Bunnies and Milk...Glass

We don't celebrate Easter in our home, however, the Easter Bunny does make a stop here!

Source: re-foundobjects.com via Eva on Pinterest

Be Still My Heart

Cruising 1stDibs for lighting. I'm looking for 2 matching ceiling fixtures and 2 sconces for the vanity. While I found several I liked they where over the top expensive so I've had no luck for our ensuite bath. Poopsies for me.


But I found this beauty! It would look so great over an island. Not what you normally see in a kitchen which is why I like it. It's pricey but perhaps not for someone doing a full kitchen renovation. Isn't the pink of the opal glass pretty? Hmm, it would look lovely in a dressing room too. Oh the possibilities!

Source: 1stdibs.com via Dane on Pinterest

For those of you who are super duper good at DIY (I'm NOT), I also saw the light fixture below and thought someone might be inspired by it. 

Source: 1stdibs.com via Dane on Pinterest

I suppose these inspiring kitchen light fixtures are fitting for this holiday weekend. I hope you all have a wonderful time and enjoy the people you're with!

Just Because Mondays

The series, Just Because Mondays, is my way of easing in to a new week of blogging. It will feature what is top on my list of desires so it can be absolutely anything.


Today's post is clothing that I would so love to have in my closet:


- An outfit by the late Alexander McQueen. 

via net-a-porter

- This dress I came across on Aspinal of London...I don't know who designed it but it's exactly what I imagine wearing in my office...when it's been completed...it's currently storage. Not sure what's up with the vapid look on the model's face.

- Last but certainly not by any means least...silk crepe bra and briefs from Carine Gilson available through Net-a-Porter.

What's with the obsession for the colour blush? Truth be told I'm uncomfortable wearing pale pretty colors but I've decided if I can't wear it I'll paint my office in it. Now that I've made that decision...I am finding I am wanting to try wearing it. Too bad for me my taste runs a wee bit expensive!

Drapery Day Dreaming

I've been obsessing a little about drapery. I need drapery for my dining room, bedroom, the Girl's room and now my office. I LOVE silk drapery and get very excited when I see it with them edged in pleats.


I have been looking at fashion for inspiration for drapery and bedding. I think over the next few years we will start seeing more elaborate drapery in high end design.


So, with haste, here are some of my most inspiring photos for drapery...and bedding! I hope they get you thinking about how you can incorporate some of the ideas in to your home.

Source: citified.blogspot.com via Dane on Pinterest

Source: bhldn.com via Dane on Pinterest

Source: absolutelyladylike.com via Dane on Pinterest

Source: monsteratemycouture.blogspot.com via Dane on Pinteres

Raising Awareness & Raising Funds 4 Mental Illness

via

A mask protects, provides a place to hide how we feel from others. Though behind the mask it's not a safe place because what we are hiding from is within us. Telling us how worthless we are, how we don't deserve to be loved but how we deserve the emotional pain we suffer.

Long before I looked and acted sad I looked and acted angry. When I look and act angry I am still feeling, still fighting for my self-worth. 

When I look sad it's because I've given up and have no more strength to fight for myself. 

When I look sad it's because I believe they are right. I am worthless. I don't deserve to be loved. 

I looked sad 2 years ago.

I believed my children and husband would be better off without me.

I was wasting away. Overwhelmed I slipped away. I couldn't be reached. It was all I could do to just breath.

In this place I knew I was hurting those who loved me. In this place I couldn't help them. In this place I couldn't stay.

I got in the car and drove. I slept in the car at rest areas and drove till I ended up in New Orleans. Nothing had changed. I thought it was a fitting place. To. Just. Stop. 


My husband's heart was shattering. He was desperate to help but could do nothing but let me go. His mother rather then offering him support, love or understanding told him, "I told you she'd destroy you". 


My mother-in-law was a

My own family never asked if I was ok. They never reached out with love or support. One of them told my mother, who suffers from dimentia that I'd left my family. Then one of them did phone...to accuse me of not being alone, to tell me I was the reason my mother was crying every day. They are cowards and won't tell me who told my mom such a lie. They protect each other. 


Why not protect me? Because I am not worth anything...that is what they've been telling me.


Someone needs to be blamed for everything wrong in their lives. 
Someone needs to be blamed for their being racist, obese, miserable, homophobic. 
Someone needs to carry their guilt and hate to the grave. Someone they could turn their backs on.

But I was lucky and a lifeline was extended. 


I was diagnosed with C-PTSD. I could get help. I could get better. 


I could laugh with joy watching my husband and children playing. It would take a long time and it would be hard but there was a light at the end of the tunnel. There were those who would not turn their backs on me. They would not let me carry anyone else's guilt.

I'm very lucky. Today I feel more like myself. My CPTSD self is still here but she is slowly dispersing like smoke after it's been exhaled. I breath. I learn to recognize when I'm having a flashback. I recognize when my inner-critic is telling me I've no value and I exhale it and it disperses.

There will be no Barouche-Landau for me anytime soon. The light at the end of the tunnel has come and I've walked out in to the warming sun. I'm fortunate and I'm mostly happy.


