And then somewhere between that conversation and the finished room, it stopped looking like the picture. It looks fine. It’s just not what you saw. And you probably decided it was a budget problem, or that you should have hired someone better.

It’s neither.

I’ve been trying to explain this to homeowners for twenty years and I could never actually show it. This week I can. I took four inspiration photos, this one (above), a warm rustic kitchen, a cozy neutral living room, and a creamy bathroom and watered them down on screen, one decision at a time, exactly the way it happens in a real project.

You will recognize your own house in at least one of them.

Watch it here.

Related Posts

5 Dream Kitchen Details You Will Regret in 2030

10 Critical Decisions for a Timeless Home Renovation

8 Makeovers that Saved 54K in Renovations

The post Why Your Inspiration Photo Never Makes It Into Your House appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.

I get some version of this email all the time, and it almost never comes from someone who is new to decorating.

You’ve been reading shelter magazines for years. You know what you like. You can walk into a store and spot the best thing in the room almost immediately. Your friends probably ask you to come along when they’re choosing a sofa.

And yet you can still be completely stuck regarding your own kitchen.

Sometimes it’s because you bought a house that checked all the practical boxes, but the style was never what you naturally gravitated toward in the first place. Now you’re trying to make decisions inside a house that doesn’t speak your language.

That’s when people start wondering if they’ve somehow lost their taste.

You haven’t.

The problem is that taste and design are not the same thing.

I know this because I’ve been there

Years ago, when I was working on my last garden, I was standing in a nursery looking at hostas and called my landscape designer, MaryAnne White.

There were yellow ones, blue ones, green and white ones, green and cream ones. I liked all of them, so I thought I should get some of each.

Mary Anne said, “No. Get 12 yellow ones.”

And of course, she was right.

That conversation became one of my favourite design rules that my longtime followers often remember when they shop : boring now equals timeless later.

But there was another lesson in that story.

I have good taste. I’ve spent decades looking at colour and interiors for a living. But landscape design is not my wheelhouse, and in that moment I was doing exactly what homeowners do every day. I was choosing individual things I liked without really understanding how they would all work together once they were in place.

That is the difference between taste and design.

Taste chooses individual items. Design creates relationships.

You can stand in a showroom and love the tile, the faucet and the pendant. They can all be beautiful.

That doesn’t mean they belong together. It’s why, when I spot a random faucet or tile in a bathroom that has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the room, the homeowner will often shrug and say, “My husband wanted to participate in the selections.”

A room works because the elements relate to each other. The countertop relates to the floor. The backsplash works with the countertop. The paint colour pulls the room together. The undertone in the new tile has to work with the stone you already own and are not replacing.

The problem is that most people are still asking, Do I like this?

That’s a perfectly reasonable question, but it is not enough. The better question is, does this belong in my house?

Good taste can actually make decorating harder

Having a good eye means you can recognize what’s beautiful. Expertise means knowing what actually belongs in the room.

A tile showroom can be full of beautiful tile and I’ll still dismiss most of it in five minutes. Because the question isn’t, “Do I like this?” It’s, “Does this belong in a timeless kitchen or bathroom?” Those are two very different questions.

That’s why “Just choose what you love and it will all come together” is such terrible advice. You can love every single choice individually and still end up with a room that feels wrong. And usually, if it feels wrong, there is a reason.

Maybe the grey you chose has a green undertone and the travertine you’re keeping is pink beige. You may not know exactly what the conflict is, but your eye can still see it.

So you repaint. You change the rug or buy different pillows. You keep trying to fix the room without fixing the actual problem. Once you understand what you’re looking at, the decision becomes much easier.

This is where your taste belongs

Taste absolutely matters. It just needs to be used in the right places.

Your fixed finishes, flooring, countertops, tile and millwork, need to work together first because they are expensive and difficult to change. This is where the timeless conversation comes in.

After that you get to have fun. Your furniture, art, textiles, lamps and colour are where your personality comes in. This is where all those things you love get to make the room feel like you.

All these photos are from my current home. And yes, there are plenty of yellow hostas. Apparently I learned my lesson.

That is why good taste is not enough on its own.

You also need to know how to read the room you already have, understand what belongs with it, and make decisions in the right order.

Once you can do that, your taste becomes an asset instead of another source of confusion.

So how do you actually learn to do this?

That’s what I’m walking you through in my free live workshop, Decorate or Renovate: the magic is knowing the difference.
Your good taste needs a plan. I’ll show you how to read the room you already have, figure out what truly needs to change and what you can keep, and make your decisions in the right order, so you can finally start putting all that good taste to work.

It’s free and live on Tuesday, August 25, at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET.

It’s live only, no replay, so come join me.

SAVE YOUR SEAT → HERE

Related posts:

First Rule of Design: Boring Now Equals Timeless Later

Second Rule of Design; Waiting Now Equals Beautiful Later

The post Fifth Rule of Design: Good Taste Isn’t Enough appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.

Her living room had a 20-year-old fireplace, pink-beige carpet, partial wainscoting, and a collection of finishes that didn’t relate to the kitchen renovation beside it. I looked at the photos and thought: I can’t decorate my way out of this. The envelope needed work first.

But then I thought about it: this show is called Decorate OR Renovate!? Why was I only choosing homes I knew I could transform with decorating?

So I emailed Jenn back and told her I’d come, but this time, instead of arriving as the decorating fairy, I was going to show her what I thought she needed to renovate first. And once we added up the fireplace, flooring and other changes, we were looking at roughly $30,000.

