featured at power of paint

Just a quick post to let you know that my faux mercury glass and faux zinc projects are being featured today over at Power of Paint.

If you're looking for inspiration, run over to Power of Paint right now - Maryann features all sorts of fantastic paint projects on her blog.


Cheers!

remembering our moms…

Both of us have lost our moms — my mom Cathy died in 1998, and Victoria’s mom Laura in 2004. So Mother’s Day is sort of bittersweet for us. We remember all the wonderful things about our moms, but we don’t have them here to give them hugs and kisses, and to tell them how much we love them and how much they mean to us.

Our moms are a big part of who we are today. So in their honour, we’d like to share a little bit about them with you…

My mom, Cathy, was a teacher. And even though she was only 5’2”, she was also a basketball player :-) After I was born, she became a stay-at-home mom to raise me and my future brother.

Besides being sporty, she was very artistic and creative. She took ceramic lessons for many years, and then she later taught ceramics. She and my dad set up a room for her classes in the basement. There was a big table and chairs and shelves all around filled with jars of paint and greenware in all different shapes and sizes, just waiting to be transformed into pieces of art. It always amazed me how the drab colours in the jars transformed into beautiful glossy colours when the pieces were done.

These are just a few of the ceramic pieces that my mom made… first, a vase…

She painted the flowers and leaves entirely by hand. I have no idea how she did it, but I think it’s beautiful and very unique. I used to display it in the niche that was in the hallway. Now that the niche is gone, I have to find a new home for it.

And she made a pair of these lamps:

She shaped and cut every petal and leaf and stem out of clay, and then shaped the flowers and leaves on the lamps. I definitely did NOT inherit my mom’s patience!! ;-)

And this is my most favourite piece that my mom made. Being a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, purple-loving kid with pigtails, my mom made this lamp especially for me — cheeky look on the face and all!! And I think my grandma made the lavender shade cover. I love the pompoms!!

My mom was upset that after the lamp had it’s final firing, she realized that she’d gotten a bit of purple paint from the flower on one of the hands. But I think that makes it even more special, because it was handmade with love by my mom :-)

This is my mom on her way to marry my dad on March 22nd many years ago!! I think it was 1956. My mom was 18 and my dad was 19 — I can’t imagine being married that young!!

I love my mom and I miss her a lot. I’m sad that she died before I was married, but she did meet my then-boyfriend and now-hubby, so she knew that I was happy and had found Mr. Right (or at least Mr. OK ;-) ). I think she would be proud of me and the things I’ve accomplished in my life. Thanks mom, for everything you did for me and for being so wonderfully kind and loving…

And now Victoria is going to tell you a bit about her mom, Laura…

People tell me that I look like my Mom and I remember for years getting annoyed at what others perceived as a compliment – I wanted to be and look like ME, not my Mom. I’m sure so many of you can relate to that! Now, with my Mom gone from my life I find myself looking in the mirror hopeful to catch a glimpse of her lovely face. Lovely. She used to joke that, because all of her names began with “L” she was “lovely Laura Lorraine Lambert”. She came by “lovely” honestly, she didn’t need all those “Ls” to make it so!! :-)

As I was preparing to write this post I came across this photo of her as a child and, because of stories I’d heard about her childhood fun-loving tomboy ways I had to share. I love to think of my Mom like this – happy and full of life! Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!!

My very first post ever on our original DesignTies blog was dedicated to my Mom – and in it I shared with everyone her love of interior design and all things related to houses. Michelle from A Schematic Life would understand Mom’s love affair with the magazine “Architectural Digest”; her bookcase was full of issues that she would pour over! Mom always told me that if she’d planned her life a little better she would have gone to school to become an interior designer, but she married young, had children and, when she did go back to work, had to get one of those practical jobs… the kind that so many of us have! I know I have one!!

When she was in her early 40s, however, she lived a piece of that dream – she attended and graduated from Emily Carr’s School of Art & Design as a Graphic Designer. I was so proud of her on her graduation day!!

One of the things my Mom and I used to love to do was drive through neighbourhoods and look at houses. Often we would bring a camera and surreptitiously (we didn’t want to get caught by the owners!) take pictures of our favourites. And sometimes, she’d use those photos to make renderings of the houses. My brother and I have a lot of her art (graphic designs, pencil drawings, paintings, etc.), but my most favourite are these three paintings, two of which are renderings derived from pictures she’d found in her issues of Architectural Digest!!

This first one is a house in Greece

This one… a dwelling in Africa

And finally, my favourite (Mom loved what she called “Grandma Grandpa Houses”) – a bungalow here in Vancouver, found during one of our neighbourhood tours…

Mom’s little paintings are simplistic in styling, but precious in their colourful details. I haven’t hung them yet (renovations aren’t yet complete!), but I’m hopeful to find the perfect place in my little cottage-in-the-city where they can be showcased and loved by all who see them!

Thanks for remembering Cathy and Laura with us!

And to all you Mom’s out there… Happy Mother’s Day!!!

&

                          

whatever floats your boat

Today’s post brought to you by Kelly

The glass floats that I mentioned in this post have arrived, and they’re sooooo beautiful! Robi from lightinawormhole threw in a little surprise, so I ended up with six floats :-) Here they all are…

*Sigh* I just love these little treasures of the sea. These are all Japanese floats that were handblown at least 40 years ago and were used to hold fishing nets. Over time, they got detached from the nets and made their way across the ocean to various beaches on the Pacific. When you think about how fragile glass is, it’s amazing that these little guys survived the waves and storms and all of nature’s elements to arrive safely on a sandy shore somewhere.

