Displaying posts from May, 2015

Welcome to the bright and cheerful world of Florida interior designer Andrew Howard, where pattern runs rampant and textures are aplenty. This home is dubbed Blue Crush – blue in every shade imaginable. And somehow it’s not overwhelming. This guy is GOOD. 

A beautiful multilevel loft in a converted workshop in the heart of Montmartre. Large windows overlook the courtyard garden while allowing light to stream into the space. White walls play off old oak floors and the level changes accommodate bedroom, living and kitchen dining areas.  The industrial look of the old building is retained but modernised. This project was realised in 2008 and the photos appear to show its early stage occupation, a little stark, a little empty, missing the personal touches. I would love to see it 7 years on as its owners have settled in and imprinted their lives on its old walls. Loft à Montmartre by Delphine Martin-Michaud of 2DESIGN.

Photos Jean-Baptiste Leroux.

I was so excited when Romy Dankner of HOMEROOM Studio emailed with her latest project. The contemporary home features clean lines, beautiful finishes (that stone in the kitchen… swoon) and bright pops of colour in an otherwise neutral palette. I love Romy’s use of unusual pendant lighting in the bathrooms and the bone inlay pieces that are a signature of her work. Check out her Instragram too to keep up with her latest designs and finds.

We have showcased Jessica Helgerson‘s work here on DTI numerous times because her spaces are perfection. And here is yet another example of her skill with a tudor style home designed with more traditional decor and while I typically prefer a more mid-century vibe, I still love every inch. Unfortunately by the time our clients bought the house it had suffered several poor remodels and had fallen into disrepair. Our challenge was to retain the character and charm of the house, while fixing the things that had gone wrong and reworking the layout to create rooms for a modern family that enjoys cooking, eating, and being together. We completely renovated the kitchen, taking out a wall to transform it from a narrow galley into a spacious room with a breakfast nook and a generous island. The kitchen is open to an adjacent “snug room” with comfortable built-in seating, a fireplace, and a television concealed behind a paneled wall. In the living room, we designed two L-shaped sofas to create a simple and inviting furniture layout, which centers around a generous coffee table and fireplace. Our design for the coffee table was inspired by the hexagonal marquetry top on the clients’ heirloom dining table, which we kept and reused. On the second level, we reconfigured a convoluted closet and a tiny master bath to make space for a generous master bath, a laundry room and a large walk-in master closet.  We also remodeled two more existing bathrooms, designing a custom mosaic tile pattern for each. We also designed custom light fixtures, as well as a new built-in dining cabinet with glass doors. (Photos: Lincoln Barbour)

I was SO stoked when the folks of Australian company Aura (one of our long-time advertisers and designers of a really amazing line of bed linen, homewares and rugs) emailed recently with the fantastic news that some of their bedding is now available in Canada at Hudson’s Bay! WOHOO!!! To my delight the kind ladies of Aura offered to send my a duvet cover set and 2 pillows. YES!!! I have always purchased duvet covers at Ikea…and not that there is anything wrong with that but now I see what I have been missing. It was a reeeeally hard choice to make but in the end I went with the Lattice Lime duvet cover set, and the jumbo stripe and dipped decorative pillows. The duvet cover is soooo comfy, in a cotton/linen blend on the front (gawd I love linen bedding!!!) with a cotton back that is satiny soft (and neon piping for that extra oomph). The pillows are 100% linen with feather inserts so they are just divine. I am over the moon with this new bedding, and despite having done nothing with my bedroom since buying this house, I was excited to get some sort of design happening with the new bedding as inspiration. Pay no attention to the bland wall colour as that will change eventually, but to my surprise the bedding just blends right in. Thanks to Aura my bedroom looks pretty amazing if I may say! P.S. Aura isn’t sold at all Hudson’s Bay locations but that doesn’t matter because you can order online!

Other sources: satin bird pillow = Cynthia Rowley from Homesense, art over bed = Tender is the Night a giclée by Lina Ekstrand, art over nightstand = ‘Ceci n’est pas un Banksy’ by Marc Adornato, nightstand and wooden diamonds made by my husband Daff Design, Qui est Paul? watering can from Alteriors, vintage West German vases and Jieldé lamp, dried leaves from Blumenstudio, chair =  J104 chair by Hay Denmark from The Modern Shop