Beginning to look a lot like Christmas - finally

So the snow has not fallen - the trees are decorated and the malls are getting full, but it didnt feel like christmas was coming near until last night in our household.

Being of German decent - we celebrate Nikolaus - on the night of the 5th - our children polish their shoes - or in this case their boots - leave them out at night and then have Nikolaus bring chocolates etc in them the next morning.

We wanted to also add a touch of magic and told both Mari-Sol and Ben that Nikolaus also brings the christmas tree... so last night brought in the Tannenbaum and started to decorate it. Last year Mari-Sol was so shocked their was a tree that I was hoping for the same reaction.

She came down the stairs at 7 am - turned her head and saw the tree - and was so excited - it is so wonderful to watch the reaction of a little one - she ran over to it and said how beautiful it was - she loved it.....so so sweet.

The ornaments are orange, fuscia, turquoise and the odd one silver , gold or white - some vintage, some even dollar store and big box stores - the colours are great on it.....so whimsical but also a touch traditional - almost like old world European. The rest of the house of course has orange throughout - but we added turquoise and fuscia to carry through. I added fuscia silk ribbon to my collection of Hermes Boxes

I found a fabric from Japan that was somewhat in the Holiday spirit - it has all the colours of our tree and decorations as well as a stag head drawing - so my uplhosterer called today and said he finished the pillows we had made and had them piped in orange silk ribbon - I saw them already and they are going to be a nice addition to the tone of the room

The old cabinet that holds all our white dishes was touched up with feather wreaths - vintage inspired and orange silk ribbon - also inside added some sparkly oranments and a moose and bird in mica - I love this cabinet - it is one of my favorite pieces in the house.

Last but surely not least on top of an old Swedish armoire we have the whole collection of steiff deer - they range from the early 1920's to the 60's and add the last bit of whimsical Christmas .

The good thing is that it is not overwhelming in colour - our kids love it...they were all pumped up today with excitment and it is so sweet to watch them stare at the ornaments on the tree....Now all we need is SNOW.......All the best for a Happy Holiday Season

Dreaming of an Orange Kitchen

I have been looking for inspiration over the last couple of days and while every magazine is featuring orange again ( which is great for me) I havent had anything that had a "wow" impact for me....

I have been scouring websites looking at kitchens. A client of mine in the beaches had a white traditional kitchen installed and the walls painted electric orange from Benjamin Moore - it is the paint colour also known as Hermes Orange and the colour of my real inspiration....

I would love to do a high gloss kitchen in our house - the colour of Hermes orange and the kitchens below gave me a little more inspiration....

Everything is paired with grey or white which would work well in our house but I need to do a little convincing to my husband to do it.....we did our smaller bathroom wall with the Hermes orange and it is great - but I really feel strongly that our kitchen cabinets - currently white could transform in an awesome way in high gloss orange....

maybe we should do a test panel and work from there.......

A taste of Orange - all dressed up and ready to celebrate

Monday I celebrated my 40th birthday....a little difficult but kind of exciting as well.  It is a new time in my life , a new decade and of course a great way to celebrate with this awesome bottle of Veuve Clicquot.

the presentation is beautiful - it is wrapped in an orange canvas with brown leather straps - worth keeping in the packaging alone.....but of course...how else could you celebrate?

Back to School ......Back to Orange

It's the season for Back to school....our little girl is getting all excited to go to school - first time - Junior Kindergarten - Exciting for her.....stressful for me. Mario seems to be handling it better then I am...we are putting her on a bus on Wed - she will go to school by herself and come back...I guess all parents go through it...but man....its not fun. Daddy's little girl is growing up....


So in honour of Back to school - I have sourced out numerous desks, chairs, and lamps all in of course my stores favorite colour - Orange

Classic Eames / Eiffel chair in Orange



custom bergere chair in orange twill and coffee sacks - great as dining or even a desk chair





Panton Chair in orange - Sleek and Sexy



There is tons out there - too many items to post - so this was a selected few of my favorites...Even as I write this I have butterflies in my stomach thinking of Mari-Sol in the playground, walking the halls, sitting on the bus.  I dont know how all the parents did this before us.  I am sure there will be some tears. Actually I Guarantee there will be some tears...

