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Maybe it is the falling snow outside. Maybe it is because I miss taking the kids to the park. Or maybe it is just because I love the colour so much. Some pops of green to brighten a winter day. As with blue, green in design can really cover a huge spectrum on the colour chart- from pale and almost grey to deep jungle green, and I can’t get enough. Just click on the picture to get the links.

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Oh to have a giant, shiny green door!      And those sage-y bathroom tiles with that deep green bench. Dreamy.

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The raspberry chairs on that green floor with the dark green walls: it looks so European, old-fashioned but still so modern. That tile is ridiculously beautiful with the painted tub. Love it!

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A velvet Ikea couch and some vintage desk lamps hacked to create a hanging light.

Green is really popping up in kitchen design. It is so pretty with wood and marble. And it works beautifully with brass touches and vintage pieces.

Whether it is the cabinetry, a painted floor, or some tile, green and kitchens are a great match.

Some green paint I love:

And it’s not just in interior design. From deep and dark to pale and minty, I love green in fashion too:

Even here at home, little green tableaux surround me. Soft and pretty.

Outside my window, there is a blanket of snow covering everything. Fat snowflakes are drifting down non stop. There is not a speck of green to be seen. So until it comes back around in the outside world, I’ll have to content myself with hits of green wherever I can find them.

xa

For the first time since starting this little blog, I have a case of writer’s block. This blockage is paired with a back spasm that just won’t quit and which makes it pretty excruciating to sit in front of the computer. I’ve been wanting to write about the new jobs, the progress made at the on-going jobs, the jobs that are stalled and the jobs that are ticking along at a great pace. Instead I am sore and don’t quite know where to start. Nevertheless, I have decided to bite the bullet and tackle this writing blockage head on by sitting down and WRITING. Not writing here has been nagging at me for two weeks and I need all of my brain power to tackle the days ahead: work, home, out-of-town guests, and a party for a very wonderful, very naughty, very beautiful, soon-to-be-two-year-old. Oy.

So for today, I’ll write about something small like carpets and see where that takes me.

When a client is looking for a carpet sending them to Ikea, West Elm or Crate and Barrel is usually a safe bet. But when a client is looking for a statement carpet, a decor element that can not only tie a room together but be as important as the couch or the dining room table, I take them to Lalonde et Frères on Parc Avenue.

Not only is it one of the more beautiful buildings ever, they also have an incredible selection of carpets: classic Persian rugs, made to measure, modern, any size and any budget. Many clients think of the carpet last when decorating the space: “I have a blue couch and a teak coffee table, now I need a rug to match those pieces”. But when you shop at a place like Lalonde, you see that the carpet can actually be your starting point. I took two clients there in the last couple of weeks and fell in love with the store all over again.

A while back I found this picture in a sneak peek on Design Sponge and fell hard for the runner shown on the stairs.

The owner of the house had a dog that was afraid of the stairs and so she sewed six Dash & Albert rugs together to make the runner. I adore this. And guess what? Tapis Lalonde et Frères sells Dash & Albert rugs! I photographed their samples. These are so truly perfect for a family home. Easy to maintain, pretty, colourful (or not), just lovely.

In the end, my client and I both fell in love with a carpet from a company called Rug Studio. It is handwoven from 60% recycled materials and 40% cotton. The rug is in their Calypso line, the  colour is called Midnight and it has blues, blacks, greys and creams in it. It is comfortable to walk on, forgiving of stains, affordable, and just plain beautiful. We borrowed the sample and tried it in her home. It won the carpet race hands down.

Midnight and other Calypso colours available.

Last week, my other client had Lalonde deliver four different rugs to her home- a service they offer, free of charge. You try them out in your own home with your own lighting and your own furniture. They’ll even roll them out for you and then they pick them up a couple of days later. All that and with no obligation to buy.

In the end, she may also go with the Calypso Midnight rug. It is that great.

Seems like tackling my writer’s block has worked. Now I need to tackle the back blockage with some Pilates and acupuncture. I have a birthday party for a two year old to plan. Oy indeed.

xa

For the first time in I think ever, the hubby had this past weekend off. In the last four years, he has most always worked the Saturday and Sunday brunch shift at Sparrow first and now at Lawrence. In the last two months he’s had Saturday’s off, giving me parenting help on the longest two days of my week. Having both kids home all day, with the diverging needs of two different age groups to answer to, all alone, has been a real challenge. But this past weekend E was free as a bird (other than a deep commitment to watching as much football as possible) and so we decided to grab the babies and run away to one of our favourite places to visit, Waterbury, Vermont. The hubby loves getting to do special things with the kids and me- I suppose working all of those weekends makes him want to make every minute with the kids count. As a family, we love road trips and we loooooove staying in hotels. I have become an expert in packing quickly and for multiple people. And though travelling with young children is not exactly relaxing, I feel like we are getting the hang of it and less stressed by it all. As long as there is a pool and a flat screen, we are happy. Throw in beautiful Vermont landscapes and really good food, and we are in heaven. We told our son we’d be going to the country for the day and overnight and he jumped up and down screaming:” and we’ll stay at a hotel???? I love hotels, I love hotels, yay! hotel!” over and over again. He is his parent’s child. So with excited children in tow and with no set deadline to get anywhere (so much more relaxing!), we set off. This time the border guard noticed the expired passport (again, not mine) but let us through anyway. And I am so thankful that she did because we spent a really lovely 24 hours in Vermont.

