ACA DESIGN STUDIO

Working with Agnieszka Chromicz-Chan was a surprisingly delightful experience. I had never used an interior designer and was nervous about how it would go. Would the designer understand what we wanted to accomplish? Would she be able to help us create a space that was uniquely to our taste without imposing her vision? How would she handle us if we were making choices that she knew wouldn’t really work with the space? Could she work with our budget and keep the project in line with what we were willing to spend? I am pleased to say that Agnieszka navigated each of these potential minefields with aplomb.
We had decided to replace our glossy black floors with something lighter that would open the space and show less dust. The biggest challenge was choosing the colour of the wood for the floors. We have a golden granite countertop in the kitchen with which we were unwilling to part. Our cabinetry (kitchen, dining room and family room) is all a dark espresso colour with a hint of red in it. This made for an enormous challenge in finding the right floor – something that would not be too yellow, too green, too grey, or too brown. This was, by far, the greatest challenge of the project. But Agnieszka was patient as we went through literally tens of wood floor samples – all laid out on our floor and moving periodically to a different section of the space so that we could see them in every light. She came to our house every time I brought back new samples to give her insight. She scoured wood flooring outlets and stores. She was an incredible asset and co-conspirator. The best part is that we found the exact right flooring.
Agnieszka was helpful in many other ways as well. The biggest challenge I have is with colour. I am not very confident in choosing colours, and because our main floor is open concept, every wall but one is visible from the entrance. This poses an enormous challenge: how can we delineate the spaces between rooms while not over-powering with colour? I did not want the entire floor to be white, so the key was to choose a couple of accent walls to ground the space and then work around those colours to build from there. Agnieszka was, once again, full of ideas and incredibly patient as we worked through this challenging piece. The result is a main floor that feels fresh and bright and uniquely ours.
One of the biggest contributions from ACA Design was Agnieszka’s design of our audio-visual cabinetry. We wanted something that would unify the space but also not be over-powering - airy, while providing shelving and a unique space for our tv and stereo equipment. Agnieszka did a fabulous job. One of the most interesting aspects of the cabinetry is that she included a base on which the cabinetry would sit. This makes all the cabinets and shelving look like they are part of a larger unit, but without feeling “heavy”. This feature unifies the space while elevating the unit off the floor.
I am incredibly grateful to Agnieszka for her tireless guidance, support, keen eye, creativity, and the positive spirit she brought to this project. We love our new main floor.