SDID Stacy Drew Interior Design

A little design secret: productivity has a lot more to do with your environment than your to-do list.

Natural light, concealed storage, a generous work surface, and somewhere comfortable to take a break can make a home office feel completely different.

For this space, custom millwork did the heavy lifting, creating storage, display space, and a dedicated workspace without sacrificing warmth or personality.

Original client work only — no AI, no reposts.

A asymmetric gallery wall should feel collected — not chaotic.

A few simple things that instantly make a gallery wall feel more elevated and intentional:

• Start with one larger anchor piece. It gives the eye somewhere to land and helps the arrangement feel grounded.

• Vary the scale of the artwork. Mixing medium and smaller pieces creates movement and keeps the layout from feeling too rigid or repetitive.

• Keep spacing consistent. Usually 2–3 inches between frames feels balanced without looking crowded.

• Limit the colour palette. The art doesn’t need to match perfectly, but repeating similar tones helps the collection feel cohesive rather than random.

• Don’t overfill the wall. Negative space is what keeps a gallery arrangement feeling curated and breathable instead of cluttered.

For this dining space, the goal was to keep the wall feeling soft and collected while still adding personality and warmth. The mix of frame sizes, warm neutral tones, and structured millwork helped the artwork feel intentional without overwhelming the room.

Sometimes the most artful spaces are the ones that know when to stop adding.

Design 101: Smart Planning for Small Kitchens

When square footage is limited, every cabinet, finish, and layout decision has to work a little harder — and the smartest kitchens usually aren’t the biggest ones. They’re the ones that make daily life feel easier.

A few practical things that make a huge difference in a smaller kitchen:

• Extend cabinetry to the ceiling whenever possible. Those upper cabinets are ideal for storing seasonal dishes, small appliances, baking supplies, or entertaining pieces you don’t need every day — which frees up the easier-to-reach storage below for daily essentials.

• Prioritize drawers over lower cabinets. Deep drawers make it much easier to organize pots, pans, containers, lids, and pantry items because everything is visible at a glance instead of getting buried in the back of a cabinet.

Pantry cabinets are your friend, but think through what will be stored in them and customize the height of your interior shelving accordingly.

Always opt for counter depth appliances and consider flat panel refrigerators and dishwashers so that you can built them into your cabinetry- a clean, un-cluttered look will relieve visual weight.

• Add storage to the back of an island whenever you can. Even shallow cabinetry or hidden panels can hold serving pieces, cookbooks, or small appliances without taking up extra floor space.

• Think carefully about appliance placement before finalizing a layout. In smaller kitchens especially, having enough clearance for the fridge, dishwasher, and oven doors to fully open at the same time makes everyday cooking far less frustrating.

This bathroom design is my #1 most shared design on Pinterest, which probably comes down to one thing: it hits that sweet spot between timeless and trend-forward.

The warm wood tones, soft brass, vertical stacked tile, and vintage-inspired rug all feel current, but none of them are overly tied to a specific trend cycle. The result is a space that feels layered, warm, and elevated without feeling intimidating or overly designed.

One of the details that really makes the room work is the fluted vanity. In smaller spaces especially, texture can do a lot of the heavy lifting. Keeping the palette tonal allows the materials themselves to become the focal point, which creates visual interest without overwhelming the room.

It’s proof that the spaces people connect with most are usually the ones that feel both aspirational and attainable at the same time.

Original client work only — no AI, no reposts.

If I could bottle a feeling and turn it into a living room, it would probably look something like this.

The architecture here was already doing a lot of the heavy lifting — soaring ceilings, panoramic forest views, and a suspended fireplace that immediately becomes the focal point of the room. The design challenge was making the furnishings feel substantial enough to hold their own without competing with the setting outside.

We leaned into richer contrast moments with deep navy upholstery, darker framing, layered textures, and softer neutral pieces to keep the space balanced and inviting. The goal was cozy modern cabin — not rustic cliché.

Original client work only — no AI, no reposts.

I love a dining room that feels a little moody, a little tailored, and just dramatic enough to make dinner feel like an occasion.

This space started with the artwork, and everything else built outward from there — the rich wine-toned dining chairs, the softer camel accent chairs, the warm brass lighting, and the creamy textured backdrop keeping everything balanced and approachable.

One thing I talk about with clients often: contrast is usually what makes a room memorable. If everything matches perfectly, the space can fall a little flat. Here, the mix of shapes, finishes, and tones keeps the room feeling layered and collected instead of overly “set-like.”

Also fully convinced that dining rooms deserve more personality than they usually get.

Original client work only — no AI, no reposts.

One of the biggest misconceptions about interior design is that every project starts from scratch. Honestly? Some of the best spaces don’t.

This dining room already had beautiful foundational pieces — the warmth of the wood beams, the live-edge table, the sculptural lighting. The goal here was refining the room rather than reinventing it.

We focused on layering in the right rug to soften the darker finishes, ground the space, and improve the scale of the room overall. Then came the styling: simple organic branches, warm candlelight, and just enough texture to make the space feel finished without competing with the architecture.

Sometimes good design is knowing what not to change.

Original client work only — no AI, no reposts.

There’s something really satisfying about a full gut renovation because every single decision matters. Nothing is accidental. Every line, finish, sightline, and material has to work together from the ground up.

For this project, the goal was creating a home that felt bright, calm, and architectural without tipping cold or overly minimal. We kept the palette intentionally soft and tonal, then layered in warmth through wood ceilings, natural textures, oversized windows, and subtle contrast moments in the lighting and textiles.

One of my favourite parts of this space is how connected everything feels — the kitchen, dining, and living areas each have their own identity, but the materials and scale create a really seamless flow throughout the home.

A reminder that neutral doesn’t have to mean flat. When texture, proportion, and lighting are working together, even the quietest palette can feel incredibly rich.

Original client work only — no AI, no reposts.

This bedroom was a complete redesign from the ground up — and honestly, seeing it come together is so satisfying.

The goal was to create a space that felt cozy, elevated, and a little moodier, while still keeping it calm and functional for everyday life. We leaned into rich contrast, layered textures, custom detailing, and warmer finishes to give the room a much more polished, intentional feel from the moment you walk in.

One of my favourite transformations here was the addition of the slat wall feature behind the bed. It completely changed the feel of the room and added that architectural layer the space was missing before.

A few details that helped pull everything together:

• A custom slat wall feature for warmth, depth, and texture
• Rich navy accents balanced with warm wood tones
• Oversized drapery panels to visually heighten the room
• Layered neutral bedding to soften the darker elements
• A cleaner, more functional layout with furnishings scaled properly for the space

The Design Brief: create a cozy modern bedroom that felt sophisticated, calming, functional, and visually layered — with a balance of warmth, texture, contrast, and architectural detail.

Original client work only — no AI, no reposts.

Designing for pre-teens is always a balancing act: you want the room to feel fun and personal now, without becoming something they outgrow six months later.

For this bedroom, we leaned into a sporty theme in a way that still felt clean, elevated, and age-flexible. The oversized football field mural adds personality and impact immediately, while the darker palette, layered textures, and streamlined furniture help the room grow with him over time.

And yes — storage was doing some heavy lifting here too. Built-in drawers help maximize floor space and keep the inevitable “pre-teen collection of absolutely everything” slightly more contained.

A kid’s room can absolutely feel playful and well-designed at the same time.

Original client work only — no AI, no reposts.