Migration in the Masai Mara.

During the months of July through to October, the Mara is the scene of the epic annual trek of over 1.5 million wildebeest from the Serengeti to the Masai Mara region. It’s also the busiest time of year for tourism for this reason.

I’m glad we went when we did as you get more of the parks to yourself with fewer vehicles competing to get a spot for the best, close-up views. Plus, other than the Wildebeest, we saw every other animal that you would see during the busy season.

Flamingo Hill Camp

I’ve said before that I am not one for camping, not since the kids were little anyway. But what we experienced, wasn’t camping, not even glamping, but a big step up. The accommodations were brilliant!

Flamingo Camp in Lake Nakuru

Flamingo Camp Stone Path

Once again, similar to the Ole Sereni Hotel in Nairobi shown in my previous blog post, the African colour scheme was fabulous.

Soft yellows, and bright oranges, with the neutral backdrop of the canvas tents in beige with green undertones. There were also plenty of natural materials, such as rattan and warm wood.

Flamingo Camp Bedroom

Flamingo Camp Pool

Morning Game Drive

The best thing about game drives is the excitement and anticipation of what you might see! Animals tend to be most active at night and early mornings, as opposed to midday when the sun is at its hottest.

Taking in the sunrise as you bounce around in the jeep on a muddy and stony path adds to the awe-inspiring experience.

Sunrise in Lake Nakuru Kenya Africa

Zebras and Cape Buffalo at sunrise, Lake Nakuru

Zebras eating grass in Lake Nakuru

I had never given much thought to all the animals that eat grass, and just how much grass they all eat!

I learned that the reason the iconic Zebras stand next to each other, facing opposite directions, is so that prey cannot distinguish how many zebras there are. Their stripes make it hard for predators to tell where they start and stop, which totally makes sense when you think about it.

Below – This guy walked right by the jeep, just a few feet from our jeep. I love the colour palette – black and white stripes of the zebras, the auburn brush plants just behind him, the vibrant yellow-green grass, and the soft blue sky.

Zebra in Lake Nakuru

The giraffes are amazing creatures to see in the wild and to see so many at once and so close together, like these three seeking shade under a nearly barren Acacia tree.

Rothchild Giraffes in Lake Nakuru

Some fun facts about the giraffe are:

They live for 20 – 28 years and can weigh up to 1.8 tons as adults

Giraffes sleep just 5-30 minutes per day, standing up with their eyes open

The gestation period of a female is 14 -15 months -BUT, they can prolong birth by up to 3 months if they feel it is not safe to deliver!

Giraffe eating leaves

Cape Buffalo cooling off in the water – Lake Nakuru

Chris and I in the Jeep on Safari

Best For Last

At the beginning of this post, I shared a teaser about lions and a warthog. Sadly for the warthog, the story does not end well.

Early on in the sunrise game drive, we came across two male lions. Our drivers sensed something was up when they noticed Hyena’s and vultures nearby. Then we came across some blood and guts, what looked like the intestine of an animal – don’t worry, I didn’t take a picture of that!

One of the male lions was sleeping, while the other was lying down, but moving slightly. When he finally turned around, he proudly showed off his meal to us.

Male lion eating a Warthog

Poor Pumba!

This truly was a remarkable sight to see, especially when he dropped the carcass and turned to look right into the lens of my husband’s camera! How beautiful are these majestic animals?!

I hope you’ve enjoyed following along with my safari adventure so far. More to come soon.

If you missed my first post about our trip to Africa, you can read about our first two days on our adventure here.

Kenya Safari

Well, this holiday has definitely been life-changing and undeniably the BEST trip I’ve ever been on. Considering I’ve travelled to many places abroad over the years, including multiple city destinations in Europe, that is saying something!

Let’s start with some African interior design inspo, and what I especially loved about the 2 places we’ve stayed at so far: There has been no gray.

The decor has stayed true to the African culture with natural wood tones, organic materials and plenty of vibrant colours. Reds, oranges, greens and yellows are especially prevalent.

Hotel Accommodation

Our first Kenyan accommodation was at the Ole-Sereni Hotel in Nairobi. Below you can see the carpet stair runner in warm yellows and deep oranges with a runner rod made of golden arrows.

Carpet stair runner with gold arrow runner rod

Here’s a red feature wall with animal prints in black frames.

As an interior design professional, I would rearrange these photos to have the lion in the middle, the elephant on the far right and the rhino on the left. This way, the two images of side profiles would both be looking at the lion and that arrangement would also provide a nice symmetry.

Colour combination: Warm yellow and bright red.

Okay, so the blue-gray wall colour is the only gray paint I’ve seen so far.

Ole Sereni hotel room blue gray walls and orange tree decal

Next to the Ole Sereni hotel is the Emara. We were able to relax at the 10th-floor swimming pool here and enjoy a buffet dinner on our first official night with everyone on this safari.