Then, while I was there, Jenn took me into a spare bedroom and showed me a pile of art she wasn’t using. And suddenly I saw something I hadn’t seen in her application photos. Maybe I could decorate around that dated fireplace after all.

This is where the story gets interesting, because I was about to prove myself wrong.

Watch Part 2 here.

At the end I asked Jenn how she felt about renovating now. Her answer? “I don’t think we have to, I like a thrifty deal :)”

And THAT is the magic of knowing the difference between what actually needs renovating, and what just needs decorating.

Tuesday, August 25, I’m teaching a free live workshop: Decorate or Renovate: The Magic is Knowing the Difference If you’re staring at a room that feels dated and assuming the answer is renovation, come to this first. I’ll show you how to tell what actually needs replacing, what simply needs decorating, and where to spend your money so you get the biggest transformation without ripping out perfectly good finishes you could have worked with. Because the expensive mistake is renovating before you know what actually needs to change. Register here.

Want Your Home Featured?

I’m looking for homeowners in the Fraser Valley or Lower Mainland who are willing to appear on camera for an episode of Decorate or Renovate!? Maybe your room feels unfinished, your furniture layout isn’t working, or you’re stuck wondering whether you need to renovate or simply decorate differently. Submit your home for consideration and tell me what isn’t working, what you’ve already tried, and what you’d love the room to become.

And if your home is chosen for a renovate episode, the consultation and design direction won’t cost you anything—just like you’ll see in today’s video. Apply here.

Related posts:

Part 1: Renovate first? 30K

Can you Layer Lamps in front of Artwork?

Styling with Lamps and Art; Two Ways

The post I Thought This Room Needed a Renovation appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.

You’d point at whatever is oldest, because that’s the only answer available to you.

So you got a quote. Maybe two. And when the number came back, something in your stomach turned over, and not only because of the money. It was because you couldn’t shake the feeling that you might spend all of it and walk back into the room afterward and feel exactly the same way you feel now.

You haven’t said that part out loud to anyone.

Meanwhile your husband looks at the same room and says he doesn’t see the problem. Your sister tells you your house is beautiful and she means it. And you stand there thinking, I know it’s fine, I know I should be grateful, but I don’t like being in here and I can’t explain why.

You’ve already tried. There was the rug. There were new cushions, and for about a week it felt better, and then it went back to looking the way it always looked. There’s probably a lamp in a box somewhere that never found a spot. You’ve saved forty rooms on Instagram that look nothing like yours, and you can’t work out what they have that you don’t, because on paper you have the same things.

At some point you decided the problem must be that your house is dated, and dated means it has to come out.

I’ve done these makeovers for three years now and I’ve stood in a lot of these rooms. Here’s what I keep finding. The thing everybody is blaming is usually not the thing making the room feel bad. Sometimes the living room needs decorating so you can live with your kitchen for another five years. Sometimes one permanent finish genuinely has to change and everything else can stay. And sometimes yes, the renovation should go ahead exactly as planned.

The difference is worth a lot of money.

That’s what I want you to watch for in the before and afters you’ve just seen. Not how much better the rooms look, because you already know I’m going to make them look better, that isn’t the interesting part. Watch what actually needed to change, and what suddenly doesn’t seem as important now that we have added a look and a feel to the most important room in the house.

Not sure if you need to renovate or decorate? This room-by-room guide provides clarity before hiring contractors. Get your FREE download here.

Keep an eye out tomorrow, too. I’ve got something extra special to share

Related posts:

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Why Your Home Needs More Lamps and How to Add More

Fix Your Empty TV Wall Today

The post Stop Renovating Everything That Looks Dated appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.

This week’s episode is a good one. For the first time ever, I’m walking through the changes that my clients home needed before it could be decorated. Because when Jenn first applied for my makeover series, I declined because none of her fixed elements related to each other.

The pink-beige carpet. The dated fireplace surround. The dark mantel. The kitchen finishes going in yet another direction.

I honestly thought I couldn’t pull off a decorating makeover without correcting the envelope first.

What decorating can do

Then, after we walked through everything that needed to be updated, Jenn showed me what she had hidden in another bedroom. And honestly there are times when I surprise even myself. We created magic by just re-arranging furniture and finding a place for so many decor pieces the homeowner has stopped displaying because they just don’t know where they should go.

This is Part One: what I thought needed to change before we could decorate, what it would cost, and the discovery that changed the direction of the entire makeover.

Watch the full episode on YouTube.

Want Your Home Featured?

I’m looking for homeowners in the Fraser Valley or Lower Mainland who are willing to appear on camera for an episode of Decorate or Renovate!? Maybe your room feels unfinished, your furniture layout isn’t working, or you’re stuck wondering whether you need to renovate—or simply decorate differently. Submit your home for consideration and tell me what isn’t working, what you’ve already tried, and what you’d love the room to become.

And if your home is chosen for a renovate episode, the consultation and design direction won’t cost you anything—just like you’ll see in today’s video. Apply here.

Related posts:

10 Critical Decisions for a Timeless Home Renovation

5 Steps to Starting a Bathroon Renovation

Why Good Decorating Starts with the Right Advice

The post Should You Renovate Before You Decorate? appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.

I’m desperately searching for a new rug for our family room… I came across this one, but I’m worried it might be too much color. We have built ins in this space that’s I’ve incorporated a lot of different colors…I think my couch is violet grey, but there are couch covers on it that might be a different undertone. The walls are pale oak (taupe). Please help!

