Colossus!

And so cometh a colossus; an incredible hulk of design which pulsates with functional superiority causing onlookers to drool with adoration and competitors to go green with envy!

This kitchen (or kitchens) has more visual hooks than a fisherman’s tackle box and the sensory layering is certainly focused on stimulating those who are worthy or wealthy enough to sign on the dotted line! 

This superhero of kitchen design has custom curves, integrated mood lighting, multiple luxurious wood veneers, glass, mirrors, solid acrylic doors and a super sexy scallop shell breakfast bar area!  Although the images technically show two separate kitchen concepts the impact is tremendous and the two could easily become one!

Top marks Stoneham!  The Mogul approves!

Interior Design Show 2012

This year's Toronto Interior Design Show did not disappoint. It wasn't mind blowing, but instead, it was more reaffirming. I found that designers and industry professionals alike are all still into the same style as last year, but with new and improved products to build on. The vintage look, mixed with contemporary style was still on the forefront, while traditional design was completely obsolete. Bold colours such as Tangerine Tango was seen everywhere, on everything (check out this post if you missed this year's "it" colour), and reclaimed, reused products still shone bright. Check out a few of the interesting pieces I discovered....

Look at all the vendors. 

AM Studio always has the coolest glass fixtures.

Casa LIfe had these amazing, cloth wall sconces. Now these
make a statement.

GE had a booth with all it's fancy appliances, and the help
of Crate and Barrel to accessorize. Carrera Marble is still
a classic element.

Modallion Carpets collaborated with Barrymore Furniture to create
these Aztec inspired chairs.

Reznick Carpets presented this amazing area rug with individual
letters hand stitched together. Each letter was created with animal
hide.

UpCountry was showing off the rustic chandelier look.

Elte showed off hand dyed and made rugs. Colour is
seriously back!

Caesarstone, which is a quartz company, blew me away with
their new collection. This particular solid surface is made of
petrified wood! It was a stunner, and it's cost matched it's
beauty!

Lovely Tea Towels

I'm choosing a white kitchen I can have beautiful tea towels like these. Wouldn't they be that gorgeous pop of fun colour? Etsy Seller Helen Rawlinson makes these beautiful printed towels that would be oh so perfect in our home but I think that they would be equally as lovely turned into pillows. Anyhow, just some Etsy love for today. I'm much behind on e-mail replies and business picked up over last week - although juggling it all sometimes seems like too much, life has been making my heart feel heavy these days, and keeping busy is keeping me somewhat sane. I try to remember the wise words that my Father tells me, a quote from Winston Churchill - "KBO". And on that note, I sign off  and encourage you to do some retail therapy as I have been doing. ;)

Versatile Kitchen Canvas

Amid this eclectic and somewhat impulsive outpouring of personal and artistic expression lies a kitchen, a kitchen that is small and practical but equally as powerful as the surrounding art.

Its reflective qualities give this kitchen a cloak of many colours allowing it to become absorbed into its artistic and subjectively chosen surroundings.  This cloaking effect allows the colours, light and changing spatial moods to interact with this versatile kitchen canvas!

Who said kitchen design wasn’t artistic!  The Mogul loves this one!!

Kitchen

Aubrey and I visited the AyA Kitchens showroom last week and worked with a designer to come up with a potential floor plan - and a potential quote. What I really appreciated was the designer input into the room plan, she mentioned a few things that we hadn't even really considered, and reaffirmed some design decisions that we had done. A few things we have decided, 1. White Cabinetry 2. Shaker Style Doors 3. White Subway Tile 4. We're going to do hardwood floor, continuing the floor from the hall.

The floor was a debate between Aubrey and I. I really wanted to maintain consistency through the house. And since it's a small house, breaking up the floor just visually broke up the house.

And so we wait to see if we can go custom, we'll source a few prices from others. Anyone do custom, and have any recommendations? Things you wish you had thought of?

Photo found on Pinterest, Source is Michael Roberts Construction

Whirlwind Crazy Fun Times

Last Thursday evening was the start to a very busy 24 hours.

1. Thursday, 5:00pm - Aubrey gets home from work and drives me downtown to the Intercontinental Hotel. There is something I adore about driving into the downtown at night. I love seeing big sky scrapers lit up against the night sky, people dressed up going to shows, shopping, leaving the big towers where they work on Bay Street. I get checked in, and got down to some final preparations for BlogPodium, which was being hosted in the adjoining conference centre the next morning. I unpack, and do some final prep. The room was beautiful, I am a sucker for hotel rooms. I love how everything has a place.