Emara Hotel Pool overlooking Nairobi National Park Kenya

Emara pool red and white loungers Kenya

The grand entrance and lobby of this hotel was nothing short of spectacular!

Emara hotel lobby Nairobi with black accents

The round walnut ceiling feature with gold lighting was fabulous!

I love how they repeated the circle shape of the round walnut ceiling feature on the black and gold design of the floor directly below.

The accent wall in red is brighter than the Farrow & Ball paint colour we used on my basement bar cabinetry seen here in my portfolio and does a great job of livening up this sophisticated neutral space.

Emara lobby with cognac curved sofa & red wall

This beautifully organic wall decor shown in the image below is the first thing you see as you exit the elevator on the 3rd floor of the Emara. The white wall colour and pretty tree design is similar to White Dove by Benjamin Moore.

Cheetah glass figure and white branch accent wall with blue birds

In the dining area, there were these striking metal branch inserts on the windows between the restaurant and the hallway.

Feature wall with beige marble tile and metal tree design

Below is a photo of a feature wall in the dining area that was very well designed. There are a variety of interest points in these built-ins that keep the eye moving, such as the multi-coloured backdrops in bright tones, mixed with mirrors that reflect light, as well as expand the look of the space.

Nairobi dining: Mirrored feature wall in walnut with bright colourful accents

Nairobi National Park

As you saw from the earlier photos in this post of the outdoor pool, we were staying right next to the Nairobi National Park. This is Chris and I with our new best friends, David & Kim, on our first game drive of the African Safari.

Our first morning game drive safari Nairobi National Park Kenya

I was given the task of keeping track of all the different animals and how many we saw of each, which became more difficult with each game drive because we saw so many!

On our first day alone I noted that we saw: 12 Southern White Rhinos, 3 Black Rhinos, 22 Massai Giraffes, 3 female lions, 1 Ostrich, 21 Zebras and many Impalas.

Claire Jefford excited to be so close to the Rhinos!

Impala, warm brown with black and white green background

A fierce and fabulous lioness in the tall, green grass, Nairobi National Park

Massai giraffe Nairobi National Park, Kenya

The colours captured in each of these photos could be used to create a gorgeous paint colour palette for your next decorating project!

Have you ever wondered why the white crane birds like to sit on a rhino’s back? I was told by our wonderful guide that they feed off the ticks and other insects on the rhino’s skin.

Southern white rhino with white Crane bird on back

Giraffe Centre

At the Giraffe Centre, we were able to get up close and personal with the Rothschild Giraffes.

Feeding giraffes Nairobi Giraffe Centre Kenya

Feeding a giraffe at Nairobi’s Giraffe Centre

Points of Interest

We stopped a this lookout in the remarkable Rift Valley as we left Nairobi to head to our first camp in Lake Nakuru.

Rift Valley Kenya

Have you ever seen a Facebook toilet? Do you even know what it is? Neither do I – and I never went in to find out. LOL

Facebook Toilet Rift Valley Kenya

Rift Valley restaurant Kenya

I am thrilled with this original piece of art we bought from one of the local markets. I look forward to custom framing it for my living room.

Pumba Warthog artwork colourful print

We going to replace our 3 dated pieces of artwork to the left of the TV with our new colourful and authentic African Pumba art piece. The colours in the painting work perfectly with the colour palette of my main floor which you can see more of here.

Finally, here’s something I never considered in my design business…I could start selling sofas as additional passenger seating for motorbikes.

Do you think this would fly here in North America? Nah, I don’t think so either, but we got a good chuckle out of it!

African Uber: Sofa on the back of a motorbike

Have you ever been to Africa? Is a Safari on your bucket list? Comment below and let me know.

Stay tuned, as I plan to share more stories and glorious photos from our incredible adventure in unforgettable Kenya.

Check out some of my Perfect Colour Palettes below with similar colours to the ones I mentioned before.

Interior Design Mood Boards

INTERIOR DESIGN MOOD BOARDS

Not getting the sales you want in your interior design business?

Read on and watch the video further below to see how I share my vision for a newly designed space with clients & get more sales because of it.

If you’re getting frustrated in not ‘closing the sale’ with clients, let me show you exactly what to do to successfully sell clients on your vision for their home.

Mood Boards (sometimes referred to as concept boards) have been an invaluable interior design business tool that we leverage with great success.

You can see proof that this strategy works by viewing my vast portfolio of more than 20 Burlington interior design projects that we’ve professionally photographed.

We include mood boards in all of our custom interior decorating presentations for our clients, who then continue with our services to see their project through to that exciting final reveal day!

Before I dive into why you need to be using interior design mood boards in your business, I want to touch briefly on what a mood board is, just in case you are not familiar with this term.

A mood board is like a vision board.