Neutral does not mean “goes with anything”

I see this mistake all the time because you can’t just buy a gray sofa and expect it to magically work with every colour. I actually think that’s one of the reasons the gray trend has hung on for so long. People assume gray is “neutral,” so anything goes, right?

It’s one of the biggest decorating myths in the design world.

When an all-neutral room feels drab or lifeless, the instinct is to throw a bunch of colour at it. But that doesn’t work.

Colour only looks intentional when it’s repeated throughout the room. And just as importantly, the dominant neutral that’s already there, in this case, the gray sofa, also needs to be repeated.

If the rug is the only place introducing all those colours, and the gray sofa is the only gray in the room, everything feels disconnected instead of beautifully layered. That’s why so many people end up blaming the rug when the real problem is that the room isn’t coordinated.

In this room, the rug is doing all the heavy lifting. It introduces dozens of happy, saturated colours—but where do those colours go next?

Nowhere.

The sofa is gray, the gallery wall is mostly muted. Most of the accessories are also neutral. The only thing that relates to the rug is… the rug. So instead of feeling intentional, it feels disconnected.

That’s exactly why the homeowner starts thinking, “Maybe I need a different rug.” And she does because there’s many colours in this rug but not a stitch of the biggest colour in the room, which is the gray so the room doesn’t look like a designer was there yet.

With this many colours in the rug, we need a sofa that picks up one of the colours like this:

And then if yellow is a colour we love, we repeat it. I am showing a very basic computer generated example but I think you get my point.

Make sure key colours are repeated

This wallpaper image arrived in my inbox last week and I noticed the same thing happening, all the colours on the colour wheel but not one of them is the grey headboard.

Whoever styled this image to sell this wallpaper pattern also thought grey goes with everything, but better yet, to bring it to life, let’s add all the colours.

But the look we really have is this: I don’t like my gray headboard so let me throw a bunch of colour at it.

This is the same mistake I see all the time.

I added a different paper to go with the headboard and now the look we have is that the headboard was chosen on purpose to work with the wallpaper.

In one of most recent Decorate or Renovate!? makeovers, the homeowner had a huge, colourful cow hanging over espresso sofas with taupe walls and pink beige shag carpeting (this episode is coming soon).

I’m illustrating the same point here and that is a colourful piece of art in an all neutral room will not save it from looking drab.

When colour or neutral appears only once, it looks random. A neutral sofa is not like a pair of jeans. As I’ve shown many times in my makeover shows, when someone has too many neutrals the room can’t support a strong colour. That’s when the principles of good decorating need to be introduced.

Contrast, interesting shapes and texture. That’s how professional rooms come together.

So before you replace the rug, ask yourself:

Have I actually repeated these colours throughout the room?

One final Create Your Dream Home cohort opens soon. It’s the last time everything sits in one course: the full Killam Colour System® foundation, decorating, and timeless finishes. Future cohorts will be shorter, so get on the waitlist here.

Related posts:

From Gray Walls to Happy Colour; Before & After

Watch this before you Rip Out your Gray Floors!

The Problem with an All Gray Room

The post Why Your Colorful Rug Doesn’t Work with Your Grey Sofa appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.

Lacey thought her biggest problem was a corner fireplace. Then AFTER one room makeover turned into FIVE (in one day), she admitted she’d also been considering replacing the black fireplace surround in the living room (sneak peek below), the black entry tile and much of the flooring on her main floor—a renovation that could have cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Instead, we spent one day decorating. By the end of the makeover, the room felt completely different, the black finishes suddenly belonged, and the renovations she’d been planning no longer felt necessary.

The right decorating plan has a funny way of making you say, “Wait… what renovation?”

Watch this epic makeover below:

Wondering if your house really needs renovating—or if it just isn’t finished yet?

Download my free guide and learn how to evaluate each room before you spend thousands on renovations you may not need.

PS. Love before-and-after photos? Members of my Dream Home Community get exclusive sneak peeks, additional before-and-after images, and behind-the-scenes content from every makeover, join us inside here.

Related posts:

You’re Overthinking your Living Room; 5 One Day Makeovers

8 Makeovers that Saved $54K in Renovations

Why we Believe Art Must Have Meaning

The post How a One Day Makeover Saved a 50K Reno appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.

Maria & Elizabeth (Watch this epic makeover here)

It hung above a cabinet in the family room (below), a piece of art a student had painted for the homeowner, something she genuinely loved. But it was up there completely alone. No framed friends. No company. Just one meaningful piece, floating by itself on a big blank wall.

My sister Elizabeth films these makeovers with me, and in the car on the way to shop, she said something that stopped me:

“That art is an orphan. It needs a family.” (below):

She wasn’t wrong. And honestly, that’s the whole idea behind the gallery wall course I built: Give Your Art a Family. Not just learn how to hang frames around your TV (like I’ve become famous for) but how to actually give the one piece you love–the family and friends around it–that makes a wall feel finished, layered, almost like a mural, instead of one lonely painting doing all the work by itself.

If you’ve followed my one-day makeovers for a while, you already know what happened next. Someone asks about one room, and because most homes are open-concept, it’s almost impossible to touch just that one space. This one started in the family room and, like it usually does, it spread and I ended up finishing the living room, styling the entry, dining room and kitchen too! This one became an extreme makeover and we were still finished in just one day!!

