My Inspiration - A little Orange Box...

Years ago when I opened my first store my inspiration was the Robins Egg....I did Robins Egg blue for almost 8 years and when looking for the inspiration of my new store - I found myself drawn to packaging.....now we are not talking about any old box here....it was the colour of the Hermes Box...rich orange with chocolate brown ribbon that drew me in - who could resist that....

I guess those of you who love Tiffany's could react, as the Tiffany Box is as popular an inspiration...the perfect blue the shade of turquoise almost... I guess both of these boxes, as both of the stores are tell tales of rich....wealth etc...but for those of us who cannot afford an Hermes Bag - specifically the one that I am coveting as my new messenger bag... the box is equally kind of satisfying  ( well sort of...if you have to settle of course)....I searched sites to see about buying Hermes boxes only and found that there are many of us out there who love boxes and using them in decorating not only for inspiration....

How can I resist?  I have been on the hunt and found a vintage clothing store that sells Hermes boxes......now the dilema is ...when do I stop? I could fill my store with them and who knows what else...I am a bad collector..I do not like to wait for a collection to gather I want it and I want it now...so I searched Ebay, Etsy, any site and found some more...even bought some from a store in Germany....so my problem is...how many more do I need?

 

Well..I guess when they all arrive I will know what I do...my first thing will be my window display I know that for sure..but does it really matter...I just love them and if it makes me happy...I am sure it will also make someone else happy...it surely did the person I bought them from.







This will be me one day...skinny legs and all







Our Twist to Christmas Decor

I am lucky enough to have grown up with traditions and I wanted our children to have the same, this week was Nicholaus - the nite of the 5th our children were supposed to polish their shoes and in the morning - the visit of St Nicholaus would bring them chocolates etc or if they were bad...then Black Peter would come and bring them a stick...after talking to a bunch of others who share this tradtion - we were all petrified of Black Peter - so we didnt even discuss this with our kids...plus really - would our kids be bad?

Mario and I also talked about the christmas tree - I wanted it to be magical for our kids so we set it up on the Nicholaus nite and when Mari-Sol and Benji came down in the morning they saw this magical tree.....I will always remember Mari-Sols reaction and how sweet it was...

For our house though -we had worried that Benji would rip the tree down and all the ornaments would break....so I went on the lookout for not only a colour scheme that would match the new tones of our house but something that the little man could not destroy...

Overall....shopping at Canadian Tire, Zellers and the Dollar store....would never have guessed that our tree could look sp wonderful and truly not look like they are mass produced unbreakable ornaments..

We carried the orange through the house in decor - those of you who read my blog also know that I spray painted the one wreath in orange - as pictured on the cabinet in our living room....

The one thing I do have to note is that orange is so not a traditional colour and yet it looks so beautiful in the tree and around our house..I love it and am pretty confident in saying it is probably my favorite of our trees so far

The Pie Shack has been Flik'd

 I was lucky enough to have Tim from the Pie Shack call upon me to do the interior of his new venture The Pie Shack http://www.thepieshack.ca/ - he is one cool guy with a lot of energy and a passion for Pie....

His location was small but he knew what he wanted in it...a casual space where someone might walk in and feel like they were in their old cottage...something that felt like you wanted to stay there and just enjoy a great cup of coffee and a delicious piece of pie..

the quote from his site :
I love life and I love pie, I mean real pie, the kind I grew up on made by my mom and all the moms in my neighbourhood.
I love people and love talking to them or just hanging around them.
I love cozy places, places that are like old sweaters…comfortable, and welcoming.
Well The Pie Shack is that place, my dream place, where the pies are not just the best pies but unforgettable.
Tim McConvey
"The Pie Guy"


Last week Tim called me to see if I would decorate the space for Christmas....understanding that since the place already had so much character I would need to use neutral christmas decorations....I remember doing the paint by numbers as art in his space, the rustic door tables and work benches and then last years addition of the sofas- vintage and really quite the perfect colour...so the tame golds and creams in the christmas decor would work well....

Little reindeer on the tables with pine comb candles finished off the decor and when I was finished..Tim was happy and knew I would be the right person to do the job....

The thing about the Pie Shack is....not only is the food great , the atmosphere fun - but Tim is the best...he loves what he does and it shows...and I have to say from my experience that is why we hit it off.....

Stroll down to the beaches and enjoy a piece of pie....