Displaying posts labeled "Lighting"

Just before the holidays I settled on a paint colour for my kitchen. It was not a difficult decision – I wasn’t even going to bother trying a sample on the wall because I was so sure it would be perfect.

When I had received the fan deck from Farrow & Ball and came across Stiffkey Blue and Hague Blue I knew immediately that my kitchen needed to be blue. I went with Stiffkey because the colour just seemed perfect with black and white (and it is less dark and bold than Hague which seems to be much more on the teal/aqua side). Below is a beautiful bedroom painted in Stiffkey Blue.

Sean Santiago via Lonny

Here is a before photo of my kitchen. It is all Ikea and very small and very boring. So imagine the walls painted in Stiffkey Blue. *SIGH* I might keep the ceiling white to ensure the space maintains its brightness. The faucet and cabinet handles will be replaced with brass ones. I just noticed in this photo that the dishwasher is just a large panel of stainless steel. Now I am wondering if I should cover it in white somehow. Anyway, even the light fixtures are Ikea (I think) and beyond boring so I will replace those (there is one in the middle of the ceiling too).

I was thinking this Vega 3 chandelier from Schoolhouse Electric would look fab in the middle of the room.

Then for over the sink I love a couple of different lights by Gubi – like this Bestlite pendant BL9

or this Greta Grossman Grasshopper pendant

I hope now that I am finally starting to get over the miserable infection(s) I had over the holidays that I can manage to get the painting done this weekend. Fingers crossed! And I hope to gawd the paint is ok – idiot UPS delivery guy left it out on my porch in -20C weather.

I went poking around the internet while I was sick to get some inspiration of kitchens with brass, and I found several that have blue as a feature colour as well.

Workstead via Dwell

Emily Henderson

brittanyMakes

Blakes London

Domaine Home

Helén Pe

Michaelis Boyd

Jessica Helgerson

Stadshem

Yanic Simard

Lovely Life

Design*Sponge

Gisbert Pöppler

Having just ended a four day weekend, I managed to get some photos taken around my house and get them organized for a couple of posts. This first post is to show you the new dining chairs I purchased, along with a few rugs to help hide my hideous floors. As I hinted a couple of weeks ago, I got my hands on a set of eight vintage reproduction tulip chairs, from Benjamin Curran in Montreal. Yes, EIGHT. GIDDY UP! They are fantastic for repros – the bases are steel and the seats are fibreglass. They are upholstered in a chocolate brown velvet which I am slowly learning to love – especially the velvet part. When it comes time to vacuum up the cat fur it’s a breeze, so I think the velvet will stick around a while. Or I need to find some other colour of velvet to reupholster them with. Please keep in mind with these photos that I have done nothing with this room except purchase the light fixture and credenza. I need a new larger dining table, paint, new curtains, a new rug (this one makes the chairs look really beige which is driving me nuts – I’m on the hunt for a replacement to the cowhide) and whatever else I can come up with.

A couple of weekends ago my husband and I took a drive out to check out the Third World Bazaar in Manotick. They are open 6 weekends a year around Thanksgiving, and carry beautiful products sourced from around the world – Bangladesh, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Guatemala, Indonesia etc. I try to go every year (my sister’s godmother Brenda Cavaciutti helps run it – it’s one of the only times I get to see her) and always come home with a car full of goodies. This year it was all about rugs, required to help hide my yellow/orange stained hardwood floors. I found 3 small rugs – wool kilims from Morocco, Pakistan and India. I have 2 in the living room and 1 in the foyer. The cats freaking LOVE them. Which is great seeing how easy it is to get cat fur off of wool (that was a totally sarcastic remark). They’re doing the trick though so I can’t complain. P.S. This weekend is the last chance to hit the bazaar this year so GO!!!

Hus & Hem

Chandeliers – because adding a little bit of feminine glam and sparkle can only make your space better. I guarantee it. 🙂

Femina

Lonny

Lonny

Design*Sponge

Homelife

Design*Sponge

Marie Claire Italia

Domaine

Elle Spain

Homelife

BOLIG Magasinet

Domaine

Lonny

Freunde von Freunden

Freunde von Freunden

Lonny

Yatzer

Elle Decoration Sweden

Bolaget

House To Home

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking for a chandelier that is not your typical sparkly crystal? Murano chandeliers are a little less glamorous but so classy. It would definitively become the focal point of a space.

We have actually featured this project before (here). It’s a bar by Lauren Geremia but I just had to show this ceiling and light again. Such a wonderful flight of fantasy. Perfect for a child’s room. Perfect for any room that needs a touch of whimsy.

A while back FLOS offered me a light fixture to try, I absolutely could not say no. FLOS is one of the coolest lighting companies there is. I have to admit I had not heard of the light before and now I’m kicking myself for not having known about it sooner. Designed and created in Italy, AIM is a uniquely minimalist suspended light designed by brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. In their own words, AIM is a “new type of lamp that is naturally positioned in space – like a plant – with long cables providing maximum freedom to adjust the direction and height of the light source.” Similar to hanging vines, the long, free wires allow for “infinite adjustability” while providing a sense of the natural, as the wires seem to “develop and grow like branches or climbing plants”. AIM also uses warm LED, meaning that it is a very low energy consumption lamp. 

When the light finally arrived I was SO excited to get it installed. Knowing I was getting 1 fixture, the only place I thought I could put it was in my bedroom as it’s the only room besides my dining room and dressing room with an overhead fixture (stupid old house with bad wiring!). But when I unwrapped the light I realized it was larger than I had expected, and even more gorgeous in person. I went with black, and it’s a matte finish! *sigh* (It also comes in white and polished aluminum). My husband, who is thankfully quite the handyman, suggested we put it in the corner of our living room, and he would wire a plug to the end of it so we could plug it in to the wall but mount it to the ceiling so it looked like it was wired up there. GENIUS! We both LOVE the AIM. It looks incredible in the living room. I can imagine a few of these grouped together over a dining table, or over a large desk. A few hanging in a staircase would be cool too.

This post is in partnership with FLOS USA but all opinions are my own.