Style & Decor Blog

We’re forever preaching that the first step in decorating for the holidays is to pick a palette - a colour scheme that you’ll be comfortable sticking with (for this season, anyway!), and that will guide your hand as you shop for bits and baubles for the tree and throughout the home.

But this year - more than any before - the colour options in ornaments and decorations seem completely overwhelming. Where to begin?

Maria Killam portrait by Anna Beaudry Photography

Vancouver-based colour designer Maria Killam advises clients on harmonious hues for a living, and shares her design expertise on her hugely popular blog, Colour Me Happy. Who better to ask for suggestions for a hot, three-colour holiday palette?

“Colour creates a feeling,” Maria says of the three colours she selected for my festive scheme. “Royal blue is energizing and electric; turquoise is cool, upscale and sophisticated and gold is luminous and joyful.”

MARIA’S ROYAL BLUE: Big Country Blue 2066-30, Benjamin Moore, 800-361-5898:

TURQUOISE: Aquarium 6767, Sherwin Williams, 800-474-3794:

GOLD: Ale 12-9, Pratt & Lambert, 877-772-8898

“It’s the perfect combination for conversations that sparkle at the dinner table,” says Maria.

Taking Maria’s colour cues, I scoured the market for ornaments in similar shades… Here’s what I came up with! I can’t WAIT to decorate!

Photography by Steve Rhodes

Holiday Collection hand-decorated blue and turquoise glass ornaments, $10 per pack of four, Canadian Tire

101 Glass Ornaments in gold, $20, President’s Choice Home Collection

Thanks so much, Maria!

For more of Maria’s colourful design advice, check out Colour Me Happy!

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Does the code “CC-40″ mean anything to you? Chances are, you’ve painted your ceiling and/or trim in this colour — better known as Benjamin Moore’s Cloud White — at some point over the past 20 years. The iconic warm-white was, for a very long time, the *only* white in the Canadian design community, and a staple of any design show’s “Ask An Expert” solution to your decorating dilemmas. But why this particular white, amongst the hundreds of options out there? Maria Killam, a Vancouver-based colour designer, addresses this very question in her lovely blog, “Colour Me Happy”. Check out Maria’s tips on how to get white right, and exactly when in the design process that white should be chosen.

What’s your fave white? I’d love to hear from you!