Here Comes the Sun!

Is it possible to get drunk on sunshine?  Because I feel like I have been the past couple of days - stumbling around all squinty-eyed with a big grin, saying things like "oh it's just so BEAUTIFUL!" and "just look at the SKY!" and "I love yoouuuuu....."  I mean, it could be the wine I had with breakfast, but I'm thinking it's the sun.

There is something about yellow that just makes a person smile, no? I have some new yellow tulips stuffed in a vase in the kitchen and they just put me in the best mood.  They're so damned cheerful.

The way they brighten the space makes me want to switch out all my accents to yellow for spring. Candles, paint some wooden candle sticks, pillows, artwork, a throw... I mean not too much because that's just obnoxious, but little bits here and there to make everyone smile.

These paint colours are just the sort of shade I have in mind.  They would look pretty in a powder room, or a sun room, or maybe inside a closet or bookshelf!

1. Pratt & Lambert Shantung

2. Benjamin Moore Butter

3. Sherwin Williams Fun Yellow

4. Behr Lively Yellow

5. Benjamin Moore Hawthorn Yellow

6. Benjamin Moore Moonlight Natura

7. Behr Lemon Souffle

8. Benjamin Moore Lemon Sorbet

9. Benjamin Moore Sundance

Side note: It's so crazy how colour is not an absolute.  All of these yellows look completely different when you put them beside other yellows than they do when you see them on their own or with another colour. The Sherwin Williams colour (3) looks almost green here but seemed like such a sunshiny yellow in my file.  And they all look way more pink than they did in my Photoshop!

Of course, there's always wallpaper too - maybe because we had pretty yellow wallpaper in my front hall growing up, I always think fondly of yellow wallpaper.

How gorgeous is this Thibault wallpaper as seen in Better Homes & Gardens?

or this stunning Harvest Hare wallpaper?

I can't find the source on this other than here - any ideas?

pretty Farrow & Ball wallpaper from a Design*Sponge tour

If a whole wall seems extreme, what about putting a frame around it?

How fun is this Graham & Brown wallpaper?

more Farrow & Ball yumminess

and more!

For an effective splash of colour, one could always paint a door yellow - I love how happy they look. Too bad we have aluminum and glass doors...

via Simply Grove

via Modern Maggie

via jdrushphoto

via Apartment Therapy

via Real Sliding Hardware

via Remodelista

via The Art of Old

And of course, you can always count on Etsy when you need a spot of colour.  Etsy never disappoints.

Poster, Pillow, Shower Curtain, Light, Bedding, Vase

Yellow: I think you get the idea.  Have I convinced anyone? And now instead of looking up yellow on my computer, I'm going to go out and enjoy the sunshine!

Peace out.

Bathroom mural ideas

The other day Jen at Rambling Renovators posted a link to a mural she liked that led me to the Canadian website anewall.com.  What an awesome site!  They specialize in historic, and I assume royalty-free prints for your home in large sizes, including wall mural decals.  I could lose myself for hours on their site, and their blog, but when I came across this painting above in the wall mural section, my imagination went a bit crazy.

A Dreamy Bathroom

These are my colours - muted blues, greys, a hint of green, and cream.  While I would be thrilled to have this on just about any wall of my house, for some reason it got me thinking bathrooms - perhaps because I could imagine lounging in a soaker tub gazing out enormous (but well-insulated) windows looking over a stormy sea like the one pictured.  What?  You don't have daydreams like that?  Weird.

Anyway, I spent much too much time flitting about the web, collecting items for my dream bath.  Of course the room is enormous, because to me the epitome of luxury is a huge bathroom (that and a walk-in closet).  I ended up with so many ideas I had to do a couple of boards.

