I, Lynn Asbury, the founder of Lynteriors, have lived in Aurora since 2004. Aurora is my lovely town that is north of Toronto. It offers us urban living. And it provides us with country living because every area is so close to trails which I like. Since I live in Aurora, I am in a perfect position to help you create your dream home in Aurora and the York Region. Lynteriors works with clients in Newmarket, Richmond Hill and the surrounding areas.
Testimonial
“We bought a new house that had a number of light fixtures that we did not like and were not to our taste. Lynn came and did a consultation and helped us to choose something that fitted the space and our style much better. There is so much choice out there that it was hard to see the wood for the trees! Lynn has a keen eye and a good sense of style!”
-Megan, Newmarket
Lynteriors has helped homeowners create their dream rooms by supplying them with custom drapery, custom furniture, lighting, flooring, colour consultation, accessories, space planning and more. My passion is to make your spaces beautiful, comfortable and suitable for your lifestyle.
Here is a google review Lynteriors recently received. Thank you Ochelle for the kind review.
By Ochelle Baller
a month ago
When we decided to sell our townhouse, we immediately thought of Lynn! It was summer and a busy time for us. We were away sending off our son to college, and we gave Lynn full reign to prepare the house for listing. We were driving home when we received a call from our real estate agent that someone was interested to see the house before we went live with our listing. We then had to inform Lynn that the house needed to be ready in two days. We arrived around midnight that day, and when I opened the door and walked in, we were amazed by what we saw. The house looked beautiful, fresh and organized. Mind you, I took pride in our place looking clean and clutter less. However, I was impressed by how everything flowed well. Each area of the home showcases the function and the best look. She made great use of what furniture and decorations we already had and added something to bring more life to each room. My husband and I both blurted out! “Do we love it? Or list it?” I particularly love how she decorated two of our bedrooms. In our daughter’s room, she perfectly chose a pink color scheme and the focal point – a beautiful ballerina wall art. She nailed our sons’ room, making it a little boy’s dream bedroom with blue and red bedding color scheme and an airplane model sitting on top of a dresser. Town homes are perfect for young couples and having them envision how to build a life in their new home is very important. And Lynn had it in mind! Another thing I love about Lynn is her attention to detail and storytelling through home decor. In our family room, she placed a metallic horse figurine on the bookshelf. She told me that when she researched the area we live in, she discovered that the name of the trail in our backyard was the name of the previous landowner’s horse. Imagine my surprise! With Lynn’s passion for home decorating and keen expertise, we sold our house over asking. If you want someone to bring out the best in your home, Lynn is your girl! If you want to see the official review click the button below.
Winter is here. A season when you may be spending more time inside and at home. So you may wonder how to make your home cozy, warm and inviting. Especially if you plan to invite family and friends to visit. I will share a few tips that make your home feel comfy no matter what your interior decorating style is.
Include Window Coverings
The first cozy home tip I will share is to add curtains or drapes to your rooms. Sheers and other curtains add visual coziness to a room. Furthermore, they soften the edges of your windows and add a finished and inviting look to your room in winter and summer. And they hide that dark hole of the night (windows) during the winter months.
Consider thermal drapes since they keep the heat in your home better than sheers would in the winter. And if you plan to decorate with home staging in mind, remember to choose neutral-coloured drapes such as warm white. The sheers, for example, in the living room pictured above, are colder white. Without the sheers in the room, it would not look as cozy. This picture window is beautiful but very big. So the sheers soften the window’s edges. And sheers help to create an inviting look.
Invite Nature Inside
Tip number two is to add plants. Plants and flowers have a unique way of breathing life into your room. You, like me, maybe drawn inherently to nature and its greenery. In the winter, there may be little greenery outside in Aurora, Ontario, except for the evergreens! So plants bring that nature indoors, which is very inviting during the dead of winter. If you do not want living plants, you can go faux. They can add warmth and coziness to a space too.
Add Cozy Accessories
A mix of throw pillows and rugs will add coziness to a space. A throw blanket to wrap yourself in or cozy up with can help you feel warmer when you feel chilly. Plus, they create a visually warm and inviting look to your space when you display them on your furniture. Many throws have a chunky or furry texture, making them look cozy and adding that warm and inviting look to a room.
