Displaying posts labeled "Sponsored"

Hey folks. It’s been a while since I shared some of the things that have entered my home as of late, so I thought I would do that today since I’ve got some extra time thanks to the long Easter weekend. (Happy Easter to you all!) I’ll start with some of the things that have been gifted to me, and most of the purchases I made on my Mexican holiday (my carry-on suitcase with filled with only ceramics and glass LOL).

To start, the folks at Tuttle Publishing sent over some of their new gardening titles they launched for spring. These were timed perfectly as I have gardening/landscaping on the brain these days. Very inspirational, and educational as well!

I loooooove air plants but have killed every one I have ever bought. This book is perfect for for people like me. Living with Air Plants (by Yoshiharu Kashima (Protoleaf), a horticulturalist from Japan): These endearing plants are friendly to seasoned gardeners and beginners alike, and easy to grow and care for, once you know how. This reference and growing guide covers over 100 different Tillandsia varieties, and gives you all the information you need to select your plants and make them thrive. In this book, you’ll learn about the various types of Tillandsia plants and their characteristics, growth cycles and preferred environment, air plant care and selection, propagating/dividing plants from cuttings.

I am also fairly unskilled at keeping succulents alive. This book is also a wonderful resource and gives lots of ideas on how to make beautiful succulent arrangements.

A Beginner’s Guide to Succulent Gardening is a friendly guide to popular succulents, walking novices through all the basics, like choosing your succulents—from Hens and Chicks (Echeveria) to bristly flowering cactus varieties, mixing the right soils for your succulents and preparing the growing environment, easy potting and transplanting techniques, succulent care—including watering, fertilizing and providing the right amount of sun for each variety, understanding peak periods as well as seasonal traits and needs, so you can have a beautiful succulent garden year-round. This book also contains all sorts of helpful tips on what to look for when buying a plant, how to troubleshoot when your succulent shows signs of distress, how to trim the leaves and stems, and how to start new plants from cuttings. Clear diagrams and at-a-glance fact sheets for each variety, as well as inspirational photos of attractively and happily-housed succulents, fill the pages of this book. 

I also received 2 books specific to Japanese Gardens. The Japanese show unbelievable talent in this field and I was excited to devour these.

100 Japanese Gardens: A celebration of Japanese landscape design, this book features gardens from Kyoto and Tokyo, as well as from the sub-arctic island of Hokkaido and the semi-tropical islands of Okinawa. Author Stephen Mansfield traveled the length and breadth of Japan on a quest to identify the most impressive gardens in this vast and culturally varied archipelago. His erudition and love of the Japanese garden shines through on every page, making this the perfect primer for travel to Japan or an enjoyable armchair read for gardening enthusiasts. 

This book I really liked because it shows some less elaborate gardens than in the book above and many of the elements can be translated to our own gardening projects.

The Art of the Japanese Garden is a comprehensive collection of the most notable gardens in Japan—including graveled courtyards, early aristocratic villas, palace gardens, esoteric and paradise gardens, Zen gardens, warrior gardens, tea gardens, and stroll gardens. Japanese gardens are rooted in two traditions: an ancient one in which patches of graveled forest or pebbled beach were dedicated to nature spirits, and a tradition from China and Korea that included elements such as ponds, streams, waterfalls, rock compositions, and a variety of vegetation. This book traces the development and blending of these two traditions, while also providing insight into modern Japanese gardening trends.

That’s it for new books. Some other items I received included some goodies from Farrow & Ball Canada. My favourite paint brand used in every room in my house, this was exciting because they sent over a book of theirs I had not read before called Decorating with Colour by Ros Bryam Shaw, a colour fan of their archived colours and a colour card with all of their new colours included in it. Sweet!

