Displaying posts from October, 2008

Let’s start the week off the right way with lots of lovely photos. Today’s super talented photographer is Tim Clinch. Tim, based in South West France, Bulgaria and the UK has shot for all the majors and it’s not hard to see why. I particularly love his French shots. They capture the essence of that part of the world so well. The drowsy light of Provence, the cool shadows of a French country kitchen. Take the time to browse his other portfolios. I am totally besotted by his garden and exterior pictures.

I am pretty miserable today so I’ll make this brief. I have nothing planned for a post today because I spent about 8 hours yesterday getting everything out of my old kitchen, then tore everything that was left in it out (with help…thanks Jeff!!). Photos to come eventually on my kitchen blog. It was hard work and every muscle in my body is aching. My left eye is killing me (?? something must have landed in it yesterday), and from carrying out loads and loads of garbage onto the driveway in the pouring rain, I am now getting a cold. It gets worse. This is now my kitchen for the next 4 weeks.

I don’t want to bring everyone down with me so here are a couple of random photos I took around the yard the other day. As much as I hate the fact that fall means winter is on it’s way, it makes for some pretty photos.

To continue the randomness, I thought I would include this adorable photo of Pugley, my former cat. My younger sister Jen now owns him. He’s the grumpiest cat in the world and I love him. Jen loves him more because he lets her touch him. 😛

And that is my random Sunday. Hope you all have a great random Sunday.

WINKS – weekend links. Here we list what has come in during the week, things we’ve found and things we think you’ll want to see. If you’d like to see your blog or website featured email us and if we think it fits with our readers we’ll link you. So what’s new this week besides my new green Egg Chair?

• Matteriashop is always on the lookout for fresh charming eco-design and this month is featuring designer Ryan Frank’s Strata Range. Ryan Frank new line is built from wood reclaimed from old office furniture and birch ply so each piece has a history before it even begins life as a cool chair or stool. Cool!



• Merchant No. 4 scared the daylights out of me when they emailed a reminder that it’s time to start thinking about Christmas presents. What a beautiful on-line shop with unusual and beautifully crafted gifts. Know someone who has been naughty? How about coal as a gift? Find out more here.



• Linda Merrill from Chameleon Interiors and ::Surroundings:: emailed in her capacity as one of the contributors on Blogging Top Design with news of an exciting contest. I’ll let her explain. “I wanted to let you know that Blogging Top Design is hosting a contest for readers and bloggers. You and your readers are invited to design a room around one of these fantastic crystal chandeliers from Swarovski’s Crystal Palace collection – just like the designers did on the show. And, just like the designers – our celebrity judge will be Margaret Russell – Top Design judge and editor-in-chief of Elle Decor! The contest starts immediately and all entries are due by Friday, November 7th.” Find out more details here. Thanks Linda!



• We’ve winked VisuaLingual before but Maya emailed to let us know that they are having an Etsy sale with savings up to 50%. Love a bargain!
• Cadee emailed to in
  troduce her new line of eco-solvent wallpaper Kreme. The website is still under construction (Cadee says November 15) but she sent these pics as a teaser. Love them Cadee!!! Bookmark it and check back soon.



• The proliferation of on-line magazines is so inspiring. I found an email in my inbox about the David Report. “In the new issue of David Report we will bring forward five key design trends, that we believe in one way or another will change the future. We call our 5 key design trends: Cooltural, Rationaissance, Responsibiz, Sensuctive and Breaking Boundaries. What is good design? Who decides what good design is and what types of products, processes and services will we see in the future? Which effects does design have on our lives, on our future society and cultural movements? How may better and more culturally connected design be created?” It’s a fascinating read!

I have run out of time and there is so much more to share but it will have to wait until next week. It’s a busy weekend at Jo’s place and I don’t even have time to sit in my lovely new chair.

I am blogging my entire kitchen renovation from start to finish. Greentea Design has provided me with their solid wood kitchen cabinets, and I’m taking care of the rest.

If you’d like to be brought up to date, check out my kitchen remodel blog for an archive of previous posts. I posted recently about the major purchases I’ve made for the kitchen, and now it’s time for the fun stuff – DEMOLITION. I also have a flooring dilemma to figure out.

Demolition began recently in my kitchen, and it was a BLAST. I have no fear of tools (especially power tools), and love to get my hands dirty. I didn’t do it all myself mind you, my boyfriend was as eager as I was to help with this demolition. We started with the wall between the living room and the kitchen. That had to go because the cabinets are ending about a foot into the living room and frankly, regardless of how the kitchen ended up being designed, I wanted that wall gone to open up the main floor. Here are a couple before photos to show you the wall (which I had an architect friend come by to check out and ensure it was not load bearing).

And here are a couple “during” photos. (During the demo of this wall we discovered mouse poop in the cupboard above the closet. Seems mice chewed/clawed a hole through the wall to get into the closet at a bag I had stashed in there of makings for granola. I have a couple pics in my kitchen remodel set on Flickr of this little surprise if you care to see the HORROR).

To see the space sans wall, and to see what my flooring dilemma is, click HERE.

Oh my! Oh my! I’m smitten by the portfolio of photographer Edina van der Wyck. Beautiful rooms beautifully captured. Sumptuous colour when sumptuous colour is needed, mellow monochrome in clear daylight. Whether room, vignette or tight shot Erica’s work is stunning. You can find more here. (Love the human face of her travel portfolio as well!)