[ weekend links ] The Holy Cow It’s May 18th Edition

House Tours

Hijuan House, Kuala Lumpur [ Contemporist ]
Black in Nolita [ Parlour ]
Barrier Island, New Zealand [ Desire to Inspire ]
Masculine glamour in Houston [ La Dolce Vita ]
A beautiful house on Ibiza [ Style Files ]

DIY & Projects

Triangle patchwork art [ Brett Bara ]
Textured planters [ DesignSponge ]
Painted glass table [ Kara Paslay Designs ]
Easy graphic print [ Poppytalk ]
Bookshelves [ A Pair and A Spare ]

Fashion & Beauty

The galaxy shoe [ Swellmayde ]
Chainmail collar [ How Did You Make This ]
A tropical uniform [ Oh Joy ]
Studded sneakers [ Honestly WTF ]
Make your own beachy hair spray [ Tinkerfinca ]

Hotels & Travel

Quinta da Vallado Winery, Portugal [ Contemporist ]
The Olive, Namibia [ From The Right Bank ]
Reykjavik [ The House That Lars Built ]
Six Senses Dao Resort, Vietnam [ Contemporist ]
Paris for beginners [ Flora and Flying ]

Entertaining & Parties

Geometric string cards [ Oh Happy Day ]
Ombre crane garland [ Camille Styles ]
Hand lettered gift wrap [ The Sweetest Occasion ]
10 ways to make sangria [ AT ]
Cool cocktail style [ Joanna Goddard ]

Miscellany

Pantone luggage [ If It's Hip It's Here ]
Reason #40002 why I love Marc Jacobs [ Sketch42 ]
Grey paint with Ryan Gosling [ Style by Emily Henderson ]

It’s a long weekend here in Canada so I will be back on Tuesday (maaaaybe on Monday if I’m feeling ambitious). Have a great one you guys!

If you are looking to give your space a dose of style- whether you are splashing out or on a budget – drop me a line. Check out my Hire Me! page for more details.

[ what I ate ] Vegan Chocolate Pudding

Vegan Chocolate Pudding

OMGOMGOMG. That was basically my reaction after trying this pudding. For real. I saw this recipe by Chocolate Covered Katie somewhere in my travels and of course I couldn’t wait to try it. Vegan chocolate pudding? I mean come on now. And this one is so ridiculously easy that it’s probably going to change my life (and waistline) permanently. I won’t re-write out the recipe here but believe it or not this is essentially just coconut milk. And it’s super easy – no blender required. See? Life changing. I can’t wait to make it again.

Food Links

The Savory

Veggie pho [ The Kitchn ]
Pesto pizza [ The Lovely Cupboard ]
Breakfast polenta [ Mint Loves Social Club ]
Calzone with broccoli rabe and olives [ Shelterrific ]
One bite pizzas [ Oh She Glows ]

The Sweet

Smore bars [ Wit and Whistle ]
Giant chai tea frosted cookies [ Eat Live Run ]
Cornmeal pancakes with blackberry syrup [ The Pioneer Woman ]
Caramel cake [ Everybody Likes Sandwiches ]
GF chocolate chip banana squares [ Brunch at Saks ]

Bon appetit!

If you are looking to give your space a dose of style- whether you are splashing out or on a budget – drop me a line. Check out my Hire Me! page for more details.

Things I Am Afraid To Tell Show You

I was inspired by this gutsty collective of blogger confessions going around the web (started off by Make Under My Life). It is so true that bloggers as a group tend to focus on the happy/shiny/pretty parts of life. Of course I am guilty of this too. Even when my life was literally falling apart I was here diligently posting pictures of things like shoes. I know it does all seem so trivial sometimes and I get that. But for me this blog has been both aspirational and inspirational. Obsessing over material objects may not seem important (and ultimately it really isn’t) but it’s mentally uplifting and it makes me happy. And that’s why I do it.

But because I am an interior designer sometimes the difference between the beautiful pictures I post and the place that I actually live in is embarrassingly apparent. But even a designer does not necessarily have access to all the best and newest (or the cash necessary to acquire those things). We are constrained by the same things that everyone else is – budget and time. I have a million DIY ideas and unfortunately not enough time to bring most of them to life. So my the thing I have been most afraid to share with you is my own apartment. And I’m even kind of cheating here. I am not showing you the Roomba vacuum, the dirty bathroom floor, the unkempt front hall closet. This is just a small glimpse into the real home of one very real blogger.

