Category Archives: Style

Re-cycle, Re-Love

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Many years ago I received a gift from my hubby of a black and white leather jacket.  It was one of those ‘team’ jackets where the body of the jacket is Melton wool and the sleeves are made of leather with an embroidered picture on the back.  The jacket was from the television series Street Legal, a Canadian production which aired from 1987 to 1994. 

            

I wore this jacket for the seven years of the shows airing but afterwards it was relegated to the cottage to be worn as a ‘campfire’ jacket.  This year after spring cleaning my closet I decided that the jacket had its time and it was goodbye.  I am a big believer of: if it isn’t being used enough, get rid of it.  I hate clutter and crowded closets. (that’s another post!)  But for some reason I could not seem to put that jacket in the bag with all the other items that were destined for the donation drop-off centre.  Throughout the summer the jacket got shuffled from one chair to another around the cottage.  I could not seem to part with this jacket for some reason, maybe it was memories.  Finally, I came up with another idea for re-purposing this jacket.  I took scissors to the jacket and cut and ripped it apart, I removed the Legal stitching from the embroidery picture and then had Queen monogrammed in its place.  It now read Queen Street which was appropriate as the scene was that of Queen Street in Toronto of which I live a stone’s throw away.  I then sewed the jacket into a cushion and it now adorns my sofa.  Very reduce, re-use and recycle and my original gift still lives on!

         

         Images via Modmissy

 

Back to School

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I am heading back to school!  Actually I’m not really going back but just thinking about the possibility is so exciting.  What excites me is all the wonderful stuff now available to set up a dorm room or residence; to make your space your very own.  Living out of Rubbermaid® boxes may be good for some but for those students heading back in style there are so many great ideas out there.  Of course top marks go out to IKEA www.ikea.com because they have everything for the back-to-college student; Dream Dorms, Made by Students, Designed by IKEA is their motto.  IKEA has affordable multi-purpose futons, bedding, desks, task lights, storage units etc. etc.  Just check out the photo below and imagine yourself spending semesters in this space.  IKEA believes that any study space can be beautiful and that an organized, functional, and efficient work space leads to an uncluttered mind.  Definitely top of the class thinking here! 

                (Image via IKEA Canada)     There is also Crate and Barrel www.cb2.com who have taken the bean bag chair to a whole new dimension for the style-savvy mobile student.  CB2 has the Tie-1-On over-scaled bean bag chair that can be tied together for an ever-changing social arrangement.  Tie 2 chairs together for a loveseat; tie 3 chairs for a sofa.  Makes moving the student back to college a cinch.  The chair is covered in heavy-gauge polyester so spills can be wiped up.  Plus, it’s pretty cool looking.   (Image via CB2)  So whatever your requirements for heading back to school are, do it in style.

         

My Rustic Wood Table

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Last weekend while lounging dockside at the cottage, I had the chance to catch up on some reading, specifically my design magazines.  Something that caught my eye was a DIY photo in Canadian House and Home July 2011 issue.  A weathered barn board table left uncovered was set for alfresco dining with crisp white linens and dinnerware.  It was the rustic feeling of the table that inspired me; the contrast of the weathered with the new.  I envisioned myself entertaining friends and family at a similar table in my own backyard so I decided to build one. (Actually I had hubby build one – see below)  My table is built from white pine boards that are over 100 years old.  Originally occupying a Pharmacist shop in Port Hope, Ontario, where the boards served as shelving in the stock room to hold bottles of potions, tinctures and salves.  When the shop was closed many decades later the boards somehow made their way to our cottage where they were then used as dock boards for over 30 years.  When a new dock was built the boards were no longer needed and thus relegated to the wood pile.  Fortunately for me the boards were never thrown into the bonfire and burnt!  So in the 100 year journey from Pharmacist shelving, to lakeside dock, to woodpile, to rustic alfresco dining my ‘new’ wood table certainly has weathered all. 

         

                My Inspiration – Canadian House and Home, July 2011

         

                  My ‘new’ weathered wood table.

