Design that Reveals
Design that Reveals
Creativity is my love, interior design is my focus. Whether it be full service interior design, re-decoration or even online design through Design in a Box, I am passionate about all things creative. Here, I will share insights into projects, inspirations and what's going on in the world of design from Calgary and beyond. Would love to have you follow along.
my bedroom reveal May 10, 2011
publications: my home in avenue magazine Jun 14, 2012
exciting news! Jul 13, 2011
Dabble Issue 9 is live today! Three cheers for the hard work involved with each issue from the editors, photographers, writers and people who assist along the way. There is so much going on behind the scenes that most of us never see, some of it not always pretty. In order for us to bring you the best content from around the globe we dive deep into each interior, recipe and city to share beautiful images and tell stories to inspire.
When we shot the interior space for Reality Check issue 9 we made a mess! In order for us to style the closet pretty we removed several items including winter apparel we did not want to include in this summer issue. It gave my client a great opportunity to purge her closet and clean things up as she made room for new items in her summer wardrobe.
Here are a few snapshots of the behind the scenes during our shoot. Check out this issue’s Reality Check on creating Custom Closets.
This last photo cracks me up. I’m not one to love photos of myself but I really like the way this one turned out and love the special effect Lori added to the image. I was protesting Lori photographing me and laughing as I was touching up my lipstick but in the end a fun photo from our shoot.
Photography: Lori Andrews
Nyla Free Designs is a full service Calgary Interior Design studio. Our goal is to bring your home to life by revealing your style and infusing unexpected elements of design and detail. If we can help with your project please let us know! See the contact page to get in touch.
Nyla Free Designs also offers an online design service through Design in a Box.
You hear a lot about collaboration these days and honestly it’s something I never fully understood until I jumped on twitter almost three years ago. Twitter is where I have met truly amazing people and been given some pretty fabulous opportunities.
Twitter is how I met Lori Andrews. I mentioned I needed photography help and in true, fabulously bold Lori form, there she was, tweeting about how she would love to photograph my work. Well ok, let’s give it a shot!
When I started writing for Dabble, this meant more photography. So needless to say Lori and I have become fast friends. If you know both of us, you’ll know we’re completely different, yet we compliment and collaborate with each other awfully well. Lori has a way with photographing people (thank goodness!) and is genius with shooting an interior space.
After eight photo shoots and counting we’re getting into a good groove, having loads of fun and realizing more creative potential as we go. We’ve even started to take some fun behind the scenes shots during the shoot so keep an eye out for those in months to come.
Shooting for Dabble issue 8 was a blast. You didn’t have to ask my girls twice to jump around on the sectional and have their photos taken while doing so. We also had fun with the crocodile head on our studio table snapping a few photos there as well. Check out Reality Check on tips for building a custom sectional (if you haven’t already!).
Needless to say my girls love it when Ms. Andrews comes over. Love these photos (and working with you) Lori!
Nyla Free Designs is a full service Calgary Interior Design studio. Our goal is to bring your home to life by revealing your style and infusing unexpected elements of design and detail. If we can help with your project please let us know! See the contact page to get in touch.
Nyla Free Designs also offers an online design service through Design in a Box.
Not long ago I blogged about those who may have a pillow problem. The type who feel pillows will solve their decorating dilemmas overnight and with no success secretly have a graveyard of pillows stashed in a closet taking up valuable storage space. You know what I’m talking about right?
There’s no doubt pillows are an important finishing touch to a room but I’m here to say, get a plan. No different than creating a furniture plan for a room, pillows deserve the same attention.
Fun, personality and unexpected elements are indeed part of pulling a room together and certainly in the final details, don’t get me wrong. Not every selection needs to be planned perfectly or you risk a contrived feeling. It may also depend on the type and overall style of the room. (Have I convinced you to hire a designer yet?)
The living room featured in the April/May issue of Dabble is one where we planned the pillows. We sourced fabrics, organized sizes and mixed colour and pattern. We also created two schemes or options if you will, one for spring/summer, the other for fall/winter. Within these two colour combinations we also have a mix and match approach where a certain pillow could be used for both. The fact is, a multitude of options and combinations exist but as you can see in the photos below, varying the pillows, changes the look of the room.
With a neutral colour palette focused on textures, we incorporated pillows with pattern and colour, arranged in an asymmetrical way within a symmetrical room.
