I've Got Color! contest

FUN! Apartment Therapy and CB2 are presenting their I've Got Color! contest! My apartment isn't colourful enough to think about submitting any images, but I'm sure looking forward to seeing what entries do come in. Colour is fun. Colour makes me happy. This is going to be a real feel-good (other than the occasional pepto-bismol explosion-inspired images which are bound to surface) contest to keep an eye on.

ottawa photography festival

Photo by Wojciech K. Jakobiec

At last! I'm finally starting to discover Ottawa's underbelly of local artists and cultural events. This week (ending sunday), Ottawa's first festivalx is underway and it is very, very cool. It is a 10 day long photography festival showcasing local photographers at 19 different venues, including public, private and artist-run galleries. I went to one of the galleries last night and was inspired and delighted by what I found there (including a 40 minute chat with one of the photographers). He told me that the artists involved in the festival are hoping to make this an annual event and hoping to create more exposure for local artists in this city in general (I hope so - the city needs it!). What's great about the festival is not only that it exposes the public to new artists, but it also exposes us to a number of galleries that I imagine most people were never aware of (I certainly wasn't and I've looked!). Very cool. If you're in Ottawa and you're reading this, I recommend checking out the festival. I'm going to try to check out a lot of the other shows this weekend and the closing party is at my favorite club. You don't have to ask me twice! Check out Guerilla Magazine for more Ottawa arts and culture news.

Perry, come on!

I love, love, love, love this shirt. Great clothing design at Perry, come on!

niba home

I came across this gorgeous rug from Niba Home on Elle Decor's 'What's Hot' section of their website. It led me to Niba Home's website which has a really colourful, really fantastic line of rugs and other goodies, including some wonderful interior design shots that were really fun to look through. I'd post more photos, but everything was in flash so you'll just have to go check it out yourself. I recommend it.

http://www.nibahome.com/

wednesday morning gorgeousness

Nothing like waking up to tracyj's photographs. I love this girl. She is amazingly talented.

of escapes and transformations

I love the transformation portrayed in this image from Domino's before & after gallery. Clearly I'm still in the same mood I was in yesterday and am finding the idea of a tranquil space really appealing right now. Surely the world wouldn't miss me if I floated off to some heavenly hide-away for a little while? Maybe I'd come back as transformed as this bedroom was.

urban heaven on earth

Let me live aloft with the birds of the air, bathed in rays of light... And let my light fixtures look like this...

Please.

Found here, along with many other lovelies...

window films

Pretty window films for pretty privacy. My sister once did something similar to this using decorative transparent paper. Her finished product looked amazing, but was attached to the window with glue (hope the next person who rented that studio liked it as much as she did!). The window film above is apparently easily affixed and just as easily removed for privacy that doesn't leave behind marks.

the droplet

This Droplet from Rare Device is really elegant (although part of me is having a difficult time seeing past the phallic look of it - what can I say? Once you've studied art history, you see phallic symbols everywhere!). Meant to fill with soy sauce or other foodie liquids, you hold your finger over the hole in the dropper and lift before dripping flavourful droplets on your lunch or dinner. Mmmm...

'pick your nose' cups

Urban Outfitters really made my morning today with these 'pick your nose' paper party cups. 12 different schnoz styles let you smell the world from new nostrils - or at least lets you see how you'd look doing it. Hilarious.

three potato four

I would really love to be out flea market shopping today. It's sunday, the sun is out and there's a definite fall crispness in the air. It's a perfect day for a coffee and a flea market challenge. Alas, I am holed up in my office working because I know that if I don't get some work done today, this week is going to be really stressful. I'm not actually as diligent and keen as this may make me sound. Trust me, if I had a car, I would be logging off my computer right now, swinging by the corner coffee shop, and en route to the countryside, determined to put off thinking about assignments until tomorrow morning. But...I don't have a car. So...here I go, back to work. Breaks will consist of online flea market shopping (so not the same) at sites like Three Potato Four who feature unique finds like this camp sign and block letterpress. *sigh* I'm ready for a vacation.

