Displaying posts from March, 2009

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?

• • Jeni from Rian Rae emailed to let us know that there are lots of lovely new things in her store. How does she find such beautiful pieces?

• • Architectural and furniture designer David Sears has released his new range of furniture. The concept for Sears’ “Cube Furniture Collection” sprang from his desire to pare down design to its base elements of function and form. Economy of design not only gives his collection a modern feel, but works inherently with the concept of sustainability and eco-living. Available at EcoModern Design.

• • The latest from Radius Design is the Tree of Charge. While your cell phone, digital camera and mp3 player charge their batteries under the tree, the mains adapters are hidden inside. The decorative tree made of powder-coated steel is not just low-maintenance greenery, but also functions as a key rack and magnet board. And with the photos of your loved ones, it becomes a family tree. Perfect for your your landing strip! Thanks Andreas.

• • Love these new fabrics from Anna Ka Bazaar. I’m dreaming up endless schemes for using these.

• • Home decor, nerdiness and function coalesce in these latest offerings from BowerBird & Olive. The sacred heart oil lamp is either wall or table mounted with heart shaped lab ware and blood red oil while the boiling flask diffuser lets your inner aromatherapy
    chemist play.

• Gosia from one of my favourite Etsy stores blue bell bazaar emailed with exciting news. “I would like let you know about my new adventure.From March 1st I’m renting a space at Heritage Trail Antique Mall in Wilmette in Illinois, where I will be selling my vintage finds and my hand made glassware. Of course my weekly updates for people far away will be still running…. I hope that you or your readers will come to see me one day.” Don’t think Kim or I will be making the long trip very soon from Canada or Australia but doesn’t mean we can’t dream of the treasure we’d find.

This is just a quick post to document one of the many MANY things I need to do something about in my house. It’s the front door. I have to say it’s a pretty nifty looking door, and although the inspector I had in here when I was buying the house said I should replace it with a better door (in terms of being better insulated), I cannot bring myself to do that. You don’t find doors like this at Home Depot.

One thing I have to keep in mind is the fact that this door opens right into the living room. So whatever I do to it will have to work with the space. The little windows in the door are unfortunately not glass but plastic, and yellow. Not sure if I should work with that or replace them/cover them up somehow. I found a very inspirational photo here a while back, and can’t get it out of my head. How freaking cute is this door?!

I’d love to hear your ideas on what I could do with this blast from the past door.

Interiors infused with light. Rooms that embrace the view. Tailored, elegant jewels of spaces. Gardens that celebrate the city and provide a haven from the bustle. New York based interior and landscape design firm Rees Roberts captures the essence of modern living. I adore the subtle colour palette and layered textures and how art is integral to each space.

I decided a little while ago that my living room sofa was not working for me. It was cute, I’ll give it that. But it was NOT loungey. Definitively not wide enough for my boyfriend and I to sprawl on and watch movies. I’m hoping to find it a new home since I have no other room to put it in. I knew I’d never find a sofa that would suit my needs and my budget so my boyfriend and I built one. Since our carpentry skills are limited, I am quite surprised it turned out as well as it did. We finished building it a few days ago, and I painted it Friday.

Since I wanted something low and loungey, I figured the easiest way to get what I wanted would be to get some cushions, and basically build boxes for them. Instead of buying foam for the cushions, I went to Ikea and bought cushions from one of their sofas where they were sold separately from the frame. There were 4 cushions – 2 for the base and 2 narrower ones for the back. So working with that we built one main base that houses the 2 larger cushions and an individual base for each of the narrower ones. This is the main base before I painted it.

We used rounded fence post toppers (?) for the feet of the main section (I have pieces of furniture pads underneath them in the photos because it weighs a ton and I’m worried it’s going to dent the floor), and casters for the feet of the 2 smaller sections. This way the smaller pieces could be wheeled around the living room to accommodate different seating arrangements. Because I wanted a pile of pillows along the back of the main section and I was concerned they would take up too much space, we built a ledge along the back (which you can see in the third photo) to house the majority of the pillows, leaving ample room for sprawling.

I’ve had a couple of chances to try out the new sofa (I’m on it as I type this) and it’s incredible. It’s so versatile and ridiculously comfortable. I need to make new covers for the seat cushions. I bought the covers from Ikea for them but they are a thick canvas and cat hair sticks to it in an obscene way so I need something more cat friendly. I also just threw on a bunch of pillows for the photos below, but I need to buy fabric for new pillows as well. I’m thinking of sticking with neutrals, with lots of texture, and maybe a couple pillows in jewel toned colours to work with the rest of the living room and kitchen. I’m also considering stenciling the frames, but I have to give that more thought.

Here are some photos I took of the sofa with different placement of the smaller pieces.