When it comes to home decorating, it’s all about taking risks: be it trying a new paint colour, a bold piece of furniture or simply hanging the pictures you love but were afraid to display.
This Wednesday, Toronto designer Cobi Ladner of cobistyle will be at Kootenai Moon Furniture in Nelson to introduce her new line of home accessories and encourage people to bravely decorate... with whatever they like best.
“I’m all about making people feel comfortable with decorating and encouraging them to have some fun with it,” Ladner said.
“Home design can be very intimidating. People think they’re no good at it or they’re afraid they’ll make a mistake and feel like they wasted a ton of money.”
Ladner said mistakes are inevitable — she makes them, even professional home designers make them — but she thinks it’s better to show your true colours and have a few things not go right, than live in a home that doesn’t feel like your own.
“Your home should really show your personality,” she said. “I feel successful when people feel empowered to do something they’ve wanted to do, but for some reason were afraid try.”
Ladner knows about taking risk.
She worked 15 years as editor of Canadian House & Home magazine, one of Canada’s leading design and decorating publications. The position allowed her to see inside some of the country’s best home projects, in terms of interior design and architecture.
She gave that up in 2008 to develop her own line of unique and affordable home accessories.
“I got to the point where I’d seen really high levels of design, on par with anything you’d see elsewhere in the world, and I realized the happiness quotient was not equal to the money spent,” she said. “It was often people in small apartments, who didn’t have a big budget, that were really having fun with decorating and making their homes into wonderful expressions of who they are.”
So, she set out to create colourful items that would jump out at people and that they would feel a connection with.
“There’s enough beige in the world,” she laughed. “I’m trying to achive a line with a lot of personality and a lot of differences, so anyone could find something they could really fall in love with. Because that to me is what you should decorate with.”
Kootenai Moon has carried cobistyle since it was first released. Owner Valerie Semeniuk said the line has always been popular in the store and she’s excited to give the people of Nelson a chance to meet the woman behind it.
“I love her use of colour in home decor and I have a great respect for her having been in the home accessories industry for so long,” Semeniuk said. “I’m thrilled she’s willing to come to the Kootenays.”
It will be Ladner’s first time in the area, and Semeniuk wants to make sure it’s a memorable one. She’s taking the designer on a tour of three local heritage homes and having her stay at the Hume Hotel, another place known for its heritage.
Ladner will be at Kootenai Moon Furniture (located at 476 Baker Street) on September 12, from 5 to 8 p.m. She will talk about her new line of home accessories and answer decorating questions.
For more information about Cobi Ladner’s work, see cobistyle.com. or call Kootenai Moon at 250-352-5530.