Stephanie Beebe and her husband Jonathan Caldwell of Tiverton, RI design wallpaper and their brand, Mayflower Wallpaper, has some of the most incredible, and creative wallpapers I have ever seen. Jonathan studied fine art at the Chelsea School of Art in London and has been in the textile and wallpaper business for over twenty years. Their designs reflect his love of detail, drawing inspiration from organic elements and encounters with balanced landscapes, layered silhouettes, and watercolor prints. Also important to note that they use environmentally-friendly materials and manufacturing practices. Stephanie sent me some samples of my choosing, and I’m totally smitten with each one and trying to think up a project where I can use at least one… (the floral in the middle is my favourite – Lila MF50518)

My friends at Miele Canada sent along a surprise package the other day. And what a surprise it was – coffee!

Miele Black Edition N°1 coffee is an exclusive selection of coffee beans perfectly adapted to the Miele coffee system (sadly, they did not include one in the package LOL). Produced in cooperation with the family-run German coffee roasting company Vollmer, four unique Arabica coffee beans were selected for this special blend. My husband and I are coffee lovers, and this coffee was fantastic!!! You can purchase it via their website here.

And in case you missed it on my Instagram stories when I had returned from Mexico, here are most of my purchases from my trip. I think I should look into the cost of getting a shipping container for next time. 🙂

Last call for entries for the A’ Design Award and Competition. The deadline for entries is fast approaching and now is the time to submit your best work. You can nominate your design here. With over 100 categories the A’ Design Award and Competition is the worlds’ largest design competition. But it is not just an award. It is an indicator of quality and perfection in design, recognized worldwide, your design front and centre before design companies and professionals.

From the Good Industrial Design Award to the Good Architecture Design Award. The Good Product Design Award to the Good Communication Design Award. The Good Service Design Award to the Good Fashion Design Award and so many more. (You can find all the design categories here.) With the competition highlighting, advertising & advocating good design, taking part will provide recognition, publicity and international peer review. Entries will be judged by an international jury panel of scholars, professionals and media members and the benefits to the winners are inspiring. The trophy, of course, an invitation to the gala night, a certificate of quality, inclusion in the prestigious A’ Design Award and Competition exhibition and the yearly ResultBook but even more importantly press, PR, introduction to industry professionals and companies and international exposure. The fame, the prestige, the recognition and so much more.

Are you inspired? Excited? Believe you’ve got what it takes to take on the best of the best design from around the world? You can register for the A’ Design Award and Competition 2018 –
2019 here. But you better be quick. The deadline for submission is on February 28. Results will be announced April 15 and you will find full coverage of the results here on Desire to Inspire. Can’t wait!

In the meantime here are some inspiring winners from last year …

Spot Multifunctional Sofa by Vinicius Lopes and Gabriela Kuniyoshi

Exo Chair by Svilen Gamolov

The Curtain Sales Office by Larry Wen – Aoe

Malangen Retreat Family retreat by Snorre Stinessen

The Mirrored Sight Shelter Viewing House, Tea House by Li Hao – One Take Architects

Solar Egg – More than a sauna Public sauna by Futurniture and Bigert & Bergström

Iconic Cloud Chair Rocking Chair by Pia Weinberg – Maison Deux

Joseph Felt Chair Seating by Lothar Windels

Blanco Profina Apron Front Kitchen Sink by BLANCO

Renaissance Armchair by Zaria Ishkildina

Bow Coffe table by Guilherme Torres

Life extension Residential House by Pin-Chi Yu

Globe Floor Lamp by Edoardo Colzani

Mozaik system Modulable lamp by Davide Oppizzi

General Electric Healthcare Interior design by Setter Architects

New Design for DSK Bank Flagship Branch by DA Architects

Roaringwild – Uniwalk Retail Store by Kinson Leung

Health Dandelion Hotel by Yiming Li

Wine credenza II Table by Han Sung-Jae

Light Pink and Coal Living Interior Design by Juliana Pippi

Don’t forget to nominate your designs for award consideration here. Submission deadline is 28 February 2019.

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

This post is brought to you in collaboration with A’ Design Award and Competition

Have you entered the A’ Design Award and Competition yet? Register your design here. The deadline for entries is fast approaching and now is the time to submit your best work. With over 100 categories the A’ Design Award and Competition is the worlds’ largest design competition. But it is not just an award. It is an indicator of quality and perfection in design, recognized worldwide, bringing your design front and centre before design companies and professionals.

