Nicky Lehwald

Meet Nicky Lehwald C. I. D., of BNC Designs.

Nicky has an effervescent nature; she has a fun and upbeat creativity that is captivating. Her love for her home décor, staging and interior design is obvious.

Nicky enjoys pulling a team together for a project as well as getting right in there and doing some of the hands-on work herself. Her clients call her insight her ‘magic’.

“Thank you so much for turning my house into my dream home...It’s an absolute joy to come home now,” says P. Preston, of Belleville, Ontario.

Whether you are selling your home, re-decorating your new one or planning a facelift Nicky has the skill and ideas to make your home the retreat you want, with all the organized functionality that makes living in a well designed home a joy.

There are many things that can help make your home be more comfortable and be a unique reflection of you. Do you have a hobby that you would like to have some great space to display, Nicky can help you. If you are looking to sell your home, Nicky can offer inexpensive solutions that will help you get a better price. See more at BNC Design website or contact Nicky by email or phone: 416-884-1393.

Nicky feels strongly about helping out in the community, she has teamed up with Betty Cadotte in a project for Habitat for Humanity, Toronto's Women Build. 

Here are a few tips to make your home a beautiful place!

Hanging Art and Photographs on your walls

• Having a few paintings, prints or photographs attractively framed and grouped together can make a very strong architectural statement and focal point to any room.
• There is an art to choosing and hanging art on your walls.
• Art can you make your walls come alive, give atmosphere to your home, and be unique reminders of your life and good times. Still, even the best art needs to be presented properly and in harmony with the rest of the room, furnishing style and lighting.

How to make a motley assortment of pictures look like they were meant to be together?

• Many people like having a collage of family photographs going up a stairway. You can stop along the way and admire moments in your family’s life. Often these become dated looking and almost like a hodge podge rather than a beautiful display.
• Start by taking them all down, this is a good time to paint or re-paper the stairwell, or perhaps you have taken them down to re-decorate and now wish to re-hang them but don’t want to have the same look of disarray.
• Now is a good time to take them to a framer, and photography restorer. If some of the photographs are fading, early colour photos taken in the 60’s 70’s and 80’s may have lost a lot of their original beauty, but the people in the photos are valued family. A photographer can copy or scan these images and restore them through digital art work, perhaps even putting them into and artful collage. They may even look good made B&W or sepia, all to match. You can have the originals placed in acid free sleeves and framed inside for posterity and they will be saved longer.
• There is digital printing available now by better photographers who use the latest permanent pigment printers. The copies will last from 100 to 200 years now if framed properly using conservation framing materials.
• Try having the photographs and art framed using similar matting and frames that blend styles. 
• Group a number of images, especially when they are small, 8 or 10 inches across or smaller. Take the size of the wall into consideration in deciding how many to hang.
• One of the most frequently asked questions about hanging pictures is; how high should I hang artwork? A quick rule is that they should be at normal eye level, (about 60 inches from the floor)  if the room is a sitting room, the eye level would be balanced between standing and sitting heights.
• The whole answer is a blend between design science and the art sense of the viewer, and depends largely on the artwork itself and the type of room. If the ceilings are especially high such as cathedral type walls, the art work of course would be hung proportionately.

“I always try and tell a story with the artwork that goes into a room. It makes great conversation starters when you have guests over,” says Nicky.  “The art should complement the theme of the room and be in keeping with the homeowner’s or family members tastes and comfort style.

Window Treatments can make a big difference in your home décor.

Nicky loves to liven up a room by giving a window a bit of colour. Many people are afraid to use colour on the windows, but neutral window treatments can look tired and worn out. A bit of colour can infuse a room with more energy, too much colour can make it look gaudy.

• Varying textures with neutral tones is also a good way to add drama rather than using bright colours
• Small or unattractive windows can be given a window treatment that makes them look larger or hides parts of the windows. A great way to make small windows appear larger and more dramatic is by using light-colored panels that blend with the wall colour and begin well above the window cascading down to a flared puddle on the floor, with gentle tie backs at the lower edge of the window.

Having your home decorated by a professional can actually save you money in the long run and make a much more pleasing environment.  A trained eye can add small elements, change a little here and there and give your décor a lift. Just re-arranging things can create a big difference.

The easiest and most inexpensive way to invigorate the design of a room is to rearrange the furniture items you already own.The most important rules in any décor are the consideration of balance, design, colour and functionality. When all these are taking into consideration and brought together to showcase the homeowner’s life style, then you have what makes for a comfortable home.

The latest trend in home décor is to turn your bathroom into a spa.

People are busy, yet they need a place to refuel, relax and dream a little. There is nothing like a hot bubble bath to calm one and make you feel rejuvenated. Turn the lights down, light a candle or two, prop your head up on the end of the tub and listen to some soothing music or meditation Cd’s. In today’s homes where there is often more than one bath, and often an ensuite off the master bedroom, turning it into a spa-like space can give you a real treat without having a family member knocking the door down. (Just remember not to fall asleep in the bath. You might want to have a beeper on if you are prone to falling asleep)

Dress up your bathroom with a few flowers, some lacey curtains a boudoir chair and it can be transformed.

Remodeling a bathroom from scratch is a job for a professional. Too many do-it-yourselfers have caused many a catastrophe. Keep the value in your home, have things like that done professionally.

See more at BNC Design website or contact Nicky by email or phone: 416-884-1393.