It is cold to sit on leather furniture. Throws and pillows add that physical warmth to a room: particularly if the seating has leather upholstery. If a room creates a feeling of well-being for you, chances are you have a cozy element going on in the room. If you need some tips for cozy Christmas decorating, go to: https://lynteriors.wordpress.com/2022/12/01/inspiration-for-cozy-christmas-decor/
Include Warm Wood Furniture
Furniture can add an element or feeling of warmth to your space too. For example, wood furniture can create that warm and cozy feel in your room because of the warm tones that stained wood furniture brings. So add window treatments, plants, throws, pillows and wood furniture to create a cozy interior in your rooms. For cozy Christmas decorating tips go to: https://lynteriors.wordpress.com/2022/12/01/inspiration-for-cozy-christmas-decor/
I, Lynn Asbury, am the founder of Lynteriors which provides interior decorating services in Aurora, Ontario. My passion is making spaces beautiful, comfortable, and suitable for your lifestyle.
Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year, is almost upon us. It is traditionally a time for festive celebrations at home and elsewhere. Furthermore, it is a time for glamour and sparkle. And it is a time to cozy up by the fire. So give your home a warm, cozy and inviting feel this Christmas. To help you out, I will share a few tips to make your home festive and welcoming. And I will give you budget-friendly tips too!
So read on and get inspired with new and vintage ways to liven up your home for Christmas. Make your Christmas bright with ideas you can use for years to come.
Tie Your Room Together with a Colour Scheme
As an interior decorator and home stager, when I design a room, Christmas tree, or tablescape, the first thing I usually think about is colour. And a red and green colour scheme says classic Christmas. For example, red and green were the inspiration for this mantle above. These are red and green stockings we had when our children were young: so it adds a nostalgic feel too. They still love looking to see what goodies are in the stockings!
The same room without red gives it a biophilic eco-green contemporary look which you can see in the photo below. Here there are a lot of greens, wintery white, creams and ivory. The brown furniture and gold accents add warmth to the design.
It enhances your room’s coziness if everything is tied together with a similar colour scheme. For example, everything in the space below is either green, white, gold or brown. It adds that cozy harmonious feel to the room. The colour scheme pulls everything together into one cohesive look. Because there is so much green in the room, it has that biophilic calm feeling which is popular now.
During the Christmas season, I love the twinkling Christmas lights everywhere and especially on the Christmas tree. So I encourage you to add strands of Christmas lights to your tree. The twinkle of radiant Christmas lights makes a room feel warm and festive. There is nothing cozier than Christmas lights.
Since the colour scheme in our great room was white and green, we used warm white bulbs to decorate the Christmas tree in our family room. We used warmer light bulbs. They are cheerier than the colder white light bulbs. But the colder temperature white lights will make it look more modern. Whatever colour the bulbs you choose, they will still create a festive mood and magical touch.
Metallics
Metals add a timeless elegance to a room: especially during the Christmas season.It goes particularly well with other festive colours, such as green. So, I decided to keep my gold orbs in a brass bowl I have in our great room throughout the year. I also decided to keep the brass vases, gold pomegranate and gold circular ring sculptures already on the mantle.
I think glittering gold does up the glam factor in a room. So I used round gold Christmas tree ornaments and gold-coloured wrapping paper for presents under the tree. Yes, I like to turn gifts into decorations too!I love using wrapping paper that complements the colour scheme of the room. It adds an extra layer of warmth and creates an inviting feel to the room. I think displaying beautifully wrapped presents under the tree adds that finished look. Plus, wrapped presents are fun to open up!
Gold has a warm undertone, so it is cozy because of that. It has a warmer feel than comparable white metals. And it is a luxurious tone to add to a colour palette. I added gold-coloured accessories, including a lumbar pillow with gold threads. Gold and brass look great in traditional, transitional or modern styles. So it looks great in any interior design-styled space.
Cozy it up with Throw Blankets and Pillows
You can add thick, soft throws to keep you and your loved ones warm. So you and they can snuggle up with them on the sofa. Throws and pillows are sure to keep you toasty warm on those cold nights. Our family room has sheep skin, chunky throw blankets and faux fur pillows that help us snuggle up against to keep warm. Furthermore, chunky knitted throws, pillows and sheepskin add a cozy look to the room.
Highlight the Fireplace
Fireplaces already make a room warm and cozy. Highlight it as one of the focal points in your room by adding a garland made of greenery. As you can see, gold and green were the inspiration for this mantle. Furthermore, I use pine cones, berry sprigs and other natural elements as inspiration to dress up the garland further. We have pine trees with pine cones and holly bushes with berries in our backyard, so it is like bringing in the outdoors. So yes, our backyard was my inspo too.
I added Christmas items such an angel, a star and a Christmas tree stocking holder to create this look which ups the Christmas feel further.
