Hotel style: Chateau Lake Louise

The hotel
Now one of Canada's oldest and grandest hotels, the Chateau Lake Louise launched with humble beginnings as a simple ski chalet built in 1890 by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Glamour arrived in the 1900s and since then, the Chateau has undergone an array of stunning expansions. Nestled deep within Banff National Park, the Chateau Lake Louise continues to draw upon the natural splendour of its surroundings. The opening of the Mount Temple Wing in 2004 marked its most recent achievement of bringing the outdoors in, while at the same time, respecting the environment.

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The look
"Classic traditional, elegant, grand country living," is how designer Kerry Busby describes the style of the Chateau and its new wing. "It's very light and airy, more feminine. It is named after Princess Louise [Queen Victoria's fourth daughter] after all." As you stroll through the hotel's distinguished halls, you're swept away to a time of opulence, a forgotten time when lavishly dressed ladies and gentlemen arrived by carriage for high tea. The rooms are full of luxurious materials, including fabric-textured wallpaper, plush aqua duvets covered in beautiful gold stitching, cherry wood furnishings, leaf-sculptured carpet and floor-to-ceiling marble bathrooms. Here, you can't help but feel rich and spoiled.

The inspiration
Located on the banks of aquamarine Lake Louise, against a backdrop of the majestic Rocky Mountains, the Chateau Lake Louise offers views that are nothing short of spectacular. It was those views that inspired Kerry. "We built the colour scheme around what we saw when looking out the window," she says. "Soft neutral colours from a rock face, the moraine aqua of the water as well as the flora and fauna. I love the light on the mountains in the morning -- the russets, yellows and warm beiges can all be found throughout the room."

Click to learn how to copy the look on page two.