When we went back to do the walkthrough last week for Friday’s reveal, she mentioned that “My husband doesn’t care about this stuff, but he sure noticed this round of changes!” He noticed that the house glowed at night now, instead of sitting under what used to be a runway of overhead pot lights, end to end. We swapped that for eight lamps. And he noticed the fact that the feeling suddenly shifted in every roon.

That’s really the whole point. Not decorating for decorating’s sake, but the way a room you actually love changes how you live in it, whether you “care about this stuff” or not.

And there’s more to this story about art:

We met two roommates this past weekend, in the middle of the heat wave.

Two women posted in our local community Facebook group”. . . if you have a pool in this weather and you’re keeping it all to yourself, that’s just pure selfishness! Share the wealth, think about it! Please don’t laugh at us, we are running on our last single brain cell. Help us out!” In exchange, we will bring ice-cold Aperol Spritz to start the ultimate pool-side happy hour!

So we invited them over.

Virtual garden design by MaryAnne White

The boxwood in my triangle beds in front of our vegetable gardens and greenhouse filled in this Spring and look at how fabulous the lavender is, followed by my white agapanthus which comes right after the lavender has expired! So gorgeous, I feel so blessed.

Last year for my birthday my team sent me a double lounger in yellow (linked here) and white stripes along with this raft that has become Lucy’s favourite toy when we’re in the pool! She’s doesn’t like the water but she sure loves to jump on and off the food and cabana bar (linked here).

Anyway, somewhere between the pool and the patio, we got to talking about their house. It’s a rental that came furnished, but there was no art anywhere in the living room, and only one lamp. She mentioned the room had basically become a drop zone — nobody actually sat in there.

That’s what Friday’s reveal is about. And it’s what Give Your Art a Family (which is the new name for my Gallery Wall Module. which OMG deserved a much better name so you can all feel the joy) teaches from the ground up — starting with just one piece you already love, through the frames, the colors, and how to hang it all without turning your wall into a swiss cheese wall of holes.

Get it here, and give your art some family and friends! Woo hoo.

See you Friday (I cannot wait for you to see this makeover!).

Related posts:

The Gallery Wall I hung Twice

The Magic Formula for Creating the Perfect Gallery Wall

Why We Believe Art Must have Meaning

The post Why Your Favorite Painting Is Still Alone appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.

The funny thing about timeless design is that it’s repetitive. There aren’t a gazillion different ways to create a timeless home.

Maria’s Timeless Warm Neutral Kitchen

Trends change. The principles don’t.

I’ve been teaching the same colour and decorating principles since I started this blog in 2008 because they still work. In fact, they work even better at the end of a trend cycle.

I recently met a follower who has been reading my blog since the beginning. Her daughter grew up during that time because I’ve been writing this blog for 18 years–eeeeek! Because I don’t have children I don’t count like that but it made me feel old, haha.

But think about those colourful tile bathrooms from the 1950s and ’60s. People don’t work that hard to preserve them simply because they’re old. They preserve them because they have charm, character, and a timeless quality that’s worth decorating around. They update the wallpaper, lighting, mirror, and decorating, but they leave the tile because it still belongs.

Now what about the white kitchen?

For years, everyone declared the white kitchen “over.” But timeless white kitchens never went out of style (below).

Crisp Architects

What people got tired of were the cookie-cutter imitations that forgot all the details that made the originals timeless. (below).

One of my readers reminded me of that this week. Five years ago, we planned a timeless renovation for her kitchen. When they recently sold their home, they received four offers on the first day, all above asking. That sale fell through through no fault of their own, so they listed it again.

Four more offers. Again, all above asking.

That doesn’t surprise me at all.

When buyers have spent all weekend walking through homes filled with the trends that are already feeling tired and overdone, walking into a beautifully designed, timeless kitchen feels like a breath of fresh air. Instead of adding “replace the kitchen” to their renovation budget, they can simply move in and start living.

That’s the difference between trendy and timeless.

And it’s exactly why my advice hasn’t changed much in the past 18 years. In today’s video I’m showing you how 5 current trends fit into the conversation about timelessness, or don’t.

Watch it here.

Related posts:

First Rule of Design; Boring Now Equals Timeless Later

Second Rule of Design: Waiting Now Equals Beautiful Later

Third Rule of Design: Expensive Does not Equal Timeless

Fourth Rule of Design: Trendy Equals Temporary

The post 5 Timeless Design Trends That Never Go Out of Style appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.

Years ago, someone gifted me a pendant in the shape of a triangle.

I never wore it.

Well read on because Ingrid explains exactly why.

Traditional design has more curves

My aversion to sharp corners is probably why my design aesthetic is more traditional vs. ultra modern. Traditional design has way more curves, while modern has a lot more straight lines.

A builder once told me that if you build a traditional and ultra-modern house right beside each other, the traditional house sells way faster than the modern one.

The shape of your furniture matters

Universally, people responded that joy was represented in things like, rainbows, bubbles, polka dots, hot air balloons, bright pops of colour, etc.

Colour is where the joy is

And it made her wonder why we go to work every day in offices that look like this:

Recently I was downtown for a meeting in an office tower where the finishing touches were just being added to brand new offices that looked like this:

We sat in a meeting room with black carpet, black chairs and STARK white walls and I actually noticed that my eyes got tired.

As I learned years ago, when I was in colour training, high contrast workspaces like this, create eye fatigue because your pupils have to keep dilating to adjust to the contrast. It makes the workplace a high stimulation environment which is not good.