Go with the Design Flow

Here's the funny thing: these boards looked WAY less alike in my head as I was doing them than they ended up. I started out with two completely different people in mind, but when I look at them together I sort of did the same room twice.  Not sure if that means I have a distinct style, or that I have no imagination. :)

Also, neither room looks quite like the ideal image I had in my head when I saw the painting.  It could be that this is where mood boards don't quite capture the essence of a room.  However, I also think that this is true to life in any design - you start with a concept and in fleshing it out you adapt it to the things you find and the pieces available, and it sort of modulates along the way.  I quite love how both the rooms represented above turned out! 

What do you think?  Is it better to stick more closely to an original idea - staying absolutely true to it - or to let the design take on a life of its own during the process - at the risk of losing the original thread?  I guess it would depend on the client, and the level of attachment they or you have to the original plan, or aspect of the plan.  Oh the things I waste my time thinking about...

PS. I have sources for all the stuff if you are interested.  Recognize the Turkish towels and hooks in the second board?  They are from Emma's bathroom on The Marion House Book!

So many iPhone Cases!

I am starting to worry that iPhone cases might be my new purse.  You know, I have a few but then I see one that I really love, and it doesn't seem that much of an investment, for something I use every day...  I had been crushing on these now-ubiquitous-but-still-so-purdy Rifle Paper Co cases above.  The top left one is my absolute favourite pattern - I have about 6 notes books with that design on the cover that I bought for gifts, but... well, you know. So I thought I would save my pennies for that one (my usual go-to-store is Winners so anything more than $7.99 seems expensive) but then I saw these lovelies from Leif Shop. Gah, I really adore that bottom left one again (scribbled landscape) and the blue tile is so nice...

Of course Society 6 always has amazing cases to choose from with so much unique artwork to choose from - how awesome is that folded paper number above?  I was also stoked to find Afterimages shop on Etsy which not only has some great choices (love that water one) but will do CUSTOM cases for you too - and all of them are under $20!  I would love to have one with a photo of the boys made, what about you?

Of course, if I were thinking purely practically, I would go for a neon number, like these above from Zazzie (only I wouldn't 'cause they are impossibly expensive - $50!?! WHAT??!).  I need something I can easily see in my big pit of a purse.  I don't know how many times I have looked for my phone in my purse, then torn the house apart trying to find it, only to realize that, in its boring black case, it was in the bottom of the purse the whole time.

So what do you have on your phone?  Do you own more than one case?  Are you an addict like myself?  Or do you have one of those ugly indestructible Otter thingers?  Sorry Otter-owners.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Yes, I am very, painfully, aware that so far Spring has been the mother of all disappointments.  Seriously Universe - ICE PELLETS?  Yeesh.  But, although the tulips are slow in poking out their heads, the Garage Sales have begun (Cue the music! Start the skipping!).  That is right my thrifty friends, yesterday my mother-in-law and I went to my first yard sale of the season, in the posh area around Old Mill.  We were there just at the end, which means we probably missed some good stuff, but got some great deals.  For example, this cheerful, hand-stitched wool shawl.  No holes, no snags.  $5.  Perfect to inject a little colour into a room or outfit. Love it.

Pretty little things make me happy

The lovely Brooke from Pure and Noble had a sale of some of her vintage items and I nabbed this cute little blue vase.  It reminds me of the Russel Wright dinnerware that I would love to collect.  It was sitting in my glass cupboard until I found a branch had broken off my new poinsettia plant during transport.  I couldn't bear to toss the pretty flower, and went to find a small vase - and voila!  I think it couldn't be more perfect.  Aren't the colours of the leaves gorgeous? They look painted on.

Sometimes the little things can make me so happy... :)

Foxy Stuff

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My Pinterest feed is overflowing with foxes!  They are the latest woodland animal to capture everyone's imagination, and will look great beside all the owl stuff you bought over the last couple of years...and the bird things before that.  Any bets on the next trendy animal?  I want hedgehog, but I don't think it is hipster enough - too obviously cute.  Wolf is too close to fox, maybe opossum? :)  Woodpecker?  Honey Badger? :p

Shopping for a good cause: Invisible Children

Invisible Children and its campaign against Joseph Kony attracted a huge amount of media attention earlier in the year, not all of it positive.  In my mind, it was a powerful and effective use of social and traditional media to not only bring specific African atrocities to light, but also to successfully engage and mobilize people in a 'new school' grassroots effort to make change happen.

