Ali Budd is a Toronto interior designer who founded Ali Budd Interiors in 2010, working out of her basement, and went on to win House & Home’s 2024 Designer of the Year. She’s also the star of House of Ali, which premiered on Hulu in 2023 and arrived on HGTV Canada in September 2024.
That one-paragraph résumé undersells how unusual her path is. Most Toronto firms grow quietly through referrals. Budd built a studio with international reach, then put the whole operation on camera, invoices and all. She’s become one of the most-searched interior designers in Canada, and the attention is earned.
How did Ali Budd Interiors start?
Ali Budd Interiors began in 2010 in the basement of Budd’s Toronto home, according to the firm and a May 2024 Business of Home profile. Sixteen years later it runs as a roughly a-dozen-strong, all-women team (as of 2024), handling high-end residential work from Toronto to the Caribbean.
Budd’s training is a Toronto-and-Western hybrid. She earned a B.A. at Huron College at Western University, then an Interior Design Diploma from the International Academy of Design in Toronto. Before launching her own studio, she put in time at a major architectural firm, which shows in how her projects handle structure, not just styling.
The all-women team is worth pausing on. It isn’t a marketing line; it’s how the studio has actually staffed itself as it scaled from a solo basement practice into a firm fielding projects in multiple countries. In a profession where principals often become the brand while the team stays invisible, House of Ali made Budd’s staff part of the story.
What is Ali Budd known for?
Budd is known for high-end residential design across Toronto, Muskoka, New York, Washington, D.C., Miami, and Antigua, per her HGTV bio and House & Home. The range is the point: city houses, cottage country, and tropical builds, all under one studio without a formal office outside Toronto.
Two projects bookend her trajectory. The breakout was a House & Home January 2021 cover, a Toronto home designed for client Radha Kohly, which moved her from well-regarded local designer to national name. More recently, a waterfront home in Hallandale Beach, Florida earned coverage in Cottages & Gardens, proof the U.S. work isn’t a side hustle.
Then there’s Costa Rica. Budd’s first ground-up build, designed for herself, now operates as a luxury rental, a project she discussed in a Home Network interview. Author Jenny Mollen has publicly praised the property. Designing your own house from foundation to furnishings is the closest thing the industry has to a designer’s thesis statement, and Budd chose to do hers in the jungle.
What show is House of Ali, and where can you watch it?
House of Ali is Budd’s docuseries following her studio’s projects and the business behind them. Season one streamed on Hulu in the U.S. in 2023, premiered on HGTV Canada on September 5, 2024, and now airs on Home Network in Canada and HGTV in the U.S. Season two arrived in 2025.
What separates it from the usual reveal-driven renovation TV is the premise. Budd has said her aim was to show the business reality of design, per Business of Home: the budgets, the client management, the staffing, the parts of the job that mood boards hide. Toronto’s own Designlines covered the show, a sign the trade press took it seriously rather than filing it under reality-TV fluff.
For Canadian viewers, the short version: Home Network is the current home, with HGTV Canada having hosted the domestic premiere. It is not on Crave.
What awards and press has Ali Budd earned?
The headline honour is House & Home’s 2024 Designer of the Year, one of the most visible annual titles in Canadian design. It capped a stretch that included the Business of Home profile in May 2024 and the second season of House of Ali in 2025.
The firm also cites features in Vogue, Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, and Domino, with the AD coverage independently referenced by wallcovering house Phillip Jeffries. Add the January 2021 House & Home cover that started the run, and the press file reads like a designer working a tier above the local market.
Within the city, that puts her firmly on any honest list of the best interior designers in Toronto: a homegrown studio, still Toronto-based, competing for U.S. and international work without leaving the 416 behind.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Ali Budd?
Ali Budd is a Toronto-based interior designer and the founder of Ali Budd Interiors, which she started in 2010 from her basement. She was named House & Home’s 2024 Designer of the Year and stars in the docuseries House of Ali, which follows her studio’s high-end residential projects.
What show is Ali Budd on?
Budd stars in House of Ali. Season one streamed on Hulu in the U.S. in 2023, premiered on HGTV Canada on September 5, 2024, and now airs on Home Network in Canada and HGTV in the U.S. Season two aired in 2025. The series is not available on Crave.
Where is Ali Budd Interiors based?
Ali Budd Interiors is based in Toronto, where Budd founded it in 2010. The studio works well beyond the city, with high-end residential projects in Muskoka, New York, Washington, D.C., Miami, and Antigua, plus Budd’s own ground-up build in Costa Rica, now operating as a luxury rental.
