Interior designer Joanna Vagelatos‘ clients live an exciting life – when they are not sailing they are spending time up at their newly purchased vineyard where they make their own wine. When it came time to renovate their home in Mt Pleasant, Vancouver they wanted her to transform it into a cheerful and bright space for their family of four, including a toddler and a teenager.

Joanna worked with the architect already on board to redesign the interior of the home and give the exterior a facelift. “The house originally had a lot of warm-toned millwork, along with deep burgundy and taupe finishes which made the interior feel small and quite dark,” she said. The first thing that both designer and architect did to brighten up the three-story home was to refinish the floors to give them a lighter color and paint all of the walls a clean white.

For the rest of the materials and furnishings, color was definitely a defining feature for this project: “The client had a painting by Lauren Mycroft that she and I both loved so I pulled lots of color inspiration from that piece,” Joanna said. “I think it is because they travel a lot and therefore see so many different styles that they are not afraid of color and pattern like many other clients may be.” Like the Lauren Mycroft piece hanging in the kitchen/dining area, the tones chosen for the home were meant to be soothing and uplifting. The geometric backsplash in the kitchen, the sunshine yellow accents in the living areas, and the bold wallpaper in the entryway reflect that.

However, concept and style weren’t the only important factors in delivering the right space for this family with two kids. Joanna also paid special attention to functionality: “I love working with Eyco Building Group who contracted and produced all millwork for this project including a banquette and fireplace bench with drawers for storing toys,” she said. The designer also selected Perennials Fabrics for the banquette so that it can be easily cleaned and maintained, as well as durable quartz countertops for the kitchen. “I wanted it all to be low maintenance, simple, not too fussy, kid-friendly, yet well designed,” she added.