Tables, eggs, milk, bananas

Oh I am so getting into the it's-almost-summer spirit, especially since I got to check out all the new PC Home outdoor gear yesterday. My faves were the 3 styles of occasional tables below, all available in peppy colours as well as good old white, and all affordably priced between $25 and $29. If you ask me, they're useful and cool enough to look smashing both indoors and out. Keep your eyes peeled, since the full collection - and there's loads more - will start hitting select Loblaw's and Real Canadian Superstores in the next couple of weeks (I'll definitely be tossing a couple of the tray tables into my cart the next time I go grocery shopping).

 

Pretty tempting

This time of year is all about predictions and resolutions, especiially when it comes to decor. If you ask me I predict lovely slightly worn out ice-creamy colours will be hot, and I resolve to keep my decor as interesting and as vintage-filled as possible. Talking of predictions, Sico did a lovely job with their colour palettes for 2011, making the three looks they picked very tempting indeed. My fave is Inviting, that's the first one (LOVE the idea of a big patch of colour on the wall), followed closely by the second palette there called Dazzling, just for the sheer colourful hell of it. And finally, a look called Authentic, which - while it's perhaps the least 'me' - has a relaxed time-worn vibe and a great handsome feel to it. Which do you like, and are you feeling inspired to paint?

{that one great thing} Jason Hudson's birdcage lamp

I bumped into Jason Hudson at a party over the Holidays and bugged him about his lovely birdcage pendant lamp that I'd seen over on his great blog These Roving Eyes. Anyway, he was happy to share the story behind the piece, and thus begins a new occasional series on the blog - that one great thing.

Jason Hudson: My partner Jeff fell in love with this old wooden cage when he saw it at an antique shop when he was a kid. He proudly brought it home and it sat in the living room for years. After his father passed away, we found it amongst junk in the garage and I could see that it had a special place in Jeff's memory.  

I'm a firm believer in taking meaningful objects and adjusting them to work in a contemporary setting. Like your Grandma's old piano - the cherry finish isn't working in your mid-century modern dwelling, but it holds a ton of sentimental value, so have that sucker refinished! It's still the same piano, still full of memories, its precious ivories untouched. So make it work! 

Because the honey-coloured wood and sad-Cat-Lady-overtones weren't working for me, I convinced Jeff to let me spray out the cage in a high-gloss black. We wired-it-up with a great Edison bulb and just like that, had our very own, ultra-cool, one-of-a-kind lamp, rife with Jeff's childhood memories but within the limits of our (read: my) personal style. 

It casts lovely shadows on the walls and adds a certain warmth and organic quality the room was lacking before.

Quick and red and white

Here's a quickie for you since I'm in transit today (more on that later). Okay, the Holidays are a comin', so how about we just try to get through it with a sense of calm and grace, huh? Wobblies and meltdowns will not be tolerated. So, with that in mind, just take a deep breath and remember that decorating in a chic/simple style needs restraint. Take a look at this lovely shot from Ikea - You've got the clean workaday lines of the Sockerart enamel pitcher that's been wound with Snovita sisal twine and then filled with Amaryllis. Glorious and just Christmas-y enough if you ask me. [Image from Livet Hemma, discovered via Tiger Hellström's great Tumblr blog From Scandinavia With Love]

 

Guest blog / Jenn Hannotte: New kid 'off' the block

Jenn Hannotte: It's no secret to Torontonians that the Junction, a west-end neighborhood, has become a go-to spot for amazing decor stores over the last few years. And now open a short skip north of Dundas on Keele is Russet & Empire, a home accessories and gift store. 

Carefully curated by owner Micah Lenahan, she says that the neighborhood was lacking " a lot of options for shopping unless you wanted to buy a big piece of furniture." Now, I'm not talking traditional gifts and accessories. These are vintage toys (with the tags still on!), impossible-to-find soaps, gorgeous jewelry by local artisans and other super on-trend home accessories. Micah says she was aiming to create a gallery-like space by "adding only products that are beautiful and that i can claim that I absolutely love." Open only a month, she has events, and in-house products in the works with new products rolling in all the time. Check out some of Micah's favorite pieces below, then go say hi at 390 Keele St!

To read more of Jenn's take on style, as well as to track her reno project, click here.

Wash and brush up, Italian style

Phew. This has been quite the barmy few weeks, wrangling everything from styling gigs for romance novel covers, to working on super cool celeb filled projects for the Toronto International Film Festival. So, let's make it a quick one the, shall we?

I first saw Falper at the Cersaie bathroom-a-palooza trade show last year in Bologna, Italy, and totally fell for their whole look. So, once I got my hot little hands on their catalogue I thought I should definitely share a few fave shots. These just happen to be all black and white interiors - though as you know I have nothing against colour - and everything, right down to that last styling detail, is mah-vellous!

Spectacular and charming

Out of all the gazillion things that passed in front of my eyes at the ICFF, two were standouts for me for very different reasons.