To all of you with children starting school - Good Luck - I wish you all the best and to all those kids out there starting for the first time - applause to you - they are our future....

So pack up all those books in a nice school bag....May I suggest the Hermes Messenger bag....LOL........

Orange .... In Memory of.......

This past week - Canada was brought together with the death of Jack Layton - leader of the NDP - a political Icon but more importantly a truly great man.

Monday I found out in line at the coffee shop and noticed an RIP Jack come across my facebook page - immediately I googled and found out that yes Jack Layton had lost his battle to Cancer and I was saddened.

On my way to work that day I had realized how much Jack Layton's death had bothered me. I had met him and worked with him on several occasions - he was a man of the people - intelligent, sweet, concerning and truly deep down a good soul. It has been amazing to see how Canada came together this past week - politics aside but everyone there to honour such a great man.... Jack was not a quitter, he never gave up - he never thought things would not work out - he was an optimist and I would love to say that I think the same way as Jack. He left a message to all of Canada when he knew his time was near - a letter that will go down in the history books, a letter that has crossed many paths and been republished many times over.

Dear Friends,


Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination.



Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue.



I recommend that Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel continue her work as our interim leader until a permanent successor is elected.



I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same timelines as in 2003, so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program, and move forward towards the next election.



A few additional thoughts:



To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don’t be discouraged that my own journey hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope. Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer.



To the members of my party: we’ve done remarkable things together in the past eight years. It has been a privilege to lead the New Democratic Party and I am most grateful for your confidence, your support, and the endless hours of volunteer commitment you have devoted to our cause. There will be those who will try to persuade you to give up our cause. But that cause is much bigger than any one leader. Answer them by recommitting with energy and determination to our work. Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let’s continue to move forward. Let’s demonstrate in everything we do in the four years before us that we are ready to serve our beloved Canada as its next government.



To the members of our parliamentary caucus: I have been privileged to work with each and every one of you. Our caucus meetings were always the highlight of my week. It has been my role to ask a great deal from you. And now I am going to do so again. Canadians will be closely watching you in the months to come. Colleagues, I know you will make the tens of thousands of members of our party proud of you by demonstrating the same seamless teamwork and solidarity that has earned us the confidence of millions of Canadians in the recent election.



To my fellow Quebecers: On May 2nd, you made an historic decision. You decided that the way to replace Canada’s Conservative federal government with something better was by working together in partnership with progressive-minded Canadians across the country. You made the right decision then; it is still the right decision today; and it will be the right decision right through to the next election, when we will succeed, together. You have elected a superb team of New Democrats to Parliament. They are going to be doing remarkable things in the years to come to make this country better for us all.



To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.



And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

 

The CN Tower was lit up in Orange in memory of Jack , Niagara Falls was also lit up in his memory, many of the people who attended the services of Jack were also in orange - known as the colour of the NDP and now truly a colour attached to a great man and a great loss - that is why I bring you Orange , not in design, not in fashion, Orange in the memory of Jack - a man who truly will be remembered.

The Bedroom Project

Mario and the Kids left on monday for a week to visit his family in Quebec - so I decided to take the time to do our bedroom - it has been the last space in the house that we needed to work on and has been a little bit of a struggle to figure it out.

We are on the top floor - what would be the attic - so there is a peaked roof and lots of light - hardwood floors and beams to work with.

I had inspiration from Christine of Love the design next door to my store - she had papered her main wall in the store as an art wall with pages of old books....so I went on the hunt for old books that might have some meaning...Mario likes history and travel - so thats the books I found.

Now the hard part - figuring out placement of the pages - this process took me 9 hours....9 hours of placing, gluing and staring at the wall until I decided I was happy...sex in the city 2 played in the background, whiskey sour in hand I was happy but not satisfied..

I remembered we had bought some old colour engravings of birds from Ebay - went downstairs and dug them out and placed them on the wall in somewhat of a format - Now I got it....Birds are of meaning to us both and though we have Horses throughout the house - Birds would be good in our space.