In her talk, Ingrid stated that research conducted in four countries, says that people working in colourful offices are more alert, more confident and friendlier than those that work in drab spaces.

This is why the trends have swung so quickly away from the harsh black and white look of the modern farmhouse trend to the much softer and more liveable warm and colourful looks everyone is asking for now.

Colour is abundance

Why do we love colour so much? Researchers say it’s because colour in a very primal way, is a sign of life, a sign of energy, and of abundance, we evolve in a world were scarcity is dangerous and abundance is survival.

Soothing vs alarming shapes

This next piece of her talk was the most interesting, she said that neuroscientists tested people and found that when they showed them pictures of angular objects vs. round ones, they found that the part of the brain that associates with fear and anxiety, lit up when they looked at the angular objects but not when they looked at the round ones.

And they speculated that angles in nature are often associated with objects that might be dangerous to us that we evolved an unconscious sense of caution around these shapes (above).

While curves (below), set us at ease.

You deserve a home that fills you with joy

It’s why I don’t get tired of the colour in my house, it fills me with joy walking through it every day. In fact, I’ll often say out loud “House I love you! You are the best!” (not kidding, haha).

Maria’s living room (see my full house tour here)

If you’re avoiding colour in your decorating? It’s most likely because you’re afraid of making a mistake you’ll tire of. But living in a home devoid of colour is actually what’s depleting you.

“Living in a home devoid of colour is actually what’s depleting you.”

Colour is where the joy is

What’s the best way to get brave with colour? By understanding it better. The great news is it’s easy to learn!

As much as I’m known for subtle undertones in neutrals and love to teach them, the reason I’ve written so many posts about clean and dirty colours, (this is a good one) is because that is where the SECRET to choosing and specifying colour CORRECTLY, actually lives. Neutrals are best at being the backdrop, but colours create the feel of a room.

“Neutrals are best at being the backdrop, but colours create the feel of a room.”

My Colour Training involves learning how to choose neutrals (which we’re doing 80% of the time) and COLOUR. Why? Because it makes no sense to understand neutrals if you don’t understand how to choose colour as well.

This course fills up fast, make sure you don’t miss it!

Get on the waitlist for the next session.

When I travel to Europe I’m always struck by how much more colour lives there and it makes me wonder why North Americans are so colour averse.

That’s why I was so excited when I watched Ingrid’s talk about Joy.

I love how this video completely changed how I look at shapes in the world. I will never look at triangular objects vs. round objects the same way ever again.

And neither will you.

Ingrid also wrote a book about joy I gifted a copy to my entire team, it’s a must read!

What was your favourite part of the video?

Related posts:

Timeless Isn’t a Rule; It’s Freedom

How to Create a Colour Palette

Where Black Still Works

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The post What Everyone Should Know About Joy appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.

Sneak peek of her newly styled floating shelves

First, we chose timeless finishes for her kitchen renovation and decorated her family room.

In her next house, we warmed up gray floors with jute rugs and cognac accents during the height of the black-and-white trend.

And now she’s moved again—back to warm floors, a navy sectional, an olive ottoman, and a fireplace wall with floating shelves that needed to look less bitty and more finished.

Custom built-ins would have been beautiful, but they weren’t the plan. So we used art, scale, repetition, and editing to make the shelves feel intentional. Because sometimes the room doesn’t need a renovation. It needs the right decorating plan.

See the full transformation in this weeks video!

Related posts:

3 Ways to Style a Bookshelf

4th Rule of Design; Trendy equals Temporary

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The post Three Homes, One Client: How We Made Floating Shelves Look Finished appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.

Maybe you have already painted. You bought the sofa, chose a rug, and added a few pillows. Technically, the room is furnished.

And yet, it still does not feel finished.

The most powerful thing to do is get a fresh perspective. But it’s important that it comes from someone you trust. Which you definitely won’t get posting on random decorating forums online.

This is exactly why I created my community! Inside, you can connect with like minded people immersed in learning colour and timeless principles. Create connections, share your ideas, help others with theirs.

And connect with me and my team. We host a live Q&A every month inside the Dream Home Club. Members submit photos of their real rooms and tell us where they feel stuck. Then Tricia and I help them see what is actually happening—not through generic decorating rules, but by looking at the room right in front of us.

Because decorating is entirely visual.

The answer depends on your furniture, your finishes, the size of your room, the colours you already have, and what you are trying to make work.

Your Home is Not a Blank Canvas

One of the most common mistakes we see is trying to decorate from pure theory. If you’re asking questions like:

• How many colours should I use?
• Should every room be painted the same colour?
• Do all my wood tones need to match?
• Is green still current?

These questions rarely lead you to actionable answers because they ignore the most important source of information: your actual room.

Your sofa, carpet, tile, fireplace stone, and adjoining kitchen have already created a set of constraints. And those constraints are not necessarily a problem. They are exactly where your decorating plan begins.

Watch this clip from a recent Q&A:

Once you stop trying to invent a room in galaxy brain mode, trying to pull down ideas and rules from the ether, and start looking at what it actually needs, decorating becomes much easier. You can stop spinning inside your head, and instead move forward by choosing the right area rug or a piece of artwork that relates to what is staying. Then you repeat those colours through your pillows, lamps, and accessories. Each decision gives you more information for the next one.

Inside the community, you will find all the grounding support and practical advice you need to transform your room.

Sometimes the Question is Not the Real Problem

During a recent Q&A, one member shared a beautiful dining room. She was concerned that her traditional furniture and contemporary chandelier did not work together.

