Great Canadian Blogs

At January's Canadian Design Bloggers meet-up I discovered SO MANY amazing, smart, beautiful, and inspirational Canadian blogs.  My google reader instantly doubled in size, and I pledged to make a separate Canadian blog roll on the side.  With the next meet-up of the Canadian Design Bloggers happening this Saturday (so excited) I figured it was HIGH TIME to get my act together and make good on my pledge!  So there it is, over on the side, and honestly, it grows pretty much every day. I am sure after Saturday's festivities it will expand even more!  I thought I would pick just a few to highlight so you can add them to your readers too.  Here are some of the ones I jump to when I see they have a new post up:

The Lindsay behind Aubrey & Lindsay's Little House Blog is the same mutli-talented lady who is running the Bloggers Give Back project that I keep blogging about.  She is so sweet and approachable, and that kind personality shines through in her writing.  The blog is her account of all the work she and her husband have done and are doing to their house, both major and minor.  It also includes other fun tid-bits from her life, including accounts of their adorable son, parties, cake making, her business (Penny People Designs) and life in the Upper Beaches of Toronto.  Their Ikea Rast hack has been seen just about everywhere on the web, and even I have been tempted to try it.

Jen writes this great DIY home blog called Rambling Renovators, and the things she and her Handyman husband have done to their Toronto house are outstanding.  It is therefore no surprise that this blog has been profiled in House & Home, Style at Home, the Globe and Mail, Apartment Therapy, Design*Sponge, and on and on and on!  She even went on the Nate Berkus Show to show how they did the paneling in the bedroom.  They also have an adorable little girl, who has inspired beautiful birthdays and crafts that Jen is kind enough to share - in really thoughtful parenting posts.  Again, a girl with similar taste to mine, but with the guts to take on big projects and do them brilliantly (and with a garage workshop I completely envy).

Sarah has a great blog called Sarah Wandering, and again, (in my opinion) beautiful taste.  An architectural designer by trade, she uncovers some stunning homes and buildings online. She also shares her own unique style in chronically the decor in her home in Toronto, and I especially love when she uses objects from her family's treasure trove in the Southwest-Ontario farm town where she grew up.  Her DIYs are kind of legendary, and probably occupy 50% of my "Someday I Will Do That" list.  Also she has great hair, and an adorable lab.

Bess Callard is a talented graphic designer based in Montreal with a sweet shop of kids (or adult!) prints.  She is also the Illustrator for Pure Green magazine, a fantastic online magazine with a focus on eco-inspired living.  Her English Muffin blog is full of lovely photos and finds, but my favourite is her Canadiana series, which highlights the work of Canadian artisans.  She also chooses some great music, and hers is one of those blogs that I keep clicking through to see where she finds things!  Oh and someday I will do this project.  Someday.

Shannon is another Toronto-based blogger who has a fun feminine style.  Her What's Up Whimsy blog is full of eye candy, funky finds, and original DIYs.  She just finished her son's room and it is unlike any you have seen on other blogs, which is not easy to do.  She also dabbles in event design, and her son's last birthday was also totally original.  She has a series on her blog called A House is not a Home without Craig's List, which as you can imagine, I am completely addicted to.

I have only recently discovered Barbara's Vancouver-based Hodge Podge blog but I am already hooked.  She is the DIY Queen of Canada (I enjoy handing out royal titles).  Her projects are always stylish and affordable, and just enough of a stretch beyond my skills that I think I could learn to do them (well some of them).  Her column So Canadian, eh? is what brought me to her blog.  Barbara interviews people connected to the Canadian style and design community in an effort to bring them some exposure and somehow identify what constitutes "Canadian style."  Her recent interview with Christiane Lemieux of Dwell Studio is one of my faves.

Renee's blog Eat. Live. Shop. is an obvious obsession.  I mean, it is called "Eat. Live. Shop." for pete's sake.  She has the funkiest style, and has introduced me to many new clothing and jewellery designers through her posts.  She puts together some fashion mood boards that combine things that I would never have thought of together, and always inspire me to push beyond my boring basics (although I never really do...).  She has great DIY's of the "I could totally do that this weekend" variety, and her column Cool Shit is chock full of, well, cool shit.

I will try not to sound like a gushing, mildly overly obsessive fan when I describe this blog.  It is one of the first ones I check every day.  Mostly because I have decided I want to be Emma when I grow up.  Her house is beautiful, so perfectly but uniquely styled, and recently got a Sneak Peak tour on Design*Sponge (another one of my all-time fave blogs).  Her taste is 100% my style, only waaaaay better.  Plus she works as an exhibition designer at the AGO, which at one point in my life was my dream job (I even have a degree in Museum Studies).   Her Hello Neighbour posts are the highlight of my voyeuristic blog reading: all homes in the Parkdale area of Toronto, all with exceptional style, all beautifully and professionally photographed.  Heaven for someone who tries to peek into people's homes when I am out on a walk in the evening to see how they have decorated (don't tell me you don't do this!).

OK, there are about a dozen more I was going to add, but my wine and some sleep are calling my name.

But rest assured - click on any link in that blog roll and you will find gold.  Solid, Canadian gold.