When you look at a mood board, it should tell a story or have a theme through a collage of ideas or your desires based on the images, colours, and text.

Although you can create physical mood boards with fabrics and various other samples, I’m referring to digital mood boards created on your computer.

Here are examples of mood boards we created for a client’s custom bedroom.

Mood Board Master Bedroom Design

The neutral paint colour we used for this entire Burlington condo project on the lakeshore was Edgecomb Gray by Benjamin Moore.

4 Reasons To Use Interior Design Mood Boards

Reason #1 – Visualizing Made Easy

Interior design mood boards are essential to include in your presentations as they allow you to easily convey your design ideas to your clients.

This helps them to see and better understand the design concept you are proposing for their space.

Many clients hire an interior designer or certified decorator because they find it difficult and often impossible to visualize how something will look. In utilizing mood boards, your designs can come to life, enabling clients to understand your brilliant ideas.

Below are 2 more mood boards we designed for another client’s primary bedroom.

Reason #2 – Close The Sale

Now that clients can see your brilliant ideas for their home, you are much more likely to sell them on your vision. Clients can get excited about what the final outcome will be and how everything comes together so beautifully.

For the mood boards shown above, our clients loved everything we proposed. They were quick to make their decision and moved forward with our interior design proposal, purchasing everything we proposed for the space.

Here are some of the professional photographs so you can see how beautifully it turned out. Photo credit to Stephani Buchman.

Room colour is painted Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore.

Reason #3 – Pretty Organization

Interior Design Mood Boards make it easier for you to keep client work organized.

We have a folder for each client where we keep all paperwork pertaining to their project. In addition to our interior design client presentations with mood boards, our client folders include email correspondence, spec sheets on items we’ve sourced, client contracts, etc.

This is important, and a smart business practice not only for you to be able to reference easily as needed, but also when you are meeting a trades person or supplier to discuss details of the design. Everything is easily to hand!

See this blog post with my YouTube video for a sneak peek of exactly how we organize interior design client folders.

Reason #4 – Manage Clients Expectations

Leverage Mood Boards of previous projects as a helpful tool to show clients in the initial consultation meeting so they know exactly what to expect from your presentation.

Many clients may not know what a mood board is, so showing examples at this all-important first meeting will allow you to manage their expectations of what’s to come AND lead to the next phase of services.

Plus, they can start to get even more excited about their project and working with you!

Now you know why using mood boards in your client presentations is crucial for getting the sale, but what about how to present your interior design services and what rates you should be charging?

I’ve got a FREE download for you that lists different interior design services you can offer & estimated hours per design service to give you an idea of what to charge.

Click here to download this comprehensive 12-page Guide now.

Resources & Templates

Run your business like an Interior Design BOSS.

Each helpful resource is categorized by different business topics to make it easy for you browse my resource library here.

Don’t waste time second-guessing in trying to create your own. My interior design contract templates, interior design project proposal templates, marketing strategy guide, initial consultation processes package, and much more, are instantly available for you to access now.

Join my Free Community

Running your own interior design business can feel lonely, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Be a part of an incredibly supportive and highly engaged free online community of like-minded interior design professionals.
Click here to submit a request to join my free Facebook Group Interior Design Business Strategies.

Answer the 3 required questions to be considered for approval. Please allow for about 1 week for us to review and approve your request to join.

Colour Trends 2025

Another High Point Furniture Market adventure is in the books!

Kathryn and I drove over 12 hours south of the border, from Toronto to North Carolina before meeting up with our design friends at an Air BNB located about 20 minutes from the hustle and bustle that is Highpoint Market.

The stunning, scenic landscape at this time of year always makes the drive more bearable and believe it or not, enjoyable!

Brilliant bright autumn foilage in the West Virginia Mountains

The abundance of warm colors we encountered in the autumn leaves, signaling the change of seasons in the West Virginia mountains, hinted at one of the most dominant and noticeable trends at this year’s Fall Furniture Market.

Before we dive into the latest interior design trends and plenty of eye candy to inspire ideas for your next decorating project, I want to give the following shout-out.

Thank You to Sarah Daniele from Mydoma, Maddie, and Jenny from IDS National for inviting me to speak on a panel, and to Unique Loom for hosting the event in their beautiful showroom.

It’s always a pleasure to share insights with others in the industry on the strategies I’ve learned and developed over the past 13 years of running a successful interior design firm.

This is also largely in part as to why I’ve been a business coach for nearly 8 years. I love teaching and empowering others!

While what we do may look like ‘fun’, (and make no mistake, at Market especially, we definitely have fun!) there’s a lot to know and so much that goes on behind the scenes of running an interior design firm that isn’t very glamorous.

If you are a designer or decorator, be sure to take advantage of the helpful, free business resources I have available here.

Maybe you have a passion for all things colour and design related and are considering a career in the interior design industry. Feel free to take a peek at my business blog articles here.

