Looking through the new Elle Decor this month and love these new Jonathan Adler pillows. What do you think?
Monday 31 May 2010
Pretty pillows
Looking through the new Elle Decor this month and love these new Jonathan Adler pillows. What do you think?
Friday 28 May 2010
Thursday 27 May 2010
My favourite thing this week
My pick for this week. Loving this coral chandelier from Ballard Designs. You can't beat the price at $299.00!!
Tuesday 25 May 2010
White white and more white
I am of the belief that you can change almost anything to white and it automatically looks better. A can of white paint is one of my favourite things and one day (when my kids no longer have sticky fingers) I will have lots of white walls and furniture with pops of color through art and rugs. So for the time being I am happy in my white kitchen and hoping there is more white in my future;)
Friday 21 May 2010
Canadian House and Home June issue
If you need an idea for a wall behind your sofa or above your bed then check out this great diy.
1. Buy ceiling medallions at your local big box store eg. Home Depot, Rona etc...
2. Pick a couple paint colors in different tones or one color depending on what you like.
3. Paint the ceiling medallions in a couple of coats of your chosen paint.
4. And voila- instant art for your wall!
1. Buy ceiling medallions at your local big box store eg. Home Depot, Rona etc...
2. Pick a couple paint colors in different tones or one color depending on what you like.
3. Paint the ceiling medallions in a couple of coats of your chosen paint.
4. And voila- instant art for your wall!
These done in shades of gray
Lovely tones of yellow
Wednesday 19 May 2010
My favourite thing this week
I am a little behind on some of my weekly posts and trying to catch up! My pick this week are these very cool must have Prada sunglasses. I am hoping my husband reads this post;)
The Cross Millennium Water project
One of my go to home decor stores, The Cross, has been working on a display suite in a new condo development in Yaletown called The Millennium Water. This development was originally built for all the athletes staying in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics. Now they are up for sale and The Cross was asked to put together one of the display suites. I think they did a wonderful job and anyone walking through the suite will fall in love.
Thursday 13 May 2010
My favourite thing this week
Spotted on Plum Cushion's blog yesterday. I love, love, love this pottery!! Check out Jill Rosenwald's Etsy shop. Here are a few of my faves. Have a great Thursday:)
Wednesday 12 May 2010
DIY nightmare
Let's just start by saying that I am anything but a DIYer. I have such admiration for all of you who can tackle a project and in the process make it look so easy! Since I have become a part of the blogging world I have seen all sorts of great ideas. For example, check out Censational Girl, she is amazing and has inspired me to do a little DIY myself. I started with a very old tray that was given to me from my husband's Nana. It has been in the family for years and I haven't done anything with it since we got it a couple of years ago. It is wicker with a glass top and fabric underneath. Looks pretty straightforward to me. Just spray the wicker in a high gloss white, change the fabric to a piece of left over wallpaper and clean the glass. Sounds easy enough, right?
So off to Rona I went to pick up a can of high gloss spray paint. I found the one I wanted to use and came home to disassemble the tray. I set everything up in the backyard and had it all ready to start spraying the wicker. But when I tried to remove the glass it wouldn't come out that easily. I tried from every angle and it just wouldn't pop out. I realized that I had to involve my husband which I really try to avoid because as we all know once the husbands are involved (or at least my husband) they have many opinions about every aspect of the once simple project! He managed to get the glass out with minimal swearing under his breath and I was back on track.
Okay, back to spray painting. Feeling happy now that the glass was out in one piece I started to spray the wicker. As I was spraying I noticed that it wasn’t really turning the high gloss white that I was expecting. I looked at the can and realized that I had bought the CLEAR protective spray!! Back in the car I go all the way to Rona to buy the white spray paint. As I am driving home I am thinking to myself that maybe I`m not cut out for this DIY stuff and that I am much better at shopping and decorating.
