Hi there!
We’re so glad you’ve stumbled onto Simple Design Life, a blog that shares Scandinavian and Japanese styled inspiration and product finds. Our goals are to help you achieve the look —this means posts on how to style your home, where to buy things, and, what to build.
Simple Design Life is a blog that focuses on minimalist design, practicality, and achievability.
Our style: Japandi (Scandinavian × Japanese)
Karen would describe her style to be a hybrid between modern, Scandinavian, and a bit Japanese minimalist. The closest style definition would be “Japandi”. It’s like IKEA furnishings meets Muji shops, with a bit “West Elm” and “Crate and Barrel” style influences rolled into one.
A bit about us
We are a husband and wife team that grew up in Toronto, Canada but moved to Seattle Washington.
Karen attended design school for graphic design but now works full time in User Experience Design —like website or app design. Her passion for design extends to physical spaces and products. She also loves to craft things and travel.
Calvin is a trained carpenter and general contractor. He’s been working on homes since he was 16 years old and hasn’t stopped since. He is a full-time project superintendent at the high-end Seattle remodeling firm. He only uses DeWalt tools and is a devoted fan.
Our home tour
The journey started in 2017 when we purchased a fixer-upper home in Seattle, Washington USA. Calvin just moved to Seattle from Canada and he took on our home renovations full time for the first 6 months, while Karen provided her project management and creative skills part-time. With new jobs, a wedding, and lots of traveling in between, we finish the entire home transformation in 2020.