Roan emailed Jo and I, and I had to post about this because he is a fellow Canadian, and my parents are both cancer survivors:

“I was hoping you’d be interested in perhaps blogging about my annual Cancer Society charity auction of 20th Century Design and Decorative Art. This will be the 5th year of the auction, with sales helping generate vital funding for cancer research and emotional support programs for those living with the disease. Held in support of the Canadian Cancer Society, a portion of every sale will be donated to the cause.

The auction will take place on eBay, with items to be listed throughout the week of November 28th, with all listings to end in sequence on December 8th.

This year’s collection includes works by Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Eero Saarinen, Hans Wegner, Jean Prouve, Charlotte Perriand, and many more. As well, some interesting art pieces by Takashi Murakami, Larry Clark, Mark Gonzales, and Jeff Koons are also in the mix.

The complete catalog is online now at: ModernLove “

The items up for auction are absolutely incredible. I seriously had a hard time not grabbing every single photo on the website. I love every single piece. Below is just a small sample of what is available. Wishing you lots of luck with the auction Roan!!

It’s grey and dreary these days as winter approaches, and while I prepare to hibernate, I look for inspiration in homes like this one. It’s bright and warm and eclectic which I am always drawn to.

This blog chronicles my entire kitchen renovation from start to finish. Greentea Design has provided me with their solid wood kitchen cabinets, and I’m taking care of the rest.

If you’d like to be brought up to date, check out my kitchen remodel blog for an archive of previous posts. I posted recently about the flooring, and now…..the cabinets have arrived!!!

I was sooooooooo excited for the day the cabinets were to arrive. Since Greentea Design is based in Toronto, I had only seen the cabinets on their website, and got a tiny sample (about 3 inches) sent to me in the mail to help with my countertop selection. Friday was the day….and it turned out to be bright and early. There was a bit of chaos early that morning as I scrambled to get some extra hands out to my house ASAP to help me unload the truck, but was quickly forgotten once I got a glimpse of the cabinets. The unloading only took about 20 minutes (once they got a system going it was easy peasy). I wasn’t able to take photos of them being unloaded because it was raining that day. The first photo I managed to take was of all the cabinets stacked in the living room.

The cabinets were left there for the majority of the day because I wanted to get the walls and ceiling painted before getting the cabinets in place (turns out the walls weren’t ready and needed more sanding – but we found this out after 3 coats of paint and after the electrician got the potlights working). For several hours the cats had a ball climbing all over them.

WOW – they were packed so carefully. I worked for moving companies for a few summers during my university years and I have never seen anything packed like that. For each cabinet there was styrofoam on the corners, then a box that wrapped all the way around, then moving blankets wrapped and taped (with perfect corners, like how us women wrap presents), and then shrink-wrapped. It was like Christmas morning unwrapping each piece. And not a scratch or mark on any piece. What a relief!

Is the suspense too much to handle? Then click HERE.

Enjoy the bold and crisp photography of Vancouverite Marcos Armstrong.

This blog chronicles my entire kitchen renovation from start to finish. Greentea Design has provided me with their solid wood kitchen cabinets, and I’m taking care of the rest.

If you’d like to be brought up to date, check out my kitchen remodel blog for an archive of previous posts. I posted recently about some final sketches Greentea created for me and some decisions I’ve made. Now for the flooring.

One of the steps to this renovation that I was super excited about was getting new flooring. When I first moved into this house I knew I would eventually knock the wall down separating the living room from the kitchen, and continue the same flooring throughout. Since I love the look of painted hardwood, I decided to paint the existing hardwood in the living room (I detested the oak colour) and get hardwood installed in the kitchen and paint it the same colour. I was so excited to see the tiles go that I had lived with since last December (beyond gross). I’ll stick a before photo here as a reminder:

As I mentionned in a previous post, the contractor spent alot of time levelling the floor, because it dipped from one end to the other by several inches.

Initially the contractor was going to purchase unfinished hardwood to lay in the kitchen. But when he went to pick it up, he said there were alot of knots showing and was worried it would show through the paint. So he went with finished flooring. And he purchased boxes of various colours that were leftovers from previous customer orders, so it only ended up costing $1.99/sq.ft. When they started laying it, we all got a kick out of the different colours and thought it looked pretty cool.

As you can see in the last photo, because the floor involved some layers to get it level, the kitchen is now a little step up from the living room. The contractor put a nice curved finishing piece on the edge.

To see the result of my flooring project, click HERE.