For those who have not made it my heart goes out to those who loved them.


Join me and show your support for those who suffer from mental illness. 


Please spread the word about the Bloggers Give Back eBay Auction to raise funds for the George Herman House. A place where women who suffered from mental illness can learn to live without a mask.


You can donate to the George Herman House through Bloggers Give Back, here.


I want to thank my husband Steve, my closest friend Kellie, my niece Roxanne and my Dr. Jayne for without them this blog would not exist.


Thank you to the wonderful sponsors of Bloggers Give Back as well for their support of the George Herman House:


Ikea: Supplying outdoor furniture for the house
Tonic Living: Supplying outdoor Fabrics and sewing services
Bona Vista Pools: Some outdoor accessories
MastermindToys: Financially donated to help the team buy materials

Just Because Mondays

Welcome to another new weekly post. Just Because Mondays!

All things pretty and feminine to do with my dressing room and my office has been on my mind. This photo is inspiration to the nth degree! Wouldn't a warm mid-tone gray or greige baseboard look great?


If you know who I can attribute the photo or work to please post below. I don't even remember saving the photo but I named it miss_p?! I must have been lacking in caffeine because I seriously don't know where it came from. 

High Point Market Week Highlights - Oly

Beautiful furnishing are headed your way! It is Market Week at High Point Market in High Point, North Carolina. This is the industry's week to showcase their newest designs to retailers, designers and others withing the industry. If I had my way I'd be there. 


I'll be pulling out all the stops next year to try and make it. High Point Market week is HUGE...both physically and event wise. All the designers who have furniture lines coming out are there to introduce the new wares. 


There are so many spectacular pieces I couldn't possibly cover them all so I'm going to do a few posts highlighting some of my personal favourites. 


Oly - For over 15 years Bay Area designers Kate McIntyre  & Brad Huntzinger have been working together creating furniture for the designer showroom market. 


The Oly showrooms at HPMW showcased light, bright, airy sophistication. Very little here says vintage although the timeless vintage vibe is present. 'Nuff said. Enjoy!

The gorgeous wall mural looks as if it's been there for 200 years.

source

George Herman House - Lounge Area

My vision of the lounge area at Toronto's George Herman House. It is a wonderful private area of the Healing Garden. Perfect to read, chat quietly, groom the boxwoods, tend to the herb garden wall or just hang out. 

Click to enlarge.

You must excuse my sorry excuse of a sketch. It looks more like chicken scratchings but I wanted to quickly show the seating layout and how I envisioned the wall of the garage.

Outdoor fabrics from Tonic Living:

- Slick in Mink

- Cool Stripe in Sorbet

- Sunny Side Coral

Paint for garage wall Benjamin Moore:

- Nightfall using Aura Exterior Edition sheen level Flat

(Herb garden & tree will appear to float!) 

Furniture from Ikea: 

- Ammero seating as sofas

- Ammero ottoman

BonaVista Pools:

Planika Fire Jar

To see more excellent concepts by the many wonderful bloggers volunteering with Bloggers Give Back you can check out our website! To find out more about the wonderful work the George Herman House is doing for women with mental illness please visit their website. If you'd like to donate it's simple almost as simple as clicking here!

Revisiting a Client Board

Click to enlarge

We have a number of projects on our list for our current house. One of the reasons we bought the house was because it has not had any updates or upgrades. We have a hard time paying for someone else's changes because we know we will have to rip them out. We live in a bedroom community in a suburb outside of Toronto where homeowners here think granite counter-tops with GE or Frigidaire stainless appliances equals luxury gourmet kitchen. 


Our personal style is decidedly metro and mid to high end. It will take us some time to achieve the renovations we want...one project at a time and we are still working on our en-suite bathroom and dressing room. But that doesn't stop me from thinking about smaller projects that I think I could tackle myself. ;)


I've been thinking about our powder room recently. It is yucky. You sit on the can and look at yourself in the mirror above the sink and when the door is left open the view is of the toilet. I. Hate. It. To make matters worse hunky hubby Steve is always opening doors to rooms. I can close the door to the powder room a dozen times a day...even though no one has used it. Totally sets me off. I can not stand to look at a toilet as I walk through the main floor of the house.


The only way to solve the 'toilet view' is to swap the toilet an sink so there will be a bit of work beyond my abilities in the basement with the waste stack but lets just ignore that for now. 


I have been focusing on creating the sense of space in our tiny powder room. I 'd like the sink and counter-vanity to be almost transparent but I'm not sure how realistic this is. So thinking about the sink that will become the focal point got me to thinking about an  inspiration board I was commissioned to do for clients a couple of years ago. I dug out the board to see what sink I'd sourced. 


I love the Lucite legs! It's definitely an option.


The board has antiqued mirror which I'm already putting in our en-suite bath and possibly on the back-splash in our kitchen so I won't use it in our powder room but the mood of the board is a nice fit otherwise.


BTW, below is a photo of what the powder room looks like currently. It will be a total gut job, even the sub-floor needs to be replaced as it's chip board.