Fab find
Paisley print napkins, $12 for 4; westelm.com.
In honour of our fabulous new colour issue, we’ve chosen this fresh green set of paisley print napkins from West Elm as our latest fab find. They’re on sale right now for $12 for a set of four — what an affordable and easy way to bring some colour into your home for spring!
How do you bring colour back into your home for the spring season?
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{ Archive for the ‘Shopping’ Category }
I can spend hours trolling through Etsy, and last night I came upon a fabulous seller named Natalie French, who is a fine art photographer from the UK. I love the softness of the prints and ended up ordering the first two below for my home office (which will soon be my ultra-girly retreat in our house). I am beyond excited to finally get some artwork up on our walls and get a bit of character going on around here!
The prints come in a variety of affordable sizes (you can get four 5″x5″ prints for $30 US) and ship for a low cost, considering they come from the UK.
Until the end of February, Natalie is offering Style at Home readers 15% off any print in her Etsy shop — just use the code STYLEATHOME15.
xo,
Lauren
Fab find
Handwoven Byholma basket in grey, $6; ikea.ca.
Photography by Stacey Brandford
Organizing a space can not only be a daunting task, but an expensive one as well. I love these $6 baskets from IKEA because they’re so versatile. You can use them to display objets (like above) or bundle small items like matches, votive candles, clothespins, etc. I’m thinking about using these in our laundry room when it’s finished — attach blank gift tags to the fronts with ribbon to label the contents of each basket.
What do you use to organize the small items in your home?
Vancouver is a breeding ground for hot Canadian talent, and at the Style at Home offices we often look west for design inspiration. Here are two of our favourite contemporary home decor destinations, plus one brand new spot in trendy Crosstown. Read more about our fave Vancouver shops in the March issue of Style at Home, on sale February 7.
Vancouver Special
3612 Main St., 604-568-3673; vanspecial.com
A range of contemporary furniture, accessories, and art and architecture books, Vancouver Special aims to make good design accessible. Owner Anne Pearson, a UBC architecture grad, also hosts various events, exhibitions and lectures in the space, which was designed to look like an art gallery.
Hee lounge chair
HAY Pinnochio rug
Provide
529 Beatty St., 604-632-0095; providehome.com
A destination for modern design, Provide stocks local and international wares. The Crosstown loft space is light and airy, mirroring the clean lines and organic forms of the products it sells.
Catherine Regehr Porcupine Loop cushion in silk
The Dirty Apron Cooking School & Delicatessen
540 Beatty St., 604-879-8588; dirtyapron.com
Relatively new to Crosstown, The Dirty Apron Cooking School & Delicatessen allows you to unleash your inner chef. Former Chambar chef de cuisine David Robertson leads students through hands-on classes, working with professional cookware and state-of-the-art appliances, teaching each step required in creating a complete meal (classes start from $145 per person for a four hour course).
After preparation and plating are finished, students gather in the stylish dining room to enjoy their three-course meal and a glass of wine. The best part? Cleanup is taken care of by The Dirty Apron staff.
Classroom at The Dirty Apron
This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and it was insane. With 140,000 attendees, it was Vegas’ busiest time of the year, as gadget guys and gals flocked to see all the newest innovations for 2011. Busiest booths included Intel (who brought buzz with their new core processor to make PC’s faster), Microsoft (who had massive bubble rooms where people could play Kinect games) and Polaroid (who had Lady Gaga revealing her Grey Label line), just to name a few.
I, of course, was most drawn to the stylish goodies for home and lifestyle — you could spot me drooling over appliances at the massive LG booth or being completely blown away by how seamless home entertainment is becoming over at the Intel booth. Here are a few of my fave finds:
1 Urbanears ‘Medis’ earbuds, $50 US
One issue I have with listening to music on my iPod is that the earbuds never stay in my ear. I use them at the gym, at work and also when I’m tinkering around the house (Mick doesn’t share my enthusiasm for Motown, so I put headphones on when washing dishes, decorating, cleaning — you name it). At CES, I stumbled upon the Urbanears booth and fell in love. The ‘Medis’ earbuds come with different sizes of clips so you can adjust to your ear size and they never fall out. They also come in a bunch of lovely colours and have a shoelace-like cord — tres chic.
2 Intel Smart TV
Intel was definitely one of the companies that blew me away — I’m so fascinated with how in-tune they are with making our lives easier. One thing that I loved was Smart TV, a partnership between Intel, Sony, Logitech and Google. Basically, Intel has created a software that allows you to wirelessly use your TV for live television, web browsing, Netflix, etc. all through using a keyboard for all remote requests. Let’s say you wanted to search your TV for “hockey” — just type in the term and it lets you choose between hockey items in the TV guide, your PVR, NetFlix, internet search and more. It’s so seamless! Intel Labs director Genevieve Bell said it best when she explained that, “Good technology becomes part of the landscape of our lives. It needs to be comfortable for the user and we have to understand that homes are where people live.”
3 LG Steam Closet
This thing was insane. Seriously, I was practically drooling. The steam closet is actually not even named thus, as it’s just a prototype at the moment. And please ignore the cheesy image — it’s of a similar item from LG that was released in Korea (looks the same). Anyways, the gist is that it’s an at-home appliance that will steam clean your clothing. No more dry cleaning, no more atrocious bills. You just hang your clothes inside, have the water reservoir filled with water, and in 30 minutes, your clothes have been steamed and deodorized. Sign. Me. Up.
4 Philips Fidelio Primo dock and speakers, $399
I’ve played around with Philips’ Fidelio line of dock speakers before and I love the crisp sound that comes out of them (not to mention their sexy look). At IDS they introduced the Fidelio Primo in the original version, which has a sleek wood design and a metal casing. These are the perfect speakers to have on hand for a party, indoors or out.
