Upload: June 22, 2010

Fresh white peonies and some fireplace renderrings in my studio

Well its been 3 weeks since my last Upload here.....which coincided with the peak of peony season around my house,,,,,and that lasted all of about 1 week this year.   They bloomed faster than I could cut them and then a few days of hard rain destroyed anything that was left on the bushes.  Such a shame I just wanted to cry,,,,,,um, actually I think I did.  So then, picking up here where I left off you'll see the last of my peony photos for this year! : (  

I was stacking the peonies wherever I could find a spot.  

I was like the Peony Express,,,I was taking them to friends and clients!

If you remember my last upload post you'll remember a vintage dresser I found at the Aberfoyle antique market, I delivered it to my clients and had her handyman hang the mirror above.

The mirror was purchased a couple of months ago and was waiting for the dresser, it was nice to finally get these pieces in place.  The dresser was perfect for this spot,,it was only 18" deep and had 5 drawers.

Mirror is from HomeDepot, flowers are from Chapters. All it needs is a couple more accessories  (Doors, floor and wall colour were all pre-existing when I came on board, and all had to stay as is).

It is possible to find some really cool fixtures for not a lot of money.

I can't help it, there are usually about 2 or 3 shots like this a day - Iphone is so touchy!

Now off to source some items for a rooftop deck...

Making fabric selections for new outdoor furniture

We're thinking about these for the rooftop deck too,,,,the large size

A lighting option for end tables..

A modern outdoor light fixture option....

This one isn't the one for this project but I love the pattern this fixture throws off, dramatic!

I sat down last week for a long chat with one of the owners of a new furniture store coming to the Caledonia & Castlefield design district.  He sketched out the floor plan floor for the new showroom and has shown me tons of photos of the product they'll be selling.  I've been hearing all about the progress of this new store for months now so it'll be intersting to see it evolve.  It's called Shelter Furniture, you can check out their facebook page here for a sneak peek of what's to come.

One of my favorite pieces soon to be available at Shelter Furniture

  

Before photo: I'm currently designing a new island for this client's kitchen, but were not stopping there, the entire kitchen is going to get a complete modern facelift.  Oh and the floor,,,that's going too!

And in my spare time (!?),,,,,I'm helping a family member finish his kitchen reno.  He needs cabinets stat, so I helped him get that all sorted out.  See drawings taped to hood!

I've been searching for a certain pair of night tables for about 5 months now,,,the search continues.

At first i like these lamps (almost love them) but I hesitate, I know if I start to see them en masse, I'll hate them.  But oh how I love a black shade!

Entrance to Gail's Kitchen, in the midst of construction as I arrived for a site meeting last week.

Things are moving along, framing, electrical and plumbing inspections have been passed and the drywall went up last week.  This is the view from the family room up into the kitchen.

I tweeted last week that if no one bought this chair, I would.  But it wouldn't fit in my car and I don't currently have my own mod patio for it, or a client for it.  My basement is already full of chairs.  I envision it spray painted with a new fabulous cushion and a funky side table.  C'mon,,,its only $95, I can't believe no one's bought it yet!!!

  

I may need to rent a storage locker soon.  I spotted this set of nesting tables outside an antique store in Oakville and I can't stop thinking about them.  I wish I had a client for these, I'm crazy for them.  This is the type of thing that takes a room to the next level.  When you have a room full of new furniture, you need to add something like this.  Its the unexpected thing you can't ever plan on finding or imagine you'd ever buy but once you see it in place it makes the room.  I can envision this even though its on the sidewalk and believe me, it would be stunning!  Look at the tourquoise detail......

And this chair,,,,,yes it needs some new fabric but this,,is the quintessential accent chair and it would make quite a statement in any space.  Love it.

I'm so influenced by the weather, my moods and my appetite.  I love the rain, I always have.  We've had a lot of it lately and the other day it was the strangest of days, it was a mix of both brilliant sunshine and torrential downpours.  Rubber boots and Ray-bans, I think those are the best kind of rainy days....

