Oh happy day

It's hard to be glum when the sun is shining, even if it is a Monday, so I thought I'd start the week off bright (nope, that is not a typo) with a peek at the swell home of San Francisco-based photographer Nicole Hill Gerulat. These lovely shots are outtakes from Nicole's house shoot for The Nest mag (click here for more). I'm totally digging her sense of style, and confident way with white and colour, not to mention that great camera collection in the last shot! For more from Nicole, check out her portfolio here, and follow along on Twitter here, oh, and the styling on Nicole's house shoot was done by Anthony Albertus.

861 or 80?

Are you a square feet or square metre person? Do you count rooms and then add a 1/2 for a bath, and never include a basement? Oh, the strangeness of real estate... This space by Italian firm Poliform revels on the smaller side of things with an 80m squared plan (or 861 feet squared, depending on how you're feeling). Love the look of the place, though their assertion that it's a low budget project might not wash with everyday peeps like you and me. For more, check out the website here to see the rest of the interior, though be warned, the site is rather annoyingly wiggly.

 

  

Lemon and vanilla

Mmm-mmm, what a juicy way to start the week. I stumbled across this Heals living room shot and thought it was definitely yummy enough to share. Love the simplicity of the space and the bold citrus yellow and creamy vanilla white; just think how easy-peasy it is to pull a room together using a two colour palette. For more inspirational colour take a look here at a mix of blue and white.

Just a square or two more...

Well, here's the rest of the interiors shots of the Hershey's Milk Chocolate Suite, including the rather nasty before snaps of the bedroom and living room (as you can see it was all a bit tired looking). I think Karen Sealy and I managed to pull off quite the miraculous makeover in just a couple of days - she took on the living room and my challenge was the bedroom - and I wanted to send a major shout out to everyone who helped make it happen. First off, thanks to Hershey's for the oppurtunity (and all the delicious inspiration!). Mucho thanks to Elte for all the gorgeous furniture and linens, inVU Drapery Co. for the luxe vanilla velvet drapes, linen sheers and fun toss pillows, Carpet One for finding the perfect carpet to replace that stained old wall-to-wall, Graham & Brown for the stunning paintable wallpaper and Para for the perfect paint, Teatro Verde for yummy accessories and flowers so breathtaking that no-one could believe were real, photographer Angus Fergusson for shooting the three chocolate bar prints above the dresser and illustrator Paul Dotey for designing that fab I Heart Hershey's poster, all framed in Ikea's great Ribba frames! If there's anything you'd like the deets on that I've forgotten just drop me a line... [Photography: Stefano Barbera]

 

      

A taste of chocolate

Okay, here we go; here's one of the shots from my Hershey's Milk Chocolate inspired bedroom. I know, it doesn't give much away (lol), but I wanted to give you a taste of the room before I post all the pics early next week. Photographer Stefano Barbera took the shot, and yes, I can promise you he and I ate the chocolate once we were finished! Waste not, want not, as my Mum always says...

One in, one out

David laughed when I brought this lamp in with the groceries the other day, and said he had a feeling I was at Goodwill. How could I resist? Absolutely impossible - It's massive, gorgeous, and was a total steal at $14.99, and that included the linen drum shade. A quick wipedown and here's the result; sitting awfully pretty on the rosewood credenza. Problem is, now we somehow have too many lamps (lol) so I'll have to let at least one of them go (as well as tons of other stuff) when we take part in a neighbourhood yard sale in June. After all, I yammer on about editing all the time so I have to be tough, and stick with the one in one out rule...

Happiness is...

I'm feeling the happiness today. The sun is streaming in through the windows and doing a smashing job on all the seed trays we've planted (yay!), plus, news broke that Anthropologie's first Toronto store will open it's doors on April 22nd (double yay!). And while all the smartypants, me included, were swearing up hill and down dale that the first Canadian store from the boho fashion and interiors chain was to be in Yorkville, ummm, nope - It's gonna be at the Shops at Don Mills. Yep, perhaps a bit of a treck for downtown types, though McEwan is opening there in June (chef Mark McEwan's fancy-schmancy gourmet grocery destination, read more here) guaranteeing it'll be even more of a hot spot.

I'll be at the Anthropologie opening, so I promise to report back with cool finds and snaps of the place. In the meantime, here's some sunny day inspiration - A living room from the UK that made my jaw drop, with its white-painted floors, patchwork sofa and round shag rug. Yummy, yummy yummy.

Via Le Brocante and House to Home UK 

Table talk

After looking for a fair while for a dining table for the new space we realized that something custom would definitely be the way to go. Errrr, custom=pricey, so we've embarked on a slightly crafty route and are in the midst of sorting something out.

Step 1 - We talked David's dad, who's in construction, into dragging home a few beaten-up old scaffolding planks.

Step 2 - I got totally soaked and filthy, while high-pressure washing the wood to get rid of the ground in grime and chunks of old concrete.

Step 3 - Once the planks were dry I used a belt sander, and then we hand-sanded, to smooth out the wood.

Step 4 - Then, on a warm and sunny day this past weekend, I finished the boards outside with a two-in-one stainer / sealer.

Step 5 - Well, we're not there yet, but the boards will be coming home and attached to a vintage stainless steel trestle base that I've been dragging around for years. Take a boo at the shot below to get a taste of the kind of thing we're trying to acheive, though our table is stained in a rich dark finish (and we don't have a beamed ceiling). [Image: Living etc.]

