Interior: Beach-inspired dining room

How do you design a room that suits a Labour Day soirée as much as it does a cozy Christmas dinner? The secret to creating a seasonal room that seamlessly sashays from summer to winter, says Canadian-born, N.Y.-based designer Amanda Nisbet, is colour and texture.

And thanks to the layering of textures, the room beckons all year long. Heavy linen curtains puddle luxuriously on the floor, pale mosaic tiles "cool" the fireplace, a sisal rug boasts a wave-like pattern - all serve to straddle the summer-winter divide.

Easy greens
Amanda chose the dining room's celadon green colour to accent the deep green of the room across the hall. “I wanted soft neutrals with just a hint of celadon in the chair seat cushions and in the window dressings,” says Amanda. “The palette is very soothing.”