TGIF

Wrapping up the week with the winner of the HomeSense gift card give-way. Congratulations to Ceallahn Young! Thanks to all who took part!

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

Getting Organized with HomeSense

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend.

I've spent the weekend tidying up, after the holidays, and getting a little more organized with help from HomeSense.  Thought I'd start the week off by giving away a gift card for $150 to one lucky person, courtesy of HomeSense!  Here's a look at some of the baskets and boxes I chose....

This burlap and canvas basket now houses the blankets that seem to kick around our living room during the winter. Mixes well with our mid-century furniture. 

Playing cards and small games are now stored in this simple leatherette box. 

Instead of just tossing scarves, gloves and toques anywhere there's space, they're now easy to find in this vintage inspired green metal basket. 

Ah, my office/studio. I spend a lot of time up here, editing images, packaging up prints, and working on sewing projects. It's now officially organized. Love these canvas baskets alongside the metal mesh

baskets. 

Because I don't totally trust storing all my digital images on external hard drives only, I like tossing them onto dvd's as well. I know, it's kind of silly, but at least it gave me an excuse to get these perfect dvd storage boxes ;) 

If you'd like a chance to win the HomeSense gift card, just leave a comment for me and I'll make the draw on Friday January 10th. Contest is open to Canadians only this time around. For another chance to win, enter the HomeSense Neat Storage Solutions contest for a $100 gift card! 

An Artist's Creative Space

I hope you had a lovely Christmas! This week just kind of flew by, didn't it?

Always, at this time of year, I get the urge to rip apart my office/studio and get organized. I was inspired by artist Zoe Pawlak's tidy studio where she creates her beautiful paintings, meets clients, and has the occasional get together. I shot her in her studio for Rue magazine, awhile back, for the December issue. Click here for the whole story.

Zoe recently launched her rug collection, with Burritt Brothers. Pictured above, is Zoe with one of her new creations. I loved them all. 

I love the spare look of her studio....I could move right on in. I'd just need one of her rugs to finish off the look ;) 

Have a great weekend!

janis

Joy to the Weekend

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday weekend.  Cheers to a relaxing time with friends and family! 

janis

x

A Little Melbourne for Monday

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! I've been on vacation for the last few weeks, and slowly getting back into the swing of things. How did Christmas creep up so quickly? Yikes.

We were in Tahiti, then headed to Australia to visit family. I posted a number of pics on instagram, but thought I'd share a few more bits of Melbourne. I love it there....

Checked out the restaurant at Prahran Hotel. Incredible design. 

Stumbled upon Von Haus in Melbourne, early one morning. Tiny space inside, with room for up to 6 outside. Loved it. Wish we could have gone back for wine time ;) 

The National Gallery of Victoria had a fantastic exhibit on called Melbourne Now, showcasing design of all kinds. Pretty amazing. If you visit Melbourne, you have to visit the NGV. Such a stunning place.

Above is a designer from Spacecraft making screenprints in the "Community Hall".  

 I had the opportunity to check out the Big Design Market and did a post for Poppytalk. Over 200 incredible designers set up shop in the beautiful Royal Exhibition Building (a world heritage site).  Click here for the whole story.

If you'd like to see more of Melbourne, my home away from home, click here and here. 

Have a great day!

janis

x

Mixing it up with EQ3

Hello from Australia! Hope you all had a great weekend.

Last month, I was part of Canadian modern furniture store's, EQ3, blogger of the month series. My post was up the day we left for holidays, so I missed it. Each blogger chooses their favourite item(s) at EQ3, and talks about how they use it and why they love it, and takes a few pics in their own space. My fave is the Siirtolapuutarha dishware by Marimekko. I plan to take a small bowl and the plate along to a potluck Christmas party, and leave the set as a hostess gift. 'tis the season.

The small bowl works perfectly well as a vase too. 

For more on the story, and to see what other bloggers favourite things are, click here. 

By the way, if anyone knows how to, successfully, set a date/time for a post, on blogger, do tell. It's a mystery to me! 

Have a great day!

janis

x