Goodbye Gray, Hello Warmth

Gray is officially stepping aside as warm, inviting hues make their return. Hooray!!

Trending colours at Highpoint Furniture Market 2025

I took the photo above with samples from my design studio to show a round-up of the main colours I saw in the showrooms at Highpoint.

Out of the bunch, the most popular color of the show by far, was a rich rust tone. It’s a slightly deeper and more moody take on the classic terracotta.

Living room with rust chairs and accessories

Rust coloured living room accents and curved white sofa

This color is a reflection of the changing shift toward earth tones, which are more grounding, and calming than the previously popular grays, bright whites, and cool blues we’ve seen so much of over the past 12 years.

You may remember from this Highpoint colour trends post I wrote that Terracotta also made a big return in 2022.

It didn’t really take off then though, so it will be interesting to see if people warm to it more this time around.

I had our custom basement bar painted in a deep red tone by Farrow & Ball about 4 years ago and created a warm colour palette of greens and browns in the design.

I love the look, it’s a cozy space and great for entertaining guests. And, all these colours are what was trending at Highpoint.

You can see my colourful basement project here.

Trending Tones: Olive, Cognac, and Mustard

Other popular earth tones seen around the various Highpoint showrooms were deep shades of green, classic cognac, and various shades of deep yellows.

More trending furniture colours

The image below shows more muted tones of similar colours presented in a different, more classic design aesthetic.

Living room with muted tones

This was the first time that I can recall seeing so many similar colours at market to those announced as part of the recent Benjamin Moore‘s Colour Trends for 2025.

Benjamin Moore Colour Trends 2025

Just look at how the striped fabric on this chair showcases so many of these colours! And, don’t they look fantastic together?

Whether you agree or disagree, comment at the end of this post to share if you are happy to see the return of warm colours in interior design.

Bouclé, Black, and Gold

We continued to see a lot of white bouclé fabric used for many upholstered pieces like sofas and chairs.

Bouclé was the prominent fabric for many vendor displays a couple of years ago, it was everywhere -so much so that the trending hashtag for that Highpoint market was #boucléallday.

The same striped, velvet fabric from the chair shown above was also used on two of the accent pillows on this white bouclé sofa, with similar colours repeated in the artwork above.

White bouclé sofa

In the foreground of that living room display, you can see gold on the stems of the oversized apple accessories.

Below, there is a gold band on the bottom of the accent chair with the white bouclé backing and cognac suede seat.

Cognac leather chair with bouclé back and gold trim

Gold accents are still going strong and made a return at the same time I started my career as a Burlington Interior Decorator in 2011.

If you thought that soft gold finishes were a trend, I can assure you, they are not or else I wouldn’t have approved the hardware selection for this online client’s kitchen design.

Black accessories such as lamps and other light fixtures were also frequently featured in living room displays.

I am personally not a big fan of all-black accessories, especially since black is being overused everywhere in interior design at the minute.

Cognac sofa with black accessories

This artwork below is a perfect depiction of this fall market’s trending color palette in a single piece, including the black frame with gold nailheads.

Oh, dang, I never had a chance to tell you about the undeniable return of the nailheads yet!

We’ll save that for my next blog post where I focus on Design Trends from Highpoint. Stay tuned.

Until then, don’t be boring…

This wall mural shows more of the same trending colours

Are you loving the warmer earth tones and want to bring more of these colours into your home decor?

Check out a previous blog post I wrote about Mid-Century Modern Design Style and related Perfect Colour Palettes here that I curated using colours from Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams and Farrow & Ball.

If Boho Casual is more your style, click here to see those Paint Palettes and blog post, they are also worth checking out to get you excited for your next design project.

Is decorating with white more your style?

Don’t miss my top five white trending paint colour series from Benjamin Moore here.

BIG Reveal: Colourful Living Room

WWWOW !

What We’re Working on Wednesday

While a ‘Big Reveal’ is one of the best parts of what we do in our interior design business, it’s also ‘Big Work’!

In this blog post with video, join me and Kathryn as we take you behind the scenes of an exciting installation. These brilliant Burlington clients trusted us to custom furnish their entire main floor, with a family room that I’m willing to bet has the most colourful drapery fabric you’ve ever seen.

It was a busy afternoon, but the big reveal and all the hard work we do behind the scenes to get to this point, was well worth it when you see the final results.

The painting that inspired it all.

If you saw this WWWOW post, the piece of artwork above will look familiar to you.

We used this single piece of art that belonged to my client’s mother to pull together a striking colour palette and be our inspiration for the entire main floor design.

Having a fabulous jumping-off point like this piece of artwork is one of the best ways to create a colour palette.

Watch our video to see just what an install day involves and how we brought our vision for these spaces to life for our wonderful Burlington clients.

