Displaying posts from May, 2014

covet garden

I love art that is in your face. I particularly enjoy large scale photography that is very graphic in nature. I figure if you are going to stick some art on your walls, make it large, bold and eye-catching, and encourage questions from visitors (like “what in the hell?!”). Here is a collection of photographs I found in my stash that feature some pretty fantastic art (IMHO).

Homelife

MilK

Anthology Magazine

Anthology Magazine – OMG I want this!!!

Design*Sponge

Lonny

Elle Decor España

MilK

Real Living via dustjacket attic

The Design Files

Design*Sponge

Homelife

Homelife

Femina

Kirra Jamison via Sfgirlbybay

vtwonen

Barbara Falanga

House To Home

my favourite of all time, blogged a few times here… Steven Sclaroff

If you’re looking for an online resource for artwork, Saatchi Art has everything you could ask for in every medium fathomable, and they even carry original paintings!

Was the last home a little too over the top for you? Can you bear just a soupçon more of Maria Lladó? Of course you want more. I know I do.

Drama can sometimes be an understatement. Welcome to the over the top but carefully curated world of Barcelona based designer Maria Lladó. Queen of the vignette, lover of chairs, doyenne of the eclectic. The home as theatre or is that theatre set? Either way i love it. Just how I would live if I could.

I thought I would share a few small happenings around my house from the past long weekend. First is a new mirror for the newly renovated powder room. I could not find a vintage shaving mirror (thrifting/flea markets for the most part suck around these parts) so we had taken the door off an old wooden medicine cabinet (as seen in this post). Home decor shops also for the most part suck around here (there’s no C&B, West Elm etc. etc. – we have Ikea) but last week my sister and I headed down to Zone Maison because she wanted some knick knacks and I ended up finding the perfect mirror for my bathroom! And it was $49.50! I hung it over my Jieldé et voilà:

Last weekend after taking my mom out to lunch for Mother’s Day in Chinatown, we stopped in at Highjinx – one of my favourite thrift shops (where all proceeds go to helping Ottawa’s homeless). I dropped off a gorgeous table I have had for years from Pier 1 Imports that no longer works in any of my immediate family members’ homes (my twin had been using it for a few years) and found a vintage wooden toolbox that I had to bring home for $65 (and my thing is to always pay about $10 more than the awesome ladies who run the shop ask for, so make that $75). I decided to use it on my dining table filled with random stuff, so the wooden rod/handle was removed and I now have a new centrepiece! Inside are a tin candle holder I bought in Mexico, a West German vase with eucalyptus, an Asian lantern, a plant from my coffee table, a candlestick from an art shop in Almonte, a vintage chipped vase with billy buttons from my wedding, and a bottle of wine my mom gave me that my nonno had made before he passed away (in the 80s).

This new centrepiece meant I had to do some rearranging around the kitchen. So this happened on a corner of my counter:

I also did a bunch of gardening lately…all in pots/boxes etc. because we still have hopes to wreck this house so nothing permanent. We used all of the plastic barrels my husband had brought home last summer and cut in half – they house lavendar and some tomatoes and peppers. I put some herbs in a box and a half a barrel and some plants in some cute pots I had found at Ikea and BMR. Phoebe thought it was fun to hide amongst some of them.

I am not typically a fan of green but WOW these spaces photographed by Parisian photographer Frederic Lucano are stunning. Shades of moss/army green are an earthy, warm touch that work so well with various greys, creams and black accents. I may have to rethink green now.