All Photos:  Carol's Iphone

Upload: May 31, 2010

I take a lot of photos every day and I upload them onto my laptop 2 or 3 times a week, sometimes hundreds at a time.  Collectively these photos are a snap shot of where I've been, what I've been sourcing, what I've been working on, job site progress, what I find inspiring, things I love, and things that I find interesting and worth keeping on file for future reference.   Here's a small sampling of the latest images uploaded from my camera.  Starting with the photo above - freshly cut peonies from my garden, I'm surrounded by them as I type this and the scent is heavenly...... : )

The month of May marks the beginning of the outdoor antique season, I made a trip to the Aberfoyle market a couple of Sundays ago in search of a painted dresser and a pair of night tables (for 2 different clients).  I arrived late in the afternoon so I only had time for some quick browsing but was lucky enough to hit the jackpot.  It didn't take long to spot this dresser and I scooped it up instantly, it was a STEAL.

The dresser is for the 70's sidesplit I recently furnished for a single mom and her daughter, it'll go in the guest bedroom, pictured below...

Oh, the ones I left behind, sadly these beauties didn't come home with me,,,,I really really really wanted them, they had the most incredible blackened brown patina and they were solid.  I have no place for them in particular but still I didn't want to pass them up, especially when they were only $15 ea.!!  $15!!!  If it wasn't for the fact I had zero room, not even an inch of space left in my car that day, these would be safely at home in my basement right now. : (

Trendspotting,,,,,,I couldn't help but notice these butter urns or crockery pots everywhere at the market,,,I mean everywhere.   I also spotted these in the latest Pottery Barn catalogue so it seems the vendors are taking their cues from the home decor industry.  I love the simple utilitarian form of them, the typography  and their oversized scale.  Today I would put a big huge bunch of fresh cut pink peonies in one of these.

I'm in the early stages of working on some design concepts for a rooftop deck which hopefully will be built this summer.  I've been checking out what's available in ready made cushions so that we can mix these with some custom made.  This chaise from West Elm was particularly interesting to me as it reclined completely flat becoming a bench, which makes it doubly useful for entertaining....

A trip to DFO to scout out their in-stock outdoor fabric selection,,,I just pulled out the ones that caught my eye and started mixing.  I love this large graphic floral and this graphic geometric together, they both had a modern feel.  The colour is actually a beautiful very orange/red but seems to read more red in my photos.

This stripe worked well with the large floral above, but I think i would use it sparingly in a candy stripe piping detail or for the sides around a box cushion.

I wasn't looking for navy at all but loved this combo, especially with some nice crisp white piping!

I think I would have liked this more if the yellow was more vibrant.  I think the tourqoise print below would make this trio more dynamic.  For outdoor fabrics, I prefer to stay away from too much green because I like all the green to come from the grass, trees and plantings.

Think I would nix the solid green here for the yellow floral above.  All in all,,,not a hugely successful trip as I was looking for more prints with tourquoise and more modern graphics in general, but definitely some possibilities.

I was impressed with the distressed antique pewter finish on this Entry Set by Rona, part of the Rona Collection.

This striped runner at Home Depot had me thinking I needed to use this somewhere, and I wish they had more colour options.  How fun is this!

Trendspotting.......I took this photo simply because I'm seeing this buckle detail in many different places lately, on furniture, on vases,,,on handbags....... on pillows like this one at Pottery Barn.  Speaking of Pottery Barn....

Dear Pottery Barn:  Your lamp shades are always too small for your lamps.  I've mentioned this to sales associates many times who reply "the merchandising manual says that table lamps always get medium size shades".  I don't care - to my eye they look oddly disproportionate.

  

Dear Pottery Barn:  Last week when I was in the store to pick-up a bar stool that's been on back-order since January (yes, 5 months!), I noticed this sign beside the cash desk and was very excited.  I thought finally, you've been listening to all the complaining I've been doing and have actually brought your CDN prices more inline with your US pricing.  Then I noticed the fine print says to look for select products with a maple leaf to realize these savings.  Honestly, I looked around the entire store, twice, and didn't see a single item with the maple leaf??   Is this a trick?  Is my bar stool in yet.......

A lovely whimsical branch chandelier seen at Sheridan Nurseries....this needs a cottage, preferrably one with an all white board & batten interior.

All Photos:  Carol Reed