tamar mogendorff

In keeping with this week's unofficial DIY nature creations, I couldn't resist Tamar Mogendorff's lovely interpretations of wildlife for the indoors. Her dolls include everything from mushrooms to penguins, but my personal favorites are the birds (even their cages are adorable!)...found via unruly things.

more pebbles

Theme week? Man-made pebbles seem to be popping up everywhere lately. More than a little smaller than yesterday's pebbles, Reyaveltman's natural wool and silk pebbles are beautiful enough to stand alone as decorative pieces and heavy enough to act as naturally-inspired paperweights. And like yesterday, I still like real pebbles, but these are a pretty crafty and neato re-interpretation.

living stones

By now I'm sure most people on the decorating blog circuit have seen images of or read about living stones. Environmentally-friendly wool and polar-fleece 'stones' so that you can comfortably lounge on nature-inspired 'pebble-smooth rocks' in your living room or why the heck not? outside next to real pebbles. Weird. Cool. I still really like real pebbles.

spring dreaming

Oh...what I would do for a light spring day, a cozy sweater and a walk through a park with a good book...

I love the dreaminess and peacefulness of Ta's photographs. (Found via unruly thing's blog)

recycled numbered boxes

I love these old boxes that have been stencilled with new numbers. I'd love to have some of these in my apartment to grow kitchen herbs in. Check out the wooden box series at three potato four.

I actually spotted some old boxes like this at a great little vintage/ antique shop near my apartment. They're a little pricey so I'm going to keep an eye out for wooden boxes at thrift shops and hope that I come across some...

bamboo bikes

Calfee Design has taken bicycles to a whole new level of green with their custom bamboo bike frames. As if biking weren't already one of the healthiest, greenest and most fun modes of transportation, now you can do it on strong, sustainable bamboo frames that are built custom as per the weight of the rider. The bikes are good for everyday riding as well as racing. And, in addition to winning numerous design awards, the makers of the bamboo bike are proposing that countries like Ghana explore the opportunity of making the bikes locally out of their own renewable bamboo supplies to stimulate their economy while making bikes available to locals for personal transportation use. Neato! Check out the Bamboo Bike Project for more info.

sally scott

Wow - if you need an infusion of summery light into your mid-winter blas, check out sally scott's catalogue. Pretty, playful dresses and skirt/ blouse combos and photos that make me crave summer and long hair. *sigh* A few more months...

totally stoked

How stoked am I this weekend? TOTALLY stoked! Not only did I get to meet one of my favorite bloggers in person, but she bought one of my paintings to hang in her stellar-decorated home AND profiled my home on her uber-fabulous blog. Fun and fabulous! Thanks Kim!

plantatree wine

Drink a bottle of wine, plant a tree. I like that idea! Carbon positive wine: grown smart and bottled smart - the more you consume, the more you offset.

This is brilliant! Check it out: http://www.plantatreewine.com/flash.html

Let the wine tasting begin!

overdue sneak peak

I finally got around to taking some photos of my 'new' apartment. I've been here for two and a half months now and things are coming together and feeling 'homey'. Lucky me - I'm renting this great space from a friend of mine for a steal! The furnishings are all mine and after some rearranging, creating, and hanging, I finally feel content to curl up on the couch with some tea, a good book and the fire going - without feeling like getting up to rearrange things yet again. So, enough of the talking. Here are some visuals and descriptions of my own little space on this planet...

Welcome! This is my entrance way - great big closets for shoes and coats and cat food :) To the left of the door (but unseen in this photo) is another skinny closet with a stand up clothes washer and dryer - one of my favorite things about living here! No more coin laundry - yay!

When you enter the apartment you can walk straight ahead to the eating nook and kitchen or turn right to walk into the living room and access the stairs to the loft...

(view of eating nook from the kitchen)

(looking down at the eating nook from the loft)

(view towards the living room from the entrance/ kitchen area)

(detail: little corner nook with journals, music, magazines and access to the balcony)

The living room is the 'heart' of my home - it's where I curl up on the couch to read, it's where I use my laptop, it's where the cats stretch out in front of the fire, it's where I hang out with my guests. It's also 'home' to most of my books (on my makeshift 'bookshelves'), my solitary plant, my dumpster-diver-find-turned-coffee-table and my blank canvases (hung up on either side of the fireplace awaiting divine inspiration ;)...

(looking down at the living room from the loft)

(view from the living room up to the loft and beyond to the kitchen)

And up the stairs to my sleeping and 'grooming' nook...

(sleeping loft - the thing in the corner is a little cat bed which is never used. Why would they sleep in that when they can sleep on my bed? What was I thinking?)

(bedroom detail)

(dresser nook)

(and last but not least, the bathroom)

The bathroom: if I were concerned about looking really coordinated, I would have hung up my ivory-coloured towel that matches the shower curtain, but instead I'm just going to tell you that the blue towel is my back-up towel and it's what was hanging up when I took the photo (and yes, I acknowledge my geek-factor by caring ;).

And that's my sneak peak - thanks for coming!

traceyj on etsy

My monday morning got a whole heck of a lot better when I found out that my favorite photographer made her images available for online purchasing over the weekend - yay! Still bleary-eyed and coffee-less, I whipped out my handy plastic money card and ordered myself a photograph - the first of many for sure!

Check out tracey's etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5459903

house proud friends on 'steven and chris'

It's always fun to feature what friends are up to - especially when it's something as cool as showcasing their creative, tiny Vancouver apartment on the CBC's Steven and Chris show! Check out Trish and Nathan's small, awesome space that accomodates three family members and functions as an office space for both T & N! Amazing! Clearly, bigger is not better. Watch house proud Trish and Nathan here.

T & N - I love it! And Trish, I would be excited about an appliance as cool as your washer-dryer combo too :)

You can check out Nathan's own blog post about it here.

mike brodie...

...takes very compelling photographs. View his portfolio here.