Okay, back to spray painting (again). I managed to spray the tray with minimal drama and let it sit to dry. Things were looking up! While it was drying I laid out the wallpaper and cut out the oval shape I needed to fit the tray. I cleaned the piece of glass and was ready to assemble the tray. My one problem was that I couldn’t fit the glass back into the tray. I guess I thought it would be easier putting the glass back in than it was taking it out. I began to get frustrated with the whole thing and had to leave to pick up my child from something so I asked my husband if he could put the glass back in the tray while I was out. He fiddled with it a little and said that he didn’t think the glass was going to go back in. I said that of course it will, if it can come out then it can be put back in! To make an already long story short I came home to chunks of broken glass sitting on my tray and the wallpaper all scratched up underneath the glass. The only solution at this point was to drive over to my friendly glass place (White Rock Glass - love them) and have a new piece of glass cut for my tray. About $40.00 later my tray was finished. I came to the conclusion that I am not a DIYer but maybe with lots of practice (and I mean lots and lots of practice) I will get better over time ;)
So off to Rona I went to pick up a can of high gloss spray paint. I found the one I wanted to use and came home to disassemble the tray. I set everything up in the backyard and had it all ready to start spraying the wicker. But when I tried to remove the glass it wouldn't come out that easily. I tried from every angle and it just wouldn't pop out. I realized that I had to involve my husband which I really try to avoid because as we all know once the husbands are involved (or at least my husband) they have many opinions about every aspect of the once simple project! He managed to get the glass out with minimal swearing under his breath and I was back on track.
Okay, back to spray painting. Feeling happy now that the glass was out in one piece I started to spray the wicker. As I was spraying I noticed that it wasn’t really turning the high gloss white that I was expecting. I looked at the can and realized that I had bought the CLEAR protective spray!! Back in the car I go all the way to Rona to buy the white spray paint. As I am driving home I am thinking to myself that maybe I`m not cut out for this DIY stuff and that I am much better at shopping and decorating.
Okay, back to spray painting (again). I managed to spray the tray with minimal drama and let it sit to dry. Things were looking up! While it was drying I laid out the wallpaper and cut out the oval shape I needed to fit the tray. I cleaned the piece of glass and was ready to assemble the tray. My one problem was that I couldn’t fit the glass back into the tray. I guess I thought it would be easier putting the glass back in than it was taking it out. I began to get frustrated with the whole thing and had to leave to pick up my child from something so I asked my husband if he could put the glass back in the tray while I was out. He fiddled with it a little and said that he didn’t think the glass was going to go back in. I said that of course it will, if it can come out then it can be put back in! To make an already long story short I came home to chunks of broken glass sitting on my tray and the wallpaper all scratched up underneath the glass. The only solution at this point was to drive over to my friendly glass place (White Rock Glass - love them) and have a new piece of glass cut for my tray. About $40.00 later my tray was finished. I came to the conclusion that I am not a DIYer but maybe with lots of practice (and I mean lots and lots of practice) I will get better over time ;)
BEFORE
AFTER
Tuesday 11 May 2010
Bill Gates Florida Mansion (Hobe Sound, Jupiter Island)
For rent: A 10,500-square-foot, four-bedroom, six-bath, home, with an Intracoastal Waterway yacht dock and heated indoor pool. Cost: $50,000 a month (in season). Landlord; billionaire Bill Gates.
The barrier island municipality already has the distinction of having the second-highest per capita income of any inhabited place in the country. Among its residents are publisher Nelson Doubleday, Scripps Florida President Richard Lerner and singer Celine Dion. Golfer Tiger Woods is building a home on the island.
Now, Gates, a founder and the president of Microsoft, listed annually among the wealthiest in the world, has picked up land on the northern end of the oceanfront island through a company run by a 25 year old who lives in the state of Washington.
Jeff Gelman, who sold his 5.2-acre home at 100 Harbor Way, at the end of a narrow mangrove-lined private road for $5 million to Justin Hance and his company Front Range Investment, said Gates is behind the July 13 hardball purchase on the property that was appraised by Martin County at $8.7 million.
