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Pattern Play

Tuesday, January 22

I'm not the kind of girl who shies away from patterns. I know some people prefer to play it safe and consider stripes to be a bold pattern. If that's the case, this may not be the room for you, haha. Personally, I can't get enough. When patterns are complementary in terms of colours, they can add so much life to a room and still create a cohesive whole. This is a room I was playing around with earlier this week and thought I would share. Hope you enjoy!

P.S. A few of these pieces were sourced from local places - the chair, double gourd lamps, and globe pendant are all from Attica and the industrial chests are from London Loft. The printed sheets, although not local, are Canadian - available on Modern Karibou's website. Click on the items below the mood board for a larger photo of the item/link to website, if you're interested.

Pattern Play


Vintage Kilim IV
890 CAD - shopfurbish.com


Linea Full Bed
1,285 CAD - crateandbarrel.com


Kentwell Stripe Fabric
87 CAD - fabricsandpapers.com


PB Essential Duvet Cover & Sham - White
14 CAD - potterybarn.com


Circle Jig Mirror
345 CAD - anthropologie.com


Kantha Chevron Pillow Cover
29 CAD - westelm.com


Random Sparkle Pillow Cover
44 CAD - westelm.com


Alyson Fox Triangles Pillow Cover
34 CAD - westelm.com


Small White Cutaway Vase
42 CAD - etsy.com


Pinched Corners Tea Bowl
38 CAD - anthropologie.com



Irving Chest of Drawers
onekingslane.com


jensen
attica.ca



double gourd
attica.ca




Hollywood Spotlight
homemint.com


Snap Pea Bud Vases
homemint.com


string
attica.ca


The New Nautical

Friday, January 18

I've noticed this colour scheme popping up all over the place lately and personally, I just can't get enough. In my head, I've termed it the new nautical - but I doubt that's the official term, haha. Something about the combination of crisp white, weathered wood, and navy blue or grey screams the ocean to me. Or whispers it gently on a breeze... :P It makes me think of a cottage on a bluff, overlooking crashing waves. Otherwise known as perfection.

As much as growing up on the ocean has given me an appreciation for all things nautical - I'm kindof anti-theme when it comes to design, even for kids' rooms. I think they date quickly and then you're left with this room that's so specific, it's hard to figure out how it can evolve with you and your lifestyle. That's what makes this combo so perfect - it's the best kind of nautical - crisp and fresh but still subtle. Not a sailboat painting or old anchor in sight. Although, if you had a vintage anchor you wanted to gift me, I wouldn't say no....
By Catherine Kwong Design
From Colin & Justin, via decor happy
From Colin & Justin, via decor happy
Via Madrid Apartments (As far as I can tell...)
via Style at Home
Via Casa Sugar
Via Lonny Magazine
By Jill Unger, via Quadrille Fabrics
By Lisa Sherry Interieurs
Via Southern Living
Via Oomph Online


Something old...

Sunday, January 13

This weekend, we did a bunch of vintage shopping around the city. Although there weren't as many options as there used to be, what with the advent of people selling their own things on Kijiji, we did find a few gems, which I thought I'd share here.

Renovaters Resource on Maynard was ahhhhmazing! I'd heard of it but had never dropped in. So many great pieces - a little bit pricy, but that could be because they actually understand the value of things, haha. Gorgeous church pews, beautiful doors, clawfoot tubs, knobs and hardware, barn board. All kinds of gems. A few things sparked my imagination for future projects. Near the front door, they had this huge door, painted with chalkboard paint:
Such a fun idea! Gorgeous vintage doors can add amazing vertical interest to a room. You can use them as a headboard, room divider, or even just prop one up against a wall to add a layer of depth to the room. I loved how they painted the interior panel with chalkboard paint to make a message board - great for to-do lists in an office, weekly meal planning in a kitchen, or reminders in the foyer. I also thought it might be cool to paint the interior panels with magnetic primer, which is fairly inexpensive. You can paint over it with whatever colour paint you'd like and then the door becomes a place to post up notes, photos, reminders, etc. You could even use one as a place for rotating art! Pick up some small unobtrusive magnets and rotate through different prints, depending on your mood or the season, OR use it to post up kids' artwork. Fun and easy to do!
This door is smaller and might look great hung on the wall.
Gorgeous solid wood door to prop up
At Renovators Resource, they also had a pile of barn board and a whole bunch of gorgeous old radiators. We were in the market for a vintage dresser to use as a TV stand (which sadly, we didn't find) - but I started thinking about how interesting the radiators looked and how they would make an amazing base for a TV stand if they were sprayed some amazing colour. You could top the radiator with a piece of wide barn board and have the perfect little stand for a flatscreen TV! I'd be tempted to spray the radiator gold, but you could choose any colour you liked! Here are a couple of my favourite options:
The second one is the perfect size for a TV stand base
Great for a long and low TV stand.
Piles of wide plank distressed boards.
At Finer Things on Agricola, they had so many interesting pieces. Lots of little odds and ends and a few serious personality pieces. They had this gorgeous black trunk with engraved brass plates:
The best part about this trunk was the engraving - it belonged to Ervin Theadore Miller of Halifax, Nova Scotia! A beautiful piece with a personal touch.
They also had these amazing gears! Wouldn't a few of these look so great on a mantle or bookshelf? Such interest.
And I can never resist a vintage wooden crate - this one was by Freeman's. They make wonderful receptacles for magazines, blankets, hats & mittens, etc.
After that, we hit up Rusty Hinges in the Hydrostones. They have tons of distressed country pieces, if that's your steeze. I thought this cabinet was absolutely stunning - crafted with a vintage window. Wouldn't it make a beautiful linen cabinet?
They also had this ahhhmazing vintage locker.
It's too large to be a school locker; I think it might be military.  Obviously, there was no way to resist its allure ;) Here it is in its new living room location, playing the role of liquor cabinet/bar.
Lamp will be replaced soon.
Stocked with random bits of alcohol found around the house post-New Year's :P
I think the juxtaposition of the glassware with the distressed metal is so interesting. The locker is part of a design project I'm currently working on. I'll share a few sneak peek photos soon!

