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]

A snap in the laundry

I am a magpie at heart, and honestly can spy cool bits and bobs at twenty paces. My antique dealer granny, Lena, is probably to blame, since she dragged me along to jumble sales as a kid. She would bribe our way to the front of the line so we could head in and scour the tables before the hoi-polloi had a chance. Ah, childhood memories, lol.

Last night I spied that cool Snap tin below at a friend's house, high on a shelf in their front hall. Up until that point it held their dog Trav's cookies, and now it's sitting pretty on a shelf in our laundry room. Honestly, I offered to pay, but in the end I think we swapped it for tomatoes picked from our garden. So, thanks Michael, Jen and Trav! Those cool Number Mason Jars to the left are these fresh finds from Pottery Barn, while that rather odd carved teak bull I snagged ages ago at a Value Village. Oh, and don't worry about Trav; his cookies are now housed rather smartly in a vintage Peanuts lunch box.

Style commitment

I shop all the time for work, and then I shop for fun too, yet the theme is constant - always looking for great new things. For me it's retail therapy, but on a grand scale. So last night found me in Pottery Barn (we were out buying essentials for the semi-1 bedroom) having a look at their Fall release, and I must say I was very impressed. PB seems to have really stepped up their game with lashings of high gloss finishes, intense colour, and pattern. There seemed a real commitment to decorating, and to do it well, with high contrast pairings of black and white (an enduring trend), orange and a fresh green. The patterns were Moorish and Swedish in influence, and natural elements (raw wood, lots of texture) help to keep everything grounded. Loved, loved, loved it. So of course I had to buy something - a super black glossy lampshade that had just arrived.

Below is a shot from their new catalogue, intense and very cool.