Principally speaking

Where, oh where, has the week gone? All my best laid plans of it being a quiet week have literally been chucked out the window, and now it's practically the weekend for heaven's sake! Getting back on track, I wanted to show you lot the pics of the principal bedroom and bathroom from the House & Home feature (shot by Angus Fergusson, of course), so without further ado, here we go.

That first pic shows the bedroom under construction, when we'd knocked out the teensy old closets. Now the walls are all papered with grasscloth from Design by Color, the upholstered headboard and bedskirt are in my fave David Hicks designed Hexagon House Chenille from Lee Jofa, and the cream velvet curtains are from inVU Drapery. The ceiling fixture and lamp on the left of the bed are both vintage, while the one on the right (as well as the shades for both lamps) was snapped up at HomeSense. The closet now runs wall-to-wall, and is the Pax system with Vinstra doors from Ikea, and really, we couldn't live without all that built-in shoe storage, lol. The night tables were a sweet $10 each from Value Village, and the dresser was from Frontier, both were refinished to match in that khaki tone by Beresford's. On the dresser is a kooky vintage lamp, enamelled boxes from AT Design, and above there's a lovely West Elm mirror.

The bathroom was tiny, filthy and all pink, so we knocked out the walls and made it 18" wider to make the space that bit more generous. The vanity is KraftMaid kitchen cabinetry, the integral sinks and counter is Corian, and the walls are tiled in a Carrara marble lookalike porcelain tile called Montova, and yep, it's all from Home Depot. The sconces are from CB2, the mirrors are from Walmart (really), and the towels are Ikea. All the plumbing fixture and fittings in the space are from Kohler, and include the swish Oblo wall-mount faucets, the Purist Hatbox toilet (you can just about see it in the reflections) and the ceiling-mount WaterTile shower head. Oh, and I have to give a shout out to Home Depot Installation Services, as well as our contractors Cera Stone, for all their amazing work on the bathroom!

Saying no to sisal

I'm lucky enough to have a great client/friend that I really enjoy working with, and who has a brilliant sense of style (yay!). So far we're nearing completion on her master bedroom, living and dining room - pics soon, promise - but what I wanted to share was her stairwell. Out came the boring beige wool sisal stair runner, and in went this wool wilton graphic stunner. It's a David Hicks by Ashley Hicks pattern called Hexagon House II, which we scored at Elte, that looks just great with the home's original dark wood detailing. And, funnily enough, the very same Hicks pattern makes an appearance in my own place in chenille on an upholstered headboard. Hmmm, I guess it's a bit of a fave!

People, places, palette

For the next couple of days I'll be in the wilds of Wisconsin at the Kohler Editor's Conference, learning all about the history of the brand and checking out all their fabulous kitchen and bath products. I'm not alone, since Kohler has kindly invited a slew of design editors from around the world including, yay, a great bunch of Canadians - Janette Ewen (who you'll know from CityLine), Danny Sinopoli (the Globe & Mail's Design & Decor Editor) and Cameron Macneil (House & Home Design Editor). We had a meet and greet last night where I tasted a bunch of delish Wisconsin cheese and had a lovely chat with Pramiti Madhavi, Editor of Elle Decor India.

While I'm here eating cheese, lol, things are moving along on the home front. The fabrics have finally been dropped off at Mieda Design so the upholstery can begin and we've finally plunked on a wallpaper for the living room. Take a look at the palette below for a rundown of what's what - The background shows Graham & Brown's Manderley wallpaper in Golden, the next fabric is David Hicks Hexagonal House Chenille in Stone by Groundworks which'll be glamming up a headboard for the bedroom, that tweedy fuschia will totally revive this vintage gold sofa, and the teal velvet from DFO will completely sort out these vintage aluminum chairs.