My Dream Home

Moving is on my mind...a lot! Even though the move has not happened, I dream of the decorating. I have also realized how much my style has changed when I notice what I gravitate towards now. Much more clean lines, modern and simple. I still like 'stuff' but I do have a goal to live with less of it and in a simpler way to enjoy my family.

One of my dream places was a the home of designer Nancy Riesco feautured in the June issue of House and Home magazine. Love all the natural light, the airy-ness and whimsy to this home. Now, realistically with house prices in Vancouver I might end up living in a shed somewhere but a girl can dream. Enjoy!

Master Bedroom Inspiration

Hello blog world...I'm back! While I've still been actively reading blogs I have ignored this little baby for a while. Truth be told with our house still for sale, working on a few exciting decorating projects and my 21 month old daughter literally sucking every ounce of energy out of me something had to give.

One of the projects I've been working on is a living room, dining room and master bedroom. The master bedroom is one of my favourites as it's always a room that gets left until the end but is so important! I did up a couple design boards for my client and I really like the direction we're going with landing on a mix of the two boards. I'm a huge fan of white bedding. You just can't go wrong. We tried to carefully do a combination of masculine and feminine elements in this room. Love to hear which one is your favourite?

Enjoy!

One of my favourite elements of this room is the white cowhide rug. Love! 

This light fixture was the perfect hit of masculine for the room - perhaps to offset those feminine mirrored bedside tables :-)

Small Changes = Big Impact!

I recently worked with a catering company in Vancouver - A Taste To Savour on adding a few touches to their retail space. We did a little painting, a few accessories and some art and wow, what a change.

To start they had a fresh colour palette of white, green and brown with a pear being their logo. One of the most exciting finds was when I walked into the local Marimekko store in Vancouver and found the perfect print of a big pear canvas that you see when you walk in the front door. Speaking of Marimekko, I think they have some really fun prints right now that would make fantastic pillows for a fun, fresh spring update.

The client sent me some progress of her store. Very happy with how it's comin along. I thought this might provide some good inspiration that with a little, paint, art, pillows etc you can make an impactful change to your place. Enjoy...

Some inspiration for the client

There is the Marimekko Pear - love. We also painted that back wall white.

Added a bar area. New white stools and fun planters on the wall to come.

Striped cushions added to existing chairs

Using a picture frame to highlight the menu

Stay tuned for some fun outdoor changes this summer!

Traditional Feminine!

I had the pleasure of meeting with a great new client a few weeks ago. She has a fantastic heritage home in Vancouver and is looking to re-vamp her living room. I love older homes with character. Let's be honest - anything you put in them looks good. Maybe I shouldn't say that as it makes it seem like I'm of no value:-) To be more honest, every time I see one of these houses I want one. Sure there's something nice about new, but you just can't beat character.

Her style is more on the traditional side...I'd say 'Traditional Feminine.' I'm liking this idea of naming peoples style as it makes it easier when choosing items of what to say yes and no to. And, I just think it's sort of fun to do.

I sent her a couple mood boards, and she loves a lot of it...woot, woot (or is it whoop, whoop - someone please tell me!). We are meeting tomorrow to review and get it all going. I'm excited as I think this space has some wow potential. Here are the mood boards and already I've changed quite a few things for our review session tomorrow but the feel is staying the same. 

I'll keep you posted how it goes. Enjoy...

Fabric on furniture will change. I'd like to do those cubes in the pattern fabric and match her end dining chairs in the same. The desk chair is from CB2 - one of my faves right now.

Decided not to go with the safari rug (though I LOVE it). Greys, whites, creams with pops of chartreuse. The reading chair in the corner is Restoration Hardware - they actually have some great prices on furniture which I know is kinda shocking!

A Little Mood Board Action...

I created this mood board a couple months ago and had the opportunity to pop by this glamour space this week to see how it's all rolling along. I LOVE it! My girlfriend has great style and likes a bit of glam and sparkle in her life. It's been so fun working on this space together and she's been open to trying out new things. I'm looking forward to having our first cocktail in her new pad next week. Items have changed since this mood board but here is the original vision. After looking around my very messy (and not so glamorous) house this morning I kinda want to move in! Enjoy!

Spa Updates

This project is right up my alley - I'm working on some updates to a spa! In my 'research' of the spa experience, I like an atmosphere that feels fresh, airy and calming. The main floor of the spa has been painted and wow - what a difference paint can make! I'll share some photos soon. We went from yellow to a fresh white and blue palette. Here is the mood board and I kept everything to simple changes all from Ikea and Urban Barn to keep it accessible. I think it's time for me to book a facial as part of my further 'research' to this project. Enjoy...

