Thursday, December 22, 2011
Your Beautiful Home now on Facebook!
Please check out my new facebook page for Your Beautiful Home. It displays many types of spaces - kitchens, living spaces, bedrooms. Click here for the link. Enjoy!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Kitchener MCC Thrift Shop - Christmas Decor event!
I've been cooking up some really cool event ideas with Jan and Barb who work at the Kitchener Mennonite Central Committee Thrift Shop at 335 Lancaster St. West. Please click the following url for the link to the shop. thrift.mcc.org/shops/kitchener-mcc-thrift-shop
Our first Christmas Decor intro event (more events coming later!) is Thursday Dec. 8 at 7 pm at the thrift shop. It will be held after hours, complete with food and refreshments, and we'll be playing with a Holiday Decor theme. Using items from the thrift shop, I'll show our guests how to make a table scape (table-top still-life) to celebrate the season. We'll take a look at seasonal dining place settings too. Our guests can look forward to finding out how to use items from a thrift shop, combining them with things they may already have, to create interesting table settings and table scapes. There will be gift wrapping services available too, for those who want to shop.
Jan and Barb are passionate about offering value to their customers in many ways. They serve up value as thrift shop retailers "where every purchase is a gift to the world", and as members of the MCC community which is outward-looking and inclusive. They want to bring a certified decorator's expertise to their customers, free of charge, to create beauty in your home from items found in the thrift shop. As a decorator I'm passionate about decor and making our homes beautiful using everyday objects as well as cool, fabulous pieces. I'm all about making interesting things out of budget "finds". The thrift shop is, after all, an ever-changing landscape of possibilities.
Please join us at 7 pm on Thursday, December 8th at the Kitchener MCC Thrift Store.
Our first Christmas Decor intro event (more events coming later!) is Thursday Dec. 8 at 7 pm at the thrift shop. It will be held after hours, complete with food and refreshments, and we'll be playing with a Holiday Decor theme. Using items from the thrift shop, I'll show our guests how to make a table scape (table-top still-life) to celebrate the season. We'll take a look at seasonal dining place settings too. Our guests can look forward to finding out how to use items from a thrift shop, combining them with things they may already have, to create interesting table settings and table scapes. There will be gift wrapping services available too, for those who want to shop.
Jan and Barb are passionate about offering value to their customers in many ways. They serve up value as thrift shop retailers "where every purchase is a gift to the world", and as members of the MCC community which is outward-looking and inclusive. They want to bring a certified decorator's expertise to their customers, free of charge, to create beauty in your home from items found in the thrift shop. As a decorator I'm passionate about decor and making our homes beautiful using everyday objects as well as cool, fabulous pieces. I'm all about making interesting things out of budget "finds". The thrift shop is, after all, an ever-changing landscape of possibilities.
Please join us at 7 pm on Thursday, December 8th at the Kitchener MCC Thrift Store.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Upcycling
I am so passionate about upcycling. According to wikipedia, upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.
I've recently added to my family room 2 new black, tufted leather sofas. One is a true 3-seater sofa and the other is a 3-seater chaise. My kids are loving being sprawled on the new furniture. As I was putting the room together, I wanted a comfortable mix of many things. New pieces, upcycled lamps, photos of my family, and a modern, cool tv bench to store the dvds and online gaming equipment that is used in our home.
As I look through the room, I'm content with the final mix. Many of the table lamps and the floor lamps are thrift store makeovers (a can of spray paint goes a long way at my house!) and the traditional oval wood coffee table with the scrolled, curved legs was a curbside find. Sprayed high gloss white it is now the star of the room. New down-filled throw pillows bring a graphic punch to the room. The old tv bench has been re-purposed as a sort of side board that is a place to eat snacks and for my kids to complete their homework on. And we're all set.
I try to always look at discarded items for any other unintended purpose that they may serve. Whether I'm tossing an item, whether I drive by and an interesting piece is sitting at the curbside, or I spy something at a thrift store. What's that old phrase? "One person's rubbish is another person's treasure!"
I've recently added to my family room 2 new black, tufted leather sofas. One is a true 3-seater sofa and the other is a 3-seater chaise. My kids are loving being sprawled on the new furniture. As I was putting the room together, I wanted a comfortable mix of many things. New pieces, upcycled lamps, photos of my family, and a modern, cool tv bench to store the dvds and online gaming equipment that is used in our home.
As I look through the room, I'm content with the final mix. Many of the table lamps and the floor lamps are thrift store makeovers (a can of spray paint goes a long way at my house!) and the traditional oval wood coffee table with the scrolled, curved legs was a curbside find. Sprayed high gloss white it is now the star of the room. New down-filled throw pillows bring a graphic punch to the room. The old tv bench has been re-purposed as a sort of side board that is a place to eat snacks and for my kids to complete their homework on. And we're all set.
I try to always look at discarded items for any other unintended purpose that they may serve. Whether I'm tossing an item, whether I drive by and an interesting piece is sitting at the curbside, or I spy something at a thrift store. What's that old phrase? "One person's rubbish is another person's treasure!"
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Undecorate!
I read an inspiring book review yesterday in Canadian House and Home's Mar/11 issue by Kimberley Brown. The book, Undecorate: The No-Rules Approach to Interior Design is written by Christian Lemieux, out in bookstores in March.
Her view of design is refreshing and new. It takes the stifling limitations that good design often places on our spaces, and frees us to express ourselves, to use creative, personal pieces in one's space.
Lemieux, states, "the arbiters of style have completely changed." She doesn't look to decorators for inspiration anymore. Instead, inspiring ideas come from real people. There are no more borders when witessing the democracy of design via the internet. Good design isn't about having access to exclusive showrooms in T.O, L.A. or New York.
A great space can be observed by how someone puts together simple, spare pieces, i.e. a chair, a couch and a carpet. The layering of texture, patterns and materials is very individual, and can't be mass-marketed.
Undecorating means that people are doing it themselves. They are being individual about it, adding ideas and features which are personal and beautiful to them. This, according to Lemieux, is all about being authentic.
In my business, I work with a lot of do-it-yourself-ers. These smart and informed people want to be hands-on as much as possible, but they often need a design professional such as myself, who has the expertise and training to pull a look together for them. The marriage of professional know-how with personal taste of clients is a winning combination.
Her view of design is refreshing and new. It takes the stifling limitations that good design often places on our spaces, and frees us to express ourselves, to use creative, personal pieces in one's space.
Lemieux, states, "the arbiters of style have completely changed." She doesn't look to decorators for inspiration anymore. Instead, inspiring ideas come from real people. There are no more borders when witessing the democracy of design via the internet. Good design isn't about having access to exclusive showrooms in T.O, L.A. or New York.
A great space can be observed by how someone puts together simple, spare pieces, i.e. a chair, a couch and a carpet. The layering of texture, patterns and materials is very individual, and can't be mass-marketed.
Undecorating means that people are doing it themselves. They are being individual about it, adding ideas and features which are personal and beautiful to them. This, according to Lemieux, is all about being authentic.
In my business, I work with a lot of do-it-yourself-ers. These smart and informed people want to be hands-on as much as possible, but they often need a design professional such as myself, who has the expertise and training to pull a look together for them. The marriage of professional know-how with personal taste of clients is a winning combination.
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