Keeping a stash of pillows in your closet or cupboard is not a bad thing providing they have a purpose and a place. So get a plan together and brighten up your sofa or bed with a little pillow love.
I admit my favorite of the two is the turquoise. Which one is yours?
ps. I’ve uploaded the images from this photo shoot into my portfolio if you’d like to see more :)
Photography by: Lori Andrews
Art credits: Painting by Barbara Milne courtesy of the Paul Kuhn Gallery, Photograph by David Burdeny courtesy of the Herringer Kiss Gallery
Nyla Free Designs is a full service Calgary Interior Design studio. Our goal is to bring your home to life by revealing your style and infusing unexpected elements of design and detail. If we can help with your project please let us know! See the contact page to get in touch.
Nyla Free Designs also offers an online design service through Design in a Box.
I couldn’t resist sharing two posts with you today. It was too hard to decide between Social Graces and this store. Both highlights during our trip to Nashville this time last year, while preparing for the launch of Dabble Mag. Three French Hens was the location of our photo shoot with St. Lola in the Fields and what we found inside was icing on the cake. Treasures galore, antiques and vintage items left me wanting to rent a u-haul and drive home with a truck load of goodies. Three French Hens is located 45 minutes outside of Nashville but well worth the drive, not only for the enthusiastic ladies who own the store but the many gems waiting to be picked up and brought home.
A little Valentine decor and display for you to enjoy today.
Happy Valentines Day!
Nyla Free Designs is a full service Calgary Interior Design studio. Our goal is to bring your home to life by revealing your style and infusing unexpected elements of design and detail. If we can help with your project please let us know! See the contact page to get in touch.
Nyla Free Designs also offers an online design service through Design in a Box.
A year ago this time I was in Nashville working on the launch issue of Dabble Mag. Time certainly does fly when you’re having fun. It’s been quite the year. I thought I’d go down memory lane today and highlight a favourite store we visited. Hillsboro Village is perfect for an afternoon stroll. Fabulous boutique shopping mixed with coffee shops, a gourmet pancake house and sundae parlour. What more could you ask for?
I am a huge fan and lover of stationary. Wrapping paper, note cards, gift tags, you name it, I love it, so you can only imagine how I felt when I walked through the door of Social Graces. This adorably stylish store not only carried fabulous merchandise, but the creativity in their displays had me from the sidewalk.
Jumbo paper flowers adorn the window.
Stacked and hung from interesting objects like tree stumps and metal cages, merchandising becomes an art form.
Pretty gift tags are displayed on top of straw in a wooden crate. 
Creatively displayed, wedding invitations embellish a dress form.
Wrapping paper housed in bins, spools of ribbon in large glass jars.
Notebooks in hanging wire baskets.
I highly recommend adding Nashville to your list of places to visit. Blown away by it’s culture, modern vibe and incredibly friendly people, I can’t wait to go back. Learn more about this vibrant city in the launch issue of Dabble Mag and take a peek at ‘Dabble does Nashville – the making of’, a fun video of our time there.
(Pop over to see another Nashville store Three French Hens.)
Nyla Free Designs is a full service Calgary Interior Design studio. Our goal is to bring your home to life by revealing your style and infusing unexpected elements of design and detail. If we can help with your project please let us know! See the contact page to get in touch.
Nyla Free Designs also offers an online design service through Design in a Box.
Are you feeling like it’s been a while since we’ve seen a new dabble issue? Me too! Three months is a long time but well worth it. Issue #6 is live so pop on over to dabble and check out the anniversary issue with a new look. Can you believe it’s been a year already?!
This issue, Reality Check is all about kids bedrooms. Here’s my little peanut, Lori Andrews style :)
Photography by Lori Andrews (@designertweets)
Nyla Free Designs is a full service Calgary Interior Design studio. Our goal is to bring your home to life by revealing your style and infusing unexpected elements of design and detail. If we can help with your project please let us know! See the contact page to get in touch.
Nyla Free Designs also offers an online design service through Design in a Box.
I feel like I’ve been knee deep in Christmas decor for the last several weeks. First I decorated a home for the Kids Help Phone Homes for the Holidays tour. Next, I helped a new client get ready for a party she was having with finishing touches and just a hint of Christmas decor. Now this week I’ve been decorating the home of a long time client of mine. We’ve done her holiday decor four years in a row now. We help with everything from ordering and setting up the tree (a 14 footer!) to wrapping paper. You can see the home featured in the current issue of Dabble Mag where I share tips for holiday decorating in my Reality Check column. Here are my favorite shots from the article along with a few extras.
