Jonesing over a table

I'm totally jonesing over smartypants Karen von Hahn's new outdoor coffee table upcycled from an old Simpson's-Sears department store sign (the lovely vintage script logo hails from 1953). Karen discovered the sign in a junk-filled emporium she dubbed 'the sheds' out in Bayfield, Ontario, and lugged it home. Her handy-with-tools other half then popped a piece of plywood beneath, and screwed on those fancy-schmancy metal legs she'd ordered from Hairpinlegs.com to create, if you ask me, the perfect spot for a tall and frosty glass of Pimm's. Love how the Kelly green of the sign picks up on the green in her outdoor furniture upholstery, and also how Karen so snappily whacks the nail on the head regarding al fresco style - "Everybody is so busy recreating either a Tuscan villa or a South Beach nightclub in their backyard that nothing has any real style." Check in on Karen's blog here, and be sure to check out her new Style Czar column for the Toronto Star's Weekend Living section. Oh, and you'll see inside Karen's home very shortly too, since she'll be gracing the August issue of House & Home along with little old me.

Guest blog / Julia Black: Step into the cage

Julia Black: I’d like you to intro you to my good friend Dean, the guy behind Lampcage. I know him as a great lighting designer with the an admirable ability to find broken and battered materials - often scored from junkyards or a smart bit of curbside pickup - and revive them into stunningly classic sconces, pendants and lamps for both indoors and out. That scrap metal he finds is dragged back to his studio (it's in the back of his showroom- totally worth a peek inside), where he begins welding, working, and reconfiguring it into v. special pieces. Wander around his store, and you'll spot lighting (for sure, lol) plus a phenomenal collection of accessories and architectural ornaments that he's salvaged in his travels. And remember, a quick word and Dean is happy to work with you on any custom piece you care to dream up, plus he has the snappy ability to re-wire and re-work any old lighting you'd like to bring him. I guess I'm giving away a bit of an inside secret here, but Dean is one of the best lighting and design trades I've come to know over the years, and he's a firm fave of mine!

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

    

Guest blog / Julia Black: Follow that sign

Julia Black: Boris Bally has a talent for discovering a second life for one of the most mundane things that surround us at - ahem - every turn. Street signs. An extraordinary industrial designer and metalworker, he continually creates pieces that provoke conversation, and often times, a chuckle or two. His humorous yet sophisticated furniture, installations, jewellry and even flatware mashes up recycled street signs, scavenged weapon parts and found industrial materials in a process he calls humanfactured. I love how on-trend his pieces feel from both a green angle (Bally reckons he's upcycled close to 70 tons of signage in his career so far), as well as how they'd add a lovely jolt of colour and wit to a space. Click here to check out all the galleries that carry his work in the US, Canada and further afield. From the top: BroadWay Armchairs, Small Square Transit Tables, Transit Chairs.

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