Decorate the Tree
Christmas would not be complete without a tree. So add Christmas tree decorations to them. They bring that Christmas joy. Add vintage pieces you have been collecting through the years. Or start a tradition and begin collecting ornaments this year.
Incorporate well-remembered vintage ornaments and tree decorations. Use collected decorations to bring back the Christmas past and to create that nostalgic feel for you and your family. They bring that familiar, comforting scene. It is easier on your budget too!
It is good to stick with a colour scheme on the tree too. So I chose white and gold ornaments for our tree. I chose this colour theme last year and this year. The gold and green modern art above the fireplace inspired me. Let colours already in your home or on your tree ornaments provide colour ideas for you too. I used large gold and white glass balls on my tree to fill the space quickly.
It is also good to stick with a theme, such as using Christian-themed ornaments that could include wooden nativity scenes, stars and angels. This subject matter helps tell the true meaning of Christmas. And it does so on the tree! Or pick another theme that is meaningful to you. I place these tree ornaments in between the glass baubles.
Do not forget the tree skirt. For example, our white Christmas skirt adds texture and coziness to the look of our tree too. Also, notice how the presents I wrapped are green, white and gold. These colours on the wrapping paper support the colour scheme of the design. My Christmas design has traditional elements but incorporates a modern colour scheme and accessories such as wall art.
There is no need to remove everything non-festive in your room. Especially if some of your decor, such as your wall art, already has Christmas colours. Instead, incorporate Christmas decorations in between or around what you already have. No matter what your living situation is, you can bring cozy touches into a room, even if it is just greenery from the garden and Christmas tree ornaments from Christmas past. Just a bit of festive decor can bring that Christmas warmth to your space. So begin your Christmas decorating. And I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!
I, Lynn Asbury, am the founder of Lynteriors which provides interior decorating services in Aurora, Ontario. My passion is making spaces beautiful, comfortable, and suitable for your lifestyle.
Lake of Bays Cottage Exterior Renovation by Lynteriors
My Cottage’s Exterior Makeover Reveal
An exterior home renovation or exterior cottage makeover can be costly, especially if you add an extension. It is less expensive if you need a new coat of paint, new shingles, a new deck and some new exterior features. It is what our cottage project required to rejuvenate it. Perhaps you need something similar to freshen up the exterior of your house. Since the outside of your home or cottage makes a considerable impact. Read on to find out how to make it a good one.
I thought I would reveal our Lake of Bays cottage renovation process to inspire you to makeover your exterior home or cottage. Our cottage needed an exterior paint job, but we put it off because the deck needed a makeover too. The priority at first was the deck because the boards were rotting and dangerous to walk on. Unfortunately, the second-floor skylight began to leak. The water made it to the kitchen breakfast area. So that trumped everything. The shingles needed replacement too. We fixed the skylight and replaced the shingles. There is future exterior work, such as an extension which we would like to do. But that will have to wait.
The Story Behind Our New Roof
Roofing is a critical feature of the exterior of your home or cottage. So picking the shingle’s colour is crucial. In the summer of 2021, we replaced the old shingles with dark gray ones called weathered wood. It works well with the colours of the tree trunk bark that you can see in the forest to the side of the cottage. The photo above shows you what I mean. And as you can see, these shingles coordinate with the gray flagstone path at the front of the lake house.
The photo below shows the cottage after the shingles were replaced and before it was painted. It replaced a brown roof and transformed the look.
The Story Behind Our Deck Railings
In the fall of 2021, we decided to renew our deck, which faces Lake of Bays. The deck boards were rotting, making it unsafe to walk. Before we got our roof done, we made a trip to Excel Railings in Bracebridge, Ontario, to pick the railing colour for our replacement deck. We chose a light-coloured warm beige aluminum railing colour called sand.
Interestingly, in the afternoon sun, this sand colour looks more like a warm white, which you can see in the photo below. Inside our cottage, it appears more like a warm beige. I will explain further on in this blog why this happens. After our deck replacement, we decided we needed to have the cottage repainted too. We were not sure we liked the orange stained board-on-board wood colour.
Tips for Deciding Upon Exterior Paint Colours
Since we did not like how our exterior paint colour looked with our new railings, we had to pick exterior paint colours next. Choosing paint colours can be daunting. So you may ask. What are the top priorities when selecting exterior paint colours for your home or cottage?
There are several factors to consider before deciding on new colours for the exterior of your home or cottage. One of these factors is that the exterior paint colour is more of a long-term commitment than indoor paint. For example, there is less paint required in a room than the amount needed for the exterior of your cottage. Therefore, the outside takes longer to paint and requires more paint colour than the one room of your house. As a result, exterior paint projects are costlier. So you want to make sure you will like it.