Project "Ma & Pa Downtown Pad"

This one is coming along nicely. I mentioned in a previous post that I am decorating two condos, in the same building, for a couple of very high maintenance clients (kidding, well sort of?) - my parents and friend of 25 years.

Project "Ma & Pa's Downtown Pad" (catchy name heh) is coming along very quickly and I'm lovin it. I'm a bit obsessed with the colour palette blue, white, grey with hits of brass. To be honest I did have to convince the "Pa" side of this project to go this direction as he was more into over stuffed couches with rolled arms kinda thing. I assured him we could do comfort and style. I mean if you're going to be in Yaletown you need a bit of modern in your life.

Here is the design board I created for them and so far we've got the rug, couch and blue chairs. Some of the items are a bit hard to see but I also found this amazing owl print that I really, really hope they buy. I want to do a painted wallpaper and I also found some awesome vintage chairs for the table that just need a little TLC. I love the mix of texture in this room and thinking this is pretty much how I'm going to decorate if we ever flippin sell our house (sorry, we've had so many showings this past week I'm getting a bit bitter!).

Some real live shots to come of this project soon I hope! Enjoy....

I LOVE this chair so much. It's the perfect shade of blue. via Westelm

Hello brass bar cart! Thinking this instead of a side table. via Crate & Barrel

I actually really want boots in this exact colour. I think this chair is a bit unexpected and fun. via CB2

Hoot Hoot! Sorry. Hoping we can get this in a large print. via Parliament

Velvet leopard - need I say more. via Etsy

New Year...New Style?

Warning: This post feels a bit narcissistic for a people pleaser like myself but it's what I'm doing right now after my 2 babes are in bed, with a glass of vino at my computer. One of my so called goals this year was to simplify things. I literally want to clear everything out of our house and start fresh. It's not that I don't like the items, I just want to live a little more simply. This also applies to my 'style.' I like a lot of different styles and fashion. I used to be in the corporate world which required one kind of look, I then moved to motherhood where I'm not really sure where that look landed, and I'm now venturing out to explore my creative side so time to be that in every way possible. 

I don't have the time I used to get dressed in the morning. This is how it goes down - I have my 4 year old completely redecorating my bedroom and my 1 year old crying at my leg and both wanting to put on my lipgloss? This gives me about 15 minutes or so. Knowing this is where I'm at in my life I've decided to change a couple things. One being I'm going to embrace the curly hair that I have been resisting all my life and the second being I'm going to have a 'uniform' for daily life - mom and work. I saw this recent pic and I'm going to channel the look - jeans, button-ups, fun jewerly and effortless looking hair. When searching for hair inspiration, I seem to have come across one that stands out...can you tell? She too has the curly locks and I'm going to give them a bit of a go. I should mention that my hubby has been telling me to do this for years. So now that I've completely bored you with my self absorbed rambling....here we go...here is my new look! What a loser :-) Enjoy...

Friends, don't mock me when you see my in the uniform next time :-)

Effortless

Natural waves I'm channelling you!

This is I guess the same shot but just hammering home my style

Love this Project!

I had the pleasure of working with a fantastically lovely lady on her home office recently. When we met she told me she wanted the room to be feminine and soft and she referred to a picture from Sarah Richardson on my blog. Can we say 'soul mates!'

It was a great project that involved making a room beautiful but also functional. This was not a big space and believe it or not we space planned a working station, reading area and craft/storage space all in this one room. The finishing touches are being added and I can't wait to share it with you.

Here is the mood board. There were a few minor changes but it pretty much has these items. Doing this room has really got me dreaming of my own home office. I'm waiting to see if our house sells before moving forward with it, but I know what vibe I'm looking for. Anyway, back to this space. Enjoy!

This sums it up...

Taking a while to get back to reality? I am. I'm excited about this year though. I feel like I went through a period of time doing things that I didn't always love and even though I understand some of that is part of life I'm committed to spending my time doing the things and being with the people who fill me up.

Instead of goals I wrote a list of things I'm looking forward to this year. I won't bore you to death with the list but a couple faves are hopefully moving back to the city (Vancouver...woot, woot!) and working on some fun decorating projects with fantastic people. I have been wanting to step out on this front for years and am finally getting the b@##$ to do it!  I'm currently working on 2 downtown condos and I'm so excited about them. They happen to both be in the same building and I know 'the clients' very well. One is a friend of over 25 years (yes, we met when we were 2) and the other is my dear old parents who are trying to be hipsters in the big city!

Okay, back on track to my original posting. I found this quote pinned by Lulu and Drew (check out her art work on etsy - gorgeous!) and wanted to share. This pretty much sums up how I feel and thought it might speak to you as well. Enjoy!