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Being an interior designer, my home and surroundings highly affect how I feel. I have a beautiful new home, but as I did not select the finishes; they are not what I would have chosen . At all. I have conflicting undertones everywhere and dated finishes, even though the house is just 7 years old. What's bothered me the most is my hardwood flooring. It's orange, VERY orange, red oak solid hardwood. (And burgundy cabinets, and gold backspash, and black and PINK granite - but that's another story!) I've decided to bite the bullet and take you on this journey with me. Pardon the dust! 1. First step is to hire someone you trust. I have a brilliant contractor who doesn't specialize in flooring, but he's done great jobs refinishing my client's floors. I trust him. 2. Determine the amount of time this will take, I budgeted 3 weeks, but I'd suggest longer. 3. Determine where you are going to live, whilst your floors are going to be sanded. We live in a large home, so we decided to take over the basement. BUT, the kitchen is among the rooms being sanded, so that will be out of commission for a while. We moved the toaster, Microwave, blender and paper plates and cups downstairs. The fridge ended up on the deck, along with the stove and dishwasher. We've had a very mild winter, so it wasn't a problem to plug in the fridge outside.  ORIGINAL ORANGE OAK FLOORING - TOO ORANGE FOR MY TASTE! 4. Next we put poly plastic sheets over everything, the cabinets, counters, railings, fireplace, lighting, stairwell, and entrance to the foyer. 5. My contractor started with a 100 grit sander, and worked about 6 hours and finished a spot only 10 ft x 4 ft. It seems every flooring finish is different, and this finish was EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to remove. To make a long story short, we ended up going with a drum roller with 36 grit paper. And the dust started to fly! We also found out the guest bed was very uncomfortable. Karma I guess.  MOVING THE FRIDGE OUTSIDE DURING WINTER - GLAD IT WAS A VERY WARM WINTER!  EDGES OF FLOORING SANDED WITH A SMALL MACHINE TO GET RIGHT TO THE EDGES.  ROOMS FILLED TO THE BRIM WITH SAWDUST! It took him 4 days to remove 600 sq. ft of finishing and get the wood down to bare wood. We selected the perfect stain colour - not too dark, no red and NO ORANGE undertones. Varathane wood stain in Espresso We applied it, looked great, did the second coat the next day, then were told to wait 24 hours, but waited 72 hours and applied the top coat. Everything looked good, so after 2 days we applied the second top coat and left it to dry overnight. The next morning the flooring looked good but a little different. That night I noticed white patches appearing on top of certain boards. We left it another day and yup... it looked worse.  Horrible white patches on flooring. I went on every online site, talked to all sorts of professionals that I could find, to research the cause of these random white patches. It looked like someone had poured milk on the wood and let it dry, leaving a dry powdery white coating on about 25% of the boards. No one knew what to do so we....... resanded the whole bloody thing again! 4 more days of sanding - and dust. Aggh... We vacuumed the walls, windows, floors and everything else again - and started all over.... To be continued in Part 2 of 3 refinishing your Red Oak hardwood floor. 
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As interior designers, our 'go to' pieces for interior decor are often toss pillows. I find they are a great way to pull a room together or to be used as inspiration for a whole room. Here's a few ideas for your room! I haven't seen this wave edging before - I love her attention to detail. It was very, very difficult to chose, but here's a gorgeous teal one that I selected for our living room. I think it looks great on my mother's vintage chair which I had reupholstered. Therese can be contacted on Etsy, I highly recommend her and will be using her for my clients in the future!  Jil Sonia Interiors Designs I was recently introduced to Therese Maria Designs from Etsy. She creates beautiful pillows in an assortment of sizes and colours.   Loving this pink and orange one above!  This gray one looks so pretty, I'd love to use it year round! Need help choosing the perfect accent pillow? We'd love to help use our "Ask a Designer service", we answer any question, other than paint colour, which is another service, for just $95.   Confused about this new fangled lighting called LED? Which bulb do I now select?
Here's a little chart showing the "old' wattage from incandescent lighting, vs. LED, CFL and Halogen wattage. The new item to look for is called Lumens, that determines the brightness of the bulb, wattage shows the energy of the bulb. Just remember that the more lumens you have, the brighter the light. Check out this chart below, happy lighting! So proud to be voted Best of Houzz for 2014, thank you to all my wonderful clients! I love what I do and would be honoured to help you! 
Who's heard of Universal Design?
Simply it's a way of designing a home which everyone can function in. People with physical challenges, the elderly, young children - really all of us. At some point in our lives, most of us will have a physical disability. Whether it's your teen aged son who hurts himself dirtbiking, hubby who throws his back out cleaning out the gutters, age related vision loss, or people faced with even greater health challenges, we all want to be able to use our homes to the best of our ability. Did you know by the year 2020 over 50% of the populations will be over 65? If we're remodeling our home, or building a new home, it's wise to make a few subtle changes that may prove beneficial down the road. Here are just a few things to consider. Barrier free living: 
Wide interior and exterior doors and hallways - wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair - a minimum of 32", preferably more.
