It’s February 1st — a little late to be wishing you a Happy New Year — but we hope this journal update finds you warm (no easy feat lately), relaxed, and easing your way into the year ahead.
As our team began diving back into new and ongoing projects to kick off the new year, we couldn’t help but compare notes on our design wish lists for 2026. These aren’t “in” or “out” lists, but rather a collection of beautiful obsessions on our Pinterest boards, from renovation ideas to decorative touches.
We’re putting these out into the universe — and if any brave clients want to turn our daydreams into reality, well, you know where to find us!
What Sappho’s Manifesting…
1) No more blocky, monolithic kitchen islands with stools! Let’s bring back the dining room and eat-in kitchens with worktables and dining nooks.
2) Finding creative ways to use natural stone in kitchens and baths is really speaking to me these days.
3) I’m looking to add wood to walls in new ways with a variety of tones and species, but I’m already falling (back) in love with cherry!
4) Unusual colour combinations that feel neutral with warm wood tones — like Farrow & Ball Scallop (bottom) and India Yellow — are a yes for me.
5) A room within a room: Using glass partition walls to divide spaces feels classic yet fresh.
6) Handmade ethnic textiles used as one-of-a-kind accents to rooms, whether as upholstery or art.
What Beth’s Manifesting…
1) I’m loving the look of a knee wall or ledge to surround a freestanding tub. It feels more intimate and offers a spot to display products, plants, or art.
2) Let’s bring back trim — a classic decorator trick — to elevate simple drapes, cushions, and upholstered pieces. There are so many drool-worthy ones out there.
3) Statement sconces: This oxblood shade stopped me in my tracks.
4) Imagine this zellige mosaic tile as an entryway or powder room floor? Or, even better, a kitchen backsplash? So many great colours as a jumping-off point for cabinets.
5) I can’t stop staring at this charcoal and taupe Fig Garden wallpaper from Sweden. Please will someone let me install this in their hallway or bedroom?
6) Kitchen and pantry cabinetry needs more latches. Enough said.
7) Dream-sofa alert! Single bench seat? Check. Turned legs with casters? Yes. Muted cinnamon-coloured velvet upholstery? Swoon.
What Steph’s Manifesting…
1) Oversized artwork or tapestries: I also love the idea of using vintage rugs as wall art for a collected and homey feeling.
2) Whether it’s a fun runner, painted treads, or an interesting handrail, stairs with personality are on my radar right now.
3) I like that we’re seeing a bit more depth and dimension to solid-coloured rugs and they’re a great way to add personality without colour or pattern.
4) Taking a simple tile collection and creating a new, unique pattern by playing with colours, sizes, and shapes.
5) Animal print… It’s definitely coming back and in the right application and right pattern, I’m here for it!
6) I would love to design a room around dusty, muddy pinks, mauves, and purples. There are so many amazing fabrics, wallpapers, and paints in this palette, but they’re rarely used.
Layering 101: Around Sappho’s House
As designers, we talk a lot about “layers” and you’d be forgiven if you thought we meant the confectionary kind. Think about it as you would an outfit: a tailored shirt looks good on its own, but even sharper underneath a jacket. Layers are the personal, cozy things that contrast between rough and smooth, busy and solid, dark and light — they’re the objects you’ve brought home from your travels, inherited from family, or collected from flea markets over the years.
“When I think about layers, I think about the objects in a room that make you think, ‘I don’t know why I like this, but I do,’” says Sappho. “Layers have feeling and connection; they’re the intangible element in design that A.I. will never be able to replicate.”
We asked Sappho to share some behind-the-scenes stories about some of the decorative decisions in her own house to illustrate what layering looks like for her.
“Once, in a meeting, Beth looked at my dining room windows and said, ‘Have you ever thought about drapes there?’ I hadn’t, but it made perfect sense — talk about teamwork! I’ve been a great fan of Penny Morrison’s fabric line, and this print reminded me of travelling to India in my teens with my hippie parents. All the block-printed fabrics I saw in India were, and still are, an inspiration to me. The wallpaper feels like elevated tie-dye (another nod to my ’70s upbringing) and the muted blue-grey tones play so perfectly with the drapery fabric. The vintage painting is from a women’s plein air collective in B.C. and the fallen antlers are on a base made of snail shells; I love quirky folk art.”
“This is an old TV cabinet from back in the days when we all had those deep TVs, and it’s a piece I had from when I was faux-finishing furniture. The silver trays belonged to my grandmother, and I was looking for a creative way to use them. My kids think the saint figurine, which I picked up in Mexico, is creepy but I love this kind of vintage, day-of-the-dead iconography. Now she’s the patron saint of my bar!”
“My bedroom always felt cozy and personal but adding the wallpaper last year really brought it all together. The print makes me think of seed pods and again, it takes me back to the idea of block-printing and batik that resonates deeply with me. I made the bedframe back when I was designing furniture and had the Henhouse store. Another passion of mine on the layering theme, is making a bed. To me, it’s not just about a fitted sheet and a duvet! It’s another excuse to use beautiful textiles like my vintage quilt and an indigo-dyed blanked I had made into a lumbar pillow. The wooden pieces on the wall are a recent addition from Conifer Shop in Lunenberg; they’re actual block-printing pieces with floral themes so of course I had to have them.”
“My back entry needed a refresh so I decided to saturate it in Preference Red by Farrow & Ball. Whether it’s red, blue, or green, I’m drawn to colours with earth undertones, and that’s definitely a recurring theme in our work. I also like colours that change — this one can shift from pink to oxblood and brown throughout the day. The crisp greens and blues of the vintage painting really pop against the walls now.”
“Bathrooms can be cold and stark, so that’s why layering feels especially important. In my powder room, I disguised an ugly vanity with a fabric skirt, added new wallpaper, and painted out all the trim in Bancha by Farrow & Ball. My daughter, Lila, had the travel bug and wanted some extra money so I paid her to do it — the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! The painting was a gift from the owner of an antique shop I worked in when I lived in Vancouver and the hand-tooled folk art bowl above it was a local find. The carving says, ‘As the sun colours flowers, so art colours life,’ and that pretty much sums up my design philosophy right there.”