From the Design Presentation

First, let’s take a look at the sitting area that is adjacent to the dining room. The image below is from our interior design presentation and shows the furnishings for the updated room.

This image was taken while we were still waiting for some final pieces, but you can see how it is coming together and how amazing it’s going to look when completed.

The Ripplefold draperies are up! Ripplefold refers to the header style and it is easily my favourite look. Plus, they glide so easily on the rod, which is also why we use this style in most of our designs.

The two beautiful custom chairs with a soft blue fabric that is as soft as butter to the touch, are also in place.

And how about that ottoman? What a statement piece!

Designed so that the fly and the ladybug would be visible on the top.

When covering furniture in a fabric such as this fun, colourful, large-scale pattern that we used on the ottoman, be sure to have discussions with the upholsterer if there is a specific part of the pattern you want to be featured or centered.

There are a lot more details that go into designing a carefully curated space than you might think, which is why our clients love to work with us.

We custom designed this round ottoman with a dark leg stain to match the dining room table, and gold castors to tie in with the other gold accents in this room – like the dining room light fixture you can just see in the background of this photo in the top left. This also makes it easier to move the ottoman about as needed.

Fabrics & Finishes

We include a ‘mood board’ or what is also referred to as a ‘concept board’ to show all the fabric samples, finishes and paint colours together.

If you are a designer or simply want to learn more about why we use mood boards in our interior design projects, and how the benefits of using them, this is a good post to read.

Here is a picture from our professional photo shoot after the big reveal

Here is a rendering of the ‘coffee barista’ area we designed where we had some fun with the colour of the floating shelves. We colour-matched and repeated the dark teal colour from the fabric in the ottoman, using Newburg Green by Benjamin Moore.

Here are the professional photos, including one with an open drawer so you can see how great the storage is for all the boxes of yummy coffee.

Moving into the living room, take a look at what it looked like when we first met with our clients.

As a side note, I can’t stand these type of window coverings you see in the before shot. We call them Califonia Shutters and unless you live in an extremely hot climate all year round, I highly recommend you never use this style of window treatment.

They are bulky, difficult to open fully and block out a massive amount of natural light. For the price, you are much better to invest in full functioning drapery.

Our client’s living room before we got our talented design hands on it.

Another before shot of the wall where the funky wallpaper and t.v. are going.

A rendering of the final look.

The BIG Reveal!

This is my favourite part of the living room design. I absolutely adore this colourful, fun fabric!

Drapery still wrapped up in its packaging.

We chose to use a ceiling-mounted rod in a black finish with end caps. Look how fabulous the Ripplefold header style is for this treatment.

Repeating the black and white speckled pattern from the wallpaper in the drapes was ideal. And the custom-made pillows with the brilliant coloured birds tie in so beautifully!

Such a bright and cheerful space.

Although there is a lot of colour used as accents in these rooms, the walls are all painted a soft neutral, Pale Oak by Benjamin Moore.

It’s possible to add brilliant colour to a neutral space and this project is a great example of that. See the entire project here in our portfolio.

What a day it was! I’m glad you could join us and experience a little of what it’s like on install day. Here’s the review our wonderful clients wrote for us:

Helpful Design Resources For Your Next Project

If you are planning a kitchen update or home renovation of any kind and want expert guidance at any stage of your project, I can help.

‘Here & Now’ Design & Colour Consultations

I now offer 1-hour online design and colour consultations for anyone outside of my local area. With over 13 years experience of running my award-winning interior design firm and working on hundreds of projects, I can provide professional guidance for any area of your home.

Learn more about this exciting new service and book your online appointment here. I can’t wait to e-meet you and help you with your project!

Local In-Person Design & Colour Consultations

If you are local to me either in Burlington, Ontario or around the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), I can come to you for a 2-hour in-home consultation.

Click here to connect with me via my contact page.

Perfect Colour Palettes

Are you losing sleep and overthinking when it comes to choosing the perfect paint colours for your home? Don’t sweat it! I’m a Certified True Colour Expert and have instant advice to make it easier for you.

We have more than 50 Whole-Home Colour Palettes readily available for you to instantly download. All of the paint colours in each palette have been carefully selected by me personally. Plus, there’s you get tip sheets on lighting, paint sheens, how to create a gallery wall, a paint planning template, and more.

You can view the entire gallery of paint colours here.

Or, click below on your preferred brand to see the most popular paints to choose from.

Find Colour Claire-ity Here

Do you know my 5 Steps on how to choose the right paint colour the first time?

Click here to sign up for the free download

Perfect for Pinning

The Big Reveal; colourful living room

Kitchen Refresh Blue & White

Today I’m thrilled to share a before and after transformation of a kitchen refresh I helped a homeowner in North Carolina with when she hired me for my online design consultation services.

Not every kitchen renovation has to be fully gutted and completely custom to make a powerful impact.

