Off and on

I'm not sure whether it's this unseasonably warm weather (the back door is wide open and Spot is in the garden digging holes to Timbuktu), but my get up and go has got up and went. I'm totally in the mood to start this long weekend early with a quick snooze on the sofa, lol, but in the meantime, there's cool stuff worth sharing! Sprout and Slide are the latest in lighting from Jonathan Adler. The shades, realised in a beatifully matte unglazed porcelain, pick up on his Relief collection of pottery with organic references and simple forms. Lovely. For more on Jonathan, click here to read a 5 quick questions interview with him. And, have you hooked up with him on Facebook yet? Check in here to find tons of behind-the-scenes shots of his work in progress, as well as witty Daily Adlerisms. 

   

Julia Black: Pop-Up Colour

In light of all the pop-up shops that have been, well, popping up lately, I've felt a lovely buzz around the city like never before. The only problem is that this dampening, dreary winter weather throws a blanket on all the energy we have. I know, when you look outside it appears cold and grey, but the fix is in, and it's colour! Just look to the latest from folks like Jonathan Adler, CB2, Ikea and BoConcept for tons of helpful inspiration, and decide on a New Year's resolution to get more pops of colour in your life. Have a look below at snaps of BoConcept's collection for 2010. Oh, and btw, BoConcept has a store in Vancouver and are about to open a brand new location in Calgary in the next few days.

To read more posts from Julia click here, and to check out her cool blog click here.

AWOL in TO

Yep, the last couple of weeks have been, shall we say, major (to quote Ms. Victoria Beckham). Basically we rocked out and got just about everything finished on the house. Seriously. Everything. I am exhausted, as is my other half, and oh, since we weren't quite busy enough we brought home an impossibly cute Whippet puppy on Sunday.

So, what with the arrival of Spot the Whippet, painting, painting and more painting, furniture deliveries out the wazoo, wallpaper going up and hanging artwork, not forgeting the nailbiting time I had watching Dan and Craig of Mieda Design gingerly maneuver a 10ft long upholstered headboard up the stairs - well - no time to regularly post. Anyhoo, I'm back at it and sharing a taste one of my current fave lighting collections. It's called Havana, is designed by the always witty Jonathan Adler for Robert Abbey, and is available from quite a few spots across the country. Apart from lusting over that 3-Light floor lamp (I so have the perfect spot for it), there's another piece I totally fancy; the desk lamp. Take a boo here to see it, and the rest of an online gallery for the Style Scout feature I do for the National Post's Post Homes section.

  

  

Living the (fantasy) life

Palm Springs. Can we move there? I get almost compulsive about a place one we've visited, constructing a fantasy life that involves buying a place, settling in and becoming a local. Lisbon and Rome are on the list, but it's Palm Springs where I practically lost my marbles - It's cool, quirky, and about as laidback a place as you can find. Other than emptying that imaginary bank account, the closest we'll get to moving down there is scoping the interiors of the Parker Palm Springs hotel (designed by Jonathan Adler, and which has a lobby I'd happily try and cram into my carry on, take a look below).