Beautiful blue…

The bubbles in the glass add so much character.

Besides being beautiful, glass floats are wonderfully tactile. They’re heavier than you might think. Holding one in your hand, you can’t help but wonder about the journey that it took, from the factory where it was made to its days out on the ocean to being discovered on a beach.

Do you collect something rare or unusual?

gracias, cпасибо, danke

Just a quick post today to say a couple of thank yous...

Shelley over at 2jacs recently had a giveaway for Sapadilla cleaning products, and I was one of the two lucky winners. Yay! It's not weird to be excited about cleaning products, is it? Well, OK, maybe it's just a little bit weird :-) But totally deserving of the weirdness. Here's why:

Not testing on animals is really important to me, and they're not kidding about the some kind of wonderful scent. The giveaway was for products in either the grapefruit & bergamot or rosemary & peppermint scents. I mentioned in my entry that one of the things I like best about Sapadilla is the lavender & lime scent. Shelley not only decided to send me products in my favourite scent, she also made me some cleaning cloths in matching purple :-) Take my word for it, the lavender & lime scent smells amazing!

I could have used the all-purpose cleaner yesterday, but I thought my first cleaning experience using Sapadilla & Shelley's cloths should be a little more elegant than cleaning up dog barf ;-)

Sapadilla is located in BC and their products are sold in selected stores in Canada and the US. Click here to see if there's a store near you. You can also purchase their products online from these stores. And if you're looking for colourful handmade cloths, Shelley sells them in her Etsy shop, J&J.

THANK YOU, SHELLEY!

And also thank you to Mary at Very Merry Vintage Style for including my faux zinc bird in her list of favourite projects from last week's Share The Love Wednesday blog party.

Mary, I hope my project inspired you and your blog readers to take a shot at creating your own faux zinc - it's really easy and fun :-)

After my flurry of DIY projects a few weeks ago, I'm kind of DIY'd out. But you might remember I mentioned a Restoration Hardware-inspired table project that I wanted to tackle. Well, it's half done {thank you, hubby!}, and will hopefully be ready for its reveal in a week or two. Stay tuned!

{ let's imagine } just a touch of colour

Today's post brought to you by Kelly
Have you been thinking about adding some colour to your house, but you're not sure you're ready to make an all-out colour commitment? Well, here's an easy way to add just a hint of colour in an unexpected place... on the edge of a door!

Image via Martha Stewart Living

Image via indulgy

How's that for a totally easy, and non-committal way to bring a touch of colour into a room?! Of course, you can always go all-out and paint the whole door a fun colour with a contrasting colour on the edge...

Image via indulgy

Or how about a chevron door?

Image via Camille Styles

What do you think of painting a door edge a bright & fun colour?

in honour of derby day – equestrian chic

Today’s post brought to you by Kelly

In honour of today’s Kentucky Derby, here’s a replay of the equestrian-inspired blog post I wrote at JAX does design last February…

Inspired by Big Red: A twist on equestrian chic

Last night, hubby and I watched Secretariat. OMG, what a great movie! Diane Lane is wonderful as Penny Chenery, and all the beautiful horses… *SIGH* But you don’t have to be a horse-lover to enjoy the movie – it’s as much about the strength and drive of a woman succeeding in a man’s world as it is about horses.

In case you aren’t familiar with Secretariat's story, Penny Chenery (on behalf of her dad, Christopher) won him before he was actually born in a coin flip in 1969 – although she actually lost the flip to Ogden Phipps, who at the time was the richest man in America. Too bad for Mr. Phipps, he selected the wrong foal! Ms. Chenery traveled back and forth from her home in Colorado to her family’s Meadow Stable in Virginia, living a double-life (in a good way!) as a wife & mom to four kids and the owner of a race horse.

Penny Chenery & Secretariat {image via Comfrey Cottages}

The rest, as they say, is history. Secretariat went on to be what many consider to be the greatest racehorse of all time. He won the 1973 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, and then absolutely demolished the field in the Belmont, leading the race almost entirely from start to finish and winning by 31 lengths. He’s one of only 11 horses to win the Triple Crown – a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since Affirmed won it in 1978. And his winning times in the Derby and Belmont still stand as the fastest to this day, almost 40 years later.

Secretariat & Canadian jockey Ron Turcotte in the 1973 Preakness Stakes {image via Lost Past Remembered}

Sadly, Secretariat had to be put down in 1989 after a battle with a hoof disease called laminitis. Doctors performed a necropsy, and discovered that Secretariat's heart was literally twice the weight of an average horse’s heart. But then, Secretariat wasn’t an average horse :-)

Secretariat, aka Big Red, 1970 – 1989 {Image via TBO.com}

In honour of the beautiful chestnut horse they called Big Red, I’ve put together some equestrian-related interior design pictures, but with a bit of a twist. Instead of rooms that include horse art, sculptures, or memorabilia, these are rooms with design elements that to me that have the essence of the whole equestrian feel.

Sliding wood barn doors…

Image via DigsDigs

Wood-paneled rooms…

Image vie Velvet & Linen

Well-worn leather chairs…

Image via Practical Enrichment

Polished brass…

Image via The Simply Luxurious Life

Trunks…

Image via Auction Decorating

Cast iron… 

Image via House & Home

Benches…

Image via Sense of Style Interiors

Navajo-style blankets…

Image via Kris Abshire

And a few literal takes on equestrian chic that caught my eye…

Images via Interior Design Daily, Dankton, Apartment Therapy, and Best Luxury Interior Design

What says equestrian chic to you?