All on the table

Now December is off and running it's definitely time to start getting into the Holiday spirit, so I thought I'd share a project I recently worked on with one of my fave photographers (and good friend) Angus Fergusson. It's three Holiday tabletops, each with an entirely different feel, and all sourced from the shelves at HomeSense.

Up first is probably the most trad of the lot, it's kind of a twist on candy canes and red and green, though the olive - instead of a boring old Christmas-y green - makes it feel much fresher. Oh, and isn't there something about the chairs that reminds you of wooden sleds? The next one is all about collecting, with a scatter of pitchers, a tea pot and cake plate, and loads of mercury ball decorations in a lovely robin's egg blue. And yes, that's an embroidered blanket on the table, rather than a tablecloth... Finally I thought some glam was in order for a New Year's table, so I grabbed a pair of hi-gloss black foo dogs (whish were too gorgeous to ignore), added in more black and white, then threw in that hit of colour in the picture frames that work perfectly as place markers. Time to pop the champagne!

OMG, it's Wednesday?

I have entirely lost track of time, mainly because it's been wall-to-wall crazy busy for me with work on projects that run the gamut from breakfast cereal to romance novels. Seriously. So I thought I'd share one of the recent styling projects I worked on with HomeSense, a shoot for a home office (I am jonesing for that metal cabinet) and a dorm room (L.O.V.E. that kooky lamp). HomeSense popped some of the behind the scenes shots on Facebook, so click here if you'd like to take a look at how the magic happens, and then head over here to their online Design Your Digs contest to design your very own office or dorm space for the chance to win a $1,000 shopping spree! Oh, and a major shout out to the team I worked with on the shoot - Mamone & Partners, photographer Nina Teixeira, stylist Malcolm Patterson and of course the whole HomeSense crew.

Take one old lamp {before & after}

Oh my, what wonders a can of white spray paint can do. Not rocket science I know, but I spotted this shiny brass lamp at Goodwill for $10 and saw its potential. The shade was completely un-salvagable (buckled and oddy stained) so that was tossed. I taped up and bagged the cord as well as the socket, and screwed the little loop finial into a spare piece of cardboard, then set up an impromptu spray booth in the back yard (a cardboard box, actually). A few careful coats of matte white spray paint later and the lamp and finial were looking fantastic. The final touch was a chocolate brown silk lampshade that I've had sitting around for ages from Restoration Hardware (tho' you can find great ready-to-go shades at both HomeSense and Pottery Barn too). Oh, and if these pics look a little familiar, that's because this project showed up in Canadian Family! [Image 2: Colleen Nicholson]

Back in the bathroom

Hey, I'm finally able to share all the shots by Angus Fergusson (including the spooky before snaps) from that bathroom project I did with Canadian Family mag. It's a pretty sweet makeover and, I hafta say, quite the dramatic change from a bathroom that looked liked something out of the Bates Motel into a bright, glossy and very practical space.

Here are the deets: We re-used the perfectly sized vintage sink (after a very good clean that involved Polident tablets), then changed out all the other fixtures and fittings to pieces from Kohler, including a v. smart WaterSense Escale toilet. We subway tiled from floor to ceiling, and then finished the sloped ceiling in tongue-and-groove, both scored at Home Depot. The floor was penny tiled in marble from Saltillo which, apart from being gorgeous, is nice and safe to walk on with wet feet (and yes, the floor was heated too, with a True Comfort kit from Home Depot). Shelving was added in above the loo, and two marble-lined nooks were added in in the bath area (the surfaces were angled slightly so they drain properly). Finally, the pretty shower curtain was custom made by Tonic Living, and the towels and bath mat were a mix-and-match between Anthropologie and HomeSense. What do you think?

Spring has sprung

Right now I'm sitting in Vancouver, amazed at all the blossoms on the cherry trees, stunned by gorgeous tulips in full bloom and gobsmacked by a rather warm breeze that doesn't have any clue what 'wind chill' is. Yep, it'll be short lived, since I'm only here for a day on the last stop of a whirlwind tour for Graham & Brown wallpaper (I was in Calgary yesterday, and Edmonton the day before). A major shout out to all the great folks I've met along the way, including everyone at Breakfast Television and Shaw TV !

Spring is definitely springing, and not just in balmy Vancouver. These gorgeous snaps of what HomeSense is offering up this coming Spring and Summer are a lovely taste of warmer days to come and have a bright and fresh vibe to them, oh, and they were shot by my talented mate, photographer Angus Fergusson. I'm totally loving those antiqued metal chairs and the knit ottoman (they're definite hot picks), as well as the smashing shadow box framed butterflies!

Monday is Tuesday

Ahhh, the bite of a long weekend. Tons of time to hang with friends and wander about in a warm-weather daze, and then bam; Tuesday hits and we're all pointing our noses back at the grindstone. Blurgh, is all I can say to that.

Saw these while noodling through one of the many design sites I check out, and, well, my jaw dropped. Is it the black, the beautifully styled shots, or is it the fact that they look tufted? No matter, they're darned delicious. I have quite the thing for tufting and managed to score a tufted white ceramic stool the other day for the bathroom (from HomeSense) so, when I saw these, I couldn't resist posting them. Rex Ceramiche Artistiche is the company behind the tiles. They're called Capitonné - which is actually the technical term for button tufting - and come in 14 colours including both a matte and glossy finish. Yum.