Were you in Milan?

I was not. In fact, during the gigant-o Milan furniture fair I think I had laundry to do, which must've been the reason why I didn't get over to Italy. There was some fabulously barmy and brilliant stuff on show though from, well, just about everyone who's anyone. One of the big names who exhibited was Vitra, who intro'd the new customizable Suita Sofa by Antonio Citterio in a series of cool room sets styled up to give you the design equivalent of the warm and fuzzies. Whadya think? The first is sweet (love the owl pillow), but then, that shade of blue is pretty great in the second shot, not to mention that tie-dyed rug, and oh, last but not least, that lemony yellow is pretty darned fresh and yummy... Check out more on Vitra at plan b. [all images: Vitra]

Say hello to Amy and Kelly

Well, here's a nice sneak peek at the brand spanking new Graham & Brown wallpaper collections designed by Amy Butler and Kelly Hoppen that'll be launching this weekend at the ICFF in New York! First up are Amy Butler's deliciously patterned Temple Tulip, Georgia and Fountain. Next are Rose, Hicks and Vintage Flock, all from top Brit interior desiger, Kelly Hoppen. Oh, there's more, but that's all I can get away with showing you for right now! Any faves?

Guest blog / Julia Black: Shopping for Seventies

Julia Black: On a recent Etsy shopping spree I was overcome by an urge to shop for retro-style stuff so, when I came across a talented ceramic artist by the name of Jill Rosenwald, I knew I had struck pay dirt. Jill’s work is totally chilled out and playful, and completely on target for the 70's colours, patterns and shapes I was after, and, after more digging into Rosenwald- land I found out that it was her time spent as a kid at summer camp in Vermont - surrounded by a hippy-ish arts and crafts culture - that set the creative ball rolling for her. Now Jill calls Boston home, and you might spy her work on the shelves at Barney’s and Nieman Marcus, in mags like In Style, oh, and not forgetting my personal fave, on the desk of sexpot/PR maven Samantha Jones in HBO's Sex and the City. Sweet!

To read more posts from Julia click here, and click here to check out her cool blog.

Webisode 2: A bit of an Ikea design mission

Oooh, I feel like there should be a drumroll or something, since here's webisode #2!!! I thought it would be fun to see if Tamara Robbins Griffith and I could take an Ikea sofa - the really rather lovely Karlstad in white tufted leather - and take it in two different and stylish directions. This is the result - Tamara embraced pink and glamour, while I went for a boho well-travelled vibe. What do you think? Major thanks to everyone involved, especially photographer Angus Fergusson, who's studio we invaded (you can see his fab shots below). Btw, that sofa is so new it's actually not quite in stores yet in Canada, but keep an eye out, it'll definitely be there soon...

Should they stay, or...

Should they go? Yes, they're awfully nutty, in fact, irresistably so - I scored a whole tea set (sadly, without the tea pot) the other day when I stopped in at  Value Village. 4 mugs, 4 side plates, plus a cream and sugar, and all shockingly 1980's and Post Modern looking. The pattern is called Clouds and was designed by Fujimori for Japanese firm Kato Kogei, yep, in the mid-80's sometime. The colour combo of sugary pink, grey and black is such a hilarious throwback to a time that style forgot, but really, should I keep them or should they head to eBay? And if they stay, will I think of Duran Duran every time I have a cup of coffee?

Know your ABC's

Madeline Weinrib is a firm fave for her delovely work in flatweaves, hand-knotted carpets and pillows, and now she's branching out. Upcoming for Ms. Weinrib is Allemande, her first foray into wallcoverings produced for her by posh wallpaper firm Studio Printworks (who're also working with artists like Michele Oka Doner and Kiki Smith). Yep, it's a damask pattern, and yep, it's black and white, but take a closer look and you'll see a free-and-easy painterly quality to the pattern that keeps it all nice and fresh and unexpected. Allemande will be on show in NYC at ABC Carpet & Home - the famous store founded by her grandfather, Max Weinrib - in mid-May and will definitely be worth a peek. I'll be popping down to New York soon for the upcoming ICFF so will let ya know how it looks! Take a look below at a couple of snaps of the silkscreened paper, including a close-up shot and, somewhere in the pattern, you might spy a little extra scribble that could be MW's initials... Oh, and if you fancy checking out Madeline Weinrib products in Toronto, check in at Y&Co.(via INK+WIT)

Guest blog / Julia Black: Art and fashion

Julia Black: I’m not going to pretend to be an art connoisseur by any means, but I do believe I know what I like, and I definitely like the work of Michael Adamson. I came across one of his fantastic oil-on-canvas abstract paintings at a weekend brunch at Holt Renfrew's swank Holt’s Café in Toronto, a few Tweets later (thanks to the Twitterverse!) and I'd tracked him down. Michael studied at the prestigious Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver and, since then, has been exhibiting in Toronto, New York, London and Tokyo. Now based in Toronto, his passionate work explores vigorous textures and magnificent colours, but, I thought it best to get Michael's inspiration in his own words, “ever changing confluences of art history, social actualities and (my) personal life”. Complex, thoughtful, and undeniably beautiful, take a look below at a snap of his breathtaking large-scale work (it's 50' long and 8' high and was created with artist, Nicole Katsuras) in situ at Holt Renfrew, as well as a piece called Far Shore, and you'll see what I mean. Now, I have to convince my friends to allow me back into the brunch circle because it seems I was rather absent from our table conversation!

