Design is personal So is how I work
I’m Samena Hart, the designer behind HART HOUS. Before I suggest a single finish, I want to know how you start your mornings, where the mail piles up and which chair you actually sit in. That’s the difference between designed and decorated.
Real Design for Real People.
I can’t walk into a room without fixing it
I’ve always been this way. As a kid, I painted murals on my bedroom walls and dragged furniture around until the room finally made sense. These days I can’t walk into anyone’s home without quietly rearranging it in my head: straightening the art, swapping two chairs, deciding which lamp is working against you.
In 2009 I made it official, training in Interior Architectural Design in Victoria, BC. Then I spent the first decade of my career working under other people’s names. The fix came so naturally that it didn’t feel like something to charge for. I just wanted people to feel more at home in the spaces they already had.
Eventually I realized that instinct is exactly what people come to me for: someone who can see in five minutes what’s been bugging them for five years. Seventeen years in, I’ve designed spaces in Vancouver, across Vancouver Island and in Calgary, and my favourite moment hasn’t changed: when overwhelm turns into clarity.
I’m the editor in the room. I keep what’s you, cut what isn’t, and I’ll tell you straight when something isn’t working, even if it’s the sofa you already bought.
I’m also a Cancer, if you believe in that sort of thing, so home was always going to be my whole world. Mine is shared with my partner, our cats Buddy and Boone, our dog Bro, and on the best days my nephew, who calls me Momo.
I know renovation chaos. I live it
Just over two years ago, we bought a 1930s house with multiple additions and most of its character renovated right out of it. The charm still shone through. We’ve been pouring our own blood, sweat and tears into it ever since, on our own terms.
We’re not turning it back into a 1930s house. It’s modern transitional, with heritage character and an eclectic edge. We’re bringing interest and character back and working with what was already here. If it’s not the fireplace surround, it’s the millwork. If it’s not the millwork, it’s the bathroom. If it’s not the bathroom, it’s getting the mudroom to flow into the kitchen without bringing its mess along.
It’s taught me the advice I give every client: buy the house that supports the style you feel most at home in, then work with its bones. Swimming upstream against a home’s original features never quite feels right.
What I won’t compromise on
Whatever the size of the project, a single room or a whole home, these three hold. They’re how I work with every client, and what you can hold me to.
Working with Samena was one of the very best decisions we made with our home