Gelman said he believes Hance, whose office is in the same Kirkland, Wash., building as Gates’ private investment and holding company Cascade Investment LLC, is working for Gates or fellow billionaire Warren Buffett, Buffett is also an investor with Cascade.
Hance, a 2006 graduate of Claremont McKenna College in California who according to the college’s Web site interned at Cascade Investment, could not be reached for comment Monday.
Officials with Cascade Investment did not immediately respond to a request for comments send by e-mail Monday.
Gelman said his accountant would constantly remind him of the daily expenses of maintaining the property that included $117,000 in property taxes in 2008.
“I would have liked for them to have paid more, but it was what it was, this is a tough market,” said Gelman, who had lived in the home for five years but had already moved to new home. “I didn’t get all the money I wanted, but I got rid of it.”
Tom Turner, who brokered the deal for Waterfront Properties, couldn’t confirm that Gates is the potential buyer.
“It’s been bandied all over the place, from Gates to Buffet to Paul Allen, Gates’ original partner with Microsoft,” Turner said. “I don’t really known the answer and probably if I did I’d probably plead the fifth.”
Gelman, who has been selling real estate for two decades and considered Hance's negotiation tactics distasteful, has previously sold homes to Dion and Richard Fuld Jr., the chairman and chief executive officer of the failed Lehman Brothers.
“They were trying to take advantage of the deal,” Gelman said. “They were under contract at $5.4 (million) so they continued inspections, kept prolonging the due diligence, and finally one week before they were to close, they lowered the price from $5.4 (million) to $5 million on us. I just figured whatever, you must need this 400 grand really bad.”
First Range did not purchase the three adjoining lots owned by Gelman, two vacant parcels and one that includes a 3,515-square-foot, 3-bedroom, 2.5-bath home.
The barrier island municipality already has the distinction of having the second-highest per capita income of any inhabited place in the country. Among its residents are publisher Nelson Doubleday, Scripps Florida President Richard Lerner and singer Celine Dion. Golfer Tiger Woods is building a home on the island.
Now, Gates, a founder and the president of Microsoft, listed annually among the wealthiest in the world, has picked up land on the northern end of the oceanfront island through a company run by a 25 year old who lives in the state of Washington.
Jeff Gelman, who sold his 5.2-acre home at 100 Harbor Way, at the end of a narrow mangrove-lined private road for $5 million to Justin Hance and his company Front Range Investment, said Gates is behind the July 13 hardball purchase on the property that was appraised by Martin County at $8.7 million.
Gelman said he believes Hance, whose office is in the same Kirkland, Wash., building as Gates’ private investment and holding company Cascade Investment LLC, is working for Gates or fellow billionaire Warren Buffett, Buffett is also an investor with Cascade.
Hance, a 2006 graduate of Claremont McKenna College in California who according to the college’s Web site interned at Cascade Investment, could not be reached for comment Monday.
Officials with Cascade Investment did not immediately respond to a request for comments send by e-mail Monday.
Gelman said his accountant would constantly remind him of the daily expenses of maintaining the property that included $117,000 in property taxes in 2008.
“I would have liked for them to have paid more, but it was what it was, this is a tough market,” said Gelman, who had lived in the home for five years but had already moved to new home. “I didn’t get all the money I wanted, but I got rid of it.”
Tom Turner, who brokered the deal for Waterfront Properties, couldn’t confirm that Gates is the potential buyer.
“It’s been bandied all over the place, from Gates to Buffet to Paul Allen, Gates’ original partner with Microsoft,” Turner said. “I don’t really known the answer and probably if I did I’d probably plead the fifth.”
Gelman, who has been selling real estate for two decades and considered Hance's negotiation tactics distasteful, has previously sold homes to Dion and Richard Fuld Jr., the chairman and chief executive officer of the failed Lehman Brothers.