A smaller scale kitchen remodel is exactly what homeowner Stacey was planning, and she already had some rough design plans and estimates for work when she reached out for my professional help.

She and her husband wished for an updated look, and more functionality from the kitchen design. As this isn’t their forever home, she wanted to keep costs relatively conservative, while still creating something beautiful.

Behind The Design: Kitchen Refresh Video

Watch the recording of this live webinar that Stacey and I hosted, where we dished all of the design details that went into this kitchen refresh.

The Design Layout

When Stacey booked her online design consultation with me, she was sent a questionnaire along with a request for photos.

I also like to ask for any design plans or finishes one might be considering so that we can add these to a clients folder and be best prepared for our meeting.

First, we needed to address the layout of the kitchen.

A before photo of Stacey’s kitchen

As you can see from the before image, the layout had a ton of wasted space in the middle of the kitchen. A kitchen island was definitely at the top of the wishlist.

In addition, the pass-through into the dining room and the cabinetry you see in the image below were slated to go as well.

This cabinet is going and the pass-through will become an opening

The plan was to open up this area completely and eliminate the doorway to the left on that same wall, as that would become redundant once the pass through became a complete opening.

This door way will be eliminated

This would make for a better kitchen design layout overall, and allow for the necessary space to incorporate an island with ample room required for traffic flow.

Kitchen island drawing by client’s GC

Cabinetry & Flooring

To save money, they decided to keep and respray the perimeter cabinets, yet update all the doors and drawers. The new fronts were all to be a ‘shaker’ style.

This refacing update was key for modernizing the look of the kitchen. Arched details on cabinetry (like what they had) are typically indicative of an older, more traditional style of millwork.

White shaker style kitchen door front

Changing out the old vinyl flooring was also going to be a significant update. I assisted Stacey in finalizing a neutral floor tile that tied in with the other finishes, which you will see shortly in the ‘after’ photos.

Be patient, the exciting final reveal is coming 🙂

A neutral, non-patterned flooring would not only to update the look, but also takes the focus away from the busy, ‘dirty’ looking patterned flooring that was there before.

Design Tip:

We mainly specify hardwood flooring throughout a home when clients are undergoing an entire renovation. However, in a kitchen refresh like this, installing a tile is the better option because trying to match a new hardwood to a previously installed hardwood in other areas of the home is almost impossible.

Even if you manage to find the same species of hardwood from the original supplier, the hardwood that’s been in the home for a while will likely have changed colour over time and the differences will be evident.

Although we did manage to accomplish just that with the rich hardwood for this Burlington client’s project, it’s not typically the case.

Countertops & Paint Colours

Stacey wanted a white kitchen with navy blue accents, similar to the idea of the kitchen we designed in my sister’s bungalow shown below.

See the entire project here

In case you were wondering, even though we’ve seen this look for quite a few years now, blue and white is a classic colour combination that always looks fresh and inviting.

We selected Benjamin Moore’s Hale Navy for the island colour, but only after the subway tile had been confirmed. More on that soon.

The quartz countertops are white with subtle gray veins. By carefully looking at the countertop selection, I specified Chantilly Lace for the perimeter cabinets and Classic Gray for the wall colour.

Choosing The Backsplash

Ah, the baffling backsplash debacle!

One of the biggest kitchen mistakes people make when it comes to selecting finishes, is to look at everything in isolation as opposed to how they should – by viewing all samples together.

The backsplash tends to be where the majority of homeowners get stuck.

Unless someone is working with a designer, this integral part of the overall design is the most common piece of the puzzle to get left until the very end.

Should you go bold?
Should you make it the same material as the countertop?
What about doing a contrasting grout?
Would creating a focal point over the oven be a good idea?

So many questions, right? I get it!!

That is just one reason why hiring an interior design professional is well worth the investment.

Whether you are local to me in Burlington or in the Toronto area, or further afar wishing for an online design consultation I can help guide you with these type of kitchen selections, just as I have done with Stacey.

Often it’s not until the renovation is underway that you realize just how many decisions you have to make and how stressful it can be.

All you have to do is make one mistake for the entire kitchen design is compromised.

There is no turning back once everything is installed. You will have to live with that mistake for many years because it’s too expensive to redo.

While this post about kitchen cabinetry companies was meant for Interior Designers only, what I share is eye-opening and mostly unknown to most homeowners. If you have a minute, it’s worth the read and may suprise you.

For this kitchen design, when it came to the backsplash, here’s the advice I gave Stacey when she sent me the 4 options shown in the image below:

Glossy, bumpy subway tile: Too shiny, and highly reflective
Matte, picket fence tile: Bold and sophisticated
Glossy standard subway tile: A nice option
Glossy beveled longer subway tile: Too shiny, and will be very busy once installed

I found this photo below of a similar tile to the fourth option to show Stacey exactly what I meant by it being too shiny and very busy looking when it’s installed, especially with a white grout.

