Displaying posts from June, 2009

Whether rich and brooding or sparkling white with bright light I’m drawn in by the simplicity of these shots by photographer Sylvie Becquet. They were haunting in more ways than one as I realised that Kim had first featured Sylvie’s work almost two years ago but I just had to share more of her work. The juxtaposition of white and rich colour is so inspiring, the moodiness so attractive. There is that tension between stark modernity and a rich historical feel that is so now.

I have been quite busy around my house (as usual) and because of this I don’t have a Flickr find post for today. Instead I thought I’d show you all one of the projects I have been working on. My backyard. I love LOVE L O V E summer and since it’s so short up here I wanted to put everything else on hold and get going on making my backyard a space I want to hang out in. A couple weeks ago I was out back on my deck and it was HOT. Really hot. The fence surrounding my yard is super tall and there are tall houses and big trees all around so it gets almost no wind and is very sunny all day long. So I decided I wanted a small deck under the 2 trees that shade the back part of the yard. That way when it gets too hot I have a place to chill. My boyfriend came over last weekend to help (thank you Jeff!!!) and we knocked out a deck. Yesterday I bought some plants and got all that in place and VOILA!, I have another place to hang out.

Here’s a “during” photo. I removed all the grass from the spot and dug down a bit because I wanted the deck just hovering over the grass level. (I say I because I did ALL the digging while Jeff built me a cat house/bench for my front porch).

Before you check out the end product, let me warn you to pay no attention to the stuff going on to the left and right of the deck. Those are projects for another weekend.

Yesterday I also did some planting of pots for around the rest of the backyard. It all took about 4 hours and resulted in a bit of a sunburn, some mosquito bites and some aches and pains. It was worth all that. And now you’re all invited over for a BBQ. Bring booze. (Another warning – pay no attention to the peeling mess that is this deck. I’d like to shoot the former owner who thought it was a great idea to paint the deck instead of staining it or just letting it weather. That’s yet another project.)

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?

• • I blogged about stylist Deb McLean and now she is blogging too. Busy Being Fabulous is just that… fabulous. An insiders look at all things stylish!

• • Monsieur Paul is Pascal Vochelet, a French artist living in Marseille. His work is all about childhood memory and family. Originals and prints in his Etsy store.

• • Modernica has reissued versions of George Nelson’s iconic Criss Cross Bubble Lamp (Cigar, Pear or Ball) that have been out of production for decades. Midcentury classics… yum can’t get enough!

• • Hélène Barrier is the textile designer behind La Reine Dagobert. Handcrafting comforting creatures, strange and soft textile objects, she works exclusively with recycled then dyed, embroidered and/or screen-printed fabrics. Softies as art. Don’t miss her installations and exhibitions while you are there.

• • Paola can’t help herself. She has to create. Love these architecturally themed felt cushions found at her Etsy shop Atelier Pompadour.

• • New blog alert. Sweet Sunday Mornings focuses on set design & fashion in films. The anonymous blogger (let’s call him/her SSM) emailed to share. “After a while of realizing that I was noticing the wallpaper more than the actor’s performance when I was watching a move, I decided to start putting my saved screencaps online and share some of my inspirations.” SSM I have the same cinematic addiction. Good movie but where can I get that lamp?

• Evan Dublin emailed “I recently finished my industrial design undergraduate degree and am pretty excited about my final project. I found a jungle gym slide from a salvage yard and came up with a fantastic solution to domesticate it. Using a component of the slide I produced a modern take on the classic wing-back chair. Its made with locally sourced white oak wood, wool and the slide.” What a hoot!

I finally got a chance to flip through the latest issue of Canadian House & Home that’s been sitting on my kitchen counter tempting me most of the week, and I was excited to find a Canadian architectural firm in the magazine whose work is mesmerizing. Based in Toronto, superkül is the award-winning firm of Meg Graham and Andre D’Elia. A modern cottage retreat that they designed is featured in the magazine, which some photos can be found below, but first I wanted to feature a completed renovated home I found on their website.

Formerly a blacksmith’s shop, then a horse shed and then an artist’s apartment and studio, they did amazing things to turn this into a single family home, despite regulations that no additional openings in the walls were allowed for more light. In this case they had to get it from above. I am completely in awe of this transformation.

Here is the cottage I mentionned, a 2000 sq.ft. modern stunner on the Georgian Bay. (Photos by Tom Arban, superkül and Lorne Bridgman)

Encore! Encore! I love photographer Prue Ruscoe’s work (blogged here). So many of her shots are stored away in my “all time fav” inspiration files. Now I find there are even more beautiful images on her rep’s site. I spy so many of my favourite images from Inside Out, Shannon Fricke’s house (and books) as well as Rachel Castle’s artwork. If a website could have dog eared pages and post-it-notes all over it this one would. Love!