Gaga in LA

I am always guaranteed to go gaga over a good showhouse, no matter whether it's my style or not, so when interior designer Timothy Mather was waxing rhapsodical about one that Veranda magazine had put together at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills I knew I had to check it out. Yep, while most of the spaces are entirely - and I mean really entirely - not quite my cup of tea they all have a complete point of view that just can't be denied, and an attention to detail that is simply marvellous.

Take a boo below at three of the spaces that seemed particularly fresh and hip; click here to read more on the showhouse at Stylebeat (a great blog!) and here for Veranda's slideshow of all the spaces. From the top we have the Salon de Thé by Ames Ingham with gorgeous wallpaper by Madison & Grow. Next up, the Guest Sitting Room by Lucas Studio that has walls upholstered in a fabric by Ferrick Mason. And finally, the Card Room by Waldo Fernandez with wicker furniture upholstered in a Marimekko print. [Image 1, Peter Vitale. 2, Samuel Frost]

 

 

via Stylebeat

Happy Monday

It's a holiday today in our neck of the woods - Family Day - so that means much lounging about and not returning any phonecalls and e-mails (yay). This weekend we started the hunt for a sofa for the basement media room (we already have the vintage sofa picked for the living room, take a boo here). So we're thinking cushy and comfortable, we're thinking slate grey and we're thinking sectional, and so far we've been entirely underwhelmed by what's on offer.

Below you'll see the totally Crayola-cool Eclat Sofas by Philippe Bouix for Roche Bobois. The primary colours of the leather and the matching laquer frames, the simple tuxedo style and - ahem - the beyond stunning space where they're placed really caught my eye. Unfortunately Roche Bobois, while totally fabulous, is waaaay beyond our snack bracket, lol. More sofa hunting to come...

5 quick questions - White Webb

Recently I had the chance to put together a Style Scout feature for the National Post that covered cool and unusual gear made of clear acrylic, and one of my fav products (apart from an eye-wateringly pricey wall sconce by the legendary William Haines) was the super cute Akbar table from the US interior design team of White Webb. When I dug a little deeper through their website, I realized I'd admired the work of Matthew White and Frank Webb before - At the Kips Bay Decorator Show House last year, where they 'papered' the walls with tin can lids with very glam results. Nope, you did read that last sentence correctly...

Matthew and Frank kindly agreed to take a few minutes to answer '5 quick questions', and to share more shots from their portfolio (they are definitely talented mixmasters in their choice of furnishings). Below you'll see the Akbar and Double Alexander tables; part of their Clearly Classic Collection, followed by a shot from Kips Bay (who'd ever think tin cans could look so good?). Next we have a recent interior in California that's quite the fabulous space and finally, two shots from a smart New York apartment (that persimmon media room is something else!). To check out more '5 quick questions' click here. [Images: 1, Bjorn Wallander. 2,3, Steven Nilsson. 4, Matthew White. 5,6, 7, Art Gray]

Arren Williams: What’s inspiring you right now?

White Webb: America’s new President is a huge inspiration. Following his lead, we want to use our talents to improve our community. We know that a beautiful surrounding lifts spirits and has the potential to change behavior. Whether that means helping clean parks or painting community centers, we plan on doing something.

AW: Is there anything that makes you shudder when you walk into a room?

WW: Sensory overload. We love dramatic gestures and bold strokes, but you have to be careful not to create a visual assault.

AW: What’s the next thing you have your eye on for your place?

Matthew: The time to enjoy it!
Frank: A dreamily abstract, hand-blocked wallpaper from Alpha Workshops.

AW: How do you define your personal style?

WW: We try to embrace the best of old and new to create something that feels rooted in history, but thoroughly of today. When you have a classicist (Matthew) and a modernist (Frank) sitting down at the table together, you’d expect the potential for a fair amount of conflict, but it really doesn’t work that way with us. We begin by taking our cues from the architecture, but then it’s a real give and take as we let our very different imaginations fly.

AW: What’s next?

WW: Because of the wonderful response to our acrylic tables, we will be expanding the Clearly Classic Collection. Also percolating are book ideas, a new (very glam) furniture line, and surprising happenings on the Internet. We feel 2009 will be a truly exciting year! 

      

Not so mellow yellow

Bright citrusy yellow is no longer a no-no, now it's much more of a must-have. Whether it's just a touch in an accessory, or the focus in an all-white room - like this delicious modern fretwork patterned carpet (Sellarsbrook from The Rug Company) - it just feels fresh, happy, summery and oh so very right now. What do you have that's yellow?

In the details

After a frustrating week with the new house and a bumper crop of deadlines to get through (look for Style Scout in Saturday's National Post, Post Homes section) I could do with a bit of relief. Lawdy I need this long weekend like nobody's business.

Today an e-mail popped into my in-box from photographer Angus Fergusson, who'd kindly sent me through a couple of detail shots - one of the dresser in the bedroom, the other of a shelf in the bathroom - from the Canadian House & Home shoot of our old place. If you flick through the mag (Feb '08) you'll see they didn't make the cut, but still, I thought it might be nice for them to see the light of day. That mirror has travelled with me since the age of 12, when I first started collecting Art Deco, and the shelf in the bathroom is an Ikea classic (the Lack) that we customized with a piece of mirror.

  

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.