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If interior designer Taylor Reiko could go back in time and give her teenage self a piece of advice, it would be this: It’s possible your dream job doesn’t actually exist yet, or the path to it isn’t clear. So take a deep breath, pursue what you love, and everything will work out.

Reiko is one of eight contestants selected for season 3 of Renovation Resort with judges Scott McGillivray and Bryan Baeumler, which premieres April 5 on Home Network. The series follows four teams from across North America as they transform a neglected lakeside property in the Kawarthas into a dream vacation destination, competing for a $100,000 grand prize. Reiko was paired with builder Mehrdad Amini for the competition.

For a designer whose work is usually shaped through careful collaboration and a deep understanding of how clients live, the experience was quite a test, says Reiko.

That tension between speed and soul is part of what makes Reiko such an interesting fit for television. She is not a designer interested in spectacle for its own sake. What matters to her is how a space feels when someone walks into it.

Even in a short-term rental, where the future occupants are unknown, she was thinking beyond finishes and furniture. Reiko says she was aware that the people using this vacation property would be coming from all walks of life, with different experiences and needs.

“I asked myself, how do I want to make them feel? How do I want to feel when I’m on vacation?”

How a room makes you feel

There is something instantly appealing about Reiko’s approach to interiors. It is thoughtful without being stiff, design-forward and warm.

Openness is central to her design philosophy.

“I’ve never wanted to put myself in a box,” she says.

Reiko seems drawn to the emotional dimension of design. The subtle but powerful way rooms can change how people connect, relax and stay awhile.

Before interior design, Reiko studied sociology and worked in event planning and hospitality. At one restaurant, she noticed how the setting affected the way people behaved.

Patrons would wait for hours to sit in a particular space within the restaurant, she says. It was an area with a gallery wall that somehow felt elevated and especially appealed to diners celebrating a special occasion: “People wanted to stay there longer.”

Good design is not just visual. It alters experience. It can make people linger, settle in and feel taken care of, says Reiko.

The path less travelled

Reiko says she’s always been a creative person, but growing up, this wasn’t always considered something to celebrate.

She did what many young adults do and followed the approved path: university, with the hope of finding a good profession, even if it was not where her passion lay.

After travelling to Japan and reflecting more deeply on design, culture and architecture, she enrolled in night school at BCIT to study interior design.

“Like every other designer in school, I started an Instagram account and added ‘designer’ after my name”, she says. Taylor Reiko became Taylor Reiko Design .

COVID changed everything, says Reiko. Because everyone was working from home, people started asking her to design home offices for them. She designed five offices in quick succession.

Reiko’s is a modern design story, one built almost entirely through social media.

She is candid about the awkwardness that often comes before progress. Setting up a tripod in public, posting your work, backing your instincts before you feel fully ready.

“I wasn’t afraid to lean into embarrassment,” she said.

Leading with what lights you up

Asking yourself what you really want out of life is so important, says Reiko.

That search for honesty seems to have shaped her work. Her design projects feel personal and welcoming even when the setting is a lakeside competition property created under pressure.

For viewers tuning in to Renovation Resort, Reiko is one to watch.

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