This Expert’s Design Studio Looks Like a Cozy Country Retreat, But it Means Business
Words by Olivia Lidbury
Photography by Patrick Biller; Design by Tiffany Leigh Design
Inside a 100-year-old lakefront building, Tiffany Piotrowski invites clients into a world that’s layered, lived-in, and ever evolving.
It serves her design team while doubling up as a showroom in which to immerse clients in her richly layered world. Located along the shores of Canada’s Kempenfelt Bay and wrapped in Farrow & Ball’s earthy String, the welcome from the get-go is a warm one. In fact, it’s not unlike stepping into an old country house: there’s a handsome limestone fireplace, a stately staircase flanked with art, and an antique table for laying out afternoon tea—a must when clients need to refuel during lengthy design presentations.
“Our goal when we decorated the space was to make it feel homey and a little bit residential,” says Tiffany, who shares the space with local antiques dealer Rosie Farrier. “Vintage pieces are a big part of how we design, so it’s a nice way to show clients at a glance how we incorporate them into our designs.” Behind a wall of fabric (Morris & Co.’s Willow Boughs) live all of Rosie’s English finds. “It's very dangerous having her here,” she laughs.
Here, the Tiffany Leigh Design founder explains how she overhauled this space to make the business of design fun, practical, and ever-evolving.
"The fun of creativity is that chaotic mess. But it's nice that everything has a home to go back to.”
—Tiffany Piotrowski
Photography by Patrick Biller; Design by Tiffany Leigh Design
A layout that works
Day to day, Tiffany and her team work upstairs in a more utilitarian space, “because that's where we need to be alert.” Downstairs, under imposing lanterns by Mullan Lighting, a central island with stools fosters an easy sense of collaboration between designers and clients. “It’s easy to circulate to pull and test things,” says Tiffany. Opposite, a row of slim consoles contains fabric, rug, and hardwood samples. A pair of computer monitors is useful for quickly pulling up references, and it’s from this very spot that the designer takes her Expert calls.
Photography by Patrick Biller; Design by Tiffany Leigh Design
A home for everything
Pretty baskets are Tiffany’s secret organisational weapon. Large seagrass styles house ongoing client projects where each room is categorised into pouches, making it easy to grab specific schemes. Smaller baskets house solid fabrics organized by color and type, while patterned textiles and remnants hang on the rails below. Stripes are kept separately in the island’s drawers alongside paint decks. The result is a robust fabric library. “The fun of creativity is that chaotic mess,” says Tiffany. “But it's nice that everything has a home to go back to.” Generous pinboards resting against the walls are useful at the introductory stage for moodboarding.
Practice what you preach
Tiffany had the charming idea of displaying hardware samples in a wooden printer’s tray sitting on a scallop console table. “We can pull them out and show clients the difference between brass and polished nickel,” she explains. Even better, the revamped powder room features an unlacquered brass faucet: “That way we can say, ‘Here's how that metal will patina over time with time water’. I love that double-duty.” The gallery wall came about as Tiffany’s stash of antiques was filling up the basement. It seemed a shame to stockpile them, so up the stairs they went. “It adds a homey feel to the space.”
Photography by Patrick Biller; Design by Tiffany Leigh Design
A simple idea with a big impact
A dedicated resource library has made a big difference to the efficiency of the studio. “Before we just had books in piles everywhere and anywhere,” says Tiffany, who categorized them into subjects within a tall bookcase. “We’re constantly referencing them for cabinetry or lighting, and there’s a whole section dedicated to British interiors,” she says. The Expert even lets her staff sign them out on weekends: “We really encourage education and digging deeper into inspiration.”
Photography by Patrick Biller; Design by Tiffany Leigh Design
Keep things moving
Like many interior designers’ own homes, nothing stays in the same space for long here. Art is swapped in and out, and chairs find new, permanent homes as clients fall for them on site (the fireplace is also much-admired, but Tiffany isn’t ready to let go of it just yet). “It keeps things fresh and our creative juices flowing when things don't feel so rigid.”