[ weekend links ] Friday January 27th Edition

House Tours

Kelly Wearstler in Malibu [ From Me to You ]

Amazing house in the Catskills [ DesignSponge ]

Danish flat with pastels [ La Maison d'Anna G ]

House S in Vienna [ Contemporist ]

House R in Israel [ Freshome ]

DIY & Projects

Industrial mod desk [ Remodelista ]

Stencil pillow [ Wit and Whistle ]

Recycled paper basket [ DesignSponge ]

Matchstick candles [ Poppytalk ]

Gold lampshades [ Kara Paslay ]

Fashion & Beauty

Neon clutch [ Because I'm Addicted ]

Chalk your hair [ The Beauty Department ]

Geometric necklace [ Oh The Lovely Things ]

Peter pan collar [ A Beautiful Mess ]

Colorblock tees [ Uber Chic for Cheap ]

Hotels & Travel

25 hours Hotel HafenCity, Hamburg [ Contemporist ]

Jade Mountain, St. Lucia [ The Luxury Spot ]

La Maison, Paris [ Remodelista ]

Palm Springs [ Poppytalk ]

Miraval, Tucson [ Well and Good NYC ]

Entertaining & Parties

30th birthday brunch [ The Lovely Cupboard ]

Gluten free party snacks [ The Kitchn ]

Mini crepe paper flowers [ Oh Happy Day ]

Easy entertaining with a baked potato bar [ Cup of Jo ]

Gilded thank you cards [ Camille Styles ]

Miscellany

Karim Rashid for Bo Concept [ Contemporist ]

Recycled felt storage baskets [ DesignSponge ]

How to give compliments [ Style United ]

Pantry basics [ The Pioneer Woman ]

Pretty decanters [ DesignSponge ]

I have another busy weekend coming up and I am quite excited for it! I am also going to try to carve out some time to work on some DIYs – and maybe even go for a run. Eeep! Whatever you happen to be up to, I hope it’s turns out great.

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 ] Crispy Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

Crispy Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

It’s been a while since I’ve baked anything. I’ll admit – I kind of overdid it with the baking at Christmas. And I still haven’t figured out my stove entirely. It seems too hot sometimes and not hot enough at other times. But I decided it was more than time to saunter back in there and pick up the spatula. I was craving something oatmeal-y and chewy but something a little out of the ordinary. I found this recipe by
Smitten Kitchen somewhere in my internet travels and I knew it was the one.

I love a recipe like this. The sea salt elevates it and makes the whole cookie seem sophisticated somehow. But it’s actually about as easy as the chocolate chip cookies that I normally make. And the results? Perfect. Well almost perfect. Truthfully I went a little too easy on the sea salt but I’ll try not to shy away from that next time. Still they were almost exactly what I wanted. Delish.

Food Links

A sampling of the yummy things from across the web that caught my eye this week:

The Savory

General Tso’s tempeh [ Hobby And More ]

Roasted eggplant salad with smoked almonds and goat cheese [ The Kitchn ]

Three cheese pizza [ Sacramento Street ]

Dolsot bimbimbap with vegetables and tofu [ The Kitchn ]

Smoked tofu vegetable pot pie [ Everybody Likes Sandwiches ]

The Sweet

Slutty brownies [ The Londoner ]

Chocolate turtle cookies [ Pixelated Crumbs ]

Gluten free banana bread pancakes [ My New Roots ]

Exactly two chocolate cupcakes [ Manhattan

Chocolate cookie crips [ Oh Joy ]

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.

[ DIY ] The Super Easy Pillow

Let’s make a pillow! Making new pillow case covers is one of my favorite ways to update a space. Nothing makes your sofa or bed pop like a couple of pillow in a fun new print. PS – I do this a couple times a year on average so you know it must be easy and quick. I never have a lot of patience for complicated projects.

Your Tools:
- pillow inserts, fabric of your choice, measuring tape, matching thread, sewing machine, scissors and straight pins.