My necklaces look quite nice pinned to a corkboard. But I went back to the store to get two more matching ones (to create a necklace laden triptych) and they were all sold out. So I have only one and it’s completely off center on the wall.

Here is my bedroom. It’s actually pretty large and bright. But I don’t have a headboard yet or even a piece of art to hang above the bed! For shame. So it is far from finished. Plus all of the electrical sockets are halfway up the wall – as you can see –  which is both annoying and inconvenient.

I also own one monkey cat that is determined to get into every shot I take (but she’s pretty cute so I think I’ll keep her).

My amber glass collection. Confession: some of these are cracked or broken and I keep them up anyways.

This looks pretty good. But the lamp doesn’t plug in because there aren’t any outlets on this entire wall.

That Marc Jacobs canvas bag on the closet door is stuffed to the gills with scarves. I need a better way of organizing them. And somewhere for them to go?

I have all sorts of plans to line the back of the bookcase with something pretty. But I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

My bathroom is obviously a later addition to this house complete with indoor siding (?!). So I decorated by adding two Ikea frames with Barbie clothes that my grandmother hand crocheted for me as a kid.

This bathroom tray is almost a good idea but my ring collection is a little out of control. Some of them don’t even fit anymore because apparently I’ve lost weight in my fingers (again….??).

I am also super pressed for storage space so my make-up bag and nail polish live out in the open above the medicine cabinet.

This bookcase came with the suite so I seem to be keeping stuff around just to fill it up. The Jonathan Adler ornaments and the skull will be staying however.

It’s even too short to hold my cookbooks.

I have a lovely table in my front hall which I of course covered with all sorts of lovely things. But I also have an old glass window that looks into…nothing. It’s drywalled on the other side.

My pen jar is a Voluspa candle box. And I have yet to turn all my screen printed fabric into actual pillows.

This isn’t for everyone but I love it: my crystals and shells from the shooting range. Yin and yang.

I love this display in the living room. But everything except the travel guides and the Missoni plates came from the thrift store. (I especially love the disco ball reflections.)

And I am ridiculously proud of my self-made “artwork”. I’m going to make a bigger one – perhaps to hang in the bedroom. You know – someday, when I finally get around to it.

Hope you enjoyed my design confessions! It feels pretty good to just be real sometimes.

If you are looking to give your space a dose of style- whether you are splashing out or on a budget – drop me a line. Check out my Hire Me! page for more details.

[ wishlist wednesday ] Bliss Lau x Heather Benjamin

I adore the work of Bliss Lau. It embodies everything I love in jewelry (sidenote: sometimes I think I am actually repressed jewelry designer myself but that is another story). It’s a mix between punk and proper, delicate and bold. I especially love her larger body pieces which are more akin to pieces of clothing than jewelry. They could be described as medieval, 1920s and completely contemporary. Each would be totally accurate. Lau’s work has a way of effortlessly straddling influences and eras.

Fathom ring - $2300

So I was excited to see her collaboration with emerging artist Heather Benjamin on the lookbook for her S/S 12 collection. Instead of the usual soft focus high fashion photography, Lau chose to go in another direction entirely. Benjamin’s manga-inspired illustrated zine “Sad Sex” caught the eye of Lau and a design partnership was born.

The tough vampy girls sprung straight from Benjamin’s imagination are the perfect foil for Lau’s unusual pieces. It’s an inspired combination and one that perfectly conveys Lau’s aesthetic. “We had this idea of this naughty girl running rampant through the city doing things like smoking, hanging out with tigers, just this idea of this magical, sexy, sort of wicked girl that has fur coats and an amazing manicure but is like totally cool and punk rock, and she does dark things but she does them in fabulous ways,” says Lau. I love that description almost as much as I love her collection.

1 – Calder bracelet – $229
2 – Contour Jacket – $1138
3 – Hourglass necklace – $397

[ via coolhunting ]

If you are looking to give your space a dose of style- whether you are splashing out or on a budget – drop me a line. Check out my Hire Me! page for more details.

[ things I love ] An Amazing Australian Renovation

Who doesn’t love a good before and after? A total room transformation is always inspiring and this amazing kitchen project in Australia is one of the best renovation projects I’ve seen recently. A great design vision and some very hard work have combined here to make an absolutely stunning kitchen. I want it all: the polished concrete floors, the shiny white cabinets,  the simple pendants, the display shelves filled with gorgeous colored glass. *sigh* It’s basically perfect, don’t you think?

[ via AT ]

If you are looking to give your space a dose of style- whether you are splashing out or on a budget – drop me a line. Check out my Hire Me! page for more details.