A flower battle

So, I get asked to do lot's of fun things in my line of work, but some are definitely more fun than others. If you catch the current issue of Canadian Family you'll see a crazy huge feature that I got to work, shot by John Cullen, and yes, it was crazy fun - Three completely bananas days in-studio involving the CF crew, models, kids, food and crafts, and, in the midst of it Jen Reynold's (the mag's Editor-in-Chief) threw down the gauntlet and challenged me to come up with a centrepiece for $25.

Easy? Maybe, except her's was to be all gorgeous and fresh, while mine had to come entirely from the dollar store. And so here are the results. My 3 fake flower topiaries (glue gun fake flowers onto melamine plates, then attach bamboo stick and plant them into terracotta pots), versus Jen's fresh poppies, ferns and ivy loosely arranged in a vintage metal vase. Which is your fave? Vote right here!

TGIM

Yes, as in Thank God It's Monday and I'm finally finding time to pop up a quick post. Things continue to be crazy busy in my world (best quote from one of the kids in the midst of a shot for last week's HUGE photoshoot for Canadian Family's summer issue - "I need to go poo!").

Anyways, enough of that, how about some of this??? I was hunting for rugs designed by Christian Lacroix for Designers Guild and this happened to pop up instead and has suddenly become my latest design crush - The Dot-Grid Printed Cotton Mat by West Elm. Seriously, what's not to love?

Cool, calm and Nordic

As my grandmother used to remind me, "Horses sweat, men perspire and women glow." Well, right about now I'm possibly a bit more on the horse side of things, since I'm in-studio with the fantastic Canadian Family crew shooting a Holiday feature in 33C (or 91F). Believe me, this late-summer heat and humidity just slightly takes the shine of getting into the Holiday spirit.

Muuto's collection of furniture, lighting and accessories is, thankfully, the epitome of cool, calm and collected Scandi style. That cluster of E27 socket lamps is super cool, and their The Dots wall-mount hooks look lovely and random in the second shot. In Toronto, check out Muuto at Hollace Cluny.

Take one old lamp {before & after}

Oh my, what wonders a can of white spray paint can do. Not rocket science I know, but I spotted this shiny brass lamp at Goodwill for $10 and saw its potential. The shade was completely un-salvagable (buckled and oddy stained) so that was tossed. I taped up and bagged the cord as well as the socket, and screwed the little loop finial into a spare piece of cardboard, then set up an impromptu spray booth in the back yard (a cardboard box, actually). A few careful coats of matte white spray paint later and the lamp and finial were looking fantastic. The final touch was a chocolate brown silk lampshade that I've had sitting around for ages from Restoration Hardware (tho' you can find great ready-to-go shades at both HomeSense and Pottery Barn too). Oh, and if these pics look a little familiar, that's because this project showed up in Canadian Family! [Image 2: Colleen Nicholson]

Back in the bathroom

Hey, I'm finally able to share all the shots by Angus Fergusson (including the spooky before snaps) from that bathroom project I did with Canadian Family mag. It's a pretty sweet makeover and, I hafta say, quite the dramatic change from a bathroom that looked liked something out of the Bates Motel into a bright, glossy and very practical space.

Here are the deets: We re-used the perfectly sized vintage sink (after a very good clean that involved Polident tablets), then changed out all the other fixtures and fittings to pieces from Kohler, including a v. smart WaterSense Escale toilet. We subway tiled from floor to ceiling, and then finished the sloped ceiling in tongue-and-groove, both scored at Home Depot. The floor was penny tiled in marble from Saltillo which, apart from being gorgeous, is nice and safe to walk on with wet feet (and yes, the floor was heated too, with a True Comfort kit from Home Depot). Shelving was added in above the loo, and two marble-lined nooks were added in in the bath area (the surfaces were angled slightly so they drain properly). Finally, the pretty shower curtain was custom made by Tonic Living, and the towels and bath mat were a mix-and-match between Anthropologie and HomeSense. What do you think?

Light and composition

The last time I saw photographer Michael Graydon was just before Christmas, in the grip of a pretty evil snowstorm, when we worked on this feature for Report on Business Magazine. I always enjoy working with him (he has such a calm and thoughtful point of view, and a beautiful way with light and composition) so I thought it would be fun to post some of his work. The five shots below represent just a smidge of what he's done, so make sure to check out more from his portfolio here; in fact, I'm happy to say that some of the work we've done together over the years is there.

The first four shots were seen in Canadian House & Home (that's ceramic artist, Jennifer Graham pictured in #4), and the last - but by no means least - is from Canadian Family.

    

Kid colour

Wednesday is brought to you by the colour yellow, and the letters 'C' and 'F'. The CF stands for Canadian Family, I'm on set with them today, working on a shoot with lots of lovely sunny yellows for Spring. And, I wanted to share a snap from a super juicy colour feature I did with them that just popped up in the current issue. Jeff, the mag's Art Director, did a stellar job on the layout, and I had a laugh tracking down all the cool colour saturated gear. To get more info on all the products, and to see the rest of the colourful finds, click here.