To read more posts from Julia click here, and click here to check out her cool blog.

Up and at 'em

Well, what do ya know, my crazy/funny/talented friend Samantha Pynn's website is finally up and running! And it's not just all pretty pictures either (though they're stunning, btw, all shot by Virginia Macdonald), nope, she and her team - Julia Black and Malcolm Patterson - are also launching her Design Binders service that'll help you get your own place all sorted out and decorated, room by room. She calls it a paint-by-numbers approach to decorating and, if you ask me, I think it's a brill idea! Take a look below at one of the binders, as well a snap of one of her recent projects, and then click here to watch the design_lab webisode I shot with Sam.

Money is an object

If money was no object I would be flying to London today so I can be well rested in time to wave a bidding paddle at tomorrow's Phillips de Pury & Co Design auction. Alas, money is an object, so instead I'll be staring longingly at pictures of the following lovely items which are up for sale - The fantabulous Georges Jouve circa 1952 table lamp, which I would give my eye teeth for (since I can't afford the cool $22,500 estimated sale price). There's a really fab set of painted stainless steel cutlery designed by Alessandro Mendini for Alessi which, hmmm, I thought was a relative bargain until I realized the eye-popping price tag is for a single place setting (the pattern reminds me of this cool wallpaper by Basso and Brooke for Graham & Brown). Finally, after all that rabid gotta-have-it bidding, I would happily take a snooze in that handsome and rare painted steel and suede 70's armchair by Mario Cecchi. Oh, there's lots more to swoon over for sure, so take a look here at the 220-page catalogue, and thanks to Raymond Girard for pointing the way on Twitter.

Oh happy day

It's hard to be glum when the sun is shining, even if it is a Monday, so I thought I'd start the week off bright (nope, that is not a typo) with a peek at the swell home of San Francisco-based photographer Nicole Hill Gerulat. These lovely shots are outtakes from Nicole's house shoot for The Nest mag (click here for more). I'm totally digging her sense of style, and confident way with white and colour, not to mention that great camera collection in the last shot! For more from Nicole, check out her portfolio here, and follow along on Twitter here, oh, and the styling on Nicole's house shoot was done by Anthony Albertus.

Give me Mercy and give me Liberty

I'd heard that Richard Lyle and Jennifer Halchuk of fashionably cool clothing line Mercy were having a Sample Sale, but what I didn't realise (until the v. stylish Nathalie Atkinson kindly emailed me) is that they're also selling some of the gorgeous Liberty fabrics they've used in recent collections. Umm, hello, Liberty fabric (and others) starting at around $25 a yard! I'm starting to get palpitations thinking about all the smashing pillows I could make, or maybe a quilt, perhaps upholster a chair seat or two... The Sample Sale runs from now until Sunday in Toronto - click here for the studio address - and if I elbow you while rummaging through bolts of fabric, I'm sorry.

In praise of knots

The Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs was jam packed during the recent Coachella fest (click here to see the arty goings on over on Poppytalk), but I'm wondering, did anyone stop to check out the hotel's cool macramé installation? The knot-tastic curtain was created by designer Michael Schmidt - who's perhaps better known for his wardrobe work with the likes of Gaga, Fergie and Madonna - out of about a mile of cotton rope. And why not? It's definitely high time for macramé to come out of the dusty 70's craft closet and be re-imagined for today. To show that there's a bit of a thing happening with cord, rope and knots, take a look at Urban Outfitter's Beaded Treasures pillow as well as the rather stunning Pleats-Pleats sofa by young Swedish design and architecture studio, Imaginary Office. [Images 1,3: courtesy Michael Schmidt]

Drink it, sit on it

I'm a bit barmy for a good chair, and pretty much anything from Emeco makes the list fo' sho'. Love their story (the aluminum Navy Chair was first made for US submarines during WWII) and love how they've hooked up with big names like Starck, Gehry, Foster and Putman and now, errr, Coke. Stay with me here people. Emeco's latest just-launched-in-Milan chair is the 111 Navy Chair, made of 111 recycled PET plastic 20oz Coca-Cola bottles. The 111 is seriously gorgeous, ultra light, has a great green story - Emeco has the potential to recycle 3 million plastic bottles a year - and comes in six swish colours selected by Laura Guido-Clark. Oh, and the extra sweet part is it'll be about half the price of the original aluminum Navy Chair (which, btw, contains 80% recycled aluminum). Fancy getting hooked up? Then pop on over to DWR, since they'll have the exclusive.

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!

