We took a friend out to dinner last week to Rundles. It's my favourite restaurant in Stratford. The food is amazing and the decor, well, it's just so me!
Like this little table.
And the covers on the plates.
Designed by Viktor Tinkl. He doesn't appear to have his own website (unless Google is letting me down again), but you can read a nice article about him right here.
I discovered the work and blog of Hilda De Schutter recently (yay, Flickr!). She is a mixed-media artist from Belgium who loves to make use of the things others might cast aside. As she says, "there is still so much life in things that other people don’t want anymore, that is just the time when they become interesting."
Here are some pictures of her lovely home.
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I love the crusty old paint. And the casual bent wire.
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Nothing goes to waste.
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Her Grandmother's trunk. And an old friend.
Truly, it was hard for me to decide which pictures to show you. Check out Hilda's Flickr stream. And her blog, which features not just her work and fabulous photography, but the work of other amazing artists as well.
One more picture, you say? Of course. I've saved the best for last! A lamp she made from an old doll that lost her head...
Brilliant!!!!!
Moryse Heron has a keen eye for salvage.
I love this photo of her bedroom. That coat rack? It's an I.V. stand!
Anyone who's ever had to walk a hospital corridor with one of these things, or shepherd a drug-addled loved one, knows how handy an extra coat or two would be (have I ever told you about the week my Mum was all whacked out on morphine? Pure Norman Rockwell, from beginning to end...)
I love to see the less obvious re-uses. Keep 'em coming, people!
And thank you Moryse!
Moryse's Flickr page here.
Having finally finished my entry/stairway/upstairs hall, I can't believe how ridiculously pleased I am with it. And it's got me to thinking about home and decor and what it's for. Because you can always count on me to analyze something beyond the limits of human endurance...
The analogy that finally came to me and that seems to tie it all together for me is that your home should be your friend. A good and supportive friend. One that helps you get what you most want out of life, that makes you feel comfortable in your own skin. One that makes you feel better after a bad day, just by being there.
And if you think about your human friends, you realize that most of them have a certain amount of style. Which is nice, which is fun. But if that's all they have, if that's all they are, they probably won't be your best friend. Or certainly not beyond your first big crisis.
No, your best friend, while he or she may have the world's most amazing shoe collection, or know how to order just the right wine to go with a meal, also tells you that you are amazing and if the rest of the world doesn't know that, well, the world's just stupid.
Your best friend makes you relax, just by showing up. He or she will tell you your dreams are doable. Will make you laugh. Will let you be goofy and sentimental when you need to.
Quirks, yes. No one is without them. And sometimes you have to be a little careful around them because you want to be the caring, supportive, good friend that they are to you. But you feel, always, that whatever effort you put into the friendship comes back to you tenfold. And in the wonderful arithmetic of friendship, you both feel that way.
So how does this translate to how you decorate your home?
Well, it needs to work for your lifestyle. If you like to hold a lot a dinner parties, a comfortable place to dine is a good idea. And a workable kitchen. If you spend a lot of nights on the couch watching movies, then a comfy sofa gets more of a priority.
And so it goes. Bit by bit, from the moment you wake up in the morning till you climb into bed at night, try to make your interactions with your home comfortable for you.
Style? Yes, that's nice, too, in its place. So the world's most comfortable sofa that also looks amazing in a colour you absolutely love will be a good investment for the movie fanatic, but might be less of a priority for the cook.
Have things that make you smile. Things that speak to your heart. Whether or not they're the latest style.
Have things that are comfortable and easy and convenient for you. That sort of fussing over the details is worth the effort in the way it enhances your life.
And if you have to give the bedroom door an extra push to get it to close, or remember not to trip over the raised bit on the way into the office, well, everyone has their quirks, right?
A couple more pictures from Anna's apartment.
An Ikea sofa bed easily converts from sitting to sleeping.
And I love this little knob holding the tie-back for the curtain on the closet. Even in a tiny space, the details make a difference!
I've been wanting to start doing home tours, to help show what I think of as a May December Home (it's not just a clever way of letting people know my shop's closed in the winter!). To me, it's that wonderful mix of old stuff that's showing some signs of wear and the newer pieces that you pick up along the way.
I don't know about you, but to my eyes, a house that's all one thing, whether that be fine antiques, curbside treasures or the best that Ikea has to offer, is just a little dull. I like a mix - say a freshly-painted room filled with a family heirloom dresser, a comfy chair from your college days, your latest photographs and a bookcase you found at a yard sale.
I love a juxtaposition of old and new, rustic and pretty, worn and fresh.
Our friend Anna moved into the little studio apartment that we fixed up last summer. We dropped in for a visit a few weeks ago and I thought, "This is exactly what I mean!" So this morning she very kindly let me in to take some pictures. Thank you, Anna!
Her entry is defined by a curtain hung on an antique drying rack.
The cupboards that were there, plus a couple of old crates for added storage. Love the stacks of books!
Cooking and.... jewelry!
Like what you see so far? I have a few more pictures to show you tomorrow!
If you'd like me to feature your "May December Home", email me and we'll talk!