First up, let's deal with the spectacular side of things with the Steel Cabinets designed by Sylvie Meuffels for JSPR. You'll know JSPR from these rubber covered baroque chairs, but Sylvie, a cum laude graduate from the Design Academy Eindhoven, is a bit newer on the scene. The handmade cabinets she's designed are wonderfully barmy, with a nod to both architectural forms and dusty old museum displays. They're brill, and I can imagine them filled with collectibles or turned into a terrarium - I just wish I had the space for one!

On the charming end of the scale is the work of Brit designer Matt Pugh. While Matt is well-known for his signature Owls (which I wouldn't mind a flock of some day), it was his playfully simple - and entirely anti-serious - Cat and Silly Duck lamps that managed to plaster a grin on my face, even after a very early Porter flight from Toronto to New York. Can't you see these looking ever-so-cute in a kid's room?

Hot for coffee [giveaway]

How zonked am I after New York? Don't ask, but if there's one thing that can give me a good kick in the pants to keep a day like today on track, it's a short sweet shot of espresso from my Nespresso machine. I wasn't always a coffee drinker though, nope, as a teenager I was possibly the world's worst barista at a coffee bar in London, see, I only drank tea then, rather than coffee (apologies to anyone and everyone I ever served an awful cappuccino to). On the design front, the latest from Nespresso are the limited edition CitiZdot Paris and New York machines, designed by Sylvia and Lo Toth of Collectif T.O.T., which, I can guarantee you, will always give you a perfect cup of coffee and zero teenage attitude.

[giveaway] Okay, now here's a bit of fun - My friends at Nespresso have offered up the chance for someone to win a CitiZ in Limousine Black (click here to take a look at one)! You're eligible if you live in North America, and all you have to do is sign up for my e-mail newsletter (see that little box under the Subscribe title on the left, that's the spot). Oh, and anyone who's already receiving for the newsletter is automatically entered. Get yourself signed up by 6pm EST on Friday, May 21st, then I'll be randomly picking 1 lucky winner!

  

 

Webisode 2: A bit of an Ikea design mission

Oooh, I feel like there should be a drumroll or something, since here's webisode #2!!! I thought it would be fun to see if Tamara Robbins Griffith and I could take an Ikea sofa - the really rather lovely Karlstad in white tufted leather - and take it in two different and stylish directions. This is the result - Tamara embraced pink and glamour, while I went for a boho well-travelled vibe. What do you think? Major thanks to everyone involved, especially photographer Angus Fergusson, who's studio we invaded (you can see his fab shots below). Btw, that sofa is so new it's actually not quite in stores yet in Canada, but keep an eye out, it'll definitely be there soon...

Up and at 'em

Well, what do ya know, my crazy/funny/talented friend Samantha Pynn's website is finally up and running! And it's not just all pretty pictures either (though they're stunning, btw, all shot by Virginia Macdonald), nope, she and her team - Julia Black and Malcolm Patterson - are also launching her Design Binders service that'll help you get your own place all sorted out and decorated, room by room. She calls it a paint-by-numbers approach to decorating and, if you ask me, I think it's a brill idea! Take a look below at one of the binders, as well a snap of one of her recent projects, and then click here to watch the design_lab webisode I shot with Sam.

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.

Love 'this'

I see lots of cool stuff in my travels, but occasionally I'm suprised by a sweet bit of a mash-up between something cool, something creative, and something witty. It's the this globe below, snapped by Aesthetic Outburst blogger Abbey Hendrickson in her own home, that happily caught me by surprise, though if you were to spin the globe it would read f this s, which just happens to be a fave epithet of mine when things are - ahem - not going as planned. Of course there is a story behind the f this s globe, which Abbey explains here as being in mourning for not being able to swear out loud now that she has a family. Be sure to check out the rest of Abbey's great blog, it's a lovely mix of inspiration, art, craft, kids and collecting.

Staying in Martin's room

Yes, I think I'm on a bit of a hotel room jag right now, since this is a suite designed by edgy Belgian fashion designer Martin Margiela for a hotel/spa set in a vineyard in France. The hotel is Les Sources de Caudalie and the room Margiela designed is the grand suite L'ile aux Oiseaux. Check the hotel's website out in French and you'll see the suite before its transformation (it's a woodsy cabin on stilts set on a secluded island and looks totally charmant). So, perhaps the new look is a little incongruous with the rest of the hotel, but it certainly does have a rather dreamy edge with all that white painted wood, faux panelling wallpaper and mirrored cubes. If you fancy checking in it is a bit of a splurge at 650 Euros a night, but those that do decide to snuggle up to the pillowed headboard will apparently receive a special gift signed by Margiela himself. Via the NY Times Style Magazine [Image: Xavier Bejot]

Snaps of Christmas past

Happy Hols to one and all! Below you'll see a few shots from a Holiday feature I did a few years back with Donna Griffith for Flare Magazine. I still love the mix of vintage and new pieces and thought it would be a nice send off before all the festivities begin. Looking through the shots reminded me that the silver angel's wing, in the pic with the chair, was a flimsy piece of a Halloween costume that I found sitting forlornly on a shelf at Value Village and saved to use one day (wish I knew where it was now!). Oh, and to see more of Donna's beautiful work, click here.

