BC Home + Garden Show Give-Away

Happy Monday! If you're in BC, I hope you're enjoying your "Family Day" holiday Monday.

For anyone living in the Vancouver area, or planning to be, I've got two pairs of tickets up for grabs, courtesy of the BC Home + Garden show. It takes place February 19th - 23rd, and it's shaping up to be a great event. Really looking forward to seeing some of the celebrity guests including,  Janette Ewen, Jennifer Scott and Jef Hancock to name a few.

To get into the home decor mood, I thought I'd share some images from a shoot I did with David Keeler, of Provide Home, for the March issue of Style At Home. David decorated this city townhouse for a family of three and helped create a modern, calm and inviting space.

David setting up for the shoot. 

Soft blues in the bedroom, that overlooks a pretty green space.  

Their tiny office, just off the master bedroom. Custom light fixture by Caleb Siemon.

Loved all the details. Cushion by Charlene Mullen, framed tea towel by Third Drawer Down and a trio of vases by Heath Ceramics. All found at Provide Home, in Vancouver. 

Lots more of this home can be seen in the March issue of Style At Home on news stands now.

If you'd like a chance to win one of two pairs of tickets to the BC Home + Garden Show, just leave me a comment. I'll be making the draw on Thursday February 13th. I'll see you at the show! 

Have a great day.

janis

Warm Wintery Whites

While a good portion of Canada is in a deep freeze, here in Vancouver, it's winter as usual...sideways rain. To perk up a rainy Wednesday, I thought I'd share a little peek from a pretty story I shot with Joanna and Erin, of The Cross, for Chatelaine magazine, out now. 

Artwork by Zoe Pawlak

Pretty cozy place, considering it's a symphony of whites, isn't it? If you subscribe to Chatelaine, you can see heaps more on your tablet! 

If you haven't seen it already, I did a post with storage boxes and baskets from HomeSense the other day. Up for grabs is a HomeSense gift card worth $150 so click here, if you'd like to enter for a chance to win (open to Canadian residents only). I'll be making the random draw this Friday! 

janis

What happened to Christmas?

Every year I say the same thing. The frantic build up to the big day then poof! it's gone. For the last few days I've been sure not to waste any of the cookies that were happily baked by friends and family, as well as my own sugar cookies. I'm starting to get pimples. All I've done since Christmas (other than eat cookies), is knit scarves, watch It's A Wonderful Life and clean up the house. I haven't even picked up my camera. Poor Canon. Canon and I have a shoot to do tomorrow, so we'll catch up then.

My husband and I are not fans of Boxing Day/Week/Month - it's kind of depressing to me. The picture above kind of sums it all up. I've never been able to wrap my head around shopping the day after Christmas. I would love to hear from those of you that do. Am I missing something, like free shoes and purses somewhere? 

FYI - There are a number of theories as to what Boxing Day is all about. One theory is that boxes were placed in churches, and people placed money and food in them for the poor. The boxes were opened on December 26th, the Feast of St. Stephen, and distributed to the needy. I quite like this theory.  Anyone have any other theories to share?

One last thing to share before 2010. We were mooching off my brother at his restaurant last week and after mooching, we walked by the upholstery shop that is reupholstering my chair. I took in some beautiful blue fabric from Maharam, along with my sad little chair, a few weeks ago. They told me it probably wouldn't be done before Christmas (it wasn't), but I didn't expect to see it sitting high up on a shelf looking so lost. Cheer up chair, it won't be long now!

On that note, Happy New Year everyone! I'm so looking forward to 2010!

A Day on Earth

I found my personal mecca the other day. We went to beautiful Daylesford, about 90 minutes out of Melbourne, and checked out Shed 4 - A Day on Earth. I think I heard angels singing. This shop (it's actually a huge warehouse) is owned by David Bromley, a fabulous British born (raised in Australia) artist. He really is one of my favourites. 

The warehouse was full of vintage crates, old worker's lockers, David's art, pottery and even a couple of Japanese coin operated kiddie rides. Absolute heaven. So sad to leave it all behind.

A fabulous box table featuring art by David Bromley, coin operated kiddie ride, and the chair that I can't get out of my mind. Love that colour.

Vintage paddles adorned with Bromley faces (my friend, Nikki, would love these), the backside of a plate, and a quartet of illuminated children. My husband plans on purchasing the blue girl. We adored her. Wouldn't she make a fabulous "greeter" in a front hall?

The last few days have been incredible. The air is so clean and fresh here in Kyneton, and the smell of gum trees is amazing. Ahh, Australia.

There is no such thing as an upholstery fairy

I've been thinking of painting the living/kitchen area of our home. I say this, but I probably won't get around to it until the new year, at the earliest.  This is the frustrating part of my job as a lifestyle and interiors photographer.  Too many options and sensory overload, so it's difficult (for a person like me) to make that final decision. Yikes.

This problem has really been driven home by a few items languishing in our garage. One of the many items is a chair (above) that I've been wanting to reupholster for over a year. Unfortunately, I've learned that there is no upholstery fairy that will take care of this for me. Dreams shattered. Same goes for the shadeless vintage lamp (below), and the piles of fabric that I've collected. You never know when you might want to make a cushion or a sweet bistro curtain. I have never made either. 

I almost forgot all the wallpaper (see some of the "collection" below). Speaking of wallpaper. Is it too hideous to paper a wall that is dangerously close to a toilet? When boys pee.... well, you know. I would love to cover one tiny wall, in our powder room, with vintage Japanese wallpaper. Hmmm.

To wrap up, I'm hoping that now that I've put it out there, I will have to tackle these little projects. Fingers crossed.  

Shadeless lamp.

Dust covered, new and vintage wallpaper.

Budget Happiness

Garage sales and flea markets can be fabulous for retail therapy, especially when trying to curb your spending (ouch).  Obviously, I didn’t need any of this things but this shopping trip was a nice treat! For a total of about $45 I found, besides happiness, a pair of 60’s chairs, vintage souvenir cushion, Enid Collins wood “purse”, RCMP toffee tin, and a second hand Ikea small storage box.  

I’ve always preferred a mix of vintage with new(ish). Rob’s the same way, thankfully.  It’s great to be able to reuse and repurpose bits from the past.

 With a bit of vintage wallpaper, I changed the drawer fronts on the Ikea storage box.  It now houses printer paper, stationary, and postage stamps.  I think it looks rather happy now!

 

Instead of digging around for nail polish and emery boards, I can now find all my nail supplies in my Enid Collins “purse”. 

 

I love vintage RCMP souvenirs. The colours of this tin are fantastic. This toffee tin is now perfect storage for paper clips. 

 

Ahh, the chair. It might not look overly comfortable, but it really is.  We actually bought two of them.  The cushion cover is a map of “Canada’s Western Playground”.