Work it, Baby
Ali Budd cranks up the cool in her office, where there’s room for all her team — and a crib.
“I PURPOSEFULLY CREATED SPACE HERE FOR BOTH PARTS OF MY LIFE: WORK AND FAMILY”
DDesigner Ali Budd’s new office 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. It’s a perfect reflection of the unique style Ali Budd Interiors has become known for. And it doesn’t stop there. Ali’s own office is clad in dreamy turquoise ombré wallpaper. The space was created after Ali’s nine-person team — whom she regards as friends — suggested it would be strange for the president of Ali Budd Interiors not to have a room of her own. “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, who turned one in April. 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. My parents ran an ad agency, and I grew up living in their office. I loved being there and learning what they did every day.”
She moved from her old office, just a few blocks over, when the team outgrew the space. “The second I walked in here and saw how big and bright it was, I loved it,” she says. The 2,300-square-foot former warehouse is located in Toronto’s Castlefield Design District. Many of the major design retailers — Elte, Stone Tile, Kravet, Kohler and Home Société, to name a few — are close by. “It’s very easy for us to pop over to them or vice versa, plus I live 10 minutes away. We signed a lease quickly.” She renovated it over four weeks and the team made the move in December 2019.
Open ductwork, honed concrete floors (they were so good she left them as is) and black factory windows were a great shell for her design scheme. “We love the idea of mimicking a home as our office,” she says. To that end, the “living room” in the entrance is furnished with a custom sofa, curved chairs and coffee table. The “dining room” — or conference space — is equipped with a JennAir wine fridge and two drink drawers. At lunchtime, the team tucks into take-out orders around the white Corian table.
Unless, that is, the firm is pitching clients. When travel opens up again, there could be clients flying in from Miami (where the company is decorating a palatial waterfront house) or New Jersey (where it’s building an opulent pad by the ocean), so having a slick office is crucial. “How can we work in luxury interior design and have a hideous bathroom?” says Ali. “How can we ask clients to invest if we don’t?”
A library area houses thousands of fabric, wallpaper and flooring samples. “I’m most proud that our portfolio is diverse,” says Ali. “We don’t do the same house over and over again.” On occasion, a certain someone can be found burrowing into the library: “My eldest daughter, Joey, uses fabric samples for her Barbies as bedding and rugs,” says Ali with a laugh. And with an inventory like this one, we’re sure that dollhouse — just like Mom’s office — is the coolest crib in town.