Boxing day comes early

I do love a bit of good packaging, so when I was shopping in H&M the other day and saw these fab gift boxes I knew I had to post them. The snaps below show the lids of the boxes which have a cool trompe l'oeil photo of a box-in-a-box-in-a-box-in-a-box. Love the fashion-y animal print one, the red patterned option feels fresh, crafty and Swedish, and the painterly kid's design is super sweet. All three were designed at H&M's Swedish headquarters, and are free with purchase. And hey, anything that doesn't need to be wrapped with paper and then tied with ribbon this time of year gets my vote, though you might decide they're too cool to gift and keep them all for yourself.

Spot meets rug

Spot, our Whippet puppy, just turned 6 months and (as any proud parent of dog or child will tell you) is the smartest/coolest/handsomest kid around. Perfection does have it's price - He's currently a wee bit of a chewaholic and has managed to chew a couple of holes into this rug since, I guess, the looped pile feels extra good on his brand new adult teeth. What a little monkey. Luckily we can probably flip the rug around and hide his handiwork under the sofa (or maybe order a new rug!). Oh, and we've re-directed his chewy energy with an apparently beyond delicious chicken-flavoured rawhide bone.

It's nice to know there are other dog nutters out there. Check out the Doug Meyer designed space below, which is barmy and cool and punctuated by a large portrait of his furry best friend. I'm a big fan of Meyer's ballsy style, and to read more from the man himself check out a recent interview here. If you're ever in Miami you can check out his latest project, the Lace Nail and Beauty Labs, which he descibes as "Miami Beach 1968 meets Dorothy Draper meets Tangier of the 1970s." [Image: Mark Roskams]

Every day is a holiday

Wouldn't that be nice? Yes, we're rushing headlong into that busy time of year. So, rather then letting things look like Christmas has exploded in your house why not take a more pared back approach to the whole shebang? Talking of pared back, you should definitely pop in to Ikea to rifle through their Holiday collection. The line this year is simple, fresh and graphic, like the cool Kallt light fixtures below that - I think - are fab enough to leave up all year round. Thankfully they haven't forgotten the nuttier side of things, just take a gander at these hilariously quirky gift bags printed with what looks like a veritable army of elves. I think they'd be just the ticket filled with chocolate covered almonds and tied up with a scrap of red ribbon. There, I just sorted out all the folks on your impossible-to-buy-for list.

PS I love you

The other day I overheard an interior designer say how much he hated Ikea, slagging it off as cheap and nasty, and I thought to myself how he'd completely missed the point. Their affordable design means that anyone and everyone can have access to cool gear, no matter what stage of life and how deep their pockets might be. I've gotta say, if you're too posh to have Ikea in your house, then you obviously far too posh for me, lol.

The new Ikea PS collection is finally in select stores across the country (hello Boucherville, Etobicoke, Edmonton and Coquitlam) and is definitely on the cool side. The line employed hot designers such as Hella Jongerius, and edgy all-woman Front Design group, to come up with a slew of fab stuff. In researching the stories behind each piece I stumbled across a bunch of Ikea PS videos that I thought would be sweet to share. The first gives an animated overview of the collection, the second (subtitled in French) digs deeper and follows Hella Jongerius to India where the Mikkel wall hangings are made - and how brilliant that each one is signed by the craftswoman that made it... Click here to check out the rest of the videos (be sure to watch them in HD).

   

An odd dose of green

It seems that Malachite green is on its way to being quite influencial, though not just the colour (which is wickedly intense and very '40's to my mind) by the actual pattern of the stone itself. I've spotted it popping up over the last while and think it's sensational, though I've yet to commit to it 100%. Osborne & Little has two new wallpaper collections that feature both the stone and the hue. First up is Palais Chinois from a new collection called Pompadour (influenced by the Marquise de Pompadour, the fave mistress of Louis XV). That second shot is Kishangarh (try saying that three times fast) from the Indian styled Sariskar collection, featuring silhouettes of perfume bottles in Malachite. Both look very dishy in that green, though if that's all a bit too much there are safer options too. Osborne & Little is available through the design trade at Primavera.

 

Design on the double (roll)

Okay, I can't tell you how jazzed I am about getting to check out Graham & Brown wallpaper's HQ in Blackburn yesterday. Not only did I get a totally in-depth and fascinating behind the scenes tour of the company from Ian Brown (who, btw, is quite the expert on sustainability) I also got to meet up with G&B's lovely design team, who let me in on their design process and trend research (2010 looks brill already!). I also got a couple o' major scoops on what's coming down the pipe - In September there's a new capsule collection launching by design icon Barbara Hulanicki that has to be touched to be believed (more on Barbara here), and the ink is drying on a deal to produce a line of wallpaper with the fantabulous Amy Butler. In other words, watch this space...

Below you'll see a sneak peek of one of G&B's latest patterns; a dramatic fuchsia bloom on a black background, whizzing v. speedily through the gravure press.