7j Design, Ottawa

I have been working with Shiva for years now and am always eager to get involved in her projects. Her designs are sleek and functional and all are worthy of showing off! Make people do a double-take when they come to your place - get 7J to create your space.

We recently hired Shiva to renovate our early 80's kitchen, dining room, and family room areas. Shiva and her drew really delivered. The area is now an open, airily efficient space that is fun both to live and work in. Shiva and her crew were always cheerful, efficient, and pleasant to work with. They kept disruptions to a minimum and thoroughly cleaned up after themselves every day. They stuck to timelines and guidelines. They coped with the unforeseen and unexpected difficulties that pop up during renovations quickly and creatively. Shiva helped facilitate this by being on site every day. Before and during construction, Shiva provided drawings and guidelines and showed us multiple samples of tiles. flooring, colours, cupboards, and so on. She listened to our ideas and questions respectfully and gently guided us in directions we might not have considered otherwise. She coped with our changing ideas and demands cheerfully. We are more than satisfied with the finished project and have no hesitation recommending Shiva for any design or renovation needs.

It is a pleasure to write about our experience with Shiva Gupta and her talented team who worked on the design, renovation and redecoration of the total ground floor of our townhouse. The work included moving walls, the total renovation of the kitchen, new porcelain tile flooring and renewed wood flooring throughout the ground level, creating a new powder room and advising on the arrangement of furnishings and selection of colours and materials. Renovation on this scale can be an expensive and daunting experience. Shiva took the worry out of our renovation with her strong design sense, her dedication to detail, her integrity, and her willingness to work closely with us every step of the journey. From the beginning she made it clear that she was committed to realizing our vision while helping us to define and refine the project. It is a testament to her skill and experience that the project both started and finished precisely on schedule in accordance with her estimate. We look forward to working with Shiva and her team again on the second phase of our home makeover.

Shiva Gupta, the engine of “7j DESIGN” recently completed a major (or should I say total) renovation of my house in Whitehaven. Shiva was involved from the beginning to the end; from helping articulate the design, to hiring professionals and trade people to carry out the renovations. The results were spectacular enough to be featured in “Our Homes” magazine. What is unique about Shiva is that she is a talented artist – able to work with several kinds of media from canvas and oil to clay and wire mesh. Her approach to renovating a space is like working on a blank canvas. An artistic visualization of how the space will be transformed is a valuable gift she brings to her clients. In working with Shiva, one realizes quickly that she is very sensitive to the client’s objectives, and is able to provide a variety of solutions towards the end objective. She is a big thinker and thus able to make bold suggestions. For instance, my desire was to have an open concept uncluttered look with profusion of light, however, the reality was that my main floor was very compartmentalized. Shiva’s masterful solution was to remove all the walls – I was skeptical. However, Shiva was able to confirm through engineers that this was not only feasible but was structurally sound. She was able to unify the space by eliminating sunken floors and raising the floors to a “level playing field” and covering it with reclaimed pine from the Ottawa River, stained charcoal brown. The results were amazing. Another strength Shiva brings to the project is her ability to spot and incorporate relatively inexpensive materials into the design to make the renovations look expensively rich. This tact was applied to light fixtures, bath fixtures and kitchen cabinets and more. Shiva ensured quality and timely workmanship, by carefully selecting the right and very reliable trades people. She was diligent in following their work and demanding correction when things were not done to her perfection. In a nutshell, I would highly recommend Shiva Gupta’s company 7j DESIGN for any renovation project, based on my experience. You can expect an artistic designer with great personality and gentle nature to transform your architectural dream into a bold reality, at a reasonable cost.

My aging home was in desperate need of an overhaul, a prospect I found daunting to say the least in light of my inexperience with home renovations. Shiva and her team were a pleasure to work with from the initial brainstorming sessions, design, product selection, demolition/construction and finishing touches. I was traveling for much of the worst of the renovations and she had to make decisions in my absence and I found she was creative and adapted extremely well to any issues that might have cropped up along the way. I am extremely pleased with the results and wouldn't hesitate to recommend Shiva for her creativity, diligence and kindness. Thanks so much!

Shiva is a very talented designer. She has the ability to capture the client's tastes and needs in a very creative manner. She has transformed my kitchen, living room, family room and baths into beautiful areas that I love. Her imagination is unlimited and she is meticulous, highly organized and a pleasure to deal with at all times. She always worked within my budget. A real professional.

We contacted Shiva to help us with the design of our kitchen and we cannot imagine having proceeded with our renovation without her. Shiva’s kind and courteous personality immediately put our worries to rest and her exceedingly talented design instincts and skills inspired us beyond what we thought was possible for our space. She expertly guided us through the many choices we had in front of us for our kitchen renovation, always offering modifications that would keep our budget in line, yet at the same time, foster a cohesive and beautiful design. She was always available for follow-up questions and we really can’t imagine how our kitchen reno would have worked without her. Shiva helped us create a truly inspired space that we still love each and every time we walk into it. I cannot recommend hiring Shiva highly enough. Thank you Shiva for your warmth, professionalism, and patience!

Artistic, innovative, high standards, strong focus on details, personal approach - attributes we have seen Shiva amply display in every project she has done for us over the last twenty years; the latest one being a complete kitchen renovation. Over the years, she has remodelled a portion of the house exterior, renovated the front hall, redesigned and decorated our living room, designed a glass wall sculpture and glass French doors, and has always been available for advice on our DIY projects. We are always amazed at Shiva's ability to think 'out of the box' and come up with unique ideas that combine style and functionality. She has always taken into account our wants and needs and makes invaluable suggestions along the way. Our renovation projects with Shiva have always been hassle-free and finished on time. She is on-site daily to oversee the project at hand and has a great team of cooperative and considerate trades people. Shiva approaches her projects in a very professional manner, portrays excellent communication and management skills, and shows great pride in her work. We continue to highly recommend her. the Farrells

Thank you, Shiva. Our house looks STUNNING! We were very impressed with your knowledge, attention to detail, commitment to service and above all your understanding and flexibility to our taste. You helped us develop our ideas, rather than forcing your own concepts on us. This in our opinion makes for an excellent Interior designer. We give you a 10.