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This or That: A Canopy Designer Weighs In

June 29, 2026   ·   Design

When you’re building a custom home, the decisions can feel endless. And some of the most exciting ones — the choices that really define the personality of a space — come down to two equally beautiful options. There’s no wrong answer here. It comes down to how you want your home to feel and how you want to live in it.

We sat down with Ciara, part of Canopy’s in-house design team, and asked her to weigh in on ten of the most common design decisions our clients face. Her answers might surprise you, and might just help you figure out where you stand too.

Neutral Cabinet Color or Colored?

Ciara’s pick: Colored.
A well-chosen cabinet color does something a neutral can’t. It gives a kitchen a point of view. Done right, it feels timeless rather than trendy, and it adds a layer of warmth and personality that white or cream simply doesn’t. The key is committing to it fully and letting everything else in the space support it. That said, a beautifully executed neutral kitchen is its own kind of classic. You truly can’t go wrong.

Marble Hood or Painted Hood?

Ciara’s pick: Painted to match the cabinets.
Painting the hood to match the cabinetry creates a seamless, architectural look that feels cohesive and intentional. It lets the other elements in the kitchen, the stone, the hardware, the lighting, do the talking. A marble hood, on the other hand, makes a genuine statement and can be absolutely stunning in the right space. Both are a yes from us.

Glass Cabinet or Closed Panel?

Ciara’s pick: Closed panel.
Glass cabinets are a commitment to what’s inside them, to keeping them curated, to the styling required to make them work. A closed panel gives you the same architectural detail with none of the pressure. It’s the quieter, more livable choice. But glass cabinets, when styled beautifully, add a layer of visual interest that’s hard to replicate. Either way, it’s a detail worth thinking through carefully.

Cast Stone Surround or Marble Surround?

Ciara’s pick: Marble.
Cast stone has a beautiful softness to it, but marble brings depth and movement that’s hard to match. No two slabs are the same, and that specificity is part of what makes a space feel considered rather than assembled. Cast stone, though, has a warmth and texture all its own. Both are timeless choices that age beautifully.

Brass or Black Hardware?

Ciara’s pick: Brass.
Brass has longevity in a way that trends don’t. It warms a space, works across a wide range of palettes, and gets better with age. It’s also deeply connected to the aesthetic Canopy’s design team returns to again and again. Warm, layered, and rooted in craft. Black hardware, though, is crisp and striking, and can be incredibly effective in the right space. Both have a strong place in a well-designed home.

Bold Tile or Neutral Tile?

Ciara’s pick: Bold tile.
This one might be the most surprising answer on the list. But Ciara will tell you that a well-chosen bold tile is one of the most transformative decisions in a home. The right pattern or color in the right space doesn’t feel risky. It feels like exactly what the room needed. Neutral tile, though, creates a serene and enduring backdrop that lets everything else in the space shine. Both are beautiful, and both are very much a Canopy move.

Millwork or Wallpaper?

Ciara’s pick: Millwork.
Wallpaper is a beautiful layer. Millwork is architecture. It’s permanent, it adds dimension, and it elevates a space in a way that no surface treatment can replicate. In a Canopy home, millwork is one of the details that clients notice every single day and never get tired of. Wallpaper, though, brings pattern, color, and personality in a way that’s uniquely its own. The two can even work together beautifully. There’s no losing choice here.

The Bigger Picture

What stands out across all ten of Ciara’s choices is a consistent point of view: choose what feels permanent, choose what feels considered, and choose what’s going to feel right ten years from now. But more than anything, choose what feels like you. Every one of these decisions has a right answer. It’s just yours to make.

If you’re in the early stages of designing your home and want to talk through decisions like these, reach out — we’d love to talk.