Above: This is one of my favorite photos from the shoot but unfortunately didn’t make the cut due to a styling booboo with the chairs. Oops!
Above: I cropped in on the original image to show the gifts as well as little kitty nestled amongst them.
I hope your holiday decorating is coming along nicely. This colour scheme of turquoise, red, white and silver feels tried and true for this modern setting. We are still loving it!
Photographed by: Lori Andrews
Nyla Free Designs is a full service Calgary Interior Design studio. Our goal is to bring your home to life by revealing your style and infusing unexpected elements of design and detail. If we can help with your project please let us know! See the contact page to get in touch. Nyla Free Designs also offers an online design service through Design in a Box.
Cozy up and dive into the fall issue of Dabble. This issue’s Reality Check column is all about the designers process in ordering custom area carpets. Find advice and information on all the steps necessary to help ensure the perfect area carpet ends up on your floor.
Also, we have exciting news (if you haven’t already heard). Dabble is now available to order in print. That’s right! If there’s a particular issue that caught your eye, a travel destination that inspired you or perhaps a space you designed landed on the pages of Dabble, you’ll want a print copy. I can guarantee this magazine will not see dog ears or be torn up. It’s more like a book than a magazine. Here they are…looking fabulous! Order Dabble Mag in print here.
Enjoy the new issue!
Nyla Free Designs is a full service Calgary Interior Design studio. Our goal is to bring your home to life by revealing your style and infusing unexpected elements of design and detail. If we can help with your project please let us know! See the contact page to get in touch.
Nyla Free Designs also offers an online design service through Design in a Box.
Last Thursday was a pretty exciting day. I woke up like any other. Got dressed in an outfit I had carefully planned. Walked out of my hotel and made my way to an incredibly busy intersection in Toronto. I found a parking spot and took a deep breath. I walked out of the parking lot onto a street filled with people and had trouble navigating my way to find the right building. I had to ask where the entry door was. Ah yes, right there. Silly me. I walked into the reception area and thankfully found familiar faces. I had a quick re-cap and then off to have my make up done. Next I found myself in the same room as Tracy Moore, Kimberley Seldon and Brian Gluckstein. Totally surreal.
The next hour was filled with much excitement and many emotions. I took in every. Last. One.
Tomorrow my debut appearance will air on City Line with my segment on custom carpets. Tune in to CityTV at 9am, watch live online or after the show. So many of you have been such a huge support in cheering me along and I can’t tell you how much that means to me.
xo Nyla
ps. my article in Dabble Issue 4 is on custom carpets so stay tuned for the inside scoop on the designers process when making selections. The next issue goes live August 29th.
Nyla Free Designs is a full service Calgary Interior Design studio. Our goal is to bring your home to life by revealing your style and infusing unexpected elements of design and detail. If we can help with your project please let us know! See the contact page to get in touch.
Nyla Free Designs also offers an online design service through Design in a Box.
If you haven’t already had a chance to take in the pages of the latest Issue of Dabble Mag, then let me whet your whistle with some of my favorite articles. I can’t stress enough the amount of time and effort that goes into each publication. I see the Issue just as you do, hot off the press and the night before I often get butterflies with excitement wondering what this issue will have to share. From inspirations in the world of design, photography that instills the travel bug or mouth watering food images that cause a quick run to the grocery store, it’s all here. And don’t forget that the Dabble website is updated daily.
Dabble does Seattle! This city comes alive with more than just coffee and seafood. A perfect weekend getaway.
Nathan Turner shares colour inspirations. Love this space!
Looking for the latest and greatest? Lisa Canning shares fabulous finds in the Dabble Digs section.
If you’re like me and feel like cooking can sometimes be a chore, dive into the food section for recipes galore. (Hey that rhymes!)
I adore this new column! Tell us what you dabble in and you could see yourself on the pages of the magazine. How great is that?! Submission details here.
My column this Issue is all about custom millwork. Come and learn more about the process and see this recent Calgary project of Nyla Free Designs. I’ll be sharing more on this home library next week.
Do you have a favorite article in this issue? I would love to hear about it!
Happy weekend!
Nyla
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