The factors and tips in this blog will ensure the process of picking your exterior paint colour goes smoothly for you. It did for us. Recently, we repainted our cottage exterior. So I will use our project as an example. More than a new colour, paint is our home’s protective barrier. So now I have both peace of mind along with the pretty. I like the idea of both. We waited too long. So part of it did have some wood rot along the deck, which needed repair. It was good we got it done when we did to protect it from decaying further.
Adding exterior paint is a cost-effective way to redo the home exterior. It is a preferred option for many homeowners that want a new look without the hefty price tag. Choosing a good exterior house colour and trim combination can change the look and add life to the cottage or home. However, even though a new coat of paint can go a long way, it can also be a dramatic change that’s hard to comprehend until the whole house is painted. Accordingly, it’s vital to carefully consider multiple options before making a final decision and changing the entire exterior of a home. One way to do this is to create mood boards.
Mood Boards
One factor to consider is other exterior colours close to the cottage. We already chose the shingles colours and railing colours. So I compared how they looked together. A mood board like this one can help you do this. You should examine the lasting elements— path flagstones, railing posts and roof shingles—before you pick exterior colours. Most of these features have undertones that might affect your palette. I considered a blue colour palette and a green colour scheme. My husband preferred the green one. So that is the one we chose.
Mood boards help you see how the colours work together. I took the mood board photo inside my office by my west-facing window. Since I took the picture in the morning, it was in the shade. The Carrington Beige looks darker and more sandy in the shade inside.
As you can see, it is almost the same colour as the Benjamin Moore paint chip Sag Harbour Gray. These colours have a green undertone. They look like a warm gray or a warm beige in this lighting. The colours would look like this in a west-facing room in the morning. The light or lack of it in a room affects the colour.
The same is true outdoors too. But the colours tend to look lighter outside. Like the cottage photos reveal, they look more like a gray and warm white outside.
Check the Roof
Your house is your canvas, but it is not blank. Some colours that are on your home’s exterior are already established. Our roof, for example, was just reshingled. We had the railing colour already picked out too. It was fortuitous that I still had the railing colour sample to compare to the shingle colour sample. When choosing exterior paint, start with what’s there already. House paint is simpler to change than a roof. Your exterior siding paint colour doesn’t need to match the rooftop, but it should harmonize. I chose to go with a lighter colour to contrast with the roofing. As the adage goes: it is all in the details.
The trim and siding colours chosen matched almost perfectly with the railings. It is more apparent during certain times of the day. Read on to find out what I mean.
Factor in the House’s Lighting
Look at your paint chips during the day, at night, when it is sunny, and when it’s cloudy. Paint colour is usually affected by the environment, shade, sun, and time of day. So take samples of the colour and see how it looks on different sides of your home or cottage. I did this before I chose the colours for our lake house.
The paint chips will look different inside your cottage under artificial light. And they will look different outside under the natural light of the sun. Furthermore, the colours will look different on your home’s exterior depending if it is south, west or east-facing.
Let’s look at the south side or forest side of our cottage….
Sunlight will drastically turn your exterior colour cool or bluish, which happens to a paint colour when daylight is abundant. A house with bright sun exposure will need to go at least 2 to 3 times warmer on the exterior colour to get to a balanced color so that the house doesn’t lean too cool or blue. This is especially true on the south-facing side and west facing-facing side of your home.
For example, some trees create dappled shade on the south side of our cottage. The image above shows how these beige and brown-gray colours look. The taupe Sag Harbour gray looks more like a light gray or white in the dappled sunny areas and a darker blue-gray in the shade. The photo shows that the sun does indeed turn exterior colours bluish. Since I wanted a white and gray lake house, I was happy!
In the sun, these colours look gray and white with no green undertone visible. If you recall, the taupe colours look beige and dark in my office by my west-facing window. The photo above shows how dramatically sunlight drains the colour of the paint. Outside, in natural sunlight, it looks different. The colour looks light gray and white instead of beige. Beige is the colour they look like on the mood board.
The south-facing side of our cottage looks gray and white. Direct south-facing light washes out or drains the green undertone. It is something to consider if you want the undertone to be visible on specific sides of your house, like the front or back.
Let’s look at the west-facing lake side of our cottage.
Paint colour can look different from one side of your home to the other based on the type and quality of light your house gets. They can look dramatically different in the shade or sun too!
For example, the colours look softer on the west side of our cottage than they did on the south side. The photo above shows how both colours look softer compared to how they look on the south-facing side of the building. Also, the colours look different in the shade compared to how they look in the direct sun.
