About The Firm

Intuitive, Intelligent, Quality Design with a Sense of Humour. But what does that mean?
Intelligent design doesn’t mean knowing everything (as that’s a losing battle), but knowing where to find the answers and learning new things as we go. It means staying curious about how and why things work and having intelligent conversations with everyone involved in your project- from the consulting engineer, to the plans examiner looking over your permit application, to the contractor doing the work, to you and your family.
Quality design means we do our best to do quality work in the design phase, while preparing permit and construction drawings, as well as while we prepare the nitty gritty of the design- ensuring that everything will look amazing well before it’s every installed and that we always get the most out of your budget. We’re always honest about why and how we do business- another meaning for quality design. We’ll never lie to you or try to get you to spend more than you can afford, but we will always make sure you are well-informed to make excellent decisions on your project every step of the way.
Why is a sense of humour a part of our philosophy? Well, do you want to work closely with someone for over a year on something as personal as your home that doesn’t have a sense of humour? Neither do we! Life is too short to take everything too seriously. We work hard to ensure you can keep your sense of humour through-out the renovation process, while we take care of all the stuff we’re so good tat.
Wait, what about that “intuitive” part? Sanura Design is led by Melissa Tossell, an empath who uses deep intuition to dig deeper with her design process, providing a better design experience and higher level results for her clients. We always aim for spaces that you didn’t know you would love this much.
With all of this together, and Melissa’s spiritual abilities and knowledge, we give you a home that gives you the foundation you need to start living your best life.

About The Owner

Melissa Tossell, NCIDQ, BCIN, ARIDO, Registered Interior Designer & Owner

Even though her grandfather’s family business was construction (they called it carpentry), it was her father’s influence of fixing their own home (even re-roofing their house in the desert heat- ask her about it sometime!) up with minor repairs and her creativity, intelligence, and love of story-telling that led her to consider the career of architecture and design. Out of kismet came a college campus visit to find a career that united her two sides- practical and creative.
She found a knack for guiding and helping clients through the entire renovation process- being able to balance pushing their boundaries into what they love with handling the nitty gritty details like permits, contractors, and detailed designs.
Today she takes great joy in her work and passionately supports her community through volunteerism (a requirement for everyone at Sanura Design)- both every Monday at Furniture Bank and through her association ARIDO. She also mentors students and those starting their careers, and is an author and paid speaker educating the public on design and beyond.
In her free time she’s gaming (board, video, and D&D), crafting, hiking, or enjoying a movie (probably popcorn variety!).
Spiritually speaking, she identifies as a deep Empath, and has other fun abilities, like the ability to channel (speak with those in the spirit world). If you ever want to know more, just ask her!.

Meet the Team

Jaenelle Murrell, BID, ARIDO Intern, Intermediate Designer

She graduated from the Ryerson Bachelor of Interior Design program and came to Sanura Design with varied experience at a couple design firms as well as with a builder showroom before she joined the team. She’s a lover of Roccoco and Modern design, and her calm demeanor, emphasis on excellent customer service, and enthusiasm about learning by getting her hands dirty (so to speak) is a huge asset to our team. She’s been an essential part of our growth over the past few years, and is constantly supporting the team, offering excellent input, and is generally indispensable. Jaenelle supports a charity initiative she started with 5 others called Visual Voices.co that uses art created by the group to raise money for the local black charities such as Black Women in Motion and Black Youth Helpline, as well as supporting Diversity Equity and Inclusivity within the design community through her volunteer positions at ARIDO.
In her free time, she loves to travel and has several bucket list trips on her agenda this year!

Margaret Akuamoah-Boateng, BID, ARIDO intern, Junior Designer

Margaret was our first hire in 2022 and we’re so happy we found her! She graduated from the Humber College Bachelor of Interior Design program and also received a diploma from Georgian College for Interior Design, but what we value most is her positive attitude and smile. She’s always willing to do whatever is needed and support team morale while doing it. She’s a proud mom of two and an avid crafter (which helps her fit right in here!), but also passionate about learning the entire crazy process we offer here at Sanura Design. She volunteers frequently in her local community, and we look forward to the great things she’ll accomplish.

Sheneika Thomas, Junior Designer

Sheneika is our first team member with a decorating background. While her decorating diploma is valuable to us, her jobs as a bartender and personal support worker make her a golden member of our team. She isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty and she’s also game to pick up wherever we need her to (everything from much appreciated drop off and pick ups to site supervision and CAD work). We see an amazing future for Sheneika with her superb customer care skills (I mean, she has literally dealt with human beings at their worst, think about it!), her calm demeaner, and her enthusiasm for the crazy business we have here at Sanura Design. She volunteers in her local community when she’s not supporting her community through her work. She is an true entrepreneur type and when she’s not at Sanura Design she can be found hopping between a huge variety of jobs, including beautician, PSW (as per above), bartender, event planner, and many many others!

Our “Green” Story

Melissa has always cared about her impact on the environment and thanks her family for leading by example- from recycling before it was cool (oh the days when recycling Aluminum Cans was profitable), buying items to last, and conserving water, to gathering and hunting some their own food (mmm Fresh Wild Blackberries). As she matured and left her home, her passion grew and her influence over what she could do about this grew as well. She’s passionate about buying, making, and designing locally- from her food and her clothes to Sanura Design’s suppliers and trades. Being “Green” or Sustainable is about caring enough to do what you can, when you can. It doesn’t have a price tag or a specific lifestyle, and as Principal Interior Designer of Sanura Design, Melissa’s mission is to show everyone how easy and affordable being Green is when you have the right guide. We know from experience that it saves you money (hello energy efficiency), lasts you longer (yep, buying quality over quantity is a key Green ideal), supports your local economy (how about supporting your neighbour over a huge company with sweatshops in other countries?), and improves the health and happiness of you and your family.

Here as Sanura Design, we can do specialized Sustainability projects, but mainly we incorporate it into each of our projects as part of our design DNA. If you want it ramped up a notch, just ask!

Go to our In The Media page to check out Melissa’s series of articles for the Toronto Sun, “The Green Insider”, demystifying Green Interior Design for homeowners.

Our Qualifications

Melissa Tossell, NCIDQ, BCIN, ARIDO
Registered Interior Designer & Owner

Awards: May 2015- Selected as one of Interior Designer of Canada’s (IDC’s) Top 40 Emerging Professionals
Interior Design Diploma from the International Academy of Design and Technology/Academy of Design
Registered Ontario Building Code Number: BCIN 43749 Part 9 Small Buildings and Homes
NCIDQ Qualified: (National Council for Interior Design Qualifications) NCIDQ# 33247
Member: ARIDO (registered), IDC (registered), CaGBC, FEMcity
Dementiability for Interior Design developed with assistance from Melissa by Gail Elliot of Dementiability (Jaenelle also holds this certification)

Curious about a more detailed experience list? Please check out her resume on LinkedIn.
Want to know more about her speaking experience? Check out her Speaker’s Page. You can also see where she was featured in the media or read her articles on our In The Media page.

We Support Our Community

As of March 2022, we’ve shifted our business to make a deeper commitment to supporting our community. Moving forward we will be donating 10% of design fees on new projects to charity. We’ll be doing these donations quarterly, starting with a March-May quarter. Below you can find links to the charities we’ve donated to so far, and proof of our donations (because if we aren’t accountable, are you sure we really donated?). We welcome your support of these charities so they can continue to do the amazing work they do.

March-May 2022

June-August 2022

September-November 2022

December 2022-February 2023

March 2023-May 2023

Other Ways We Support Our Community