Showers without the 'curb' preventing us from tripping upon entering and exiting. Exterior Ramps going up to our homes. A 60" minimum 'square' area where a wheelchair can turn around. Bathroom design: 
Interior Design by Jil Sonia Interiors. Photos by Ina van Tonder, Surrey, BC
Faucet location - if possible, try to have the faucets placed to the side of the sink, then people don't need to stretch across the sink to reach the faucet.
Thermostatic Valve - for showers, these valves can be a blessing. This is usually shown as a shower faucet with 2 handles, 1 to control the flow of the water, and another lever, which is set by the user to the level of temperature of water. Set it and forget it. Let's put the shower lever at 48" in height or less, of we can all reach it. Scald protection devices are essential in homes with young children, the elderly and the physically challenged, but are recommended for every home and may even be code in some areas. We've all experienced the sudden increase or decrease in bath water temperature that occurs when another member of your household uses water. Scald protection devices can help to maintain safer water temperatures. Handles: 
Using lever handles makes life easier for everyone - no twisting or turning of knobs. Even better if they can be used with a closed fist or open hand.
Lighting: 
Interior design by Jil Sonia Interiors, Maple Ridge, BC. Photography by Ina van Tonder, Surrey, BC
Well lit areas are a must for all of us. Sconces throughout the bathrooms or hallways can emit a soft gentle light, non glaring. Ensure they don't protrude more than 4" so we don't bump into them (as per ADA standards).
As life expectancy rises and better health care increases the survival rate of those with significant injuries, illnesses, and birth challenges, there is a growing interest in universal design. Let's do our best to help everyone live life to the fullest. 
I had the good fortune of attending Design Camp in Seattle last month. Among the brilliant speakers and interior designers was the gorgeous and down to earth Bill Indursky (linkedin.com/pub/bill-indursky/9/a48/621). Here's part one of a two part series!  pmc-mag.com/2011/11/bill-indursky/ Design maverick Bill comes from an impressive art and home furnishings background, even dabbling in pottery in his early years. I was lucky enough to stroll through an art gallery alone with him and Interior Designer Linda Holt , and quiz him on upcoming trends. Bill is known for his outrageous clothing choices; when he's speaking he always dresses to show a trend. When I met him, he was rocking a kilt with these crazy, large, forearm metal cuffs - indicative of the Egyptian trend that is soon arriving.  Bill Indursky - photo by Jil Sonia McDonald Without further ado, here are our trends for 2013: Raw: a lot of raw materials have been making their rounds last year. Expect to see more raw woods, raw metals, rusted metals, weathered looking tables and chairs. With the chaos of the recent years financial decline, we're looking for more reality. Something stable.  Weathered wood end table. jossandmain.com/Stanley-Furniture-Windward-End-Table  Gorgeous salvaged wood table. www.restorationhardware.com Pattern play: Lettering is hot! Look for it in pillows, artwork, decor and wall murals. We're digging the all over letter pattern such as shown on this dramatic ceiling. Now which client can I use that for???  cdn.freshome.com/2013/01/29/top-10-interior-design-trends-for-2013/ What about your initials on your desk? Or hung on the wall?  browndresswithwhitedots.tumblr.com/post/37110889630 Dramatic license: Over the top design, heavy on the contrast. Big, powerful statement pieces. Oversized and dramatic is key! What do you think? Are you seeing a large purple chair in your living room?  housetohome.media.ipcdigital.co.uk/96/00000e4cf/bf58_orh550w550/Dramatic-living-room-modern-Livingetc.jpg The Ancients: Classic looks, Neo Greek key. Egyptian columns and room dividers, Grecian urns, patterned wallpaper showing old ruins, Parthenon looking furniture...  designtoscano.com/product/egyptian/new+egyptian/neoclassical+egyptian+revival+chair+-+af51402.do?sortby=bestSellers Well, I hate to say it, but Bill says: Gray is out and Brown and beige are back and here to stay! At the Design Centre in Seattle, all we saw were various versions of beige, dark brown and cream. I even took him aside twice and asked him to clarify this (I'm just not a brown fan!), but no, gray has had it's day and we're back to beige and brown again.  houzz.com/photos/207365/Urrutia-Design-contemporary-bedroom-san-francisco Colour: Linda Holt (www.lindaholtinteriors.com) covers this topic more in depth in her post "It's baaaack, shocking color trends" So tell me what do you think, is Bill spot on, or do you see something different coming down the design pipeline? If you need help sorting out the trends that will work for YOU, or just want classic interior design that will stand the test of time, please visit: Email: info@jilsoniainteriors.com We'd love to help!  |
Jil Sonia McDonald -
Jil Sonia Interior Designs
Author:Jil Sonia McDonald - Interior Designer of Jil Sonia Interior Designs. 
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