But the furniture was not the issue.

The room simply needed a more important rug, lamps, artwork, and styling. In other words, it did not need to be redesigned. It needed to be finished.

Watch the clip:

This happens all the time. When a room still feels wrong, we tend to question the largest and most expensive pieces first:

• Should I replace the table?
• Is my sofa the wrong style?
• Does this chandelier look dated?
• Do I need to completely renovate?

Sometimes one of those elements genuinely is wrong. But very often, the room is simply missing the layers that create warmth, balance, and personality. That distinction can save you from spending thousands of dollars solving the wrong problem.

It is incredibly difficult to objectively diagnose a room you look at every day. A fresh eye can often see the missing piece immediately.

A clear next step is often more valuable than another idea

Another member shared that she struggles to find the time to finish decorating her home.

And this is such a common problem.

When several rooms are unfinished, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the decisions that need to be made. They get all mushed together and it’s easier to just look away because the entire house feels like one enormous project.

But you do not need to finish everything at once. You do, however, deserve a home you love living in.

Watch the clip:

Choose one room and take it across the finish line.
Give yourself one space that feels complete, comfortable and beautiful—even if there are still boxes, empty walls or unfinished projects elsewhere.

A finished room gives you somewhere to rest. It builds your confidence and makes the next room easier because you are no longer trying to hold every decorating decision in your head at once. Inside the community it becomes easier to figure out what to focus on. Step by step.

You Learn From Every Room—Not Only Your Own

As we discuss room after room in our monthly Q&As, you’ll learn to recognize the principles and you’ll be able to apply them to whatever you’re working on in your own home.

During our last call, we discussed:

• How to choose an accent colour from an area rug.
• Why a gallery wall needs a visual structure.
• How to anchor artwork with furniture.
• Why four matching dining chairs can make a room feel like a breakfast nook.
• When furniture should be placed in front of a window.
• Why end tables and coffee tables should coordinate without matching.
• How to tell when a lamp is too small.
• Why a furnished room can still feel completely unfinished.

You might arrive with a question about paint and leave finally understanding why your furniture arrangement feels disconnected. Or you may watch someone else receive advice about their dining room and suddenly realize what has been missing from yours. One member’s question often becomes the answer someone else needed too.

You Do Not Have to Figure It Out Alone

Decorating decisions carry an enormous amount of mental weight. An unfinished or unattractive room causes daily friction when your home is meant to support you.

It’s not that you need to figure everything out all at once all on your own. You need someone to look at your room and say: This is what is working. This is what is holding it back. And this is what I would do next.

Inside the community, everyone is learning the power of choosing the right colour and timeless decorating, so you have a trusted community of people working through similar decisions alongside you.

I was delighted to see a new community member share the transformation she created. It’s a great example of the kind of projects our community members are tackling.

She was struggling with what to do with this bathroom. First she painted it pale blue:

Then she tried warming it up with yellow:

And then she realized she needed to calm everything down with a warm brown that matched the shower tile (not shown) for a sophisticated “Parisian bistro” look. Now it looks so elevated, she shared that she no longer feels pressure to renovate this bathroom at all!

And that’s the magic. Learning how to use colour and styling will save you so much time, energy and money. Plus you’ll make fabulous new friends!

So please don’t keep staring at your room, wondering what is wrong or whether you are about to make another expensive mistake. Learning and creating is more fun together!

Ready to create a home you’ll love forever?

Nowhere else will you find this opportunity for making connections with new friends and find trusted support to help you make confident colour and design decisions. There is no reason to go it alone.

Join Dream Home Club now.

“I am really loving your community. The resources and feedback from others is exactly what I needed, to get me unstuck! And, it’s so affordable. THANK YOU!” ~ Sarah H.

“Oh my gosh! Thank you Maria Killam!! I love this community and all the support! Such a positive place to share and receive advice.” ~ Amy G.

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The post The Real Reason Your Room Still Feels Wrong appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.

When Terri and Marcy downsized into a 22nd-floor apartment, they did what most of us do: they brought along the furniture they already owned and tried to make it work in a completely different space.

The hardest part is that many of those things feel important. But something can hold a memory and still not belong in the home you live in now. The goal is not to get rid of everything. It is to be choosy: keep the pieces that still serve your life and your home, and let go of the ones that are simply taking up space because they came with you.

Every home has its own requirements. A dining table that worked beautifully in a larger house can overwhelm a smaller dining room. Coffee tables, end tables, entry tables and rugs all need to be the right scale for the rooms they live in now. This is especially important to understand if you’re someone that really cares about how your home feels. And that’s you if you’re reading this right now!

In this week’s makeover, we kept the pieces that still belonged, edited the ones that didn’t, and spent $8,500 transforming their living room, dining room and entry into a home that finally fits their life today.

If you didn’t see the dining room above in last weeks makeover, you’ll never believe how good it looked at the end of one day!

Along with the living room in today’s video! So good.

I also kept the entire clip in the beginning when rug shopping so you can see the thought process between the two area rugs we choose for the living and dining room.

Watch the full makeover below to see what changed everything:

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The post The Furniture Mistake Everyone Makes After Moving appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.

You are probably losing sleep because choosing an exterior colour is an even trickier undertaking than picking a colour for your living room. The single biggest mistake you can make is choosing your exterior paint color while sitting inside at your kitchen table.

Sunlight changes everything. Outside, the sun acts like a giant volume knob for paint. It strips out the pigment, washes out the undertones, and completely morphs the color.

