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Bedside Styling

December 29, 2013

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful holiday season! But It's not over yet, we still have my personal favourite holiday coming up… New Year's Eve!

Over the holidays I had a bit of time to gather the few items I have around the house and style up my bedside table. Although it's still rather bare looking, it's a start. Also, please forgive the poor photo quality… I'm working on that.


These adorable little macaroons, place on the saucer from my fav teacup, have allowed me to clear the clutter that often litters my bedside table top…


They each store items I consider essential through out the night and morning… breath mints, Advil, and  caffeine (I'm too impatient for tea to kick in). And the candle is from my favourite candle company, Voluspa. If you haven't had the pleasure of burning one in your own home I suggest you pick one up at your nearest Chapters or home decor store. Even the tiniest candles fill the room with a natural scent, much better than those hideously chemical and foul smelling room sprays seen advertised every five minutes on TV (Sorry for the negativity but spraying one of those is the quickest way to get me out of a room).

Here's the whole bedside table… clearly I need more Objet D'art and maybe a basket or box underneath for hidden storage.


Quality

December 20, 2013

"Even when I was a little girl, I was an incredibly picky shopper when it came to my clothes and things for my room. Every August, my mother would set aside a day for us to go shopping for school. I drove her nuts. I'd spend the whole day trying on clothes and come home with just a bag of underwear. I couldn't buy something just to buy it. I'm still exactly the same way." - Dara Caponigro

I have to admit I did the exact same thing to my poor mother when I was a child. In fact, I still shop this way. Sure my home is bare and rather empty at the moment, but I'd rather take my time and slowly fill it with quality pieces that will last me a life time. And quality pieces need not be expensive, you just need to be patient and search Kijiji/Craigslist, antique shops, and second hand shops to find something within your budget. Waiting for sales and floor samples is another great way to bring home a well built piece at an affordable price. 

When I see people compare a well made piece to a bad knock-off made and sold at a fraction of the price and call it a deal I often have to disagree. Many times the knock-offs only somewhat resemble the original and don't look nearly as beautiful because the scale is off or the finish looks cheap. Or the quality isn't there; it feels flimsy and you can tell it was built to break (planned obsolescence). 

Please don't get me wrong though, I'm not a snob. I do shop HomeSense and other discount retailers for accessories and some furnishings and have purchased several great items. I just don't believe in buying pieces that I know won't last more than a few years or that I plan to replace "as soon as" I can afford an upgrade. We live in a throw away society, and I don't prescribe to that way of life. 

"I think people should buy the best they can. I still have the sofa that I had from my first apartment. It has been recovered a couple of times, but I still have it because it was a very good sofa. Sometimes we spend a lot of money on things that are very cheap because that's all we can afford. Ultimately, because they are really cheap, they fall apart." - Bunny Williams

Here's a perfect example of finding deals on Kijiji…

This Oly bed retails for upwards for $7000


and is being sold for $1800 on my local Halifax Kijiji.



What's your opinion? Have you ever purchased something you thought was a deal just to have it break a short while later?

Christmas in a Teacup

December 19, 2013

My sweetie brought home a bouquet of very festive looking flowers last night. Since I'm a fan of unconventional "vases", they promptly went into my grandmothers poinsettia china teacup which my mother was kind enough to give me this Christmas.

It's starting to feel more Christmasy in here.


More Animal Print

December 17, 2013

As you now know I absolutely love animal print in large doses. But good animal print material can be hard to find. I find it can look really tacky if the scale or colours are off. Scalmandre offers the most amazing leopard and tiger print velvet one could possibly imagine. But at over $1000 a yard and about $300 for scrap on eBay a more budget friendly fabric needs to be found.

Kravet makes a line of animal print fabric (which is still pricey at $330 a yard) that's not too shabby. 








What do you think? Would you use animal print in your own home?

And I'd also like to add these photos found over at Habitually Chic demonstrating the pairing of animal prints I had mentioned in a previous post.




Guest Posting Today at The Glam Pad

December 16, 2013

Yay! I'm guest posting today over at The Glam Pad!
Go check out my post. And if you are new to Andrea's blog spend some time looking through her past posts… pure fabulousness!


My Favourite Rule to Break

December 12, 2013

My favourite rule to break is the one that states that a room should have no more than one animal print. The fear is that with two or more animal prints a room may veer into tacky safari territory and while this is a valid fear, if one is careful, two or more animal prints can be pulled off with great success.

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In fact I'd like to make a step forward and create a new rule, for myself at least. Every room should have an animal print, even a small touch. Look at this bedroom designed by Miles Redd. Dare I say the cheetah carpet takes the room from overly traditional to fun and sexy?


And here are a few more homes that make ample use of natures greatest patterns…



Aerin Lauder



"Zebrine"












Miles Aldridge

December 5, 2013

Hello Gorgeous! 

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This gorgeous photo was taken by Miles Aldridge for Vogue Italia and featured in the March 2011 issue. It's currently being offered at 1stDibs as are several other works by Miles.



The moment I laid I eyes on it… I was haunted… I hadn't seen it before… but I had. What I had seen was this photo from the same issue…


I've had this saved in my inspiration photos for years. And every time I came across it I. Just. Stop. 

I've happened upon Miles Aldridge's photographs many times and not known the artist behind the camera. His work is captivating. I've even read this purely for the cover artwork…



I can't even begin to articulate what it is about his work that I find so hypnotizes me. So I'm just going to sit here and wish these adorned my walls and let you scroll through the remainder. 

And on a final note… maybe I'm not crazy after all for seeing ad campaigns and fashion editorials and wanting to frame them as artwork?






Random Wednesday

December 4, 2013

I'm really going to have to get a better blogging camera because I wish the following picture would do justice to this pretty wallpaper…


It was taken at Foxy Moon, an Aveda salon I walk by on my way to and from work. I love it when people choose bold pattern and colour and just take it all the way. The coffered-style ceilings were painted out in an exact match to the purple background (super pet peeve when a "close but not quite" situation exists) and the remainder of the salon was colour matched to the aqua in the flowers. So pretty!

This past weekend I felt the need to "educate" myself. I had shown you the easter egg lavender swatch I tried in this post and had decided not to move forward with this particular colour. But I got to thinking... I have enough to cover one wall and while I know it won't look good I have to repaint the entire room anyway. Wouldn't it be a nice way to double check my instincts? And so I did. 


What I learned was that not only was the colour ALL WRONG, it brought attention to problem areas I cannot change. The old orange parquet flooring and not so glamorous popcorn ceilings seemed to jump to attention. So what I may end up doing is sticking to a shade in the white and off-white section of the colour spectrum. Or a white background wallpaper similar to these ones
 selected by one of my fav bloggers Christine Dovey at Bijou and Boheme.



And a little shout out to another fabulous Canadian blogger Tim Lam at Design Maze and his spectacular Christmas Eiffel Tower…



So envious!





A Blue and White Christmas

December 2, 2013

I've put together a little post to participate in The Pink Pagoda's December Blue and White Bash. Stop by her lovely shop to pick up some blue and white loveliness of your own!

A blue and white Christmas tree is a fun yet classic departure from the traditional red and green. My own tree is blue and white and has also been aqua and white. As much as I would have liked to have shown you a styled version of my tree I haven't gotten it put up yet this year (I did include a photo of my kitty hiding in the tree from a few years back). So I will show you two of my favourite blue and white Christmas inspiration photos… 

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This look with the disco ball topper I fell head over heels with a few years back and used the idea in my own home… I wish I had a proper photo to show. 


And this is Arlene hiding amongst the paper pom poms.