A little belated birthday inspiration...

Yesterday happened to be the birthday of one of my nearest and dearest, Heather. Although this post is a little belated, I thought I'd use her (and her impeccable style) for this week's inspiration post! To my eye, H has a very distinctive style. In part, graphic (black and white alllllll over); in part, vintage (she has the most amazing distressed wood coffee table/bench); in part, feminine (the girl loves herself a floral); with lots of light and everything in its place.

Here are a few images that represent Heather's style, as I see it:

By Sarah Hartill, via Canadian House & Home

Joanna Goddard's bedroom, by Jenny Komenda

Home of Jane & Matt Martino, via The Design Files Daily

By Amber Lewis, via Glitter Guide

By Kirsty Froelich for The Tile Shop

By Megan Young, via Aesthetic Oiseau, featuring Chiang Mai fabric, also used below!

And a little room board I put together with Lady H in mind:

Happy Happy H! xo

Winter Pinterest Challenge Reveal

It's Pinterest Challenge time again! Some of you may recall the upholstered headboard I made for the Fall Pinterest Challenge, hosted by John & Sherry of Young House Love and Katie of Bower Power Blog. The challenge is simple - actually DO something that you've pinned on Pinterest.

For this season's challenge, I decided to keep with my desk prettifying theme and make some cute pen and pencil cups! After scrolling through my "do" pinboard, I found these images to use for inspiration:

Original source unknown. 

Photo by The Beauty Department

Rope-Wrapped Tin Can

Supplies:
Mini glue gun, glue sticks, rope, and a can of soup.

Difficulty level: Pretty dang simple.
Time commitment: ~15 minutes
I removed the label (and had the soup for lunch) and washed the can, so it looked like this:

Then, once my glue gun had time to heat up, I put a dot of glue along the bottom and held the end of the rope to the glue for approximately 10 seconds.

Then I continued around the can, putting a dot of glue every few centimetres and pressing the rope to the glue.

End result!

Glass-Painted Jar

Supplies:
Glass jar, Martha Stewart metallic glass paint in Champagne, small paint brush. (I didn't end up using the foam brush.)

Difficulty level: Easy-peasy. But if you're a perfectionist, you need a steady hand.
Time commitment: ~30 minutes
This jar was new, so I didn't bother washing it. I just removed the lid, squeezed some paint onto a piece of scrap cardboard, and used the little brush to paint every other line of diamonds in a pseudo-harlequin pattern.

One coat was DEFINITELY not enough.

Neither was two.

I ended up doing three coats of paint (letting them dry about 30 minutes between coats), which made the coverage nice and opaque.

End Result!

And here they are in my space:

I love the way they turned out! It was a simple and quick project and really shows that something can be both functional and attractive. Of course, it does mean that I have to have matching pens and pencils now, haha.

What do you think?

P.S. Here are the links to the super creative projects completed by Pinterest Challenge hosts, Sherry & John, Katie, Megan, and Michelle.

Shrimp with Kiwi-Lime Relish

Last night, I made one of my favourite meals. It's super fast, super easy, and SO good. Shrimp with Kiwi-Lime relish:

It's from one of my most-used cookbooks, Power Foods:

Here's the recipe. Serves 2.

Ingredients:

1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped. If you don't like it spicy - make sure the seeds and ribs are removed. I also chop mine wearing rubber gloves because of an unfortunate incident last summer where I transferred jalapeno juice from my hands to my eyes. OH, THE BURNING!!!!!

1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice. I use the juice of one small lime, rather than measuring it out.

2 kiwifruits, peeled and diced.

1/4 cup of cilantro, finely chopped. I usually use fresh cilantro but had the packaged squeeze bottle of cilantro on hand, so I used that instead. One tablespoon of the packaged cilantro is equivalent to one tablespoon of fresh. Also, I usually use a bit less cilantro than the recipe calls for - just out of personal preference. 

16-20 large raw shrimp. I buy mine frozen, peeled, and deveined - mostly because I can't handle eating shrimp that still look like they could swim away. Use whatever you'd like, just make sure they're thawed  first. The recipe only calls for 5 shrimp per person, but I love shrimp, so I make more.

1-2 tablespoons of mild-tasting oil, like canola or vegetable.

2 pieces of Naan bread. I used pocketless pitas because I couldn't find Naan at Pete's and didn't have time to go elsewhere. Use Naan if you can find it. If not, the pocketless pitas are a good alternative.

Sea salt, to taste.

Directions:

1. Mix the jalapeno pepper and lime juice together. Add kiwi. Add cilantro. Add a little salt (I used sea salt). Taste. If you want it to be spicier, add more jalapeno. If you want it to be more tart (tarter?), add more lime juice. If you want it to be sweeter, add more kiwi. If you happen to love cilantro, by all means, add some more. Make it your own.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Cook the thawed shrimp for 2-3 minutes per side, until pink & opaque. I like to sprinkle them with coarse sea salt just after I've dropped them in the pan. The recipe calls for a little regular salt - your choice. If you're watching your salt, I'm sure they would taste fine without salt too.
3. Toast Naan bread (or pita) in the oven for a couple of minutes. I put mine on broil and watch carefully - they can burn quick! You just want them to get warm and a tiny bit toasted.
4. Serve! Spoon kiwi-lime relish over the shrimp and serve with a side of Naan and a WHOLE bunch of napkins. I eat it like you would Ethiopian food, by ripping off sections of the bread and using them to scoop up the shrimp/relish. This is VERY messy, thus the napkins. If you can think of a better way to eat this meal, feel free to let me know in the comments, haha.

If you make it, be sure to pop back and let me know your thoughts! 

Eye(Phone) Candy

Any Haligonians reading this blog likely need no introduction to Attica, but for those less local, Attica is an amazing design/furniture store in downtown Hali. It's been a few months since I last popped in, so a Saturday afternoon trip was in order this past weekend. They have a TON of amazing pieces right now. Here are a few that caught my eye:

Several stunning grey couches. (I had photos of about 6 different grey couches, but I figured that might be a little excessive to share - but if grey couches are your steeze, Attica is where it's at.)

Beautiful bar stools. I die for the wooden one, but if I had to choose, I'm not sure if I could resist the vintage industrial vibe of those metal Marais stools.

Killer lighting of all sorts. How ridiculous is that bottle chandelier?!

Three different table set-ups. Different styles (Industrial, Midcentury, Rustic) but all equally gorgeous. 

A very cool desk.

Adorable side table.

And this beauty graphic rug.

I'm crazy impressed with Attica right now - this was just the tip of the eye candy iceberg. Anyone else drooling over their current stock?