From the Good Industrial Design Award to the Good Architecture Design Award. The Good Product Design Award to the Good Communication Design Award. The Good Service Design Award to the Good Fashion Design Award and so many more. (You can find all the design categories here.) With the competition highlighting, advertising & advocating good design, taking part will provide recognition, publicity and international peer review.

Entries will be judged by an international jury panel of scholars, professionals and media members. Unlike other awards the competition follows a peer-review process with anonymous voting and evaluation of all entries. And the benefits to the winners are inspiring! The trophy, of course, an invitation to the gala night, a certificate of quality, inclusion in the prestigious A’ Design Award and Competition exhibition and the yearly ResultBook but even more importantly press, PR, introduction to industry professionals and companies and international exposure. The fame, the prestige, the recognition and so much more.

You can find out more about the A’ Design Award and Competition here and register here. But hurry as the deadline for submissions is February 28. Results will be announced here on the blog (and worldwide) on April 15.

To get you inspired to enter here are some past winners!

Cabin on a Rock Weekend Residence by I-Kanda Architects

Little Bo Flower vase by Santiago Bautista

the frame Kitchen by Robert G-Wrkbnch

Hadar’s House House by Asante Architecture & Design

House W Residence by Atelier About Architecture

Sleeve House Single Family Residence by Adam Dayem

Goby High End Hospitality Furniture by TONIK, Designed by Karim Rashid

Cocoon Lounge Chair by Tim Kwok

Kushi Dango Apartment House by Osamu Hamada

Darkside Stool or Side Table by Romulo Teixeira and Cintia Miyahira

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

This post is brought to you in collaboration with A’ Design Award & Competition

For those on the hunt for a sleeper sofa/sofa bed I thought I would share some worthy options and will break it down into my top 5 favourites. But first a quick story. My husband and I own a 4 bedroom house. We have no kids. This was a sweet setup because we each ended up with a dressing room. And the obvious choice for the third extra bedroom was to use it as a guest bedroom. After a few years we realized what a dumb idea that was in reality. No one visits us and stays over! So we had a room with a bed that was only ever used by the cats. We ended up getting rid of the bed and put a small sofa in there and it became a media room where I do most of my Netflixing. Then my mother-in-law and niece-in-law visited from the Maritimes back in the spring and stayed several days. OOPS! What could we have used for this visit? A sleeper sofa!!! It’s the obvious choice when you don’t really want to take up much space for a bed that will only get used occasionally. On the hunt for sleeper sofas/sofa beds I go! I hear the problem with these are that they can be uncomfortable, heavy and noisy/clumsy to open. For the record, the following appear to be none of those.

My first pick is the Soho Sofa Bed by The Sofa Bed Store™.

What I love about this sofa bed is that you would NEVER know it is one. It really a statement piece, great for large family rooms, and larger spaces in general because of the bulky arms, which actually double as side tables! That is a perk when it’s opened as a bed too – tables right next to you for your book, phone, glasses etc. This one is a queen sized 12″ thick pocket coil mattress. WUT?! That is going to be SO comfortable. I would happily let my mother-in-law sleep on it. Currently on sale for $3695 (CAD).

My second pick is the Movie Night with wood arms. Also by The Sofa Bed Store™.

If chunky arms aren’t your thing, then this sofa bed is a clear winner. I LOVE the arms on this. And the overall style again is modern and leaves you clueless that it is a sleeper sofa. Perfect in a living room, a media room (mine!) and awesome for curling up and well, watching a movie! This one has the same queen size luxury mattress as the previous pick. Winner winner chicken dinner! On sale for $3495 (CAD).

My third choice is the Sulley by American Leather.

Offered in about a zillion different colours and in fabrics like leather, sunbrella, ultrasuede, crypton etc. etc. Tons of options to customize. This one has a 4″ high-density foam mattress. A sleek, modern option. On sale right now @ Artesanos for $3949 (USD)

Choice #4 is the Stretch series sleeper sofa. Again by The Sofa Bed Store™. I have to include a few photos of this one to show you its versatility.

