Displaying posts from December, 2011

This gallery wall styled by Kirsten Bookallil cheers me up so much. Photography by Grant Harvey. And I spy a Rachel Castle embroidery as well.

Where the rainforest meets the sea on a Brazilian island there is a sliver of sand. Where the rainforest meets the sea there are palm trees. Where the rainforest meets the sea there is a house. A stone house and concrete and glass house. A perfect beach party house. Casa Paraty by Marcio Kogan of Studio MK27.

Yesterday afternoon I should have been studying French, finishing up my Christmas shopping or doing some laundry. Instead, I went to Ikea. And why is this exciting (according to the title of this post)? I am fortunate to live in a city that has had an Ikea for as long as I can remember. The only problem is it was SMALL. Trips to Ikea were successful if you were able to pick up half the items on your list (and of which the large items you had to drive a few minutes down the road to a second warehouse to pick up). Very frustrating. Yesterday was the soft opening (to friends and family) of the LARGEST IKEA IN CANADA – here in Ottawa! A very kind reader of ours named Erica, a kitchen designer at Ikea, sent me an invite so my husband and I went to check it out. It is HUGE – triple the size of the old store, which only had about 15 decorated showrooms, and now has 55. The restaurant holds 640 people and serves booze! Other reasons why I am excited – I finally got to see a Docksta table in person. (The old store has NEVER carried it). And about 10-15 years ago the old store decided to stop selling fabric. Now Jo doesn’t have to ship me some from Australia. The store officially opens on Wednesday and I guarantee it will be insane. 

I think this post could also be titled “Living large in a small space”. A Surry Hills Sydney apartment in a warehouse refit found during my regular real estate stalking. Two bedrooms, one bath under 75 sq m and loads of style. Art and impact. And a great example of how a camera angle can lead you to believe something completely different. Case in point, shot of the dining table looking down the hall. What a great space! Seems huge for such a small apartment. Turn the camera and shoot into the kitchen. Same painting and light. Completely different feel. No room for complaints from me though. I’d love to own this apartment, as is, in the centre of Sydney. Position, position, position and hip too! Link here while it lasts.

Neko sent us an email with a link from a story that was featured in The New York Times about a year ago that I had to blog about since Jo and I love featuring conversions here on DTI. This one is pretty freaking cool – not our typical church conversion. It’s an apartment located in Seattle, 462 feet above the city, in a pyramid atop the Smith Tower occupying the 37th and 38th floors – a total of 1750 sq ft. With views this spectacular, who cares what the apartment looks like??!!