2. 8:00 pm I attended the Interior Design Show Gala with friends (can you spot some awesome bloggers in my midst?) 10:00 pm I ate dinner alone in the Hotel Restaurant. It was kind of weird, but strangely zen eating alone. It was some quiet time I definitely needed. By 110pm, I was back in my hotel room and by Midnight, asleep.

3. Friday, January 27th 6:00 am I wake up to three different alarms (I was so nervous I'd sleep through them all!) - I order room service and Shannon texts me at 7:30 to say she's arrived and is ready to come by to help bring things to our room.

4. 9:30 am BlogPodium was in full gear. Quite simply, it was AWESOME. I was absolutely thrilled at the reaction to the event. And equally excited at the reaction to the fact that our next conversation will be in May, and the topic is "The Business of Blogging" Fun times.

And then....the event ends, I chat unfortunately way too quickly with people, I go back to my hotel room, I have lunch with my brother Peter, who was on site helping us with BlogPodium, and then continue onto the Interior Design Show. By 3pm I was back home, in my own house ....

I'm still unwinding from the high of being around so many cool people. :)

Peek-a-boo kitchen design

Red is an evocative colour, a colour that is passionate and dangerous with the ability to trigger a basic instinct!  By dressing the ovens in a peek-a-boo red glass transforming element this kitchen is desperately trying to seduce its viewer. 

But the allure of this design stretches beyond the tantalising see though red doors!  The heavy set breakfast bar envelops the island giving it a semi-recessed appearance and the patterned texture introduces some much needed contrast to the design.

This kitchen also offers suggestive seating for one and some contemporarily regressive architecture!

BlogPodium

Jennifer and I spent 6 hours on Tuesday stuffing the most fabulous swag bags for BlogPodium. I'm pretty proud that this little idea that Jennifer and I had blossomed into what it is today - awesome bloggers attending, an amazing panel of experts, helpful sponsors, and a series of already planned talks for the upcoming year. What could be better than to meet up with your fellow bloggers, learn from experts, talk, collaborate and socialize.

I have to thank the Interior Design Show for hosting us, and Delta Faucets and OlioBoard for sponsoring the event. We couldn't do it without their support. I know that there was a massive waiting list because we sold out, but sign up here for our newsletter to be the first to know about the next event. And follow the hashtag #BlogPodium tomorrow to follow the conversation. It starts at 9am!

Anyhow, I'm going to sign off for the weekend because tomorrow is the big day, and I'll likely come home after it is done and sleep. :)

Earth Kitchen

Undisputedly contemporary in appearance this kitchen has some seriously understated presence.  The unorthodox use of polished brass and textured stone allows this kitchen to transcend the ages and exude some basic, primeval qualities!

The stone is just beautiful with an almost fluid texture that could be compared to shifting weather patterns above the earth.  This fluidity is matched by the strength and earthy power of engineered brass which caresses the stone in a reassuring embrace!

Great Design!  Fantastic Materials!

Pinterest

Happy Tuesday. I'm a little late to the game of Pinterest, partially due to the fact that I used Internet Explorer and it wouldn't let me use the site properly. Since transitioning to Google Chrome, I've now discovered the pure joy in the site. (And also, since downloading the iPhone App.) You'll likely see me pinning a lot at night, as I lie beside Oscar getting him to sleep, choosing a perfect oppertunity to sneak from the dark room and try to avoid the creaky floor spots that may wake him. Any recomendations on good people to follow? (You can follow me, if you would like here)
Ps., That photo is of my Dad and Me on our Father-Daughter trip to Las Vegas that he took me on. :)

Bohemian Kitchen Design

So you fancy yourself as a kitchen designer, an empathetic translator of human functional need!  Or maybe you would like to be considered an artist, a visual and sensory interpreter of the human soul.  Or should you just reject main stream capitalist society, embrace Mother Earth and become an eco warrior?!