We settled into our massive room at the best Best Western ever. The kids each had a pull out chair to sleep on (which they slept in for maybe 3 hours, max. Thank God for the king size bed in our room.)

Then we headed out to the playground, covered bridge (!) and forest right outside.

And then it was off to the pool.

After too many games of ” I’m going to jump into your arms”, we dried off, got ready and went into Waterbury for dinner. We had a reservation at Prohibition Pig, a great restaurant in town with a wonderful craft beer selection. Basically my hubby’s dream come true. The children had had either a short or a non-existent nap so we knew they were ticking time bombs. We were treated to a bottle of Prosseco on arrival, making the inevitable meltdowns less scary. Lovely food and superb service made it all go very smoothly. Even our tired children had fun and they ate, which in itself is a victory.

The next morning we had a great breakfast at Juniper’ Fare, a little diner on the edge of town. It is a really delicious spot and if you go for lunch, have their chicken soup. I had it last year and still dream about it. And then it was back in the car for the beautiful drive home. The mountains and the coloured leaves, the sleeping children in the back seat, holding hands with the hubby. It is so great when your kids get to the age when going away is extra fun. And it is especially great realizing that they, like their parents, love a getaway. A real family getaway. One of hopefully many many more to come.

xa

Decorating today is so much easier than it was even just three years ago. More and more of my clients now have an awareness of good design. The language is easier to understand and to communicate. Through magazines, TV shows and the internet – not to mention design blogs and Pinterest – my clients generally know what they like and what they want. I still believe that you either have good taste or you don’t, but it is harder to get it totally wrong these days. I mean, you could try, but there is so much information out there and such a streamlining of good design, it would almost be harder to get everything wrong than everything right, you know?

There is also an accessibility to home decor now – you can find decent things online obviously, and places like Ikea make it easy – but if you know what to look for, you can even find things at the hardware store. Knock-offs, to be sure, but sometimes decent designs none the less.

Last week, while looking for light bulbs and a door mat at Home Depot, I stumbled across this chair in the middle of the store:

Not the prettiest, the matte grey paint looked really plastic-like, but a clear knock off of the famous (and super expensive)  Tolix chair. For 30 bucks! After digging under a bunch of boxes, I saw a shiny bit of red metal peeking out under some wrapping. My heart skipped a beat and the rush I get from finding a treasure was in full force. The red chair looked better than the grey quality-wise, maybe because of the gloss on the aluminum? Either way, I had to own this chair.

  The original            &             the 30$ Home Depot knock off outside and indoors

It is boxier and doesn’t have the perforated seat, but it is metal and perfect for a drink on the front porch and perfect with the red Richard Neutra house numbers and perfect with the new grey paint. It can also easily be brought inside (people will steal what isn’t chained down over here) and placed next to the piano. Perfect!  And I would have bought more for my garden or balcony but it was the last one in store. Sad face.

Finding the chair got me thinking about how easy it is to find cool things if you are looking. I will always advocate buying the original, the hand made, the local, over the made-in-China rip off. Whenever possible. And I totally respect those, like one of my clients, who refuse to buy anything from China at all. And yet… I can not spend 200$ on a chair. Not at this point in time anyway. And if the quality of the 30$ version is good and it looks nice, why would I?

Next to the faux Tolix was a collection of faux industrial furniture.

I didn’t love the “wood” tops but the frames weren’t bad and you could paint it all anyways. Imagine painting the metal black and the table top hot pink or coral? A total rip-off of the Restoration Hardware look that has been everywhere in the last few years. I even had something like this made for the restaurant:

Restoration Hardware                                 &                               Lawrence Restaurant

I then went on to another hardware store, Rona. There I found a very decent Tolix (what is with all the Tolix all of a sudden?) stool imitation.

The real Tolix deal                                         &                                  the Rona rip-off

I am not obsessed with this furniture brand but I defy you to find ANY stools that are cute and functional and made out of metal that cost 89$. And guess what? I have been looking for kitchen island stools and these just may fit the bill. No judging. And why would you? They are under a 100$, they are red, and they are shiny.

