Palm Springs Rancher

Hello weekend! Hope you all had a great week.

I'm about to head out on a BC road trip. Can't. Wait. Before I hit the highway, here's a look at one of my favourite home shoots ever. This perfect Palm Springs rancher is the vacation home of Sarah and Murray Bancroft and their 2 daughters, Emmanuelle and Charlotte.

Sarah, editor-in-chief of VitaminDaily.com, and Murray, a food stylist, renovated this rancher, designed by Palmer and Krisel in 1959, in just a few months. Read the entire story of their reno, and see many more photos, in the August issue of House and Home. You can also read about Sarah's favourite Palm Springs hotels here.

My favourite feature of the house was the wall of windows and sliding glass doors to the back yard. 

Do you think you could holiday at this house? I most definitely could! 

Have a great weekend! 

janis

Modern Warmth

Hello! How's your week going so far?

I wanted to share a home with you that I shot for Denise Ashmore,  a very talented interior designer. The home itself was designed by architect, Paul Phillips. It's also in the current issue of Western Living magazine.

Denise has created a beautiful mix of warm walnut, throughout the home, with mid-century furniture and pops of blues and greens.

Here's a peek...

Painting by Norah Borden.

Painting by Norah Borden.

Painting by Christine Breakell-Lee

For more images and the whole story, click here.

Are you a warm wood person, or do you prefer it a bit lighter? Would love to hear from you. 

Have a great day! 

janis

Attic Office for Friday

Thought I'd wrap up the week with a peek inside a house that I shot, the owners of which happen to be architects. My favourite room was their office/lounge-around room/sometimes playroom. So uncluttered, simple and beautiful with lovely light. I absolutely love the floor!

I think I need to get Neema and Tim over here to help me organize a little bit better. Correction. Organize full stop. 

Have a great weekend! Got any plans? 

Back soon,

Janis

City Living in Gastown

How was your weekend? If you're in Vancouver, did you enjoy the warm sunshine? Ahh.

Thought I'd share another lovely home with you, to start off the week. I shot this huge space for Style At Home, for the current issue. Designed by architect Omer Arbel, it's filled with light and all kinds of beautiful details. Here's a peek...

The bedroom overlooks one of my favourite spots in Vancouver - Blood Alley. Intriguing name, isn't it? 

Great use of an antique cabinet. Perfect in the master bathroom. 

The kitchen can open up to this indoor/outdoor patio. 

The "living" wall is filled with strawberry plants. 

Think you could live in a space like this? I think I could. For the whole story, check out the March issue of Style At Home. 

Have a great day!

Back soon,

Janis

Modernist Buildings in Vancouver

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a nice weekend, so far. 

I went to a great talk the other night, at the Museum of Vancouver called "Preserving Modernist Buildings in Vancouver". It was put on by Heritage Vancouver Society. It was pretty hideous to learn about all the beautiful modernist buildings that have disappeared over the years. I don't understand why this happens in this city. They tend to save 100 year old homes and buildings quite often, which is fantastic, but mid-century buildings do not get the same care and respect. I think it's important to preserve a city's history, as much as possible, and not just commercial buildings but some of the homes that were built by some of the best architects in Canada, like Arthur Erickson and Douglas Simpson. Thought I'd share a couple examples of this style with you. I hope to be able to document many more, of this period, over the next few months.

This is the Museum of Vancouver where the talk took place. This is not really in the modernist building group, but I adore this place and wanted to share it with you. It was designed by Gerald Hamilton and opened in 1968. Have you been to the museum? It's a pretty great place, and worth checking out. 

The Park Board Office in Stanley Park, is one of my favourite buildings in Vancouver. I'm not sure who the architect was, but it was built in 1961. I love all the windows, stone, and the huge pendant lights are beautiful. 

One of the many modernist buildings on the U.B.C. campus. Worth a walk about.

I wish Vancouver would take a close look at Palm Springs and how they protect and preserve their modernist buildings. It's a modernist building lover's paradise there. 

That's my rant for today. What's it like in your city? Are your modernist buildings protected? Do you like the modernist style? I'd love to know what you think.

Back soon!

janis

A Legendary Architect's Garden

I had the honour of shooting Arthur Erickson's garden, last year, for Canadian Gardening (May 2011 issue). He has designed incredible buildings all over North America. Two of those are the Museum of Anthropology, here in Vancouver, and was co-designer of Simon Fraser University. Personally, I would love to live in one of his homes. They are simply stunning. Arthur was still designing, right up to his death, in 2009 at 84.

Karen York, who wrote the story, was told about some legendary parties that Arthur would throw. My favourite is the one where he brought in black swans for the pond and the famous ballet dancer, Rudolf Nureyev, danced over the moss mound. Oh how I would love to have been there. Can you imagine?

If you're in the Vancouver area and want to check out the garden for yourself, they do offer tours.
Click here for details.

Have a lovely day! Back soon.
janis


 

Abandoned and Beautiful

I've been going through my pics of our trip to Australia last year. We're trying to put together an iBook, finally. I have to say, I love iBooks. Easy, fast and inexpensive. "My Publisher" is another good one.  How do you put your travel and family photos together?

I came across some images of an abandoned old hospital in Kyneton, Victoria. We found a door that had been kicked open (I promise, we had nothing to do with that), and ventured on in. I have a crazy curiosity for boarded up old buildings. Love them.  Kind of Scooby Doo, no?

Have a lovely weekend everyone! Back on Monday with a little something savory.

Running Around Vancouver

Some days my job takes me all over the city. It never fails to amaze me that you can find yourself on a garden rooftop in Chinatown, a couple of hours later at a beach a few kms away, then just a couple of blocks from the beach you can feel like you're in a country town. I love living in the city. 


The day started off in Chinatown at 7:30am with my friends Julian and Alison of Considered Design. They designed this fantastic roof top garden at the Wing Sang building. The Two Half Cylinders structure (two way mirror and yew hedge) was designed by American artist Dan Graham. If you have to be up and at 'em at 7:30 in the morning, this is a beautiful place to be. Even in the rain. 

In between meetings and shoots, I stopped off at Locarno Beach. The sun had popped out and the beach was pretty much empty. The tide was out, so there was lots of slimy seaweed to walk over. Managed to slip and ended up sitting in it. Lovely seaweed butt for the remainder of day. Nice. Again, beach was pretty much empty, so I didn't entertain too many people. 

Just a few blocks from the beach there are cute community gardens running along old and overgrown train tracks. 

Last stop on Friday was the Millennium waterfront project. This area housed the Olympic athletes during the winter games. Love the giant birds. Kind of feels like you're in a Pixar film. 

Have a fabulous weekend! Hope it's sunshiny wherever you are. Back on Monday for Baked On Monday....some kind of bar this time. Mmmm.