Step One:
- Get your fabric and cut out one long piece. I use the Ikea feather inserts that are 18″ x 18″ square, so the measurements I use here are based on that. For the fabric, I used a thrifted ikat print sari scarf in a pretty deep blue. I cut a piece of fabric that is about 19″ wide and 46″ long. This was about half the width of the scarf I had purchased so it worked perfectly for me. (Note: I serged the short ends but only because I have a serger. It’s not totally necessary to finish them unless you have a flimsy fraying fabric.)

Step Two:
- This is the super-easy “envelope” part. Take your scarf and fold each end in. Be sure to fold the right sides together! (My scarf was double sided so it made no difference for me.) Create a square that is about 19″ x 19″. You will have some excess fabric, so fold those parts over one more time (this will hide your unfinished edges).

Make one of the big folds slightly deeper than the other so that the whole thing overlaps. This will create the envelope when we flip it over. The important things are to create a square and an overlap of at least a few inches in the back. (The larger the overlap the better just FYI.) Pin each side together, folds and all. You can iron it now – or wait until the end. The above photo shows one side folded in. It’s about 11″ with a 2″ fold at the end.

Step Three:
- Sew! This is the easy part. Sew two straight lines. Yup. That’s it. I used a 5/8″ seam allowance but you can use 1/2″. I didn’t take a photo of this but I’m pretty sure you can guess what it looked like.

Step Four:
- Flip the whole shebang right-side out. (If you’re feeling fancy you can clip the corners down to make them sit more cleanly but you totally don’t have to.) Slip your new envelope case onto your pillow form and sit back to admire your handiwork.

This is the basic method but of course you can get fancy with these. I’ve put button closures in the back.  I’ve faked in extra seams to make them look like a normal pillow. This particular fabric had a border, which I used as a stripe detail at the fold in the back (not pictured). Get creative! My only advice is to really take your time at the folding and pinning stage. Make sure you get that part right and the rest will take care of itself.

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 ] Colorblocking

On these grey days of winter, nothing soothes my heart more than thinking of (the hopefully impending) spring. It’s still much too early to really go there I know, especially here in the slush and cold rain. But I can start thinking about it at least and perhaps even start plotting out my early spring purchases. I know I talked about color blocking last year but it still makes me a bit giddy with delight. I am especially loving the new and interesting color combinations, like brights mixed with pastels. And how just a dash of unexpected color in a collar or on a sleeve adds a whole new dimension to the same old same old. Nothing like a little new inspiration to make you feel creative again. Now can someone please DIY that coat?

1 – Earrings – Forever 21 – $5.80
2 – Lightweight cardigan – T by Alexander Wang – $195
3 – Pencil skirt – BCBG – $128
4- Acne witkin color block sweater – Net A Porter – $250
5 – Wedges – Luisa Roma – $695
6 – Sonia by Sonia Rykiel pants – Shopbop – $395
7 – Cross body bag – Juicy Couture – $158
8 – Dsquared2 trench coat – Farfetch – €795
9 – Long sleeve tee – Banana Republic – $39.50
10 – Equipment silk shirt – Asos – $429.72

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 ] Red – Gung Hei Fat Choi

This is day late technically but never mind about that! Chinese New Year celebrations go on for a few days at least. And it’s the kind of party I approve of – firmly centered around food, family and (symbolic) money. In a city as international as Vancouver, you just can’t help but pick up a little of the other cultures around you. So I went with it. On Sunday I made a big effort to clean away my bad luck and yesterday I didn’t be clean at all – to let the good luck sink in. Apparently home entrances are very important and guess where my biggest mess was? My foyer, where a pile of boxes and “homeless” things seem to have gotten stuck. So I’ve unstuck them and cleared them all away. Now let’s hope I’ve unstuck myself as well! I can use all the good luck this year that I can possibly get. I hope you all have a happy and prosperous Year of the Dragon. And to kick it off, let’s look at some pretty red rooms and things…

[ Lonny Mag ]

[ Pinterest ]

[ Elle Decor | House Beautiful ]

[ Style by Emily Henderson | Houzz ]

[ Pinterest ]

[ Lonny Mag | Lonny Mag ]

[ The Long and Short of It | Abigail Ahern]

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.