Also at Rona, I found an OK copy of these Nud Collection coloured wires for pendant lights. For almost half the price. And these are made in Quebec by the company Plo-git and by a local designer. Definitely not as nice as the original but for a commercial space, hanging up high or in a fun dining room or office, it could totally pass. Especially paired with a nice bulb and canopy…

The Nud ones                     &                        the Plogit version sold at Rona

I am definitely not proposing that people only buy fakes or reproductions. Just like I would never propose that you decorate your home solely in Ikea from top to bottom. A well-decorated space needs a mix of high and low, of original art and family pictures, of flea market and fabulous design piece. I will always go to the mom and pop store before checking out the big box store. But a 30$ chair that is nicely designed and a great colour to boot is nothing to look down upon. And until I can afford the real thing, I’m fine with faking it. ‘Til I make it of course.

xa

This past weekend my honey and I drove to New York City without our two kids. For one night. We packed in as much fun and non baby-friendly activity that we could in a 14 hour period. Way more than I thought us capable of anyway.

We left the kids at my parents and I cried most of the way to the border. I truly felt like I had left part of my limbs behind. Maybe one arm and one leg. I took some pics in the car before we dropped them off. Pictures I looked at over and over again. Like a dope. Like the ones below.

We then had a very tension-filled wait to get to the USA: there was a long line-up and someone (not me) had an expired passport (not mine). My hubby’s expired passport was discovered at eleven p.m. the night before. So fun. When we actually sailed through the border crossing (the expired passport was NEVER even mentioned), it was as though the vacation had truly started. It was the first road trip in over two years where I wasn’t constantly turning around to hand over snacks, adjust the sound on an iPad, police two little people, pick up cheerios or toy animals off the floor of the car. So relaxing. We drove and chatted and snacked and listened to podcasts and made decisions and firmed up plans. Kind of wonderful. As most parents of young children can attest to, it is super hard to have an uninterrupted conversation with your spouse. Every talk is truncated and disjointed, making it so that you really need to use an economy of words and bullet points to communicate- you never know when a “mommy, where is my panda and my spiderman ?” or a “mama, pipi” will interrupt your flow. Nothing like a seven hour drive to reconnect to your love. I highly recommend it.

Arriving in NYC, we headed straight to TØRST. A beer bar paradise in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The owners are Danish and you can feel it in the design. It is cool and sparse and the finishing is so nice. It is weirdly a little cold for a place where wood is the main material. Also it was quite dark but I can picture going there for an after work drink and having it feel much cosier. The hubby was in heaven though and that made me so happy to see, that I felt strong love vibes for the bar as well.

The unassuming entrance, love the glasses and the bathroom floor.

After drinks we ditched the car and hopped onto the subway with my brother-in-law and his gf. Hubby had arranged a dinner reservation through a Montreal restaurant connection and so we took a few trains till we got to the West Village and Fatty ‘Cue. Not the most exciting looking place I’ve ever been in, but holy cow is the food delicious. Southeast Asian flavours with smoked stylings. So very good. And more importantly, the kind of food that is weirdly rare on the Montreal dining scene. The pork cheek noodles and the ‘Cue-Rean Fried Chicken were ridiculously yummy. And the cocktails were also super tasty. When I crave food it is either my mother’s cooking or Asian food. I now crave Fatty ‘Cue’s kale caesar salad and the pork Bao we had.

There were a few more stops that night including drinks at Rosemary’s, an italian eatery also in the West Village and then, craziest and weirdest thing ever, we went to the Saturday Night Live after party. I didn’t think we would be up for it- it started at two in the morning and we are usually fast asleep by eleven, max- but we did it! We managed to stay out and up and kept going from one place to another so we never had the chance to get tired. Clearly, in my old age, I have discovered the secret to partying: start early and never stop moving. Also four years of terrible sleep will really condition a person. I have pretty much slept no more than five or six hours a night for years. I can go till 4 am. As long as I’m already out. Paul Rudd and Aaron Paul look exactly the same in person as they do on screen and Tina Fey is beautiful and has a healthy appetite.

Sunday morning we had a FaceTime love fest with our babies and then we headed out into daytime NYC towards Stumptown at the Ace Hotel for delicious coffee. On our walk there, we passed by the Shake Shack we went to on the night hubby proposed and saw the Empire State Building up ahead where he actually popped the question.

Such a perfect end to the whirlwind of a stay in the Big Apple. I love this place. It is so invigorating and inspiring. It holds such a dear place in my family’s heart. It is so fun to go there for a wild date. But next time we go, it’ll be with our babies in tow. We need to get them started on their love affair with the city. And with all the fun and excitement that one night in NYC can offer, there is nothing more fun than two little people squealing with pure joy at having their mommy and daddy back. It’s good to be home.

xa