Recycling old cabinetry or using waste packaging such as wooden crates may allow you do solve this professional descriptive dilemma!

napping

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I had a weekend of napping. Yes, I napped all weekend. You see Oscar can't fall asleep without one of us lying down beside him. (I've come to grips with it. It will change one day.) And this weekend I decided that after Oscar fell asleep, instead of sneaking out of the room to do laundry, clean up the house or work - I'd just stay in the room with him.  Some naps I'd fall asleep, others I'd lie beside him and play on my iPhone while he was nestled beside me. It was so perfect just stopping to have nap time. :) That was my weekend, and now we're back to running around like crazy. :)

Herbal Kitchen Garden

This herbal kitchen by Steininger was designed in collaboration with award winning chef Toni Morwald and attempts to bring the outside inside!  It has long been accepted that the modern kitchen is a metaphorical design sledge hammer, knocking down walls and architectural boundaries and causing us to rethink our living patterns.

Bringing the herb garden into your kitchen and therefore your living space not only adds an additional level of convenience and freshness control for the chef but it also adds a new holistic element to the design.  High octane city dwellers may find this really therapeutic allowing them to become detached from the city upon entering the private living space!

Why buy artificially scented candles to induce a feeling of calm and wellbeing when you actually nurture and consume the plants that create the aromas!

Interestingly one of the nicest aesthetical features of this design is the gable end of the island.  There is depth and contrast here and the designers have resisted the urge to have the opposing elements meet in order to create a smooth finish.   Add the colour and variety of the natural vegetation and this is a great multi-sensory hook!

What wasn't blogged about

A lot happened this past week. It was a little nuts, but that seems to be the theme around here.

• It has been busy with work, launching new products (see my business blog for some highlights) 
• We're gearing up for BlogPodim which is next Friday. I had lunch with Leigh Ann and Jennifer on Tuesday to go over the conversation. [Picture] 
• Oscar, Aubrey and I went to the Ontario Science Centre, which was sooo much fun. [Picture] I love that we have a yearly membership - I plan on going every week during this cold, yucky weather. 
• We bought a ottoman for our living room from Chair Table Lamp after seeing Kevin do a post about new products. We've been on the lookout for an ottoman for a long time and this was perfect. More on this next week. [Picture above]

Have a lovely weekend!

Art from Etsy

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I'm a sucker for original art - paintings to be exact. I see lovely paintings in higher end shops, but the price is very limiting. A week ago I installed the Etsy app on my iphone and I have had the best time finding art as I lie in bed. :) Here are some pieces that I enjoy. Vintage and new, and oh so lovely. (And I may have bought one or two that you see above)

Gorging on every kitchen morsel!

A good meal will have various courses, strategically planned culinary layers that although different in texture and taste will work together in a way that amplifies the sensory pleasure. 

The layers and textures in this kitchen work in the same way, it is only the human sense that is gorging on each visual morsel that is different.

Great design!

Baseboards Add Architectural Detail

One of the details most people notice in old homes is the interesting, tall baseboards. That was one of the selling features of my house, although, there was few places of it left around. Although I did discuss the possibility of coloured baseboards (see post here), it seemed too design forward for this space and worried me from a resale perspective. Instead, I stayed classic with Cloud White baseboards.

Here is some of the old baseboard in my house. Sanding, a
new shoe mould (the small piece of moulding that sits on the floor),
a new coat of paint and it looks freshened up. The original copper
grate also lends to the "old" look.

Because this baseboard was left in a few spots, I tried to find a similar height to match. One thing I did stray away from was the curvaceous look of this baseboard, and instead went with a more streamlined, Mission style baseboard.

Simpler baseboard, with the same "beefy" height. Also notice the
added details in the door frame; A plinth (the block on the bottom of the
door frame) was added to be reminiscent of  the era. One more coat of
 paint and filler and these baseboards and trim are done! Phew.

This is something you notice in this house, but often, most people don't even notice these details in their own house. Typically, it's because a standard baseboard was used. 

Check out the various sizes and their impact!
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This is something to keep in mind when moving into a new home. If it's a builder home, see if they can upgrade the trims and baseboard. Or better yet, here is how you can fudge a tall baseboard, according to Chatelaine:

Start with a standard 6 1/2" baseboard. This one (first image above) is from Home Depot and costs less than $2 per linear foot. If you're going for a little height, add a 1 3/4" panel moulding (sometimes called chair rail moulding).  This one (second image) is about $1.50 per foot. You've now got a 8 1/4" highly profiled baseboard.

Felling a little bolder? Try placing it an inch or so above the first baseboard, and painting the baseboard, section of wall and top moulding the same trim colour. You've now (third image) got a baseboard that's almost 10" tall. 

It's a small detail that can make a BIG difference to your home! Take a look at your baseboards and see if they need a little "beefing" up!

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