The article below by Marta Gold was published in The Victoria Times Colonist on December 10, 2011.

This colour calls for discretion

Colour is a great way to brighten your home and add a spark of interest without undertaking a major renovation. But what colour?

At first blush, decorating with purple seems a daring move, best made by those with wild, animal-print rugs or exotic tapestries hanging on their walls.

But purple, in its varying shades and mixed with other colours, can be in turn conservative, contemporary and, yes, bold.

Rest assured, in any and all of its forms from lavender to eggplant, purple is popping up everywhere.

“Definitely this fall, the colour purple is really strong,” says Alana Schilf, owner of Inspired Home Interiors, where purple is visible in the barest hint of a not-quite-clear acrylic ghost chair, or the bolder shade of a boxy, upholstered chair.

The store even has a plum-coloured sectional sofa on order for its showroom, but that’s about as daring as most people will go with bigger pieces of furniture, says Schilf.

“Mostly we see it in smaller pieces and accessories like toss cushions,” she says.

Som Sourachit, owner of Posh at Home, says purple accents are a great way to add colour to a room. “We love colour here. We push for the daring,” she adds.

“I’ve noticed that a lot more people are more daring with colours right now, which is great. We need a dash of colour in our life.”

True colour thrill-seekers are mixing purple and pink, she says. Another great combination is purple and yellow.

White, too, fits easily into the mix. Add it and light grey to purple for a more contemporary feel, Sourachit says.

Schilf likes the combination of purple with black, or, unexpectedly, with brownygold shades.

“If you look toward nature, mountains are grey, but there’s also gold and other colours in the stone,” she says.

Using more natural tones mixed with greyish purples is a good way to prevent purple from becoming too garish, she adds.

Sourachit also likes to soften purple with a neutral. “If you have a stronger purple or a brighter purple, definitely grey will tone it down,” she advises. Those with more conservative tastes could try a grey sofa, add a purple throw and use an area rug in shades of grey and purple. “That doesn’t yell out purple too much, and then when you change it, all you have to do is change the throw and possibly change the area rug, too.”

Brighter purples should be reserved for accents such as bits of a rug, drapes or cushions, she adds. For example, the lighter purple drapes shown above, from Posh, along with splashes of purple and yellow in the throw cushions, brighten an otherwise neutral decor and are easy to switch with changing tastes.


Independent of market conditions, home staging is a highly effective marketing tool used to maximize the selling price of Toronto area homes and condos.

StagingWorks is the premier Toronto home staging company. We provide a complete range of professional services which include vacant home staging, occupied home staging and condo staging. We have staging packages to accommodate most budgets and serve Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas.

Please visit our home staging portfolio for more samples of our staging projects. Give us some some details on your home and when you’re planning to sell, and get a free home staging estimate. Or, call us for a free estimate at (647) 409-2091 or anne@StagingWorks.ca.

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Happy Father’s Day and all the best from StagingWorks.  For some great gift ideas, see a previous post on our Toronto Home Staging Blog.

Home staging is a highly effective marketing tool used to maximize the selling price of homes and condos.   StagingWorks is the premier Toronto home staging services company.  We provide a complete range of professional services which include vacant home staging, occupied home staging and condo staging.  We have staging packages to accommodate most budgets and serve Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas.

Please visit our home staging portfolio for more samples of our staging projects.  Give us some some details on your home and when you’re planning to sell, and get a free home staging estimate.   Or, call us for a free estimate at (647) 409-2091 or anne@StagingWorks.ca.

With the anticipation of a new year, many people may be planning parties and making resolutions, but those in the home staging and interior design industries are likely looking forward to incorporating fresh color palettes. The year 2010 has many attractive treasures in store for fans of nearly every shade, while some colors are slated to take the interior color trend spotlight. Turquoise, in particular, is set to be a major winner next year, as Pantone’s pick for the official color of 2010.

Backed by both light and dark tonal color collections, turquoise will blend well with beige, metallic golds, shades of gray, and fresh, vibrant greens, all of which are showing up in furniture, paint, and accessories from Toronto studios to Manhattan lofts and beyond. Recalling the rustic shades of the earth while infusing basic tones with energy and youth, 2010′s color collection is sure to produce home staging designs that welcome visitors with a great sense of life and light.

 Continuing a trend of optimism in the world of interior colors, hues for 2010 will take a slight departure from the bright yellows of the past year and incorporate more drama, exoticism, and boldness. Major hubs for interior design and home staging, like Toronto, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other international hot spots, are preparing for twelve months of beautiful hues – hues you’ll doubtless see helping to ring in the New Year in furnishings and paints.