IKEA Catalogue

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Well it’s that time of year again…….when the new IKEA catalogue comes out!  IKEA’s first catalogue was published in Swedish in 1951 and is now published in 55 editions, in 27 languages for 36 countries.  Full of anticipation, I open the catalogue and start leafing through the pages looking at all the new items and am reminded of similar feelings I had as a child when opening the new Sear’s Christmas Wish Book.  Remember?!!  Although now on my Wish List there would no longer be an Easy Bake Oven but probably a fabulous new IKEA kitchen!  This year’s catalogue focuses on IKEA’s love of creating smart spaces and their clever solutions to making life at home better for their customers.  Something I found interesting in this year’ catalogue is IKEA’s descriptive headings of ‘Timeless and Simple’, ‘Natural and Graphic’, ‘Earthy and Industrial’, ‘Bold and Minimal’.  The master of flat packing is now speaking to the customer as ‘designer’, who makes purchases based on knowledge of style and beauty and then of course low price.  The IKEA catalogue is always full of inspirational room settings and interpretation of their products multi uses.  IKEA  helps the customer think outside of their proverbial box and find their way home with a flat pack box!  Pick a catalogue up or visit IKEA at www.ikea.com. 

       

DVF Home

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While strolling around the Meatpacking district in New York City recently I came across this fabulous window display at the Diane von Furstenberg shop.  It made me stop and admire – the unexpected colours, the undulating pattern, the mesmerizing feel, the true beauty of it.  Like many of the sights in New York City I felt this window deserved to be photographed.

               

Diane von Furstenberg (DVF) is a Belgium-American fashion designer who is best known for introducing her iconic wrap dress in 1973 that influenced women’s fashion so greatly that it became part of  the collection of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.  Inspired by her friend Andy Warhol, DVF is renowned for her signature prints of bright colours and floral patterns in her fashion collections.  And as so many fashion designers seem to do, DVF now has a home collection, Diane von Furstenberg Home.  DVF Home is inspired by contemporary art, nature and the fashion legends own iconic prints that energize the home with unexpected colours and patterns for a sense of vibrant individual style.  Toss one of the Bright and Bold pillows into any room for an instant hit of colour and energy.  The dramatic style that Diane von Furstenberg is so well-known for with her bold colours and pattern is now ready-to-wear and ready-to-ware.

           

          

                          Diane von Furstenberg Home via Bloomingdales

Summer Stars

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Whenever I vacation at the cottage I can only sit still for so long until I get the urge to ‘create’.  To make something.  I love to cook and bake so I do lots of that, (big smiles from family!) but ‘crafting’ is something that really appeals when I spend time in the great outdoors.  I recently attended an afternoon of ‘wine and women’ at a neighbours cottage where familiar faces and some new ones got together on a Tuesday afternoon to share laughter and play lawn games.  We all bring our favourite ‘appy and sips’ but this year I felt the urge to also bring along a hostess gift.   Our cottage is not located where I can just ‘pop’ out to the store to purchase some cocktail napkins or scented candle so this was my perfect opportunity to create a nature-inspired hostess gift.  After walking around the property and picking up a bunch of sticks I decided to create something with twigs and twine.  And what better shape than a star as there is no better place to watch the stars in the night sky than at the cottage.  My hostess loved the gift and remarked that she had the perfect spot in her kitchen where a nail was already hammered into the wall just waiting for the ‘star attraction’!

                   

                     

                     

 

 

 

Art in the Country?

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I love spending time in the country, at the lake.  I love the sights and sounds of nature, the freshness of the air, the relaxed feel of the country.  Since childhood I have enjoyed many vacations at a cottage or a resort in the great outdoors.  But I do love the city too.  I love the sights and sounds of the city, the action and vibe of the city.  I would never call myself a ‘country girl’ therefore I must be a ‘city girl’.   Is it harder to take the ‘country’ out of the girl or the ‘city’ out of the girl?!……. Here is my case in point.  On the lake at our cottage we have a public beach which allows cottagers or residents of the nearby town to enjoy time at a big sandy beach.  It is also where the annual summer regatta takes place.  One day while strolling along this beach I noticed 2 dark brown, angular-shaped pieces of art.   They were made of metal and sitting on concrete pads so they wouldn’t sink in the sand.  I liked the way they looked.  They reminded me of sculptures that are displayed in plazas out front of government or commercial buildings in the city.  Think of the Henry Moore sculpture outside of Toronto City Hall or the Picasso sculpture outside of the Richard J. Daley Center in Chicago.  I was so thrilled that our public beach now had 2 pieces of art too.  How very contemporary and forward thinking we now were at my lake! But then my bubble burst when someone explained to me that what I thought was art actually where ‘bear-proof garbage bins’!!  I really and truly believed these brown metal boxes were art installations.  So….it must be that it is harder to take the ‘city’ out of the girl!