That lovely, soft off-white you liked on a tiny paper chip inside? Outside in the blinding mid-day sun, it turns glaring and stark leaving you and your neighbours squinting. That perfectly greige you picked? Becomes dreary and cold, not at all subtle and sophisticated like you intended.

A word of caution too if you’re visualizing colours for your exterior with AI. It’s still not accurate with colour. Usually, it skews everything much too warm for one thing. When it comes to exterior colour, it definitely doesn’t account for the intense exterior light blowing out the colour.

I had an edesign client recently with a charming brownstone she had decided to warm up with a creamy paint colour. It was not yet painted so she showed us the visualization of it and wanted help choosing the perfect accent for her front door. She was so excited about the dreamy new colour she chose, SW Ivory Lace, a very pale green beige complex cream. Here’s her rendering:

So pretty right??

The issue is that SW Ivory Lace isn’t going to look anything like this warm creamy beauty. It’s going to blow out to a much thinner looking white. She would need a warm mid tone beige to get this look. We let her know of course. But I wanted to share this here because I think this mistake is happening everywhere.

It also happens in interiors, you want a luminous creamy look for your walls so you choose one of the trending off whites like SW Alabaster, and it turns out much too stark and dingy. Because what you really probably needed was a pale neutral to get the look. But it takes experience to know that a colour you’re looking at on a tiny chip or even a larger sample is going to brighten significantly when it goes up on the walls.

And this effect is much more dramatic in bright exterior light.

So maybe you’re looking for the perfect creamy look for your exterior and you’re considering the palest creamy off whites and creams in the fan deck. You’ve heard me about proper testing, so now you’ve ordered larger samples of them all and you’re wondering why they look like nothing and you can’t see the magic you’re looking for.

This is why. And if you have the full curated collection of my neutral and whites large painted colour boards, I urge you to pull out the pale neutrals instead and haul them outside. You will be amazed how fresh and bright they look in sunlight. You need a pale beige to get a look like this below.

MIF Design & Construction

Move Past the Cookie-Cutter Trends

And honestly? Right now, I would avoid a stark white look for your exterior. You’ve probably noticed your neighbourhood is still being flooded with those high-contrast black-and-white exteriors. It has become the default template for every builder-grade home on the cul-de-sac. But the design world has already moved on. The shine has completely worn off the white box. It’s no longer just me yelling into the void. I know you’re feeling it too.

If you want your home to look sophisticated and timeless, you need to move towards something softer and more timeless, opt for a pretty muted color or a warm neutral for your exterior. I am seeing my clients embrace:

• Architectural Cream: Creams that are soft and architectural rather than stark don’t come from the whites collection at all.
• Warm Neutrals Complex neutrals that offer warmth without feeling heavy.
• Soft Sage Greens: Earthy, grounding greens that connect seamlessly with the landscape.
• Dusty Blues: Gorgeous, muted blues that read almost neutral.
• Buttery Yellow: The perfect choice for historic charm.

Let me know in the comments, are you tackling your exterior this summer? What colour are you leaning towards?

The 3 Most Important Rules for Exterior Colour

Before you pick up a paintbrush or hire a contractor this summer, you need an intentional, considered plan. Stop guessing and keep these three rules in mind:

• Bright Exterior Light Blows Out Colour Dramatically: So once more, that yummy creamy look you want? Believe me, it doesn’t exist in the whites collection at all. You need to look at warm neutrals to get that look outside. That means you also need to get the undertone right.
• Your Fixed Finishes Dictate the Plan: Paint is dead last. You’re probably thinking you have endless options for your siding or stucco paint colour, but if your house has stone or brick? That often means you only have one or two truly perfect options. So how do you find that perfect unicorn in a full deck of paint colours?? I’ll show you.
• Landscaping is Decorating for the Exterior: Your paint colour, stone and exterior details aren’t meant to do all the work. A naked house with zero landscaping will always look unfinished. To get real curb appeal, landscaping is the all important “decorating” phase. Stop trying to make the facade of your house interesting by throwing a patchwork of colours and claddings up. Simple is timeless. Save a decent chunk for great landscaping.

Stop Guessing. Get Smart.

You do not have to guess your way through a costly, permanent exterior mistake. Don’t walk into your project centre simply hoping it will all work out.

My Exterior Colour Masterclass is an online, 18-module program designed to give you a clear plan. I will teach you everything you need to know about choosing the right colour for your exterior. Which is powerful, because every single element you choose for your exterior is a colour choice. Get the colour right, and you’ve made the most of your investment. I want to help you spend your money wisely, so I’ve also included content on the power of landscaping.

Turn your hard work and investment into a beautiful home you’ll love looking at every time you pull into the driveway.

Enroll in the Exterior Colour Masterclass today and trend-proof your home’s curb appeal!

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The post Why Your Exterior Paint Sample Looks Completely Blah appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.

Whether you are firing up the grill for Canada Day on July 1st or setting up the lawn chairs for the 4th of July , my team and I want to wish you and your family a fantastic, safe, and joyful holiday week!

The steps to a beautiful dining room

Most people assume a beautiful dining room starts with an expensive dining table.

It doesn’t.

Over the past 25 years I’ve discovered there’s a sequence to decorating a dining room, and once you understand that sequence, decorating becomes dramatically easier. In this week’s one-day makeover, I’m walking you through the exact six-step formula I use to transform dining rooms again and again.

