Janette Ewen

As you know, I love that my work takes me across Canada. I think Canadians have such great style and we have so many fabulous, home-grown designers and décor destinations.

One of my favourite Canadian stores is Urban Barn. Don’t let the barn part fool you, this BC- based (and now Canada-wide) retailer carries super hip furniture—I just saw the most amazing silver velvet sofa in Toronto’s Queen Street West store window—and accessories. In fact, many of the travel-inspired pieces I use in my clients’ homes are from Urban Barn. 

Anyway, the reason I’m telling you about Urban Barn is because the South Granville Flagship store in Vancouver has just reopened and it looks amazing! Full of décor and design vignettes, shoppers can get inspired to create their own home décor style. I’ll be there tomorrow (Thursday, March 25) in the evening chatting about spring décor trends and taking some time to give design advice. Come on out, I’d love to meet you. 

For those of you not in Vancouver, here are a few of the hot trends I am predicting for spring 2010! 

Purple for Outdoor Décor. We saw this colour get hot on the runway and in décor last season, for spring purple is becoming the colour of choice to brighten up an outdoor space. Below is a photo I shot on my last trip to Mexico. I’ve seen purple grace many decks and outdoor lounges recently in Miami and LA as well.

The Re-birth of Shabby-Chic. Yes it’s back but this time it has taken on a slight edge. I’m still seeing lots of washed out white and faded fabrics but with shots of dark grey and edgy accessories (like skull and decayed animal motifs) to counter balance the sweetness of the look. 

Golden Accents. Gold is still going strong and we’re seeing it in larger accessories like tables, chairs even sofas. I love this little gold table from Primavera (bottom right).

Finally, I had an amazing trip to NYC last week and took tons of design inspiration photo’s I’ll have a full gallery up next week along with some style highlights so stay tuned.