         

Dyson Air Multiplier – Very Cool!

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So…..is it hot enough for you?!  I do love summer and never complain about the heat because winter is just so long and so cold and always seems to be just around the corner.  We do not use air-conditioning at our house but fortunately we are surrounded by large trees that provide shade, live near the water for breezes and have a cooler (renovated) basement that we can retreat to.  But I also like to have the windows open to hear the sounds of summer.  We have on occasion used a fan during the night but the noise of the fan blades chopping the air does not make for a restful sleep.  Enter the new Dyson Air Multiplier Fan® with its completely bladeless, non-buffeting design.  I had a chance to check out the Dyson fans today and was quite impressed by their contemporary, hip looking design.  The Dyson fan has great style and if standing in the corner of a room would appear as an interesting piece of art or architecture.  They are also much quieter than a standard fan and because there are no blades they are safer and easy to clean.  I even put my fingers on the fan while running which is a total no-no with standard fans.  The detail that was difficult to overcome though was the price tag.  The small fans start at a hefty price of $300.  Which makes me wonder, does great design have to cost more?  Hhmmm?  On that thought I am heading off to the cottage for a few weeks so keep cool and enjoy the rest of the summer.

                 

                      Image via Modmissy

My Orange Contempra

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Okay, here it is my latest find and of course it is orange.  It seems that of late my eyes have this uncanny ability to seek out anything orange.  While visiting East End Estates on Kingston Road located in Toronto’s east end (see blog July 14th) I came across what I thought was the ‘jewel’ of the shop that day.  I found an ‘Eames-inspired’, orange, touch tone Contempra® telephone.  Very mod!  The Northern Electric Contempra telephone was first introduced in 1968 in a rotary dial version, with the touch tone version being released a few years later.  Inspired by the popularity of Sweden’s very cool Ericofon®, Northern Electric (Bell Canada manufacturing subsidiary) introduced the Contempra which was the first Canadian-designed telephone.  It was a very ‘ground-breaking’ style with the dial on the handset instead of the base and was available in a rainbow of colours but none best represents the ‘70’s era like the orange version.  I was so thrilled with my find so I showed it to my neighbour – a young, hip, very current, twenty-something who took a look at the very orange, heavy telephone with a long cord that plugs into a phone jack and said,  “Why?…..Is it mobile?!” 

      

 

Another Trash to Treasure

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One morning while sitting at the desk in front of my 3rd floor window I watched my neighbour walk to the curb and place something beside his garbage bin.  It was garbage day, that day of endless possibilities where ‘one man’s garbage, is another woman’s treasure’.  I raced downstairs and outside and met my neighbour before he had the chance to go back inside.  I asked if I could have the item he was getting rid of.  I didn’t want to look like I was scrounging!   “Sure, but why?”, as he thought the ‘old’ item to be no longer any good.  Well, my ‘new’ found item was a foot stool, with a metal tulip-shaped base, covered in white diamond-shaped quilted leatherette, approximately 1950-60’s era.   The metal finish on the base was all pitted and flaking and the leatherette was ripped and dirty as I believe it had served some time outside.  But no matter because I could see past all this, as it truly was a diamond in the rough.  I had the stool recovered in a purple vinyl and I spray painted the metal base silver.  The spray paint was not great looking so I decided to go the extra and have the tulip-shaped base re-plated in polished chrome.  Re-plating is a great way to update metal objects when the finish has aged or worn away.  The new finish is amazing and the stool is now a unique, custom looking piece of furniture with a contemporary feel and instead of sitting by the garbage bin it has a place of honour in my living room.