The Sag Harbour Gray looked like the colour of our railings in the shade. The photo above shows what I mean. If you look closely at the railing post beside the cottage, it appears to be the exact colour of our siding!
If you look closely at this same photo, you will also see that the railing pickets in the direct sun look like the lighter door trim colour! The sun can wash out the colours, which in our case, helped the exterior paint colours coordinate well with our railings.
Let’s look at the east-facing, front of the cottage…..
A colour you LOVE on the back might not be your fave on the front, but SOMETIMES, something has to give. Sag hourbour gray has lots of movement. It looks like a different colour on the front of the cottage. It has a different colour on the deck in the back where our lake is. In our case, this situation made us both happy!I liked the gray and warm white that these colours appeared on the west side of the cottage. On the other hand, my husband wanted our cottage to have a green exterior.
As we drive up to our cottage we see its east-facing front. Since this side of the cottage is east facing, the sun shines on it in the morning. On the front of the cottage, it looked like a neutral gray when it received the morning sun. But in the afternoon it often picked up a different colour. During the afternoon when it receives no sun, it often looked more of a greenish gray. The photo above shows you what I mean. Since the west side of the cottage looks gray and white and the east facing side sometimes looks green both of us are happy!
Look at Your Homes Surroundings
The landscape around it also plays a part. That is because your home’s surroundings are blooming with colour ideas. You can use the colours of forests, plants and scenery to help determine if you want the exterior to blend or reflect the natural surroundings.
For example, the prevalence of trees that many cottages have around them may suggest an earthy palette of greens for the exterior. And a beach setting might propound using sandy colours such as sand or beige. For example, the exterior trim of our cottage appears to have a sandy hue during some periods of the day. So it echoes the small sandy beach we have by the lake. The lakeside beige deck railing and Carrington beige trim mirror the colours of the small sandy beach we have. And I love that both the deck railing and exterior trim colour of the cottage echo the colour of sandy beaches.
Meanwhile, my husband loves that our cottage has a forest surrounding it and wanted a green exterior painted lake house to reflect that. The Benjamin Moore Sag Harbour Gray is a warm gray with a green undertone. As a result, it seems to pick up that green undertone when surrounded by green grass and forest. You can see the effect in the photo above. My husband got his green cottage. So he is happy.
Since I am a home stager and decorator, I wanted something neutral but still cottage-like. I loved gray since it echoes the colour of the gray granite prevalent around the Lake of Bays. It is also similar to the colours in our granite flagstone path leading up to our cottage. The photo below shows you what I mean. Furthermore, I like warm whites and beiges since they are popular colours and mimic the sandy colour on our little beach. Carrington’s beige looks white, especially when the sun shines on it. But it is more of a light beige. So I did it! I found colours both of us prefer!
Architectural details
Another factor to consider when picking an exterior paint colour is if there are any architectural details, such as window frames and mullions. To emphasize architectural details, paint them with an accent colour that has an intentional relationship to the background colour of the home. For example, we painted our window frames, door frames, and window mullions lighter.
Painting these architectural features a different colour highlighted them and added decorative interest to our cottage exterior. It complimented the cottage. You can completely transform the outside of your home by painting your architectural details. It creates a uniquely distinctive look.
Conclusion
We waited a while to renovate our cottage exterior for several reasons. When we did, we had to choose new deck railings, shingles and exterior paint colours. If you have all the samples like we did, creating a mood board to compare how everything looks ensures the colours will work together. So the first tip for narrowing down the paint colour is to create a mood board. Secondly, it is critical to see how the colours will look with lasting elements such as the entranceway walkway.
The third tip is to place the paint chips against the exterior siding of your home to see if the colour is what you will be happy with throughout the day. Another point to remember is the colours will look lighter in the afternoon if that part of the house is west-facing. It will look light-coloured in the morning if it is east-facing. Therefore, see how the colour looks throughout the day too.
If you live in your backyard and what the exterior paint colour to look good there, then see how the colour will look during different times of the day in your backyard. On our cottage deck, this was important to me. So I was thrilled that it looked white and gray throughout the day.
So if your husband wants a green exterior paint colour to enjoy when he drives up to the cottage or house, and you prefer a gray and white exterior, Sag Harbour gray and Carrington beige may be colours that will make both of you happy. But this is true only if your front yard is east-facing. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me. Click the following link to find out how to contact me. https://lynteriors.wordpress.com/contact/
I, Lynn Asbury, am the owner of Lynteriors, an interior design firm based in Aurora, Ontario.
Lynteriors 