5 LG range with Infagrill technology
Okay, so I don’t have an image for this because it’s a prototype, but I’ll explain how cool it is. Basically, it’s a range that features an oven and cooktop, but also a separate grill that cooks food similar to an outdoor BBQ. There’s no pre-heating required and it cuts cooking time down by 30%. Now you don’t have to stand out in the freezing cold of winter when you’re craving a steak in February. Hurray!
Did any of you get a chance to visit CES? What were some of your fave gadgets?
xo,
Lauren
At the beginning of every new year, I always make sure to pick up a yearly planner, otherwise I would never remember a single thing. I fill it with birthdays, meetings and upcoming goals for the year {such as cleaning out our junk room by the end of January –it’s currently behind closed doors always}. And even though I live by my iPhone’s digital calendar, I like having a hard copy as a back-up.
This year’s search lead me to Sarah Pinto’s site, where she sells her weekly planners and notebooks. Available in a variety of fun styles, her clean and modern aesthetic reminds me of Kate Spade {which is clearly why I was drawn to it!}. What sets Sarah apart, however, is that she donates a portion of the proceeds to the pediatric cardiology ward of the California Pacific Medical Centre, where her son has been treated for a heart defect.
I chose the cool nautical-themed agenda, and with shipping and taxes it only came to $35. Not bad for a year’s worth of planning and a donation to a great cause.
xo,
Lauren
I’m going to warn you before you read on, that there is a very disturbing image for all you lovers of aesthetically pleasing things.
If you’re familiar with the Moggit Girls, you probably already love them for their hilarious take on bad design. Last week, they held a contest over Twitter asking followers to submit their ugliest Christmas ornaments and the response was great — but also incredibly ugly. As promised, here is the winner of the Moggit Girls’ Ugly Ornament Contest {submitted by Julie from Paisley, Plaid & Read}:
Congrats to Julie for owning such a horrific looking angel! And now, to counterbalance the ug with some pretty, here are a few of my fave ornaments for the season.
Pearl ornament, $12 US; Anthropologie.
Bird clip ornaments, $15 per set of 4; West Elm.
Baby's first Christmas felt ornament, $12 US; MaternalNEST on Etsy.
Elroy ornament, $3.50 each; CB2.
As much as we love looking at the pretty ornaments, it’s always fun to see the atrocious ones as well to think, “Who would ever make this?”.
Do you have any ugly ornaments hidden amongst the pretty?
xo,
Lauren
Last night we hosted a shopping event at West Elm in Toronto’s Liberty Village and it was a huge success! So many fabulous people came out for an evening of shopping, music, cocktails and eats {you guys went nuts for the frites!}.
If you happened to see a tall blonde dressed all in black, sneakily snapping pictures of people when they weren’t looking, well, that was me. I’m so glad I got to meet and chat with some of you, and it was great to speak face-to-face with people that I chat to on Twitter and Facebook.
Below are a few of the snaps I took during the event — can’t wait for the next one!
One of the bar areas at West Elm {thanks to all employees for their hard work!}
The dreamy bedroom space set up by design editor Christine Hanlon
Some of the lovely guests at the event
Had to sneak this in -- I love this little buddy!
Senior design editor Margot Austin tidying up the living room space she created {she also gets my vote for best-dressed of the night!}
All the pretty party people
So beautiful -- a place setting on the wintry white tabletop that editor-in-chief Erin McLaughlin styled
Two of our faves -- Margot and Pure Design darling Samantha Pynn
The line-up that wrapped around the store -- we love you dedicated shoppers for waiting in that crazy queue!
Fab five -- managing editor Tamara Robbins-Griffith, senior design editor Margot Austin, design editor Christine Hanlon, editor-in-chief Erin McLaughlin and contributing design editor Samantha Pynn
Thanks again to all who came out and to the fantastic staff at West Elm for all their hard work. Hope to see you again soon!
xo,
Lauren
Around my house, it’s beginning to look a lot like Chrisssssstmaaaaas. I’ve got the tree up, the lights on outside, and the table set with sparkling serveware. At the beginning of December, I like to spend one night writing out Christmas cards while listening to my favourite holiday tunes {The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York and Rum DMC’s Christmas Is, to be exact}.
This year, I’ve fallen in love with a collection of cards from Vancouver designer Valerie Lau. Her shop, Designs by Val, is an obsession of mine, but this Christmas has exceeded all my prior favourites. At $4.50 each or $18 for a box of eight, these are the unique kind of cards that will have recipients ooh-ing and aah-ing. Below are a few of my picks for this season, nestled amongst my home’s holiday cheer.
xo,
Lauren
The holidays are upon us and two of my favourite things about the season are sending Christmas cards and wrapping gifts. I’m super picky about my choice of cards and gift wrap, and nine times out of ten, I can’t find what I’m looking for at retail stores. Instead, I click through Etsy.com and order from the artisans themselves.
One of my favourite Etsy sellers is Adele, a British designer living in Toronto, who has created a fabulous eco-friendly paper goods company called modernemotive. She has a very simple, modern style and I find myself buying cards, gift tags and notepads from her all the time. I adore her new line of holidays gift tags for this year {above}. The tags come with vellum envelopes and you can get a set of eight for only $8.50 US. And if you’re looking for some fun holiday gifts, Adele has also introduced her line of 2011 calendars and sassy notepads.
Since it’s the season for giving, from now until midnight on Thursday, November 25th, we’re offering a 20% discount on all products from the modernemotive store on Etsy. Just enter styleathome when it asks for a promotional code.
Happy holidays!
xo,
Lauren