You know that feeling of standing in your dining room knowing something isn’t right but having no idea what to fix? The table is fine. The chairs are fine. You’ve got a cabinet against one wall and maybe a buffet against another, and the whole room still feels like a collection of furniture instead of a room. It’s not that you don’t have taste, you just need the right steps.

This week’s makeover was for Terreeia’s best friend Terry and his wife Marcia. When I walked in, they had cabinets everywhere, dishes from decades of life, and no plan. By the end of one day, the dining room was so transformed that when I showed someone the after photos yesterday, they thought it was AI.

It wasn’t. It was the same six-step formula I run every single time. Yes the image above is a sneak peek!!??

The best part? We kept the homeowners’ well-loved dining table—even though it was scratched, chipped and covered with family memories.

If you’ve ever looked at your dining room and felt like something was missing, this video will show you what comes next.

Watch the makeover below and see the six-step formula in action.

Watch it here.

Ready to transform your room? Get all my best formulas, from choosing the perfect lamp, to finally tackling that gallery wall in Styling School. School is in session! Get it here.

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The post The 6-Step Formula Behind Every Beautiful Dining Room appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.

She included a photo of her living room that had the basics most of us have — sofa, chairs, coffee table — but was missing all the styling details I’m always talking about, especially lamps.

This is the email I get more than any other. A homeowner is fixated on one dated finish — the kitchen floor, the oak cabinets, the brass faucet, the tile around the fireplace — and convinced that if she could just replace this one thing, the house would finally feel right.

She’s not wrong that the finish is dated. She’s just wrong about what’s actually making her unhappy.

The 1950s bathroom you can’t stop saving

You’ve seen it everywhere online. Homeowners are leaving their original 1950s bathrooms alone — the pink tile and tub, the yellow tiled countertops — and adding wallpaper, art, and personality around them instead of ripping them out.

The House Judge

And we love it. We save it. We share it. We post it with captions like “this is so much better than gutting it.”

Now look at what’s actually happening in those bathrooms. The pink and yellow tile didn’t change. The pink tub didn’t change.

What changed is that the room around the dated finish got decorated — beautiful wallpaper, a fabulous mirror, vintage lighting, a vintage vanity stool, towels in the right colours.

The dated thing didn’t go away. It stopped being the loudest thing in the room.

That is the entire principle. And it works just as well in your kitchen, your living room, and your dining room as it does in someone’s pink-tiled 1950s bathroom. It’s just easier to see when the example is small enough to wrap your head around.

The $7,000 kitchen she didn’t need to paint

A few months ago I transformed the living room for Michelle and her husband. They were thinking about painting their cherry kitchen cabinets. The quote was around $7,000.

We spent $2,400 decorating her living room instead — lamps, art, pillows, a rug, the things she’d been telling herself she’d “get around to one day.” Then we styled her kitchen with a few intentional pieces.

Art with a vignette in the first corner you see when you first walk into the room with the perfect lamp, of course.

Here’s what happened. After the living room was finished, she walked through her house and the cherry cabinets stopped bothering her. Not because the cabinets had changed.

Because the living room — the room you walk through every time you go to the kitchen — finally had a look and a feel. Joy. Warmth. Personality. (watch the full makeover here).

She still has cherry cabinets. She might paint them eventually. But the desperate feeling that they had to go right now disappeared the moment the living room around them became a room she loved walking into.

She saved $4,600. She has a beautiful house. And she’s not waking up thinking about her kitchen anymore.

Three things that change everything

If you can’t stop looking at the dated thing in your house, the answer is almost never to renovate the dated thing. The answer is to learn how to decorate the rooms around it so it stops being the loudest voice in the house.

There are three skills that do most of the work:

Art on the wall. Not a single picture your mother gave you hung at the wrong height. A wall that’s been planned — scale, spacing, mix of frames, one piece you love anchoring the rest.

Pillows on the sofa. Not the matching set that came with the furniture. Pillows in the right scale, the right textures, the right colours to relate to the room.

Lamps in the room. Not one overhead light flattening everything. Layered lighting — a floor lamp, table lamps, sconces — that makes the room glow at night.

If you can do those three things well, your dated kitchen, your old fireplace, your tile you’ve been hating — they all quiet down. The room finally has somewhere else to look.

Here’s the thing I didn’t believe for the first twenty years of doing this work. I used to think you either had an eye for decorating or you didn’t. If you didn’t, you were stuck — hire someone or live with a house that never felt right.

I don’t believe that anymore. Watching homeowners inside my membership learn this skill over the past few years — really learn it, not just memorize a Pinterest board — has changed my mind.

Decorating can be learned, the same way colour can be learned.

You have to be interested in it. You have to be willing to look. But the eye is built, not born. All I have to do is go back through memory lane and look at what my very first decorating projects looked like.

If you’ve been staring at the wrong thing

In the end, it’s unlikely you need a $7,000 cabinet paint job more than a decorated living room.

You need to know how to hang art so a wall reads finished. You need to know which pillows actually work together and which ones look like you panicked at HomeSense.

You need to know where the lamps go so the room glows instead of sitting flat under overhead lights.

That’s what I teach in Styling School.

Once you can do those three things, you’ll walk past your kitchen and stop seeing it. Same kitchen. Different room around it.

That’s the magic of decorating, and it costs a fraction of what you’re about to spend on cabinets you don’t actually need.

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The post The Fastest Way to Make Your Kitchen Feel Less Ugly appeared first on Maria Killam | Colour Expert & Creator of The Killam Colour System®.