Summer in Montreal is sticky, fun and way too short. It is also about getting out of Dodge and heading out to the cottage. Until the day we can have our own, we borrow/get invited to/invite ourselves to, the cottages of friends. I ran away to a place we go to every summer near Morin Heights in the Laurentians. It was kind of chilly – so no swimming but there were still BBQs, hikes in the woods and couch lounging. Cottage times are good times.
And also time to check out a Martha Stewart Living magazine in which I found my dream craft project: antique cutlery dipped in colourful paint. So pretty.
Then back to town for work and for my son’s birthday. My first born, my baby, my little guy, turned four. Four! Not a toddler anymore. A big kid with another year to go before he starts school. I get way too emotional at milestones. If, and when, he graduates from any kind of schooling, I will have to be picked up out of the puddle of tears I have fallen into. And his wedding (if he chooses to have one) ? Jeez, forget about it. So so so many tears. Happy tears but tons of them. That being said the boy had a wonderful day being celebrated at daycare and at home. And then I geared up for the tons of prep for the big kid’s party on the weekend. Yikes.
I exited mommy world for a few hours of shopping with one of my best and most long standing clients. Bit by bit I have worked on her kitchen, bathroom, guest bath, back yard, living room, entrance, terrace, and I am now helping her with every other room in the house. It’s a big house. A dream really. In bits and spurts over the last three years we have done some really beautiful things. And as a designer it is really fun to get to do a whole house; even though we have been chipping away at it slowly. I respect that slow progress – as she has lived in the house, different needs and different desires to renovate and redecorate have come up. It is important to live in a space and really get to know what works and what doesn’t before knocking it all down. Though knocking it all down can be pretty great too. It really depends on the house and the finances and whether you can get someone like me to help visualize it.
These are a couple of her new assignments for me: help in decorating a large second living room area/projection room- we need a big carpet, a couch, coffee table and we need to change a door. Redoing tile in an upstairs bathroom. Help in finding a nice couch for an upstairs office. It really is a big house. So with all of the requirements in mind, we decided to hit west elm first. Recently, the first Montreal store opened down in Griffintown. I really like their designs and often refer to the web site to look at sofas and carpets but had never set foot in a bricks and mortar store until now. Exciting!
The entrance and a wall of very nicely designed practical products for the home.
Love the striped bed linens & finally some nice ready-made curtains that aren’t Ikea!
They have a great selection of soaps & candles & hand towels. Great gift ideas.
Loved these bowls (clearly I have an Ikat addiction) & this carpet was a dream come true.
Pre-kids I had a ceramics/glass vessels obsession. This place was dangerous for a recovering pottery addict. Couch for the office, check!
There were a few of these handmade ottomans in different patterns & I LOVE the chair.
It was pretty great. I found the quality just that much better than a store like Crate And Barrel: the finishing was cleaner, the edges more polished, the drawers slid in better. The carpets, baskets, home knick knacks were nice and seemed well made. Didn’t love everything but there were definitely some nice desk, nightstand, couch options. I will return but I think more for accent pieces: pillows, carpets, lamps, pottery. As for my client, she fell for the green couch pictured above and we’ll order it but in this beautiful blue. And I want to change the legs. Still the overall shape is good and it will fit the room perfectly.
I even got a few things for myself. In my defence, my client was twenty minutes late, what was I supposed to do?
A dish rack. We’ve gone without till I could find one I liked. I like this one. Clean & simple.
Striped yellow & white hand towels with each family member’s initial. We’ll use them as napkins.
Birthday card for my son & just-because-I-love-him card for my man. By Egg Press.
After west elm, we headed to the opposite end of town and to a store that I absolutely love going to: Spazio. It is a shop that specializes in architectural antiques, mainly from old homes and estates. There are tons of old doors, mouldings, bathroom fixtures, doorknobs, hooks, etc. I bring almost every client there and it is a real treasure trove. It is expensive and other than some small pieces, I’ve rarely bought anything but if a client is looking for pieces to fit in an old house, this place is a must-stop. This particular client was looking for a stained glass window that would bring light from the front vestibule into a dark entrance area. Here are some pics from the shop:
You could really get lost in there. At least I can. I get so very happy surrounded by mountains of hardware and old filing cabinets. Truly a shop full of drawer pulls and hooks makes me as happy if not more, than a shop full of shoes or purses. Blasphemy, I know. In the end, we kept that last stained glass in the picture above on the top of our short list and left this little piece of heaven shop behind. I know I’ll be back in not too long. Maybe for some antique cutlery?
And here is the birthday boy at his daycare party in what can only be described as a blurry shot of pure, unadulterated joy.
Happy tears for mama. Happy.
xa
No comments yet.