Christmas in July

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Modmissy

Aaaaaaaaarrgh!

It’s August! One month closer to autumn. sob..sob..sob

For me, July epitomizes summer and I am not ready to say goodbye so I advocate that July should be 60 days long.

Makes perfect sense. Let’s keep summer around longer. Right?

Funny thing though, yesterday I attended a ‘Christmas in July’ event. I celebrated the holiday with Home Depot® at their 2013 Holiday Preview.

The event was held in the beautiful shop of Bobbette & Belle, Artisanal Pastries – a must visit bakery in the heart of Leslieville, Toronto.

Here is a sneak peek as to what’s hot (no pun intended!) in holiday décor for 2013.

The Winterberry Collection – red, gold and brown. Very classic.

The Metallic Woodland Collection – gold and browns. Very organic.

The Arctic Holiday Collection – silver and blue. Iconic colours with new shapes and designs. Perfect for Hanukkah too.

The Midnight Holiday Collection – chartreuse, charcoal, turquoise and midnight blue.

Oh…..I loved the wallpaper behind the white cabinet in the above photo. Thinking of it for a feature wall in my own home but that’s for another blog!

Of course no holiday is complete without a gift so Home Depot® and Bobbette & Belle sent me home with a goodie. Thank you.

So happy holidays and bring on more summer!!!

A Focus on Space

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Modmissy

Yesterday I attended a focus group for the Brother® Business Smart™ all-in-one printer; the MFC-J4510DW.

With the ultimate combination of printer, scanner, copier, fax and wireless networking this piece of technology has it all. Including great looks!

But while attending yesterday’s very informative event it occurred to me that I have not been using my Brother® Business Smart™ to its best capabilities. Although it occupies valuable real estate on my desk I have been ‘under’ using this all-in-one printer. I have since changed that. And love it now even more!

This got me thinking about our homes. Do we use them to their best or are there rooms/spaces that we ‘under’ use?

I often say that space is highly overrated. What good is having a lot of it when we don’t use it??

I like having my formal dining room but how often do I use it? My TV is in my media room so I don’t really ‘hang’ in my living room. The guest room is for guests. I seem to never leave my kitchen as it is the hub of the house which means that I don’t use my other rooms.

So I have started to re-think some of my space.

Stay tuned!

All images via Modmissy

Canada Day

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Modmissy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANADA

146 YEARS YOUNG!

Photo taken by Modmissy – Banff, Alberta, Canada

My Spool Bed

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Modmissy

A year ago I wrote about my ‘curbside treasure’ – my antique Spool Bed. (see here)

I stated that “one man’s garbage, another woman’s treasure”. ????

Well……after a bunch of (my hubby’s) elbow grease, this old spool bed that was left for garbage at the side of the road is now my cottage bedroom treasure.

Nothing short of totally dismantling, re-gluing, sanding, staining and altering to fit a bigger mattress the spool bed’s makeover is now complete. Sweet dreams!

All images via Modmissy

Baby it’s Cold Outside!

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Modmissy

Brrrrrrrrrrr! It’s cold outside.

Mother Nature seems to be confused offering 12 degree temps (54 degree Fahrenheit) in June.

So I thought it would be OK to talk about fur – mostly fun faux fur.

I have had this photo in my inspiration folder for some time, a tear-out from Style at Home magazine. The magazine made mention of statement pieces like the well-styled bookcases, the hide rug, table and vase – which are all very lovely. But who could ignore that outstanding/amazing flokati-covered chair. Not Me!!!!

Another chair that caught my attention is The Cutie Chair by Munna Design of Portugal whose mission is to ‘transform emotion into products’. The Cutie Chair with its faux fur and gold leaf legs certainly fills me with emotions of happiness!

The Ciprio designed by Fernando e Humberto Campana for Edra is a wonderfully playful iconic piece. The settee has 9 cushions fixed to an invisible metal tube frame, stuffed with Gellyfoam® and covered in ‘ecological fur ‘available in different fur lengths. Fun, fun, fun!

This chair seen on houzz.com is a Mid Century Modern classic piece covered in faux fur. Serious but not too serious.

So I decided to do my own version of a faux fur covered chair. I went with yellow to give a pop of colour in a very white guest room plus it matched one of The Hudson Bay stripes in the Point Blanket. My family have coined it the ‘Big Bird Chair’ (à la Sesame Street).

Oh well….it makes me smile!

Inspiration Hits – My Newest DIY

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Modmissy

I was struck by inspiration recently. Whomp!

I believe my setting and scenery had everything to do with my inspiration – sitting in the backyard, feet up, warm dappled sun shining through the canopy of trees and a cuppa tea by my side. I was reading my July issue of Canadian House and Home magazine and came across a photo in an article titled Relaxed Seaside Living.

I loved this calm, neutral living room with slipcovered furniture, sculptural rope floor lamp, lots of weathered wood and organic textures. But there was one particular detail that caught my eye.

So I was inspired to DIY.

And in the wink of a D-eye-Y this was my creation…..

My Canadian Flag pillow. Perfect for my ‘Relaxed Lakeside Living’!

I chose to use neutral, organic fabrics for a faded, worn look but also these are the tones of my cottage interior. See my cottage renovation here: https://modmissy.com/2012/09/12/the-cottage-renovation-the-after-photos/

Oh Canada!

