Blog List Large – Let's Reimagine Your Home Together – Marina Pavlova Design

Home used to be the place where we came to relax and get a respite from the stress of the office, the commute or a day of running errands. Today, some are spending more time in the home, maybe no longer going to an office. Now, many are aiming to make certain rooms in the house more of a relaxing respite.Luxury linens, fragrant botanicals and inspirational focal points can create a calm , serene environment. Consider the following to help you get started on your space. Determine what you like to do to unwind. It might be reading, working a puzzle, enjoying the view, or meditating. Find the right space. Is it your bedroom, seating area, a loft, or a more trendy...

Before and After, Interior Decorating, Renovation

Easy Kitchen Facelift

Mar 21. 2022

When we took possession of this stacked condo unit, the kitchen looked sad and outdated. It had good bones, but lacked style.The cabinets were maple and in great shape and even the floor tile was nicely laid in a diamond pattern. The biggest sore was the blue laminate countertop and an old backsplash tile with blue diamonds in the middle. BeforeAfter So, my goal was to make this little kitchen exciting for the future tenant and durable. BeforeAfter Replacing a double bowl sink with a large single bowl stainless steel bowl felt the right thing to do. I was aiming to create a clean and timeless ambiance that would appeal to majority and would stand the test of time. After: New single bowl stainless...

Interior Decorating

Lighting Your Home

Feb 17. 2022

The first fabricated light was likely a torch. In 4500 BC, lamps came into use, whose fuel source later evolved to methane, ethylene, and kerosene. You might think of an Aladdin lamp imagining them.It is astonishing to think that light bulbs have not been around that long and that the well known LED technology became widely available only about 20 years ago. Just to put things into perspective, let's briefly go through the key events in the evolution of electrical lighting.In the 1790s, the gas lamp was invented in England and brought to the United States. Subsequently, the first electric lamps were designed in the early 1800s, followed by light bulbs in the 1830s. In the early 1860s, fluorescent lights were...

Before and After, Interior Decorating, Renovation

Renovating to Feel at Home

Jan 25. 2022

No matter how much you might love a house you are about to buy, you will still find things you would want to change to make it feel like home, to feel truly yours.My recent clients hired me to help them personalize and update their current home. Due to the nature of their work they used to move often and have never had the luxury to truly personalize their home.So, their current spacious and beautifully laid out home was the perfect contender for a major update to tell their story. It was refreshing to discover that my clients loved bold colours and did not want neutrals or off whites. After discussing their wish list items and priorities, we ended up...

Interior Decorating

Designing Comfort at Home

Dec 10. 2021

You are probably already in the Christmas mood and all you can think of is what to get for everyone on your list. Me too! However, if you are someone who likes setting new year resolutions and making plans for the new year, you are more likely to achieve your goals according to an Ottawa based business psychologist Nancy Morris, who motivates our team at CPI Interiors. So planning home improvements ahead of time makes them more achievable. The last two years showed us how crucial comfort at home is to our well-being while we spend much more time at home and perhaps even work from home. Moreover, loving your home can directly translate to how comfortable you are at...

Interior Decorating

Achieving an Elegant yet Informal Dining Room to Enjoy a Good Company

Sep 17. 2021

There always comes time in our lives when we need change. It might be a change of career, lifestyle, priorities or our surrounding. When we met with owners of this beautiful dining room they were planning their downsizing. I was thrilled that Anna and Denis were open experimenting with colour and gave me a blessing to design what I thought will suite the couple best. Transition to a more contemporary style was on the radar. We wanted to incorporate some existing pieces and the dining room chandelier, table and large mirror helped to emphasize the character of the room. As part of a designing phase, decorators listen to what the clients want esthetically and functionally and interpret it through the lens of...

Interior Decorating

Let’s Talk Style

Aug 14. 2021

Meeting new people and earning their trust when it comes to decorating, revamping and renovating their homes comes with the responsibility of interpreting their functional needs and esthetic preferences correctly to achieve a stunning end result they will be thrilled about. I always ask about the style we want to achieve. HGTV savvy homeowners can often pinpoint what they want whereas for many others describing a desired look is challenging. As I thought of the topic for this article, the first instinct was to write about different interior design styles and discuss how they differ and what makes them unique. Fitting it all into a compact article is next to impossible. So, we will talk about the most popular decorating style in...

Interior Decorating

Knowing Your Hardwood

Jul 18. 2021

It is a breath of fresh air to see a home with nicely selected finishes! When flooring coordinates with kitchen cabinetry and countertops complement backsplash and you see a cohesive style throughout the home, it feels like a well played symphony. Countless choices of finishing materials make renovating or building a home overwhelming. From structural choices, selection of flooring to decorative details such as coffered ceilings, wainscoting, or kitchen cabinet handles, all of these choices need to be curated to achieve beautiful and practical results. Today, I would like to talk about hardwood flooring, its history and considerations for homeowners facing the overwhelm of endless choices. When we were building our home, we made a deal that my husband picks the hardwood and...

Older Posts

Relaxing Respite

Apr 08. 2022

Easy Kitchen Facelift

Mar 21. 2022

Lighting Your Home

Feb 17. 2022

Renovating to Feel at Home

Jan 25. 2022

Designing Comfort at Home

Dec 10. 2021

Achieving an Elegant yet Informal Dining Room to Enjoy a Good Company

Sep 17. 2021

Let’s Talk Style

Aug 14. 2021

Knowing Your Hardwood

Jul 18. 2021