Once I shared my feedback on all the options that she provided, she didn’t hesitate to go with my top choice: #2.

This rich looking, matte picket fence tile was to be installed horizontally in a stacked pattern. YAY!

Once we landed on the blue picket fence backsplash tile, we colour matched it to confirm the best blue for the island cabinetry. The best choice was Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore.

Kitchen refresh work in progress

Near Fatal Mistake, Avoided With My Expert Advice

While this may not be one of the nine kitchen design mistakes I included in this series, it is one you are definitely going to want to avoid.

During one of our Zoom Consultation Calls, Stacey said, “My husband wants to go with black handles for the cabinetry, even though we both really like the gold look that’s trending right now.”

Let me tell you what you need to know about the warm gold finishes we are seeing today in interior design. The gold tone made a comeback the year I began my business in 2011, and while I thought it was going to be a ‘flash in the pan’, all these years later, it’s still going strong.

Golden finishes are NOT trendy, it’s black finishes that are trending currently.

I immediately said NO to the black hardware and sent her a photo similar to the one below to illustrate why.

Black hardware looks harsh against a white backdrop

Despite the serene wall colour, the white subway tile, and the neutral countertop in the photo, notice how your eye is instantly drawn to the black hardware?

All of these harsh black ‘bits’ dotted throughout a kitchen with a backdrop of white cabinetry takes away from the fresh, serene look one is hoping to achieve in this type of kitchen palette design style.

This is just one of the massive mistakes many homeowners are making right now, which is understandable when you consider that everyone loves to hear about what’s trending in kitchen design.

But, once you see it, you cannot unsee it!

When I brought it to her attention, Stacey and her husband agreed it was best to move in a different direction.

There have only been a handful of times I’ve specified black hardware for cabinetry which is either:

When the cabinetry is black like in my bathroom here (please don’t judge me when you see the gross before images on that post)
With dark colourful cabinetry and black plumbing like in our laundry room design on this project
To repeat a black finish in a minimal way like we did in this client’s window seat

The hardware decision alone is another perfect example of how one mistake, one single decision that may seem minor, can compromise the entire design.

That type of disaster is what I want to help you to avoid and why I offer my ‘Here & Now’ Online Consultations for instant, expert advice.

After our discussion and my recommendation, they went with the classy, warm champagne hardware finish and repeated that finish in the 3 glass pendants above the island.

The Reveal

Here’s the after photo Stacey sent to me. What an incredible transformation, now so fresh and fabulous!

After photo of blue and white kitchen refresh project

Final Design Inspiration

I always like to show clients how all the finishes for their project look when put together, and add additional inspiration pieces like I did in the image below.

I pulled the beautiful wallpaper sample you see and some fabrics from my interior design studio library.

We love to create dynamite designs and well put-together spaces by layering in beautiful decorative elements. Strategically repeating colours are key to a successful design and for creating flow.

Stacey ended up purchasing that exact wallpaper for her dining room and is currently waiting for it to be installed. I can’t wait to see the final result!

When pulling together a colour palette and overall design style for your next project, be sure to look at the bigger picture and consider all the details.

Here are the before and after images together.

For this specific project, Stacey hired me for a total of 3 ‘Here & Now’ Consultation Zoom calls.

My professional guidance and keen eye for colour were exactly what she was looking for to feel confident in her decisions and to ensure she avoided making costly mistakes.

I was able to help her create a brilliant kitchen design refresh without a full-on renovation.

Stacey was great to work with and quick to follow my advice.

Thank you Stacey for trusting me to help you make your dreams for your home a reality. I’m thrilled you and your entire family love your new kitchen design!

What’s your favourite part of this kitchen refresh project?

For me, while I love it all, if you forced me to choose just one design element, it would be the backsplash.

Comment below to share your thoughts on this kitchen transformation.

Helpful Design Resources For Your Next Project

If you are planning a kitchen update or home renovation of any kind and want expert guidance at any stage of your project, I can help.

Here & Now Design & Colour Consultations

I now offer 1-hour online design and colour consultations for anyone outside of my local area.

I can’t wait to e-meet you and help you with your project!

Local In-Person Design & Colour Consultations

If you are local to me either in Burlington, Ontario or around the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), I would love to come to your home for a 2-hour in-home consultation.

Click here to connect with me via my contact page.

Perfect Colour Palettes

Are you losing sleep and overthinking when it comes to choosing the perfect paint colours for your home? Don’t sweat it!

As a Certified True Colour Expert I have instant advice to make it easier for you.

We have more than 50 Whole-Home Colour Palettes readily available for you to instantly download. All of the paint colours in each palette have been carefully selected by me personally.

Plus, there’s you get tip sheets on lighting, paint sheens, how to create a gallery wall, a paint planning template, and more.

You can view the entire gallery of paint colours here.

