Interior Design is “a thing”?

I often get asked how I knew this was the profession I wanted to do. If truth be told, I never knew Interior Design was even “a thing”, but it was always a part of me in some capacity or another. From a young age, I loved exploring 3-dimensional space. I enjoyed moving the furniture around in our home, trying out different configurations; it drove my poor mum crazy!

Helen Faustino

My story began in a small town in the interior of British Columbia, where I was raised in a traditional Russian family. Life revolved around faith, family and food. The kitchen was the heart of our home. I have the fondest of memories standing around my grandma’s kitchen table, along side my great-grandma, my mum, little sister, a couple cousins and aunties; rolling out and filling hundreds of vareniki and hearing the stories of life in the old country.

In my free time, you would either find me reading a Nancy Drew Mystery or you would find me in my bedroom, with floor plan books scattered across my floor as I poured over the drawings, looking for the “ultimate plan”. I would cut and paste cut-outs from the Sear’s catalog of furniture selections, drapery, bedding and lighting options onto sheets of paper, closing my eyes to visualize what it all looked like. The princess canopy bedroom suite and Holly Hobbie bedding being my most favorite of all! It wasn’t until my 10th year in high school, when I attended a job fair and discovered that Interior Design was actually something I could pursue, I knew this was what I wanted to do! After studying Interior Design in Southern California, I returned to the west coast of British Columbia to pursue my career.

Along the way I met and married my best friend and life partner and since 1993, we have called the Cowichan Valley our home, raising our three amazing kids here.

The Faustino Family

Over the course of my career, I have had the privilege to work in a variety of aspects of design from design coaching and consulting to managing many full-service design projects in both the commercial and residential realms, new builds and renovations. Throughout it all, the goal has always remained the same, to create amazing spaces that are not only beautiful and unique to the people living and working in them but also exceedingly functional.

With gratitude -