The Edmonton Fall Home Show is coming October 26-28th/2018. Award-winning interior designer Jamie Banfield is coming to talk about Kitchens and Bathrooms. I got the opportunity to interview Jamie, and I am excited to share with you, what I learned.

Jamie Banfield lives in Port Moody, British Columbia. He has been a designer for 8 years, and never thought he would end up in this industry. When he was younger, he thought he would get into advertising and marketing.  His dad was a contractor, so Jamie worked as a plumber and electrician through the summer. He then worked in Australia for a year and came back to work in construction until he went to a tech school. He decided to attend BCIT-British Columbia Institute of Technology. Jamie was thinking he would attend some kind of project management or marketing class, but he attended an information class about interior design.

He quickly realized that “he does all this stuff already.” Jamie said he loved building furniture and playing with Lego, and actually still does. He would also paint and move his mom’s furniture around the house. On Sundays Jamie said he would look at the paper and sketch houses. He would pick a roof he liked from one house with a door from another, and make his own design.

As Jamie furthered his education at BCIT he also worked at Home Depot.  Jamie quotes”This was one of his BEST experiences” because of all the training and hands on knowledge he received. Examples of this was flooring..hardwood floor-what kind of boxes they came in, how heavy the box is, ect.. he also learned how to install tile, just little things that designers maybe don’t think about. He tells me further that Home Depot paid for half of his schooling. After graduating he became a Kitchen Designer through Home Depot. Which Jamie says “this was a fantastic learning opportunity.” He then worked for a small firm and then a local Millwork company. He started working with his staff about 4 years ago, and since then they have continued to grow. They have launched there own cabinet line about 1-1/2 years ago, and as he quotes “this is a passion project, that continues to grow.”

Jamie is going to be talking about “Innovation with Kitchens,” he has a high expertise in this field considering he won an award as the industry’s top 30 Under 30 in North America. He says his main topics are forward thinking in terms of equipment, new technology, steam ovens.. not always assuming you have to have huge appliances, instead maybe using two 12inch cook tops. He said, you could also use towers now, so you could do a whole tower of fridge/freezer. Jamie and his team are working on a Passion project called “Compact”. This “Compact” project is about building small kitchens with all the needed kitchen appliances.

Jamie is also going to talk about the changing of technology in kitchens.  Features like cameras in fridges, being able to take a picture of your groceries so you can easily know whats needed for ingredients that night. He said in Vancouver, they have a company called SPUD, which is a delivery company that delivers fresh meat, produce, ect. Amazon has their own competitive home delivery as well. Jamie then explains to me, lets say your eggs in your fridge are programmed to be a minimum of 6 eggs, once you hit 5 eggs it will then prompt an order for more eggs!

Jamie’s favorite style is the West Coast style because of the natural elements he can add to his design. He said he draws his inspiration from the elements surrounding him. He said in British Columbia, you can have city life, be on the water, and have the mountains covered in snow as a back drop. He said he inspires what he loves which is water, trees and driftwood.

Jamie try’s to source/purchase design pieces locally, such as millwork and locally made furniture. He said he has used local artists in projects before and he is also able to get different kinds of stones and lighting in BC. Jamie said the easiest way to add elegance to your kitchen space is updating/adding beautiful kitchen handles to your cupboards. He also said that if budget plays a part, then you can simply paint your cabinetry to update it. He said faucets, and lighting make a huge difference as well. Jamie goes on to tell me, that you do not always need to spend a lot of money on backsplash, he said a simple white subway tile makes a huge difference. You can always play around with different textures, and finishes and even patterns, he says.

Jamie said whites and grays are going to be #1 in terms of trending colors in 2019. He also said steam ovens and induction cook tops are going to be trending this coming year. It was such a pleasure interviewing and learning more about Jamie Banfield. I hope you all get the chance to meet him at this year’s Edmonton Fall Home Show! 

XO

Lindsey