Forget the mother-in-law – I want to lounge on this and Netflix binge for an entire day! This sleeper sofa is a perfect small space solution. Ideal in offices, dens, guest rooms, and of course bedrooms converted into media rooms 🙂  This one comes in double or queen and has the same luxurious mattress as the other 2 above but is 7”. Love the mid-century vibe of the legs. A great price @ $2469 (CAD).

#5 on my list is the Nest sofa bed. This one is also by The Sofa Bed Store™. If you prefer a simple design this one is IT.

The more I look at the photos of this one, the more I love it. It’s the perfect small space sleeper sofa for a corner of a room, or in an office where you want something tucked at the other end in an inconspicuous way. I got rid of a giant leather sofa in the home-office end of my living room and this would be perfect where my old sofa was as I want something bench-like where I could chill out and read a magazine when I need a work break. Or husband can perch on it while I stalk endlessly about all the projects I want done around the house. 🙂 Anyhoo, the serious bonus of this sofa bed is OMG – storage! Everything you need to turn this into a bed can be stored within it. This is a queen sized 8″ mattress. LOVE! This one is available on the US site for $1895 USD

***Note: The Sofa Bed Store™ happens to be located in Ottawa (!!!) and Toronto. And their products are flat-packed so yes, you have to put them together but you can easily get the sofa into any size room. (To note: if you live in Ottawa or Toronto they deliver and assemble free of charge! And free shipping across North America) Also noting pocket coil mattresses seem quite durable if you want a long-term option.

News flash! The World Design Rankings have been announced for 2018. Who do you think topped the list? Where did your country come? What are World Design Rankings? WDR ranks all the countries based on the number of designers that have been granted an A’ Design Award. The United States takes the first place among 100 represented countries this year with 48 Platinum Design Awards won followed by China, Japan, Italy, Great Britain,Hong Kong, Turkey, Taiwan, Portugal and Australia (yay!) rounding out the top 10. So where did your country came? Check out the list below:

The ultimate aim of the World Design Rankings is to contribute to global design culture through advocating and highlighting good design. The rankings provide a snapshot of the state-of-art and design potentials of countries worldwide by highlighting their creative strengths, design weaknesses and available opportunities. The “Design Business Insights” section provides a ranking of countries based on their success in diverse design fields and creative categories. Using the “Design Business Insights” section, media members and design lovers could discover leading countries for specific design sectors and get answers to their questions such as “Which country is best in industrial design”, “Which country is best in interior design?”,  “Which country is the best in fashion design?” etc.

With the best of the best showcased in hundreds of design fields and categories the Design Classifications allow you to choose the top ranking designers, artists and architects for your next project be it in architecture, interior design, furniture design, fashion design, graphics design and packaging design and more.

For several years Desire to Inspire has partnered with the A’ Design Award & Competition, the world’s largest annual juried design competition that honors the best designers, architects, and design oriented companies worldwide to provide them publicity, fame and recognition. Such an exciting competition. Such a prestigious award. Here are some of my favourite winners from 2018.

Mozaik system Modulable lamp by Davide Oppizzi

Da Chang Muslim Cultural Center by Hejingtang Design Studio

BEING Lamp by Cecilia Pozzi

Yard Seclusion Accommodation in Farm by Lei Jin, Tianqi Guan, Teng Guo

Globe Floor Lamp by Edoardo Colzani

Little Bo Flower vase by Santiago Bautista

The Mirrored Sight Shelter Viewing House, Tea House by Li Hao – One Take Architects

Meditation Seat Ware by Gao Fenglin

De Vinos Y Viandas Wine Shop by Zooco Studio

Groenlandia Residential House by Fernanda Marques

Brickkiln Folk Inn and Museum Make Village Newborn by Kevin Hu

Zhongnan Mansion Clubhouse by Kris Lin and Jiayu Yang

Believe you’ve got what it takes to take on the best of the best design from around the world? You can register for the 2018-2019 A’ Design Award and Competition here but time is short so get your entries in now.

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

This post is in collaboration with A’ Design Award & Competition