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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - If it were possible to pick up Yellowknife, move it across the country and settle the city down near her grandchildren, interior designer Kate Hart would do it in a flash.

It's not just the community's spirit she loves, but its look, she said.

"I love the different architecture," said Hart. "I find it quite exciting and quite intriguing."

Second to the miracle move, however, Toronto-based Hart will settle for being a part-time Yellowknifer, visiting the city and her brother's family whenever business calls her here.

Hart left the corporate world after 30 years to go back to school, follow her passion and later found her own design firm, Watershed Designs.

She first visited Yellowknife in 1995 to see her brother. Years later, she was up again helping him work on his place, when design-starved Yellowknifers took notice.

"Friends said, 'Hey is she doing this on a regular basis?' and it just started from there," she recalled.

One newspaper ad later, Hart had generated enough interest to keep coming back. That was in 2005.

Since then, Hart has designed the insides of Yellowknifers' houses, condos and modular homes, picking the right colours, cupboards and tables for some of the city's most well-known people.

She now comes up several times a year to do design consultation, ranging from one-hour meetings to full room and house designs.

"I just love the mix of styles (in Yellowknife)," said Hart. "The people seem to embrace uniqueness and that's a wonderful aspect of working with people there."

Hart's client-first style has many Yellowknifers embracing her uniqueness, as well.

"What I really like is she listens to us and gets an idea of our lifestyle and the kinds of things that we do," said Muriel Tolley.

Tolley and her husband, Chuck, a well-known Northern educator, have hired Hart over the past few years to do hourly consultations in their home.

"Kate brings that fresh look to our house. We're living in it all the time and we don't see the possibilities," said Muriel.

Cheryl and Lew Voytilla - Lew is chair of the NWT Power Corp. board - were equally happy with Hart's work on their kitchen.

"It really made a difference. We knew what we wanted, but we couldn't put it down on paper and make it work," said Cheryl.

Hart could, she said. "She was excellent to work with. She had lots of good ideas."

And she does it all within budget, added Deborah Bruser, manager of Yellowknife Public Library.

"She will stick with a budget, she'll make recommendations but if you say 'woah that's too rich for my blood' she'll tone it down, and yet provide a result that is equally wonderful," said Bruser, who is married to Judge Brian Bruser.

Hart designed the Brusers' condo.

"She went room by room," said Deborah. "Really, just lovely, lovely work. She's very talented."

"A lot of people have innate design ideas, but they just don't know how to express it," said Hart. "I see myself as helping them express themselves in their space."

Hart will be in Yellowknife from March 11 to 19.