Two pretty things I see everday and normally don't notice. I noticed them and took these photos. Some days I feel there is a high degree of artifice in what I do, but I think that's changing. Perfection isn't all it's cracked up to be. I've always been charmed by The Beautiful Mess. Whether it's items from a vanity, a tumble of fallen petals, a jumble of leftover ribbon, a pile of delicate ladylike shoes, an unmade bed. All hail The Beautiful Mess.
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So, this is very cool wallpaper. You may recognize the wallpaper as being from the Studio Printworks collection. To me it looks kinda like exaggerated punctuation. I've actually posted this pic before - it's by John Loecke, a charming design pro that I met last summer at an ebay event in Mahattan. Daring, I say - quite daring. Daring is good! A little digging has revealed that this paper was designed by Given Campbell. And the latest Given Campbell collection is right up my alley. It's called the Divine collection. Inspiration was clearly heaven-sent since the patterns are all named for saints.
St. Peter, patron saint of fishermen
St. Catherine, patron saint of artists
St. Christopher, patron saint of travelers
And my favourite, for so many reasons,
St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of writersAnd why is saintly wallpaper up my alley, you may wonder? It's because I'm Catholic. I find the stories of lives of the saints fascinating. When I was little I used to love reading the stories -- drama, adventure, tragedy, devotion, sacrifice, miracles! I mean really, eat your heart out JK Rowling! I attended Catholic schools for my education: St. Anne's, St. Teresa's, St. Peter's High School, St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto. My dad was CEO of St. Joseph's Hospital for about 20 years. Did you know St. Joseph is the patron saint of Canada? That's why there are so many companies here named for St. Joseph -- most would have been started by immigrant Catholics. Two other very helpful saints are St. Anthony and St. Jude. Whenever I lost something and bugged Mom to help find it she would say "Say a prayer to St. Anthony and St. Jude." Anthony is the patron saint of lost items, St. Jude is for lost causes. Given Campbell's graphic modern collection has renewed my interest in the lives of the saints. If you'd like to find out more about your name saint, check out the searchable database at catholic.org. Here are a couple of interesting ones: Martha is the patron saint of housewives and cooks (seriously, for reals!). And if you'd like an explanation of the whole St. Joseph ritual for selling your house, click over to Ask Sister Mary Martha -- a very amusing blog!
this photo MADE my day. I nicked it from Beach Bungalow 8. That blog rocks. The only thing that would make this better is if this bike with my Lulu in the basket was parked outside our PEI cottage.]]>
Here's a little dream come true and some happy news to share. My beloved husband and I have just signed, sealed and delivered papers on the purchase of this charming cottage in a pretty seaside town on Prince Edward Island. **Deep breath** Can you believe it?? I can't wait to tell you more about our wee slice of blissville. We don't take possession for another few weeks, but we've chosen a name, and the decorating plans are ramping up -- think Scandinavia-meets-the Kent coast-meets-the Fathers of Confederation! Now, if only Porter would start flying to Charlottetown -- island airport to island airport...
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'Memba the other day when I was telling you how much I love spin art? Well, look who else is a fan! Check out this vid. Adorbs!]]>
There it is on the right -- spin art. I'm mad for this stuff right now. It does seem very childish in a way, so it is quite right for this play room designed by Laura Day. But for me it's just an outright celebration of colour. Pure and simple -- and chic.
The spin art in this home -- the very stylish pad of Jimmy Choo shoe guru Tamara Mellon (from Elle DECOR)-- is by Damien Hirst. He seems to be the only big time artist doing spin art. And he's making a killing selling the stuff. Everything he touches turns to gold. I'm also a fan of his spot paintings -- again, just colour, pure and simple. He's a very controversial figure in art. Many call him a fraud. He's one of those artists who has a factory. In other words, he employs others to make his art. In fact, he has been quoted as saying that his own spot paintings were "fucking shite". He only did 5 of them. The rest are by employees. Hmmm. Don't care and still like them. Though of course I'd never be able to afford one anyway, so the authenticity debate is moot.
But back to spin art. Here's the principle: pour globs of paint onto a spinning surface and the centrifugal force pushing the paint out to the edges greats the pattern. Neat. Every time it's different. I was searching You Tube and My Space for video of spin art being made and found a collaboration between Damien Hirst and John Cusack. Yes, that's right. Lloyd Dabler aka Martin Blank. That's him on the right below. See all the cups of paint.
