Design & Decor Blog

Decorating inspiration can be found anywhere and everywhere. Maybe the colour of a leaf catches your eye on the street. Maybe you’re inspired by the colour of a new sweater. Or perhaps the set of a movie totally captures your imagination. At Style at Home, we’ve found that our readers love movie sets and often draw inspiration from the details of some of their favourite films. We’ve also discovered that the movie Something’s Gotta Give has really made an impression! The breathtaking Hampton’s home that belongs to Diane Keaton’s character is full of beachy style, made oh-so-inviting through attention to detail, particularly the airy colour palettes throughout and the no-muss, no-fuss approach to decorating. Pictured above is the serene kitchen, whitewashed and wonderful, exuding a sense of both form and function. We picked some other movie sets we love and have provided some tips to help you bring the look home – check them out here! So, what movie set has made you swoon. Leave a comment — I want to know!

I love my condo. I really do. When I first moved in, I spent so much time choosing the paint colours, furniture and accessories. The result is a warm and cozy space that I just love to spend time in. But … as the editor of a design and decorating website, I’m continually surrounded by new and exciting ideas. My mind is always whirling with just one more change I could make to my home, a tweak here, a new item there … it’s a hazard of the job, I suppose! Pictured above are rooms that totally capture my imagination. It’s a hot and sticky August here in Toronto and these interiors are light and bright and if I could, I’d makeover my home to look like these! (Photography by Gap Interiors.)

Do you have a room in your home that’s in desperate need of a makeover? If you said yes, then I encourage you to enter the Style at Home Makeover Contest, brought to you by the Fall Home Show. Simply upload a photo of a room in your home that’s in desperate need of an overhaul and tell us why you need a makeover. You could win one of two $2,000 gift cards from Home Depot to help you turn your design dreams into reality. Visit the Style at Home Makeover Contest for full contest details and for your chance to win. Good luck!

Looking and smelling positively good enough to eat, these products from Calgary-based Frilly Lilly are actually supposed to go on your body, not in it! The product line (inspired by desserts, of course!) launched in 2005 and since then has garnered recognition here at home and with our neighbours to the south; the line has been picked up by Fred Segal in Santa Monica, Kitson in Los Angeles, as well as The Palms and The Wynn hotels in Las Vegas. And with plans for expansion, the Frilly Lilly brand is about to go global; they’re already in Hong Kong, France and Qatar with plans to open more international boutiques in the future. But I’m simply in love with the fabulous offerings Frilly Lilly puts forth, not just because they’re wonderful products and beautifully packaged, too, but because this company is homegrown talent at its best. For more information, visit frillylilly.ca and click here to find a list of boutique locations.  Even better, visit their online boutique and shop from the comfort of home! OK, ready to check out the goods? Here are some of my faves!

Mini Cupcake Bathcakes
Price: $16.00 CAD

Pink Lemonade Lip Butter
Price: $10.00 CAD

Lemon Meringue Bathcake
Price: $12.00 CAD

Fresh Tangerine Sugar Scrub
Price: $28.00 CAD

And for more great decorating and design inspiration, follow me on Twitter!

Lucyina Moodie is a UK-based stylist and interior designer whose eye for style is (IMHO) nothing short of pure perfection! I just love the antique chic look of the spaces she designs and her use of pretty pastels that soothe and calm. Since she hails from across the pond, it’s unlikely that us Canucks will really be able to call on her services but the photos are certainly a source of inspiration. There’s a simple charm in these designs, a look that heralds an era long gone. Her style makes me think of a simpler time and reminds me to celebrate the important things in life.
For more information, visit: lucyina.com

For more design inspiration, check out these articles:
15 secret decor tips
15 tricks that will make your home look like it jumped off the pages of Style at Home.

Design lesson: Living well
Improve your quality of life at home.

Organizing 101: Making your home a haven
Create a space that’s beautiful and reflects who you are so that you feel at home with these home organizing tips.

One of the quickest, most inexpensive ways to update your bathroom is to change the shower curtain. With so many designs out there to choose from, you can give your bathroom a whole new look in mere minutes. Here are a few I like:

1 Caribbean fish
garnethill.com
$48

2 Garden blossom
dwellshop.com
$73

3 Monterey shower curtain
cb2.com
$34.95

4 Dots fabric
cozyhomewares.com
$29.99

I’m one of those lucky people whose job it is to look at and write about pretty things all day long. Along my cyber travels, I find fab new products, beautiful photos and today, I’ve discovered a handful of interior designers, whose work is lovely and inspirational. Case in point: Enviable Designs is Victoria McKenney’s Vancouver-based interior design firm. With a tagline of “comfortable sophistication”, her work seems to accomplish this effortlessly. I love these photos of some of her projects; there’s a richness and elegance to these spaces yet the rooms still look easy to live in. Victoria’s bio says that her “personal style is an effortless blend of European classic with hints of modern and twists of traditional.” Love it!

For more information, visit Enviable Designs.
For more inspiration, check out our Decorating & Design section!

Every now and then, you find a product that you never knew you needed. And then suddenly, there it is, in all its glory and you wonder how you ever lived without it. That’s sort of how I feel about Simple Human’s sensor soap pump. We’ve all used sensor pumps in public washrooms but it never occurred to me how brilliant it would be to have one at home. Well, now that I’ve used this, I realize just how great it is. Particularly in the kitchen, this soap pump makes a lot of sense. Let’s say you’re working with raw meat and you need to wash up frequently. With this pump, you don’t need to touch a soap dispenser with your contaminated hands. Just place your hand underneath the sensor and voila! Just enough soap comes out for you to wash up. So simple, so smart.

Available at: Home Outfitters or visit simplehuman.com for more information
Price: $49.99