The organization continues to work hard towards its goals, and this holiday season it has launched an online store selling artisanal African goods, including beautiful jewellery, bags, scarves, and shoes, with 100% of the profits going towards supporting Invisible Children's mission.  100% - astounding!  Now, having worked in many a non-profit organization, I know that there are many ways to explain the distribution and allocation of funds, and it is easy to nit-pick a claim such as this.  However, it beats the pants off buying pink nail polish and having 2% (or sometimes 0% - see "pink-washing") go towards fighting breast cancer.  And the products are both gorgeous and affordable!  I call that a win-win-win.  Now let's look at the pretty:

So many beautiful things - I don't think there is one thing on there I wouldn't love to have (with special love for bracelets).  The scarves, bags and shoes are equally awesome (and the shoes are produced in collaboration with Canadian-based Oliberté Shoes).  So if you have anyone left on your holiday list...start shopping!

Stitched Wool Laptop Case

The weird thing One of the (many) weird things about me is that when I am stressed out I am at my most creative.  I'll have fourteen deadlines and a calendar covered in black ink and suddenly feel the overwhelming urge to knit a sweater and re-paint a whole dining room set.  Hey, it's better than smoking crack, right?  So with a complete mess in my beautiful basement; a pile of business cards on my table from plumbers, flood clean-up guys, insurance adjusters, and contractors; and two new patched-up holes in my front yard, I knew it was time to get out the scissors and spray paint.

One project that had been on my list for a while was a sleeve for my laptop.  In the summer, when I was home, I found an old leather book bag my parents had given me when I was maybe 8 or 9.  It even has my monogram on it!  I don't think I used it for very long, since it wasn't very big and wasn't all that cool at the time... But now it seems all kinds of cool, and the perfect size for my laptop to boot.

The only problem was that it had no lining for my most precious baby, er, I mean computer.  When I saw this tutorial on Design*Sponge, I realized I had found my solution.   I had bought a sample of some lovely soft herringbone wool ages ago at a fundraiser for the Textile Museum, and had never known what to do with it.  I dug it up and paired it with a bright green embroidery thread.

I followed the instructions somewhat, and made them up somewhat as I went along.  All my sewing stuff was under plastic in the basement so I had to improvise. :)  William helped me sew the top of the case down - I would put the needle into the wool and he would grab it and walk away with it until it was taught.  It took a LONG TIME but that's ok.  I finished the sides up with the oh-so-beautiful blanket stitch, and slid it in my briefcase.

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!  What do you think?  Are you a stress-crafter?  Or am I one of a kind? :p

Emily Henderson is a genius

Omigard Emily Henderson is soooooo awesome.  She made this light "sculpture" out of 99¢ hoola hoops.  I kind of want to do this and just hang it in the corner of a room without the light.  I wonder if it will look like I screwed four hoola hoops together and spray painted them gold?  Possible.  But for the price of a latte, I might give it a shot.  Cause it's better than sitting around thinking about how much work I have to do downstairs...right?  When you're down - make stuff!

Wicked Jewellery: Laurel Hill on Etsy

I haven't done an Etsy jewellery post in a while and when I saw the amazing cuffs made by Laurel Hill, I knew it was time!  These geometric cuffs have such a great patina, they look like they were picked up at an antique market in Turkey or a pueblo in New Mexico (not sure how those are related, but they both came to mind).  Plus, with gold and brass being the colour of the moment, they would add some big impact to any outfit.  The best part?  The one above is only $40!

The rest of her stuff is equally amazing and covetable.

What do you think Jess, have I tempted you yet? :)