Textbook Advice...

This Fall I will be taking my first more general course on Interior Decorating for my certificate. I am quite excited to look at the practice from a holistic perspective. So far my experiences with perspective drawing and drafting have proven challenging so I'm hoping this course will be less technical and more creative and conceptual.

Having said that, I've read about Cathy Whitlock's Re-de-sign: New Directions for Your Interior Design Career and am wondering if any of you have picked it up yet? Is there anyone in blogland who can tell me if it's a worthy purchase? It 'aint cheap so I'd like to know if people have found it useful.

Please let me know!

Fabric of the Week: New York, New York

I love traditional toile prints, but when it comes to fabrics and wall coverings I am also open to less conventional pictorial illustrations.

Schumacher’s New York New York caught my eye months ago with its illustrated urban landscape of the Big Apple. On top of being classic black and white, the print is just so lyrical with its whimsical cartoonish take on Manhattan and I think it would be perfectly suited for a classy black and white child’s bedroom.

Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want

I really really liked 500 Days of Summer.

Fabulous soundtrack. Fabulous people.  Pop culture references that cater to more of an Urban Outfitters crowd than to those who prefer to hang out at Abercrombie.

The protagonists even hold hands at IKEA and melt for one another while playing pretend house amongst the BILLY bookcases.

Yes the whole niche is becoming easily recognizable – a plot line catering to late 20’s hipster angst questioning the character’s place in the world with a torturous rollercoaster romance thrown in, all set to a soundtrack of up and coming independent music that gets as much critical praise as the movie itself – but at least 500 Days of Summer takes a different approach.

The movie jolts back and forth over the 500-day long course of the rocky relationship between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, but it’s Deschanel who wears the pants and brings the drama.

Levitt appears simultaneously angular and liquid on screen. He is dynamic and appealing even when wounded (and boy did he set my heart a flutter with his gangly frame and adorable smirk!) Decor-enthusiasts will like the scene where he gains entry to Summer’s apartment which looks like a mash-up of Anthropologie’s home department and a grandmother’s drawing room and anyone who has ever had their heart broken will be bale to empathize with the results of a love lost.

Soundtrack standouts include “Sweet Disposition” by the Temper Trap and “Vagabond” by Wolfmother. The zooey-crooned She & Him cover of “Please Please Please” by the Smiths is sweet, but if I had to choose between versions I’d go with Dream Academy’s from Ferris.

Fun fact: Gordon-Levitt listened to She & Him’s debut album everyday during filming to help realize the electric chemistry between Zooey and him (cute!)

PS- Gordon-Levitt started a website called hitRECORD.org that is quite interesting

PPS- enjoy these sexy snaps of Gordon-Levitt from GQ last year:

 

(GQ photos by Ellen von Unwerth)

Personal Update...

I haven’t really been posting much about what’s going at my own house lately. Long time readers know I have been living through a massive renovation that has grown by leaps and bounds since embarking on the project last April but I've been pretty mum about it here.

The original scope was to stick to the first floor, but sure enough we spread the chaos to the basement and second floor and have ended up with a complete remodel. It wouldn't have been so bad if we weren't living in the house, but of course, we are.

After a year and a half I’m happy to report there is finally an end in sight and it is almost all done -- but because the designer will be submitting the house to some publications for consideration and most magazines demand first-rights to publish, I will not be allowed to post too much just yet.

To give you an idea of what it looks like, here is a pretty vignette I styled in the family room:

And here is my arrangement of colour-coordinated cookbooks in the kitchen desk nook.

I can share, however, some more details on a recent addition to my own room:

Design bloggers went nuts over the cloth cover editions of penguin classic novels that Design*Sponge posted months ago. Imagine my delight when I found them in my local Indigo store! I snapped up 6 of the 10 titles. Don’t they look cute next to my porcelain pineapple?

I'd also be remiss to not share some exciting news that will definitely be talked about on the blog in the months to come: I have decided it is time to move in with my significant other and cohabitate!

Next spring we will be moving into an apartment together and that means I'll have my very own place to furnish and decorate. I am beyond excited and will definitely be filling you in on my progress.

Dream Penthouse from Andrew Skurman

Take a look at this sophisticated penthouse from Andrew Skurman Architects:

It is so bright and crisp with layer upon layer of architectural detailing. What a masterpiece!