Or, click below on your preferred brand to see the most popular paints to choose from.

If you love the paint colours we used for Stacey’s project, see below for two of the most popular Benjamin Moore paints.

Hale Navy

Benjamin Moore Hale Navy Perfect Colour Palette Here

Classic Gray

Benjamin Moore Classic Gray Perfect Colour Palette Here

Big Reveals

For another interior design project transformation, check out custom this Burlington living room we designed for clients. There’s no shortage of colour in that project!

Perfect for Pinning

Benjamin Moore Woodlawn Blue

Woodlawn Blue HC-147 by Benjamin Moore

I just can’t get enough of blue! What about you?

Today’s review is of Benjamin Moore’s Woodlawn Blue. It is a lovely subtle shade of blue-green from their Historical Collection.

This beautiful tone would add a wonderful bit of colour to a mostly neutral home or look super in a luxurious spa-like bathroom.

In this colour review video of Woodlawn Blue by Benjamin Moore, I share:

The undertone
Colour comparisons to easily see the different undertones
Best white paint colours for the trim and ceilings
Beautiful colour combinations to inspire you for your decorating project

After you watch the video if you would like all this information conveniently laid out for you in one place with even more paint colour combinations to use, take a look at my Woodlawn Blue Perfect Colour Palette.

A must-have digital download for any colour enthusiast or design professional.

As a Certified True Colour Expert and an award-winning interior design professional, I’ve worked with many homeowners on various residential design projects.

I want to give you the confidence to make educated decisions about your own paint choices.

Let’s do this!

Undertone: blue/green

Woodlawn Blue may lean more towards blue or green in colour depending on the lighting and what other decorative elements you pair with it in your interior decorating project.

Looking at the colour comparisons below will help give you a better idea of where Woodlawn Blue fits between two similar shades, one that is more green and the other that is bluer.

Colour Comparisons

Smoky Green CC-700 & Gossamer Blue 2123-40

I always love to compare a paint colour so you can clearly see the true tones. It’s often not until you have a colour side by side with similar shades that the tones become obvious. Don’t miss this step when selecting your paint colours.

During a colour consultation, I always make sure to show my large paint boards against different elements such as flooring, tile, and fabrics.

I swap them out to show my client just how different similar colours can look next to their existing finishes.

Best Whites To Pair With Woodlawn Blue

Chantilly Lace OC-65 By Benjamin Moore

Simply White OC-117 By Benjamin Moore

White Dove OC-17 By Benjamin Moore

If you want to learn more about one of the most popular whites, check out my review of White Dove by Benjamin Moore.

I tend to have around 10 white paint colours that are my best whites for trim and ceilings. You don’t need to look at the thousands of whites available to find the right one and you definitely don’t need to mix two different whites or use only a certain percentage of paint colour to get the right one for you.

I can assure you that the best colour for your project already exists, you just need to know the 5 Steps on how to choose the right paint colour the first time.

We used Woodlawn Blue for a custom vanity in a client’s powder room we redesigned. It was the perfect colour to pair with the calming blue-green tones in the bold and beautiful wallpaper we selected.

We took the photo ourselves, so while it’s not a professional photograph, hopefully, you can still see how lovely it all came together for this interior design project. (And how fabulous is that back-lit mirror?!)

Fabulous Colour Combinations

In my video, I paired Woodlawn Blue with a few different colours, all from Benjamin Moore and all included in my Perfect Colour Palette for Woodlawn Blue.

It’s such a versatile blue. It goes well with neutrals, colours with similar tones, and those that offer amazing contrast.

Woodlawn Blue with Polo, Boothbay Gray & Natural Cream

Polo 2062-10 by Benjamin Moore

Boothbay Gray HC-165 By Benjamin Moore

If you want to see more of Boothbay Gray, check out this Secret Xbox room we designed in a client’s basement!

Natural Cream OC-14 by Benjamin Moore

I am always curious to hear what you think of the colours I review. I have not yet had the opportunity to use Woodlawn Blue in a project, have you? Please comment below.

Convenience At Your Fingertips

All of the colour combinations shown above are included in my Perfect Colour Palette for Woodlawn Blue.

Woodlawn Blue is now part of my Benjamin Moore Grays and Blue-Green Collection showcasing all 10 of my gray and blue-green Benjamin Moore Perfect Colour Palettes.

My Perfect Colour Palette library is expanding and I now have over 50 palettes to select from. Click here to see all of them.

I’ve printed all of mine and they have proved to be a very helpful resource for consultations and client projects.

If you want to get all my Benjamin Moore colour guides in one place, look no further than my Benjamin Moore Ultimate Collection. All 20 of my Benjamin Moore palettes in one handy collection.

Remember, it only takes one mistake to take your home decorating project from divine to disaster. Don’t let the paint be what stresses you out!

Room images by Benjamin Moore Colour Viewer