If someone said you can’t have it all, Candice Olson certainly never listened. After 25 years in the business, this design maven seems to be stepping up her game. With two network shows, Divine Design and Candice Tells All, already under her belt, she is getting ready to add two more books to her collection, as well as launch a new upholstery line. Oh, and she’s also a mother of two.
Entering university, aiming to become a doctor, Olson hit a fork in the road after completing her undergraduate degree. Always skilled at art but also attracted to science, she had to make a choice.
“My mom said, ‘Well if you’re going to do it, you better be a pro,’” she jokes.
Looking over her career, Olson admits it took a lot of determination to get to where she has and credits her upbringing and dedication to sports for her successes. “I was raised by a single working mom who managed to do her best. Just do the best you possibly can do,” she says, also alluding to her own balancing act.
While a university student, Olson played for the Canadian women’s volleyball team and says she owes a lot of who she is to that training.
“I work really, really hard, long hours, all nighters, but you never know how far you can push yourself until you play sports at an elite level,” she says, “I think it teaches you the discipline. I went to school and travelling and training, and you gotta keep your marks up. It really is something that you cannot learn out of a book. And I would say everything I am is due to a little white ball.”
In terms of juggling between work roles, she admits that “Something’s gotta give, and it always does.”
Her work-life balance is, as she says, a lack of balance. She, her husband and children Piper, 8, and Beck, 6, are always on the go. One weekend in August, the family had five hockey games, soccer playoffs, a figure skating competition and guests to entertain.
Now a sought-after commercial and residential interior designer and a household name in Canada, the U.S. and Latin America, Olson continues to cram as much as she can into her days.
She and her husband have also worked as business partners — he as the builder, she as the designer. Though their shared projects have slowed because of her shows, they still create beautiful homes.
Their most recent gig was renovating their own home, and Olson admits it’s not always easy to work with your significant other. “We both said to each other we would fire ourselves.” She laughs. “It was an awful project. We love it now, but we’re never going to do it again!” she says.
With the autumn air rolling in, her creative wheels continue to turn. She recommends livening up rooms to change with the seasons. If it’s for a bedroom, new throw pillows or blankets in warmer colours will gear up a bed for the winter.
“I would tell people … about 10 per cent of your budget in your room should be accessories,” she says. This rule allows for seamless transitioning between seasons. She offers the example of having a light mixed-wool rug out during the summer, but swapping it for a heavier carpet in winter.
“You have to spend wisely,” she says. “You have your core pieces and the real personality-driven pieces are that last 10 per cent.”
Budgeting is the toughest part of her job, but her clients are always satisfied. “It’s my job to manage their expectations, to give them the best that they can possibly do, make smart choices, make the most out of the dollar … and I think that’s the key to a successful business.”
