Colleen Buker Design . Living Beautiful

We had the pleasure of working with Colleen during our renovation. Colleen was amazing, we never felt pressured or rushed into making any design decisions. She had a clear understanding of our vision and helped us achieve it. We love that Colleen continue to let us know about pieces that would work with our design.

We recently did a major home renovation, and Colleen was with us every step of the way. She is unstintingly professional, punctual, prepared and very together. She takes time to really listen to what your vision is, and help you achieve it. Moreover, she opens your eyes to concepts you wouldn't have thought about, but ultimately end up loving. My spouse and I have similar tastes, but we are different enough that, on occasion, we reached an impasse during the selections process of our renovation project. This is where Colleen really proved her worth, stepping in quietly and with great insight to find solutions that we both ended up loving. At other times, she would agree with one or other of us, when she thought it worked best with the overall style we were trying to achieve, and was always careful to provide her reasoning for doing so. This was our first major home reno and we had no idea what we were letting ourselves in for with regard to the bewildering variety of options for stone, flooring, faucets, light fixtures, tiles, paint colours, etc. Colleen guided us masterfully through all these decisions, saving us an enormous amount of time by sifting through pieces ahead of time and presenting these to us, with a selection from which we could choose. We asked her to come and choose everything with us as we quickly realized she was invaluable. We are busy professionals and our time is valuable - Colleen allowed us to optimize our time when visiting the vendors and ensured that we made the correct decisions at each step of the way. Colleen’s quiet professionalism, discerning eye for elegance, and her masterful mediating of our, sometimes disparate choices, kept the reno on budget and on time. She made sure we chose options on time and kept an eye on the renovator’s schedule. She also worked closely with the renovator to make sure that our choices were incorporated correctly. In summary, Colleen has impeccable taste, and was able to advise us when it was worth spending money on something and when it wasn't. It is clear that her goal is a happy client and a beautiful home product at the end of the project. She is passionate about her craft, and was as invested in our project as we were. We recommend Colleen to anyone looking for a designer, be it for a major home reno or simply refreshing a room, with great enthusiasm, and without hesitation. Simply put, she is terrific.

Colleen was our designer for the two phases of our project: first on the design elements during a renovation of the whole house (interior and exterior) and second when we selected furnishings, drapery and accessories for our home. She accompanied us to the appointments with suppliers for the selections – e.g. cabinetry, flooring, lighting. Colleen’s fabulous abilities with color and context – whether in paint, fabrics or design – made the decision-making process so much easier. Her thoughtful guidance ensured the selections created a well-coordinated space and aligned with our style preferences. Many times she offered creative solutions as well as proactively identified potential problems. Colleen’s extensive expertise, in combination with attention to detail, made a big difference for the end result. During the several months of working with Colleen, she maintained her enthusiasm and a high level of commitment to us. Throughout, Colleen was always very approachable and a pleasure to work with.