happy birthday to me

It's still a few days away, but Grams sent me a birthday cheque so I promptly went out and bought myself Stafford Cliff and Gilles De Chabaneix's new jam-packed little number that oozes visual stimulation. I'm actually disappointed that I have friday night social plans, because I would love to devote my whole evening to staying in with a pot of tea and this beautiful book. I can't wait to find some time this weekend to really dive into it. Yay! Thanks Grams!

lonely no more

You no longer need to be worried about feeling lonely in your little bachelor apartment, at least not as far as the folks at Charles & Marie are concerned. They recommend The Buddy Throw (above) if you feel the need to cuddle up with someone when someone isn't around. With 15% Polyamide in the wool throw, they promise incredible softness that might just make you forget you're alone. And the Rei Huggable (below) is a glowing pillow that is said to inspire happy-feel-good qualities when held and, as Charles & Marie put it, 'lets you hold the sun in your arms'. Awww...

the gorillapod

What a cute (and helpful!) little gadget. Joby's Gorillapod is apparently the answer to all your tripod worries. Their flexible legs wrap around anything, letting your camera get a rock-steady shot even when there's no flat ground to be found. Think of the interior shots you could get by hanging your camera from your chandelier! The possibilities are probably endless. And they come in fun colours.

Produzione Privata Perseo Suspension Lamp

This lamp is really sexy. I especially like the the glass one in the top photo. Found at Rose and Radish and here (scroll to the bottom for images and a description).

magscapes

As our obsession with wall coverings - be they decals or wallpaper or chalkboard paint or fiberglass panels - continues to thrive, so too do artists continue to create new inventive concepts to feed our visual hunger. Magscapes specializes in 'magnetic interior landscapes' and has created magnet-receptive wallhangings for the decorator that never quite tires of scenery changes. They sell pre-made posters and magnets like the Manhattan frenzy scene above, plain wallpaper with magnets, as well as offer the opportunity to create your own magnetic interior landscape. Interesting. I'm not sure this is something I would ever affix to my own walls, but I can see the appeal in it, especially for people who are decorating with children in mind.

janne peters

I am SO glad that desire to inspire showcased Janne Peters' interior photography because it is GORGEOUS and light and airy and perfect. Yes, perfect. I feel as though I have been given a slew of new visual concepts that I want to incorporate into my own living space - or at least future ones. Very, very lovely. And now I am going to go overboard and post loads of the images that jump out at me...

PS - her other photography is worth looking at too!

hello handsome

A Tonneau chair, designed in 1954/55 by Pierre Guariche for Steiner/ Paris. So this must be what chair lust feels like.

decorate your calves?

Introducing the Jive Legwarmer and the Savasana Knee High. The progressively-trendy Lululemon yoga wear monolith has now made it possible for us to decorate our calf muscles as we hop, skip and jump to yoga classes in the early fall chill. They're kind of ridiculous and kind of fabulous at the same time...

goober baby

My friend Kate sent me a link to Goober Baby today. NOT because I'm considering creating little mini-me's anytime soon, but because she's a sucker for entrepreneurial ideas and thinks we'd both be better off designing diaper blankets than pretending we're political policy wonks. I'm not positive that baby goods would be my niche of choice, but these women have brought 'pretty' and 'decorative' to the daily gooberish jobs of moms everywhere and their Go Baby Change Mats are certainly worthy of a little blog action.

zara home

I really hope Zara Home comes to Canada. Pronto.

I know these images from their spring/ summer catalogue have been floating around the design blog scene for months, but Apartment Therapy's blog about their new London location reminded me of them - and how much I loooooove them. Good images for the e-mental scrapbook of decorating ideas...

pattern bonanza at urban outfitters

I'm digging these party-worthy paper cup-inspired martini glassses at urban outfitters right now. They're a fun addition to their current overindulgence in pattern. And if pattern on a large scale isn't your thing, these cocktail cups might be easier to swallow.

FLOR's carpet tiles

Now this is an interesting concept: carpet tiles. FLOR gives consumers a large amount of ownership in the design, size and colour of their carpeting. Considering how much space and influence carpets have in our homes (and how often some of us change our minds about our interior decor look), these carpet tiles are a really flexible (and pretty affordable!) option.