All images via Modmissy

Stuff (and more stuff!)

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Modmissy

I have often said that when it comes to our homes these days it is not that our homes are too small rather our lives are too big.

BULLSH*T!

I am just being diplomatic.

The truth is people have way too much stuff. Unnecessary stuff.

I understand that we are creatures of habit and form strange attachments to our stuff but really, do we honestly need all that stuff!?

Get rid of stuff. Donate the stuff.

If you haven’t used it lately, i.e. 6 months to 2 years, then you don’t need it.

I will never recommend the use of rubber storage bins, they only exacerbate the problem.

Take a picture. Buy yourself a 2 terabyte external hard drive and store it there. Then get rid of the stuff.

It is a fallacy if you think your kids will want this stuff.

Garages are for cars not stuff.

Lightness of being – try it sometime. It feels wonderful! (-:

PS. Can you tell I have been very busy staging/editing homes lately!

Image via Modmissy

Clothing as Art

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Modmissy

Mark Twain once said “Clothes make the man”, which is very true but clothing, shoes and accessories make the woman!

Suffice to say, I LOVE FASHION.

Beautiful clothing hanging in my closet – fabulous!

But clothing hanging as art?

Interesting.

I’ve had this photo in my inspiration folder for some time. Torn from a past issue of Style at Home Magazine I liked this room for a few reasons (ie. furniture, windows) but it was the canvas hanging on the wall that caught my attention. The wall hanging is a hand-painted Victorian wedding crinoline by Janis Gillan.

This got me thinking….’clothing as art’. So I did a little research and here are a few others I found.

Restoration Hardware amps up a neutral room with this ‘clothing as art’ above the sofa.

This is a shot of Brooke Shields family room with portraits of herself and children and images by Annie Leibovitz and others. Once again the piece with the gauzy lace dress on the black canvas is quite prominent.

In her Seams series, Jean Shin created art with clothing by cutting away the fabric of a shirt or a dress leaving behind a continuous linear band around the stitch referencing the body’s skeletal structure, proportion, gravity and gesture.

Guerra de la Paz works with discarded clothing to create 3-dimensional art inspired by an essential familiarity with the ready-made and the archaeological qualities that found objects possess.

This picture is mine. These are my childhood Barbie® doll’s clothing that I framed. My Barbie® doll is long gone but her memories ‘hang’ on!

Welcome Back Commander Hadfield

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Modmissy

Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield came back down to Earth last week.

Commander Hadfield, NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko made the return journey packed like sardines into the Soyuz capsule and safely landed in Kazakhstan after their 5 month stay aboard the ISS (International Space Station).

To be honest I was nervous about the landing. A little apprehensive. After all Cmdr. Hadfield has been an important part of my life for the last 5 months. I have been following him via Twitter as he shared his daily experiences and his many, many photos taken aboard the ISS.

With 144 days on the ISS, 2336 orbits around Earth and covering almost 62 million miles there was a lot of great photo ops!

The view from Cmdr. Hadfield’s camera lens was ‘out of this world’. Here are some of my favourites.

Our blue Moon.

The immensely powerful sun.

The ISS glowing blue in the dawn over the Florida peninsula.

Dr. Seuss-inspired swirls in the Black Sea.

A big storm swirling off the Irish coast.

Cape Town, South Africa and the South Atlantic Ocean at the edge of the world! Maybe the world really is flat!!??

The U.S./Mexican border – this photo really spells out same land, different politics!

Ancient Saharan stone, burnished by eternal sand and wind.

The Earth’s atmosphere is no thicker than the varnish on a globe.

Thank you Cmdr. Hadfield for making the Earth appear like such a beautiful and wondrous place.

All images via Commander Chris Hadfield

Home Staging

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Modmissy

I have not written in a while because I have had my head ‘stuck in a house’.

Really! For the last 2 ½ weeks I have been staging a huge house (a real biggie!) for real estate sale. It will be listed for $$ million so a lot of pre-presentation work went into this house.

In total I counted 25 people who at some point throughout the 2 ½ weeks worked on this house. At times it felt like we were ants crawling all over the house! Bless the homeowners for being so patient as they lived in the house while all the work was being done.

To get this home ready for Open House presentation I had all the wall-to-wall carpeting ripped out and replaced with hardwood. Interesting what you sometimes find underneath carpet. Faux red brick!!!!!

The stairs were treated to new updated wool Berber carpet. The mint green walls were painted Benjamin Moore White Down, the dark paneling was painted Cloud White and the wallpaper border was stripped off.

Nothing dates a house like light fixtures so many of those were replaced.

All the outside fencing and decking were re-stained to make them look updated.

The garden was tended to. All the windows were washed. A cleaning crew went ‘full-on’ inside for a day.

And the homeowner’s contents were edited. (!!!) Then I did my thing – staging and propping.

Needless to say the house looked beautiful in the end.

I love ‘playing house’!

I was so focused on this house I almost missed a beautiful part of spring – the blossoms!

All images via Modmissy

MODMISSY

Design is Everywhere

Christmas in July

A Focus on Space

Canada Day

My Spool Bed

Baby it’s Cold Outside!

Inspiration Hits – My Newest DIY

Stuff (and more stuff!)

Clothing as Art

Welcome Back Commander Hadfield

Home Staging

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