They pour them over the railing onto this:
check out the vid here.
Damien also does spin art cars:
And the best best best part about spin art: There's an App for that. Once discovered, I promptly downloaded it to my trusty iPhone and here are some of my own digital masterpieces.
Oh yeah, and apparently you can make spin art with a salad spinner. Check out the how-to at Brassy Apple. Dying to try this.
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What a happy little bright corner this is, don't you think? Sure, maybe there are a couple too many pillows, but you see the pillows are the whole point today. Today's post is a little appreciation session for the wild and wonderful fabrics of Josef Frank. I was lucky enough to visit Stockholm a few years ago and on a visit to the Svenskt Tenn design store I was fascinated to see so much of his work. I have a well-documented weakness for fabric and this stuff is just like yummy candy. It's so exuberant and bold and fun and slightly psycheadelic, but somehow it seems to rise above trend. It's always in a never in. The multi-coloured botanical prints have almost every colour imaginable.
If you've been visiting 'round here in the past, you will know that green is my most favouritest colour. So imagine how much I like these fabrics. Deee-lightful.
When I was at Svenskt Tenn one of the only things I could afford to buy was one of the cute little glass vases in the photo above. Out of the store and back home, it's the kind of thing that looks like it's from Dollarama, but I'll always know it was from Svenskt Tenn. It was designed by Estrid Ericson. The neck of the vase is designed specifically to fit an acorn and the vase is meant to be used to allow acorns to sprout. I like to put a single giant peony bloom in it. But I digress, back to Mr. Frank...
One of the most famous patterns is a map-inspired design called Manhattan. Luurv.
You can catch glimpses of it in a recent issue of STYLE AT HOME because our ed-in-chief Erin was wed in the Spring in NYC and stayed at the Maritime Hotel. The happy couple's swish suite has chairs in Manhattan. Great-looking hotel, and by all reports the wedding was a magical affair. Lovely! Here's the penthouse suite:
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So, I'm kinda digging this style of bike lately. I have absolutely no need for one. My job requires the cargo space of my mini SUV -- a silver Suzuki that suits me just fine. But wouldn't one of these be so chic and so much fun? You know who also thinks they're chic? The Sartorialist. Have you ever noticed how many of his portraits are cool city cyclists? Here are my faves:
That woman with the yellow bike -- her hair, her outfit, her shoes, her shades -- so pretty!
And, um, hello sir, don't you look perfectly stunning on your sweet ride:
But of course here is the most chic cyclist of all time:
And remember last year when these pics first hit Martha Stewart Weddings and sent every blogger into paroxysms of glee? It's the talented Laura Normandin on her wedding day -- it's so sweet I kind of weep a little seeing how happy they are (oh, I'm definitely a crier -- weddings, puppies, Tim Horton's commercials...bring on the Kleenex!).
And I could even take my little Lulu with me if I had a custom tricycle like Lela Rose has for her pup:
I do love the very first bike, a beach cruiser, but this is the one I'd REALLY love to have. It's the Biomega from Denmark and I saw one right here in Toronto at Mjölk. sigh. Just love it.
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Maybe this is a bit too much information, but in this hot weather I just don't dig wrapping myself in a big fluffy terry robe after the shower. And on the hottest days, I even find terry towels just too heavy and warm to use. (Casa Austin is A/C-free.) So here's what I'm craving: Turkish hammam towels, also called peştemals. I first saw the giant stripey flat-weave beauties at the Conran Shop in London a few years ago and really loved. But they were a touch pricey and there are so many more exciting ways to part with cash on a London vacay, so I gave them the pass. Last year the good people at West Elm had lovely small hand towel versions and I snapped them up. But the full size, wrap-right-around-your-body size are still a little scarce on the Canadian retail scene. A quick Google search unearthed the most gorgeous collection of them at L'Aviva Home. What a great site -- how come I've just discovered it?? If you are a textile nut at all, you really should click over to L'Aviva Home -- and get your credit card ready. There's no chance you'll be able to resist the lovely things.
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From my backyard to my iPhone in just a few minutes. Daisies make me happy. They are such simple flowers. He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me. A daisy is the flower that a child draws when you ask her to draw a flower. And as for the vessel -- well, I'm sure I could conjure a whole different post on the absolute vessel perfection that is the creamer. This one is an all-time fave by Jasper Conran for Wedgwood.
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