Decorating & Design
The Best of Ali Budd, H&H’s 2024 Designer of the Year
Published on November 21, 2024
Our 2024 Designer of the Year is Ali Budd, who is known for her bold, fearless style that blends exquisite detailing, statement lighting and curvy, sculptural seating. She launched her Toronto firm in 2010 year, gaining acclaim for rooms that are both playful and studied. Ali defines her own style as: eclectic, quiet, specific, diverse and edgy. “I also want to create spaces that people want to live in. I want clients to be comfortable. It’s not a museum,” she says. We have featured Ali’s projects since 2021, and she gained even more professional momentum in 2024, launching her TV series, House of Ali, on HGTV Canada.
Scroll though to see what sets Ali’s work apart including 3 homes and her own cool office!
Pick up a copy of our 2024 December issue to see Ali’s latest project. In the bold living room featured on our cover, Ali designed custom curved sofas and upholstered them in a bold floral fabric. “She wanted things to feel young, different from anyone else’s house, and fresh and cool,” says Ali of this homeowner. See more of this striking home in our December 2024 issue.
Keep scrolling to see more of Ali’s fabulous work from the pages of H&H!
A Multigenerational Home With South Asian Influences
Radha Kolhy and her husband, Dr. Rajeev Muni, called on Ali to renovate their 4,234-square-foot home in Toronto’s Rosedale neighborhood. Radha also needed practical, multipurpose living spaces to accommodate her family, including herself and also an academic ophthalmologist, their children Krishan, 12, Roshan, 9, Anjali, 7, Ishaan, 3, and her mother, Gita, as well as visiting friends and relatives. Ali’s solution was to fill the five-bedroom, six-bathroom home with surfaces, art and furniture that blend South Asian tradition with modern functionality.
A custom 14-foot-long table with plenty of room for extended family is the centerpiece of the dining room.
The kitchen, designed before Ali and her team started working with Radha, is a natural gathering place for Gita and the family.
In the principal bedroom, a geometric rug and cream and white scheme help balance the eye-catching velvet headboard.
A North Toronto Home’s Travel-inspired Renovation
Samantha Goren and her husband, Noah Goldstein, tapped Ali Budd to tackle their unrenovated North Toronto house in late 2019. “Even though Ali tends to be more modern than I am, she’s so good, she can do anything!” says Samantha. A large arch separates the kitchen from the family room. “It’s not just how a room feels that’s important,” says Ali, “but also how it looks from different vantage points.”
Graceful archways punctuate every passageway on the main floor, and exposed wood beams — salvaged from a 150-year-old barn in Ottawa — add country character. Then, Ali and her team brought in their trademark swagger. “Our design was a little out of Samantha’s comfort zone,” says Ali, “but she just needed a little push.”
The plan called for removing the traditional living room located at the front of the house. That space would be used to extend the dining room into one huge area for big family dinners. The designer also created two pantries, one for prep and one for storage, which now separate the kitchen from the dining room. “I don’t like making museums for people,” says Ali. “Formal living rooms are often unused spaces. What’s more useful are large pantry areas and a big dining room. This was a big ‘trust me’ moment.”
A City-Slick Lakehouse That Shakes Up Cottagecore
In the lofty great room, a double-height plaster chimney breast with a porcelain fireplace surround matches the scale of the oversized black-mullioned windows. This lakehouse project in Ontario’s Algonquin Highlands illustrates this sentiment — without it feeling overwhelming. “Just because you’re doing a cottage, it doesn’t mean you need loads of plaid and ducks everywhere,” says Ali. The client wanted a modern vibe for the six-bedroom, five-bath lakehouse. “Ali has a certain look, so I knew what I was getting, but I still wanted it to say ‘cottage,’” says homeowner Ruby Silvertown. “I think where we landed is Forest Hill meets Muskoka.”
The lower-level family room is designed for relaxation, with a cozy wood-beamed ceiling and a cool suspended daybed. “I love the play of different textures and materials, then adding a bit of color,” says Ali. “And adding interest to the ceilings is a great way to infuse character.”
Open to the kitchen and great room, the dining area is quietly elegant with a subtle palette and organic textures. Ali chose the light fixtures because they “felt country, but in a whimsical way.”
The showstopping kitchen certainly fits that brief, with its heavily veined Calacatta Viola marble and mix of dark and light cabinets. Floating above the island is a chandelier that resembles branches — a nod to the woodland setting.
Ali Budd Interiors’ Fashionable Head Office
Ali Budd’s office is a reflection of her work and is packed with daring design decisions: a bubblegum pink kitchen, a lavish powder room with a cool cubed marble vanity and a main work area energized with leopard-print wallpaper. “Our whole vibe as a company is unoffice-y,” says Ali, who balanced work and life by adding a stylish nursery for her baby, Jemma And before Covid, her two older children, Joey, 8, and James, 6, would meet their tutor after school in the office, an arrangement Ali loved. “When you run a business, it’s challenging to dedicate time to your family and to the business,” says Ali. “They meld together, and I purposefully created space here for both parts of my life.”
“The second I walked in here and saw how big and bright it was, I loved it,” she says. she says of the 2,300-square-foot former warehouse is located in Toronto’s Castlefield Design District. The sample library has everything to pull a house together. Bins are bursting with fabrics, and there’s also wallpaper, tile and hardwood flooring samples. “I’m most proud that our portfolio is diverse,” says Ali. “We don’t do the same house over and over again.”
The “living room” is a spot to hang out with clients or the team. The neon sign is one of Ali’s favorite sayings.
Ali had a fun, graphic desk custom made and topped in Nero Marquina marble to contrast the soft, ombré wallpaper.