We also hit up Urban Cottage, Hen House, and Rural Roots, which unfortunately, didn't yield any major scores. Any great vintage/antique stores we missed? Let me know!

The Final Countdown...

Saturday, January 5

If you're looking for more NYE ideas, check out 2014 and 2015!
A few days late, but I have a little New Year's Eve update! I helped decorate for the house party I attended and we wanted to do a few simple things that would make the place look fun and festive without looking tacky - always a risk on NYE. It should come as no surprise to anyone who can read the title of this blog that I was alllll for a little glitz and glimmer. Along with a few store bought decorations (NYE banner, gold glitter garland, etc.), here are the 3 projects I worked on:

(1) Paper Chain
You know you made these as kids. Seriously the easiest project ever. We picked up a package of glitter 5x7 cardstock from the scrapbook section at Michael's. I cut each page into 3 strips, and stapled them in loops together, like so:
We had enough to wrap the whole main bannister and I think it looked pretty cute! I did this project while watching TV and it took maybe 45 minutes.

(2) Gold Tissue Fringe
This project was inspired by the amazing party decorations Natalie over at mintlovesocialclub always creates. I used her tutorial for inspiration, but made a few alterations to suit our purposes. I bought a package of gold tissue paper from Dollarama - there were 8 sheets in the pack. 

I folded the squares in half, so it looked like a 5x1 grid. 

Then I cut the folded part in half...
I cut off the last little square, and then cut the remaining 4 squares in half, like so:
Cut into sections of 2, once the end square was removed
So each original sheet made two large banner sections. Then, I folded the two square piece in half along the existing crease, cut an angle from the centre to 2-3 inches below the side, and cut some fringe:
Folded in half
Cut on angle
Cut fringe
Then, I just unfolded the tissue paper and had a cute little banner section like this:
I did this a whole bunch of times and then attached them together with a little tape on the inside. You could also do it with ribbon, like Natalie did here, but I didn't have anything on hand that would work, so I just stuck them together.
You waste a LOT of tissue doing this though, and I felt really bad - so I decided to use the leftovers to make another banner but this one was half the size. I basically just took one square instead of two and followed the same procedure.
The whole process was very simple. The larger ones took about 30 seconds each once I had the hang of it (after doing 2 or 3) and the smaller ones took 15-20 seconds each. The most time consuming portion was taping them together, and that still only took 20-30 minutes.
We ended up using the smaller banner on the brick fireplace - unfortunately, I didn't get a picture before it started to fall down! The tape we used wouldn't stick to bricks. We ended up just leaving the lower section up, as that was the only part that would stick. The tissue paper is super fragile, so I just ripped off the section that wouldn't stay up. (Because it's super fragile, you also have to be careful you don't rip the tissue when you're making or transporting the banner.)
After the top section had already fallen down...
The larger banner was used as part of project #3...

(3) Photobooth!
Everyone loves a photobooth, so we figured we'd throw one together in a small room off of the living room. We hung 2 sheets of kraft paper on the wall, hung the larger gold tissue fringe banner across the top, and then added a glitzy 2013 that I had made out of gold glitter card stock and plain black card stock that we picked up at Michael's.
Finished product!
I also cut out a bunch of little gold stars from the gold glitter remnants, which we stuck to the banner and used in the middle of the dining table (along with some cheap gold balls) as a makeshift centerpiece.
The extra neat thing about this project was that people were able to email photobooth photos they took with their phone to an email address and the photos would be redirected to a slideshow on the TV! It was super fun and people seemed to love it... judging by how many photos made it into the slideshow. The boy is SUPER tech savvy ;)
Photobooth in action, complete with dollar store props
Bonus Project: Champagne Jello Shots with PopRocks
Another little project I did - although not decor-related - was making Champagne Jello Shots with PopRocks! Among my group of friends, jello shots are ubiquitous - but these ones are slightly (SLIGHTLY) classier. For those of you who don't have the recipe memorized - jello shots are made by replacing the cold water in the jello recipe with alcohol. My friend, J., is the jello shot queen - she even matches the alcohol to the flavour of jello! Most of us are not so skilled, however, and just use vodka. For these particular jello shots, we used champagne instead of vodka - making them extra festive! (and a little bit bubbly!). Then, just before you serve them, sprinkle some PopRocks on each shot! Definitely don't do this in advance though - the PopRocks will start to pop as soon as they hit the jello and will dissolve after a little bit. They were definitely a hit - everyone loves a good nostalgic PopRocks explosion!
So those are the few little party DIYs I did! Super easy, super quick, and super delicious - my favourite trifecta! I'll definitely be breaking out some of these ideas for parties in the future.

Hope you're enjoying 2013 so far!

More NYE ideas here and here!