My design philosophy is pretty simple. I like to encourage others to decorate their homes to reflect the people that live there. I think it’s important to find a mix between creating a beautiful house and a home that your family and friends feel comfortable in. I really believe that you can have a beautiful home no matter what stage of life you are enjoying.

We are a young, busy family. We have an energetic three year old daughter and are expecting baby #2 in July, we also have a cat and a dog and we run our own business. Needless to say, we do a lot of living in our home, but that hasn’t stopped us from designing a space that we love.

My best piece of advice is to embrace the design elements you love, but make sure they don’t get in the way of living life!  

We started A Burst of Beautiful in June 2014, and it began as merely a hobby.

When we moved into our home five years ago, it was a standard, builder-basic house, built in the 80’s. We spent a lot of time and energy updating each room to create a home that felt cozy and inviting for not only ourselves, but for our family and friends to enjoy too. It was actually my mom who suggested we start documenting it all with a blog of our own. It wasn’t until about a year later that we realized we could possibly turn our hobby into a business and we haven’t looked back since.

It can definitely be tricky to design a space or a home while balancing two different design perspectives, but it can be done! I’m not going to lie, it was a struggle for us in the beginning too.

We were bringing two homes together, with very different pieces of furniture, art and ideas on design. Nick was drawn to masculine and industrial design elements, while I was used to decorating my home with vintage pieces and light, feminine colours. But over time we hit a pretty good balance, I think.

Throughout the years our design perspectives have shifted and we are both drawn to styles that we didn’t necessarily appreciate in the beginning. Start by identifying your design styles and then agree on the feeling you want your home to convey.

For us this meant creating a space that feels simple and relaxed, where nothing is too formal or off limits. We combined my love of farmhouse aesthetic by using pieces like our white slipcovered sofa and traditional details, while Nick’s passion for building has flourished by designing and building many of the furniture pieces in our home. In the end it didn’t matter so much about styles, but that we created a home that feels youthful and fresh with a modern sensibility.

Remember to be patient with each other, you want to create a space that you both feel comfortable and happy in. It becomes less about design and more about the people you are sharing your home with.