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Vanessa Francis Interior Design
  • Home
  • About Vanessa
  • Services
  • Process
  • Portfolio
  • Press
  • Blog
  • Contact Us

JLT Showhouse at McLean House, Toronto

I have been thinking about blogging for about a year now and finally decided to just do it! It’s fitting that my first post is about the Junior League of Toronto Showhouse at McLean House because this is where I was married 11 years ago this month. The Showhouse which is on now until May 31, 2009 features the work of over 50 Toronto designers including Brian Gluckstein, Kimberley Seldon and Andrea Crawford. Proceeds go to various community programs including the Women and Babies Program at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. So you can be inspired while doing good!

It was interesting to see the design concept, room layout and colours used by each of the designers in their unique spaces. My favourite space was Katherine Newman’s transformation of the living room and conservatory, but I also loved Patricia Halpin’s graphic and fun baby’s room and Anne Hepfer’s Chanel inspired space. Taking photos was off limits, so you will have to wait until the October, 2009 issue of House and Home to see some inspirational photos.

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Thank you for stopping by. So glad you’re here. Décor Happy is a blog by Milton, Ont.-based interior decorator Vanessa Francis of Vanessa Francis Interior Design. On the blog, I share a behind-the-scenes look at client projects, along with design ideas and inspiration.

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Our home is in the June issue of @houseandhomemag! Our home is in the June issue of @houseandhomemag!! ✨ 

And as part of their Advice Issue, it’s filled with design advice, renovation details and cost breakdowns. It's on newsstands now so grab a copy.

I’ve always believed you don’t need massive square footage or a sky-high budget to create something beautiful. You need intention and the belief that the right decisions can completely change how a space feels.

 I hope our home feels as warm and welcoming on the pages as it does in real life. 

A huge thank you to @stacybegg and @lyndareevesdesign for this incredible honour, @lisavandegeyn for telling our story so thoughtfully, and @valeriewilcox for capturing our home so beautifully through her lens.

And the biggest thank you to @artbygregmais my sounding board, partner in problem solving and the person who rolled up his sleeves and helped bring so many of these ideas to life. None of it would have been the same without you. 🩷

Side note: I’ve been a subscriber to House & Home since the ’90s and seeing those beautiful spaces played a huge part in my decision to go back to school and become an interior decorator.

Also, “Decor Happy” was the title of one of the editor’s columns back in 2009. I loved the meaning of that phrase so much that I named my blog and later my Instagram handle, after it.

Ciao from Italy where I'm currently being endlessly inspired and eating all the pasta! 🇮🇹 

#interiordesign #nancymeyers #coastalcottage
Cheers to getting older, caring less about the lit Cheers to getting older, caring less about the little things and appreciating what actually matters.

What a privilege it is and I’m grateful for every year. 🥂

(It was my birthday on the weekend but didn't get a chance to post this until now.)

#agingbeautifully #agingwell #over55
I’m not saying art is easy to copy but this felt I’m not saying art is easy to copy but this felt within our reach. And there are a number of artists doing this grid technique. 

Greg is the real painter in this relationship but I did study fine arts after university, so between the two of us we felt reasonably qualified. 😄

We primed the board, taped the grid, and added modelling paste to a few squares for texture. Then we poured some wine, put on some music and started painting.

I took one half, he took the other. I knew the palette I wanted — greens, blues, pink, burgundy, black and beige. Different brushes, a palette knife, no rules. A few hours later, Sky Garden was finished.

I may have snuck over to his side to speed things along. He’s a little slow. 🐢 But he did put more effort into his squares. @artbygregmais 

Every square is its own little painting. Different marks, different textures, different energy. 

It now hangs alongside the vintage paintings on the adjacent wall in our family room and I love the mix of modern and traditional.

Plus it was so much fun! We're going to do a larger one next. 🎨 

Would you try it?

#artist #abstractart #interiordesign #painting
One of the most asked questions about our kitchen One of the most asked questions about our kitchen renovation is:

What backsplash tile is that?

It’s authentic Moroccan Zellige tile. ✨

It’s one of the best decisions I made in the kitchen. There is nothing like the charm and the imperfections in this tile. It is handmade so every tile is different. Yes there are tiles that mimic these but it’s not the same.

I saw something written saying that Zellige tile is a trend. It’s been around for hundreds of years, so it’s here to stay. 

Save this for your renovation. 

#kitchendesign #kitchenremodel #kitchenrenovation #oakvilledesigner #cottagecoreaesthetic englishkitchen sodomino homewithrue zellige 
designertips beforeandafterhome
Thd silence after that word is its own kind of wei Thd silence after that word is its own kind of weight.

You can ask how someone died. That’s a natural question and it’s okay. It’s what comes after the word suicide that matters:  the pause, the way someone’s face changes, the conversation that suddenly doesn’t know where to go.

Rick died ten years ago (March 26, 2016.) And in ten years, I’ve had a lot of those silences.

As the years have gone by, I’ve felt Rick fade - his name spoken less, his face growing distant in other people’s minds, his existence slowly dimming in a world that has moved on.

That is one of the quietest griefs of losing someone. Not just the loss itself, but watching the world forget.

So when you ask about my person, when you say his name, when you want to know who he was, you give him back to me, just for a moment. You remind me that he existed. That he mattered. That he was here.

My husband Rick was so much more than his hardest moments. More than anything, he was Maya’s dad — her biggest fan, her soccer coach, the one on the sidelines who believed in her the loudest.

And after ten years, this is what I know for certain.

If there’s one question to leave unasked - it’s how. That question belongs nowhere near someone’s grief. It doesn’t honour the person. It doesn’t help the one left behind. It only opens wounds that have taken years to heal. What matters is not how they left, but how they lived.

Instead, try this:

Tell me about your person.
What was their name?
What were they like?
What do you miss most about them?
What’s something that still makes you smile when you think of them?

These questions make room for the life they lived, not just the way they left. They say: I see you. I’m not afraid of your loss. I want to know the person you loved, not just how the story ended.

Grief doesn’t need to be handled carefully so much as it needs to be witnessed. You don’t have to fix anything. You just have to show up and talk about their person. 

Rick deserved to be known fully. So does every person we’ve lost.

Save this. Share it with someone who might need it - whether they’re the one grieving or the one trying to find the words. 🤍

#grief #widow #suicideloss
Let's call it goals. ✨ #cottagecoreaesthetic #i Let's call it goals. ✨

#cottagecoreaesthetic #interiorinspiration #homeinspiration #interiordesign
I call it my happy little home. 🏠 #interiorde I call it my happy little home. 🏠 

#interiordesign #homerenovation #nancymeyersaesthetic #cottagecoreaesthetic
The 90’s were a big decade… Moved to Bordeaux The 90’s were a big decade…

Moved to Bordeaux, France for love (wrong guy.)
Bought my first house.
Met Rick.
Got married.
Moved across the country to Vancouver.

Some of the biggest and best plot twists of my life happened in that decade.

Including meeting Rick…hard to believe it’s been almost 10 years without him. ❤️

Feels like another lifetime.

Also, it was the 90’s so finding the right foundation match (for brown skin) was nearly impossible as you can see! 🤭

#grief #widow #90s #griefandloss
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