This is the last day of a 4 day weekend for me – essentially the only span of time off from my day job I am taking this summer. (I thought I should save my vacation days for the house renos which gawd knows when or if they will start anytime soon). Friday my husband Jeff and I stopped off at a couple of my favourite local home furnishing shops to get an idea of what we might want to purchase when the house is complete. One of those shops was Green Light District Design, which I have blogged about here and here. Jeff and I had dinner with the owners, Deborah and David, a couple of weeks ago and found out some very sad news. They are packing up the shop and moving it to Toronto. I am happy that Deborah and David are taking their shop to greener pastures but I am really disappointed that the shop didn’t work here in Ottawa. So before they left Jeff and I decided to pick out some things that we’ve had our eyes on for ages, and we are planning to pick them up in Toronto and check out the new shop when the order comes in. In the meantime I picked up some more of the gorgeous dishes (handmade in South Africa) that I have been slowly acquiring since my first visit to GLDD, and of course took some photos. But before I share those, here are some details of the new shop: The name will now be ‘Green Light District’….The new address is 365 Roncesvalles Ave in a totally renovated shop in Toronto’s west end, near High Park….The website address remains the same….The neighbourhood of Roncy has had a complete street renewal over past 2 years which is now complete….We are keeping most of our current suppliers, but adding exciting new pieces….The last day in Ottawa will be Sept 11; opening in TO late September.

Here are the dishes Icould not pass up purchasing before the store closes. I snagged a couple more soup bowls, side plates, pasta bowls, finally some dinner plates (love the unfinished edge!), and a really pretty accent bowl. I adore how they are SO handmade that each piece is really a different shape, and when stacked they sit unevenly. PRETTY!!!

This is on my list of favourite living rooms of all time. Despite the fact that it could use a bit more seating, it’s fabulous. Bright and funky and sorta punky. 🙂 (via Lonny)
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!

When you’ve got a staircase that is a focal point, in this case it descends right in the middle of an open plan apartment, it’s worth making it special. This apartment in Budapest is the home to a young and creative family with 2 children. The stairs form a divider between the living room and kitchen/dining room and architect Biljana Jovanovic was given the task to make it a playful. Because the stairs had to be steep (not ideal when there are children involved), Biljana angled each step to provide more surface area. I think these are alot of fun and such a clever way to turn something that could be so generic into the main attraction. (Full story here, photographed by Gerardo Altemir)

We received an email recently from Allison, who is a big fan of her friend Daniel Friedman. Here is what she had to say: “I do not have any design skills whatsoever, but my friend Daniel is amazing! I’ve lately taken to telling him so. I threw his work on a blog in May. In particular, his most recent project (which you can find on the blog) reminds me of your latest posts– white, beautiful, modern, enchanting.” Isn’t Allison a nice friend? 🙂 She is right – Daniel has a knack for turning what I can only describe as gawd-awful into bright and homey spaces anyone would love to spend time in…and he does it with hardly a budget and what looks like a ton of hard work. Plus, he has creativity up the wazoo. Below are some of projects with before and after photos (my fav!) and some of his DIY projects.

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Check this out – French windows created with some dowels and glue!

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And a few DIY’s, including a border on the floor made with removable paint!

A chandelier made with vintage cloth wire and some cool bulbs!

Copper piping curtain rods!

And a copper pipe, wire and half-chrome bulb chandelier!

I’ve got another London location home beauty for you today, thanks to the folks at Shoot Factory. This one is called Old Villa, and old it certainly is. A little rough around the edges (is that a hole in the bathroom floor?) and a bit more traditional than we typically post but I love it for those qualities. My only beef is that gorgeous porcelain kitchen sink stuck in a corner, mounted on a rickety looking table. ODD. And how annoying if you’ve got a pile of dishes to do.