Then it was on to the headboard - we had some suiting fabric that I was going to send to the upholsterer to do our headboard - but I decided I would do it myself - went to Home depot got some plywood cut for the headboard - fabricland and got foam and trusty staple gun and 15 minutes later I got a headboard......I wanted a little bit of depth and found some vintage buttons - lined them up - stapled the spot and then velcro'd the buttons on...and headboard complete - hung the stag which is carved wood and bed in place...

Bedding was easy I went for simple bedding and neutral with a hint of orange - there were some great textured pillows with orange edging and then found the cream wool one with the flowers on it...( the reverse side is just an orange bee) - added some finishing touches on the dressers / sidetables ie: Hermes Boxes, my Hermes messenger bag and the neutral lamps and then accessorized the rest of the room......

there is an 1890's judy with hoop skirt attached on marios side, the pale grey cowhide, metal cabinet with our books and the beautiful wool blanket folded on the bench that my friend Susan gave me for my birthday last year.

We have a french style chaise lounge on the right hand side with a small sarrinen side table and a custom Louis Vuitton pillow from my store on it....I LOVE how this room turned out...and best of all when Mario flew home today - he loved it too....

We have a little allcove by the chaise that was painted in the Benjamin Moore Electric Orange ( Hermes orange) with a crystal chandelier to lead in towards the window - the remaining things is to repaint - I think the white was too harsh so we are going to go towards a light grey or cream and to finish the roman blinds .....otherwise it looks awesome - I am pleased with it....and it helped me get through missing my kids and husband....

A challenge - if I were an Hermes orange fire hydrant - would you see me?

We had some friends over last night - enjoyed some nice wine, great food and excellent conversation. The talk lent itself towards my blog and how I see it....Its been great having feedback from people - everywhere that seem to like it - and I don't want to just write about new stuff in my store or things like picking flowers in the garden - so it has been challenging some times to write without thinking that I was not going to keep you intrigued.
I love what I do.......no questions asked I would never trade what I do...there has been many challenges in this business but the good definitely out ways the bad - so in the next few blogs I will stay true to myself and write about what I love and move on from there.

This time around for this posting - I need some advice...we have a bright yellow fire hydrant in front of the house - I haven't called the city yet to find out why it is yellow and not the common red throughout the city but I kind of want to paint it in a high gloss Hermes orange...I guess I don't know if it is allowed first of all - the hydrant is on our property but don't you  think we should be able to customize ( with limits and no extremes) our own hydrants? High gloss orange is really no different then the yellow - right?

So next steps - call the city and hopefully paint it......of course we all need a little more Hermes orange in our life.....

Fashion, Home decor and more - Its all about the Orange

I was thinking the other day about my next posting and wondering how I was influenced to make the choice of orange as the pop colour in my store and also in our house...I know Mario was a big influence in the choice as it is a colour that he loves. I am quite happy with how things have come about.

Years ago all I ever worked with in colours was Robins Egg Blue, white and brown - all the homes that I decorated were always in the colour scheme and my customer base was loyal with it as well. Who would have thought I would pop into orange and have it inspire me in more ways then I can imagine...

The Hermes box really is my inspiration - I have a nice collection of them right now and we search everywhere to find others - including stylists in the USA and abroad....decorating with the box gives a soft glow of orange but also the right amount of pop.

I spent my afternoon on our deck today searching the web for inspiration and realized that it surrounded me - literally and figuratively - last week my blog was about the orange around us - in signs, cars etc....this time it is all about fashion and style....

When you are inspired by a colour i think you take notice of it more....but designers like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Dior and of course Hermes have stuck with orange as a mainstay in their designs..
Joe Fresh Fall 2011 collection had hits of orange as did many of the other designers.

Then it became more apparent that Orange was a colour that came in every tone , any design and all over from Home to Fashion . I have a client who has turned into a friend - she and her husband painted her bathroom - the Benjamin Moore Electric orange ( aka : hermes orange) but also her stairs leading up to her second floor - she was inspired by my store and followed through...We had another client paint her kitchen the same orange and all shiny white cabinets from Ikea....the colour has become bold and fun and it is so good to see so many people inspired to use it...

I am happy in our choice as an accent colour in our home - we are currently working on a couple of new variations to showcase orange - but as i continue with my store - I am always in search of new ways to find and deliver the goods of orange.