Displaying posts from February, 2009

Love this photo of a Fritz Hansen egg chair by Christian Geisnæs. Not only a fabulous photographer he has a great sense of humour. Check out the rest of his portfolio at his rep’s site.

The other day someone from Miele Canada emailed and asked if they could send me info on a new product they’re launching. I said sure, why not. A package arrived yesterday and I had to share it with you. It seems the product Miele is launching is “Chocolate Laundry”, and just in time for Valentine’s day. And this is what they sent me:

I thought that was such an adorable touch, to include a little box of Belgian chocolates. Of course, I had to sample them as I opened the brochure. Inside that little brochure, as seen in the photo, is their new set of chocolate brown washers and dryers. LOVE the brown!!! I started designing a laundry room in my head with the brown machines as soon as I saw the photo. The brochure says “And like a delicious piece of chocolate, you’ll soon be craving it.” Well, they’re right about that. I was craving these machines within seconds. So folks out there in Canada looking for a new washer/dryer set, act fast as they have very limited quantities available. They may have info up on their website. Now I’m off to finish up those chocolates. 🙂

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 in this week?

• • Laureen and Yuliya of Paperwhite launched the project “i love you more than blank” at the beginning of January. It’s a simple website that asks what we use as a measuring stick for love and it’s a charming idea. Perfect for Valentines Day. “I love you more than….bacon.”

• • Time for afternoon tea? Then how about the Teabag Teaspoon Cup and Saucer set by Bailey Doesn’t Bark! The set is hand decorated with the cutest teaspoon outline on the saucer as well as a teabag illustration on the cup. Re Jin Lee does it again!

• • Design Addict was one of the first important websites dedicated to product design. After 10 years as the go to site for modern, post-modern and contemporary design of the 20th-21st centuries Design Addict has launched The Radar, a platform where vintage design stores and auction houses can easily show the items that they have for sale and buyers, private or professionals, have access to this extensive inventory in one place. Furniture, lamps, accessories. It’s a design smorgasbord!

• • Jeremy Bell emailed, “Having recently gone through an exhaustive search for inspiration during the design of my home (360 Winnett Ave), it became apparent that there wasn’t a decent place to bookmark and tag photos. In my case, I was more or less saving everything to a folder on my desktop or posting things to Flickr. This ended up becoming a regular topic at the office so we decided to do something about it and created a site we’ve called Image Spark. It’s pretty simple and allows you to upload and tag photos, plus you can also created moodboards to compile and visualize the images together. We even created a Firefox plugin and a Mac application to make uploading images as easy as possible.” It’s still a beta, but it’s free to use and anyone can register. Here’s Jeremy’s mood board for his home.

• • Blog alert for this week. Viv posts about her home renovations and decorating attempts as well as interiors that inspire her, fashion and food. I’ve been lurking on ish and chi and it’s fun and full of clever ideas. Click over and say hi!

• • Adrena is a baby and child photographer in Los Angeles. She has a small Etsy shop My Paper Doll and emailed to share. OMG aren’t these so cute. Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.

• And the photos above? We are looking for a house. Something old, inner city and lots of land. We want to restore the house and build a couple of townhouses as part of the plan. This place is ticking most of the boxes. A brick and stone duplex built in the 1870s on a large block of land. The “fun” part is that it is heritage listed (oh the nightmares of following the EPA rules), very run down and the price is just a little more than our figures tell us we should spend. Now the real work begins. Research, consultation and price negotiation. Help I’ve lost my heart but I hope not my brains!

I received an email this morning that totally made my day. Here’s what Dylan wrote: “I just wanted to write as a local Ottawan and say that I am a big fan of your blog and follow it daily. If you’re interested, I’ve attached a couple of pics of my bathroom that we completed last year. I’m a future designer (currently in school) and this is my first real project. It is in keeping with the style that your blog seems to feature (neo-baroque?). Anyhow, thanks for posting so many amazing pics! Its nice to see good design does exist in Ottawa!” This renovated bathroom is straight out of my dreams. And since I have 2 totally awful bathrooms to redo eventually, I think I’ll be looking Dylan up for some advice and sources. Be still my heart. (Dylan, you’ve got an amazing career ahead of you).

Abby wrote me with this request: “Congratulations on your amazing kitchen redo! I am about to embark on the same project, and am hoping you can offer some inspiration photos – both to give me ideas and to show my better half what the heck I’m talking about. My kitchen is very dark – no windows – so I’m planning to do white cabinets with white countertops (though I’m also toying with doing the cabinets in the palest shade of grey, still with the white countertops), to keep things luminous. I prefer a modern style, though some Regency details are fine, and like just about everyone I’m fond of Shaker cabinets. Definitely nothing country. I’m sure you looked at a million kitchens when you were planning yours, so I’m hoping you’ll have some great thoughts for me!”

A kitchen with no windows?? And there’s no way you can put one in? Or a skylight maybe? How sad! Going with white is a great idea because the light will reflect off the surfaces and keep it nice and bright. And I’ve already told Abby that I highly recommend the quartz I chose for my kitchen because it has all sorts of little grey and mirrored specks in it that sparkle. 🙂 I have many photos of white kitchens, so I’ve selected some non-country ones for Abby and her better half. Hope this helps and good luck with your reno!

AT Casa	Bolig Magasinet
Dixcot Locations	Coburn Architecture
David Netto	Canadian House & Home
House Beautiful	Canadian House & Home
Verity Welstead	Living Etc.