Interior Design Blog by Jil Sonia McDonald of Jil Sonia Interior Designs

How do I calculate the correct width of my dining room light?

9/13/2018

Would you like a few quick tips on how to calculate the correct size chandelier or pendant light for over your dining room table?
Here we go!

dining room glass table, square, white chairs, sputnik pendant light

Interior design by Jil Sonia Interiors

In general:
Add the width and length of your dining room ie. 10' + 14' = 24.
We need a light approximately 24" wide!

Or here are a few general dining room table sizes, and the width of lights that would complement the table nicely.

Oval table 42" long - light should be 18-20" wide.
Oval table 48" long - light should be 24" wide.

Square tables? Just take the table size and subtract 12" off each side.
ie. 42" sq. table. -12" and -12" = 18" wide light.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Of course there are variables, but this will get you in the right ballpark!

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How high do I hang my Chandelier Light?

9/11/2018

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Here's a few quick tips on lighting placement for your dining room chandelier or pendant.

Specifically, how high do we hang the bottom of our pendant or chandeliers, above our dining room tables?

Morrocan pendant light, custom stained glass windows, how high do I hang my dining room light?

Moroccan pendant light, interior design by Jil Sonia Interiors

Well, this depends upon the height of the room.
Here's a few quick examples:
8' high ceiling - hang the bottom of the light, 32 - 36" off of the table.
9' high ceiling - hang the bottom of the light, 36 - 40" off of the table.
10' high ceiling - hang the bottom of the light, 40 - 44" off of the table.

Hope this quick tip helps!

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How to calculate the CFM for your bathroom fan?

9/9/2018

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Calculating the correct CFM (cubic foot per minute) for your bathroom fan is important. We need the capacity of changing or replacing all of the air in our bathrooms 8 times each hour. This will remove the moisture that can lead to mold and mildew.

Bathroom glass shower, body sprays, freestanding rectangular tub.

Interior design by Jil Sonia Interiors, Abbotsford, BC

Large bathtubs and showers can give off a lot of steam - which can be relaxing and enjoyable - but - we don't want that steam to stick around. So how do we get rid of it?

A correctly sized fan will help keep our home comfortable and remove the moisture quickly and effortlessly.

Ancona Brezza 90 cfm bathroom fan from Costco.ca

Here's how to calculate the correct numbers, so your fan draws out the extra moisture, but isn't too powerful (making it quite noisy).

First, we need to calculate the volume of the bathroom.

Take the length of the room and multiply it by the width of the room. Take that # and multiply it by the height of the room. ie. 7' width x 10' length = 70. 70 x the height of the room (9' or however high your ceiling is) = 630.

Now take that # and divide it by 7.5. Why 7.5? Well remember how I mentioned our air needs to be exchanged 8 times per hour? Well that works out to being changed every 7.5 minutes.

So 630 divided by 7.5 = 84 I always round up, so that means a fan rated 100 cfm, will be perfect for our bathroom.

Hope this helps keep your bathroom well ventilated so you can enjoy those luxurious hot showers!

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Thrilled to be desiging a gorgeous new townhome project in Surrey!

9/3/2018

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I absolutely love working on new projects, it's definitely my favourite aspect of design. You can imagine how thrilled I was to be contacted by Steve Kooner who is one of the real estate sales executives, for the brand spanking new, beautiful town home project called Onyx. He wanted to meet with me to discuss plans to build 129 new townhomes to be built in Clayton Heights, at 19501 74th Ave., Surrey.

After meeting the developers in their office, I quickly realized how wonderful they are to work with. They gave me free rein to select the colours and fixtures for the items. They trusted my expertise.
I had great suppliers to work with and was honoured that the team loved everything that I presented. I was so impressed with Mr. Jaswant Bassi and the team from Urban Coast Developments. When viewing items I had selected – doors, hardware, lighting etc., his team mentioned that Jas wanted only high quality items throughout the homes. I had wrongly assumed to go with budget items, (as often builders do this when building on masse, but upon touring the suppliers showrooms, selecting items, I quickly realized that this is a high-quality builder, he will not put his name on shoddy work or fixtures. Bravo!!

I always start with the exterior as that truly does show the framework of the design. We decided to go with 3 colour schemes. I wanted the colours to all relate, but feel different and I specially wanted the front doors to pop. You can see below some of our actual materials. We selected Hardie board samples, stonework, front door colours, accent shingle colours, roof colours, garage door colours, lighting and more. One of the things that impressed me most, is that each unit has its own DOUBLE garage, very rare on most complexes I've seen lately.

Town home interior design by Jil Sonia Interiors

Inside I started with the kitchen first, as it truly is the heart of the home. We decided to go with two colour schemes inside, which I call Classic and Modern. The Classic scheme has shaker cabinets in white, shiny warm gray backsplash and a beautiful marble look countertop with stunning medium warm brown flooring. The Modern scheme has flat front cabinets with white uppers and grey lowers and a grey island. We have a soft warm grey countertops, combined with a glossy white backsplash.

Kitchen interior design by Jil Sonia Interiors

The same lighting goes throughout. I used 3 sparkly pendant lights to draw your attention to the beautiful kitchen islands and I used a chrome round light fixture pictured below, for over the dining room table. The bathrooms are focused in very neutral colour scheme, so you can accessorize with whichever colours that you wish. Keeping with the kitchen cabinet colours I chose white shakers for the Classic bathrooms and grey flat cabinets for the Modern scheme. The bedrooms are clad in a beautiful warm carpet to keep your tootsies toasty, upon waking in the morning.

Bedroom design by Jil Sonia Interiors

Living room design by Jil Sonia Interiors

Then I moved on to the large amenity building that is located within the complex. It has 2 levels with kitchens (upper and lower). We will be selecting beautiful stackable chairs and tables as well as lovely sofas with accent chairs in the lounging area. This will be able to be rented out for family functions, weddings etc. I wasn't involved in the landscaping, but I do know what is anticipated and they're going to be adding lush trees grass and shrubbery to truly make this complex look warm and inviting.

I want to thank Urban Coast Developments, Jas and Rajan Bassi, Sukh and Arsh Pandher; and Steve Kooner and Tom O’Hara (Realtors) for being so wonderful to work with and making me feel like I was part of the team. If you want anymore information on this gorgeous project or to view the sales display suite, please contact Steve or Tom here http://liveonyx.ca/contact/ or go to their website which is http://liveonyx.ca/ I hear they are selling out fast!
For a quick summary, please view the feature sheet here! http://liveonyx.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/OnyxBrochure.pdf