Displaying posts from August, 2014

I am trying to keep summer alive for as long as possible. These spaces, my Toronto decorator and stylist Laura Colllins are as summery as they come. Lots of white with touches of blue, green and pink….it is chic and elegant yet casual and understated. We all need to go out and get some pink peonies. 

An oasis of calm in the West Village, New York. A considered palette with sleek finishes and clean, contemporary lines tempered by layering of texture. Sophisticated, restrained style by NYC Interior Design.

An old bluestone hall has been born again as a dramatic contemporary home. I’m stalking in South Melbourne. Link here while it lasts.

I have been trying to enjoy summer, especially since it is winding down and frigid temperatures are right around the corner (it makes me nauseous typing that). Funny, my younger sister and her family, my husband and I and our parents were hanging out in my parents pool on the weekend talking about maybe going to Hawaii, and our typical trip to Puerto Vallarta in February…and we started laughing because it was 35 C out and we are already talking about what we plan to do to survive another Ottawa winter. Anyway, I have been spending time at their pool instead of getting much done around the house but given how much we love this place, I think we will be here a while and will have tons of time. We did venture to Montreal one day a couple of weeks ago and managed to score the coolest credenza/sideboard and light fixture for our dining room. Gawd I love them both!

The night before we went to Montreal I mentioned on Instagram that if anyone had any tips for Mtrl shopping to shoot them my way. Jennifer, my saviour, suggested checking out Benjamin Curran‘s wares. Am I ever glad I gave him a call to check out his storage space! We scored this amazing vintage walnut credenza with a Brutalist pattern for an awesome price, along with a matching highboy for my husband’s dressing room. Good bye craptastic metro shelving! I am so excited to finally have a dining room again with proper storage for dishes and whatever else I don’t want in the kitchen.

I pimped out the top of the credenza in a white and black colour scheme…for now. I always change things up.

Vintage West German vases, Green Light District Wonki Ware dessert bowls, platter and pasta bowls (my favourite dishes of all time), small bowl bowl by Don Cormier from General Fine Craft, Catherine Holm bowl from Samantha Howard Vintage, Tillandsia plant from blumenstudio, short candleholder by Normann Copenhagen from The Modern Shop, tall candleholder by John Ward from General Fine Craft

More vintage West German vases, Menu salt and pepper grinders from Greyhorne Interiors (highly recommend these grinders!!!), more Wonki Ware, pot by Hay from The Modern Shop, vintage hand-forged metal rose from the Gore St. flea market in Perth

Say hello to our new funky light fixture! Damn I love this thing! We found it at Phil’z 20th Century Furniture. We had to fold it all up to get it in our car, so when we went to install it, it took us about 20 minutes of fiddling to figure out how all the lights should be aligned.

It’s so hot. I even went and stood out on the sidewalk the night we installed it to see how it looks to passerby. *dork*

We need a bar cart. I’m over the crate filled with booze. And jeezus this room needs paint desperately. I still don’t know what colour…..

Before heading into Montreal we stopped at the flea market in LaChute. It was pretty much a waste of time – which is a disappointment because there are NO decent flea markets within several hours of Ottawa. WTF?!?! We did find a few measly items. Like this fireplace screen for $30. We haven’t had a fireplace in 7.5 years so I am determined to use this one every now and then this winter. (Gawd that brown tiles is GROSS)

A few small things – a glass serving bowl, a preserved butterfly/moth/whatever it is, a shaving brush (says GERMANY on the end of the handle) and an iron bug that I figured might be meant as a door stopper.

Bug in action under my bedroom door.

New dish for the cats’ water.

Found this super cute hanging pot at Galerie CO. What a fabulous store. I was drooling over the NLXL wallpaper sample books.

My birthday was Sunday, and my husband took me to The White Monkey, one of my favourite retro furniture stores around. Sadly, all I picked up was this mirror.

This vintage wooden toolbox from Highjinx has been on my dining table for some time, but now with a busy credenza I thought it needed a new home in my kitchen. I love it here. I just need to get some scrap wood from the hubs to line the bottom so the contents are raised up a bit.

What’s a girl to do? It was love at first sight. Actually more like lurve. Simple, stylish, sexy bedroom by Amber Road please be mine.