On the wall with Sarah

One of the week's highlights for me was hanging out at the v. exciting launch of the Sarah Richardson Designer Palette paint collection. Sarah, if you didn't know, is just crazy about paint and colour in the same way some people are mad about peanut butter cookies (and that's saying something), so her brand new palette of 75 handpicked colours, designed exclusively for Para Paints and available at Lowe's Canada locations, is the kind of project that's very close to her heart. All the colours in the line are smashing, and represent a perfectly edited collection of what Sarah, with the assistance of the always witty Tommy Smythe and the rest of her glam team, think are pretty much everything you'll ever need to decorate with. Take a boo at the chic Sarah Richardson designed bedroom below, with walls painted in both her Bloom /SR8 and Citrine /SR63, and the ceiling in Dreaming /SR68, and you'll get the idea. Oh, and I don't know about you, but I'm totally jonesing for that fabulously nutty headboard.

Bananas and bathtubs

I'm having a bananas week. Actually, I should correct that, I'm having a BANANAS week. It all started off with the best of intentions. Monday was brilliant, since I spent the much of the day shooting the ultra-lovely results of a bathroom reno I've been working on for Canadian Family mag's upcoming Summer issue. While you'll have to grab the mag to get the complete tour, I wanted to share a bit of a sneak peek of how it's all looking - without giving everything away. So, there's a snap below of photographer Angus Fergusson in the bathtub, in the midst of angling for a shot of the toilet. Yes, I know, the sleek Kohler Purist faucet is listing slightly (it wasn't properly attached yet, and was just resting in place). Oh, and take a look at the spooky Bates Motel-ish before shot. Extra points if you figured out that we kept the original sink which Megan, the homeowner, cleaned with a ton of elbow grease and a few Polident tablets (seriously).

Buh-bye memories

My grandparents dining room set plays a large part in my childhood memories of happy times spent tucking into a Sunday roast, with a giant wobbly trifle for pud, and a glass of fizzy shandy to wash everything down. The glam set now resides in my sister's London flat, but not for much longer. It's too big. In fact, the imported from Italy in the '50's dining suite is on the humongous side, crowding into almost half of her living room, with the buffet slotted rather tightly into a spare bedroom. Once it's all been sold off on eBay, she'll be looking into a Tulip table with Bertoia Side Chairs as a considerably less space-eating alternative. And, as much as I'd like to swoop in on her auction and have everything crated and shipped over the Atlantic, we definitely don't have the room for it either. So it's a bit of a sad buh-bye... Take a look below, it's rather smashing, no?

Guest blog / Julia Black: Just for the (green) taste of it

Julia Black: Coca-Cola Classic cans might always be, well, classic but the iconic red and white striped pop could be going naked. The design team of Ryan Harc have created a green alternative to the can, albeit a chic silver kind of green. The guys behind Ryan Harc, Ryan Loon and Harc Lee, have designed Colorless, a monochromatic all-aluminum Coke can with a pressed, convex logo, all without any toxic paints and finishes. In forfeiting Coke's bold colours their proposed design will reduce air and water pollution, and takes out the secondary stage of removing the can's ubiquitous paint job once it's sent to be recycled, saving a whole bunch of energy in the process. Although the Colorless concept has yet to be picked up by the folks at Coca Cola, you can visit Harc Lee’s BehanceNetwork portfolio page here and click to give your seal of approval, and - who knows - we might just see the colorless cans on shelves sometime soon (in time for Earth Day?).

To read more posts from Julia click here, click here to check out her cool blog, and then you should really click here to check out Julia's Green Geek video post for HGTV.ca!

On the floor, in Paris

Sadly I'm not actually in Paris, instead I'm researching the chic old City of Lights for a project I'm working on. Derrière is one of the restaurants I've been reading up on that's now firmly on my must-see list, and not just because it's all a bit odd - It's a semi-secret place, entered through an unmarked door between busy and buzzy 404 and Andy Wahloo, once inside, the place has the look of a fairly messy apartment filled with flea-market finds (you might sit on a bed, near to a ping-pong table, or you might wander upstairs and head through a wardrobe - very Narnia - to the hidden smoking room). The interiors are by American-in-Paris designer Barbi Sloan, who also did the rather eccentric Jura Lodge on the Isle of Jura in Scotland, but - strangely - it's the snap I discovered of Derrière's bathroom floor that really made me go oooh! They're encaustic cement tiles, and I just love the mismatched effect all done in a single pale grey, cream and charcoal colourway. Smashing! Oh, and that second shot just gives you a taste of where you might be sitting if - and when - you end up for dinner at Derrière. On this side of the pond, if you fancy looking into encaustic cement tiles check out Villa Lagoon Tile. [Images: JasonW for HPRG Blog]

Off and on

I'm not sure whether it's this unseasonably warm weather (the back door is wide open and Spot is in the garden digging holes to Timbuktu), but my get up and go has got up and went. I'm totally in the mood to start this long weekend early with a quick snooze on the sofa, lol, but in the meantime, there's cool stuff worth sharing! Sprout and Slide are the latest in lighting from Jonathan Adler. The shades, realised in a beatifully matte unglazed porcelain, pick up on his Relief collection of pottery with organic references and simple forms. Lovely. For more on Jonathan, click here to read a 5 quick questions interview with him. And, have you hooked up with him on Facebook yet? Check in here to find tons of behind-the-scenes shots of his work in progress, as well as witty Daily Adlerisms.