“They were trying to take advantage of the deal,” Gelman said. “They were under contract at $5.4 (million) so they continued inspections, kept prolonging the due diligence, and finally one week before they were to close, they lowered the price from $5.4 (million) to $5 million on us. I just figured whatever, you must need this 400 grand really bad.”
First Range did not purchase the three adjoining lots owned by Gelman, two vacant parcels and one that includes a 3,515-square-foot, 3-bedroom, 2.5-bath home.
Stephen Ross Palm Beach Mansion - "The Reef" (Owner and Founder of The Related Companies)
A little about Stephen Ross's Palm Beach Mansion - The Reef, lauded as an architectural gem at The Paris Exposition of 1937, is still a scene-stealer seven decades later, landing $31.85 million in a private, very quiet sale in October.
Stephen Ross purchased the house in 2008 - 702 N. County Road, $31.85 million
The buyer of the landmarked oceanfront mansion at 702 N. County Road is Stephen M. Ross, co-owner of the Miami Dolphins and chairman, CEO and founder of The Related Companies, a real-estate development empire that created the Time Warner Center and dozens of luxury towers in Manhattan.
The Reef was not listed for sale, and no real estate brokers were involved in the deal.
Ross, who paid $6.36 million for a condominium at Il Lugano in 2002, is one of the four owners of CityPlace in West Palm Beach, which The Related Companies developed. The sellers were Anita and Stuart Subotnick, executive vice president and partner in Palm Beacher John Kluge's Metromedia empire. The Subotnicks paid $9 million for The Reef in October 1996. In 1989, a mansion known as The Reef, at 702 North County Road, Palm Beach, sold for $4.6 million to Gerald Tsai Jr. Now Tsai has financed the residence with NationsBank for $6.15 million. The Reef has 19,692 square feet.
The Reef, a Treanor & Fatio-designed oceanfront mansion was built in 1936, and has been lauded as "The best design of Maurice Fatio's career."
Stephen Ross purchased the house in 2008 - 702 N. County Road, $31.85 million
The buyer of the landmarked oceanfront mansion at 702 N. County Road is Stephen M. Ross, co-owner of the Miami Dolphins and chairman, CEO and founder of The Related Companies, a real-estate development empire that created the Time Warner Center and dozens of luxury towers in Manhattan.
The Reef was not listed for sale, and no real estate brokers were involved in the deal.
Ross, who paid $6.36 million for a condominium at Il Lugano in 2002, is one of the four owners of CityPlace in West Palm Beach, which The Related Companies developed. The sellers were Anita and Stuart Subotnick, executive vice president and partner in Palm Beacher John Kluge's Metromedia empire. The Subotnicks paid $9 million for The Reef in October 1996. In 1989, a mansion known as The Reef, at 702 North County Road, Palm Beach, sold for $4.6 million to Gerald Tsai Jr. Now Tsai has financed the residence with NationsBank for $6.15 million. The Reef has 19,692 square feet.
The Reef, a Treanor & Fatio-designed oceanfront mansion was built in 1936, and has been lauded as "The best design of Maurice Fatio's career."
Sunday 9 May 2010
My special day
I had such a wonderful Mother's Day today. The day started with some precious hand made gifts from my kids and then a great lunch at a little place called Tracey Cakes in White Rock.
Hope you all had a wonderful day!!
My daughter Avery decorated her wrapping paper (so precious!)
My son Lucas made a portrait of his Mommy
My daughter made a lithograph of William Shakespere
I enjoyed a lovely lunch with my Mom, Nana and Aunties
Hope you all had a wonderful day!!
Thursday 6 May 2010
My favourite thing this week
While looking through one of my favourite websites 1st dibs I came across a decorating book for kids' rooms called Room for Children by Susanna Salk. This book is filled with some of the most beautiful rooms I've ever seen! If you ever need some inspiration this book will definitely give you lots of ideas. Here are some of my favourites.
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