Designer Intro - Brian Gluckstein

It's a gorgeous sunny and very cold day in Toronto this morning.  It feels like the middle of January instead of the beginning of December.  Nevertheless it's sunny.  :)  The snow outside our house is getting me excited for a white Christmas.  Can you believe we are 15 days away!!  I need to shop for gifts and bake some cookies. 

Many of my Canadian readers will be very familiar with Brian Gluckstein Designs.  However, for those of you down south and in other parts of the world you need to be introduced to his impeccable style.  Check out this loft designed by Brian and his team. 

The powder room walls are covered with striped wood paneling placed in different directions.  I love the clean design of the sink and base.  Perfectly high-style!  The living room shot features one of my favourite seating arrangements - a comfortable chair and ottoman in front of the fireplace.  It's the perfect spot for reading and relaxing with your favourite cocktail.

Oh my love for this kitchen is immense!  Three full cabinet levels. Amazing!  Not to mention I love the rolling track ladder. 

Love the industrial sink faucet, the pendant lights, huge cooking range and of course the clean lines and simplicity of the cupboards.  This is a masculine kitchen that any women could love.



Be sure to check out his blog here. 

xo Sarah

Beautiful Rooms

Yeah it's Friday!!

I've been experiencing a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions this week so today I'm staying home to relax.  I'm done pushing myself to the max to try and make everyone happy and get all that is on my 'to-do' list completed.  If it gets done great, if not, oh well!  We have six weeks until my due date.  I can't believe the last 8 1/2 months have gone by so quickly.  Right now I feel ripe and ready to go but I know our little Jelly Bean isn't ready to meet us just yet.  I need to try and stay as comfortable as possible in the next six weeks to give JB the home he/she requires until ready.

I'm sure you've seen this room before designed by Diane Von Furstenberg but I thought we should take another look because it's simply gorgeous.  Her bold fabric stands out and provides a unique backdrop to the rooms design.  I love the black paint feautred on the window wall.  This is how bold fabric should be used - in conjunction with neutral walls and neutral fabric so as not to overwhelm you.

 Hello beautiful!!

It's time to relax (after I help my boss out with a proposal).  Have a great weekend!  We (Ryan) will have the baby's room a bit more complete for a post on Monday.  xo

I'm still here!

Hi!  I have no excuse other than I have had no inspiration this week.  I would start a post and then get frustrated and scrap it.  It's been one of those weeks where I can't make up my mind, feel slow, tired, uncomfortable and a bit cranky to be honest.  Thank goodness for weekends where I can reenergize.  My mom and grandma are visiting tonight.  I can't wait to show grandma our home and host both of them for the night.  Ryan is making cookies as we speak.  There is nothing like greeting guests with freshly baked goodies.  We'll spend the evening catching up and maybe watch a movie.  Tomorrow, breakfast and then they are off to spend the rest of the weekend with my mom's siblings.  I get to meet up with Paula to shop for fabric.  We have chosen red as the accent colour in the living room.  I can't wait to see what our options are for cushions, throws and drapes. 

Saturday night will be a blast!!  I'm headed to the Toronto blogger party.  I won't lie, I'm a wee bit nervous to meet the friends I've made over the internet and those who I admire from afar. 

Today I leave you with these rooms from Jeffrey Bilhuber.   I'm amazed at this first room with what looks like nail head trim against either wall paper or fabric.  Either way I love it!!  The precision in putting this together is mind boggling. 

...again dying with the details on the walls!

Love the drapes, especially the colour and the artwork above the sofa.  It's so different!  

A chandelier in the shape of a ship, brilliant and totally unexpected!

I wish you all a very good weekend.  See you next week!  xo

Ashley Goforth Design

Yeah it's Friday!!  I have no official plans this weekend other than brunch with a friend tomorrow.  I'll shop for furniture (my place, the uncle's and P&J's), invite Ryan's sister and husband for dinner and take it easy!  And of course we can't forget handing out candy on Halloween to the adorable kids in our neighbourhood.  I can't wait to see all the costumes. 

I gave you a teaser of Ashley Goforth Design yesterday.  Today I'm featuring a selection of her work within dining, living and bedrooms.  I love her use of neutral paint, neutral fabric, down-filled cushions, comfortable furniture and modern lighting!  She knows the perfect mix of modern and classic design. 

Enjoy!  xo

Hello Gorgeous!!

Yesterday was a busy day at work.  One of these days I will get my act together and finish posts ahead of time.  Although, with all that I have taken on - pregnancy, prepping babies room, finishing house tasks, decorating P&J's place, decorating my uncle's loft, day job which includes longer hours now and the blog - it's probably not going to happen anytime soon.  Ryan says I should give something up but I just can't imagine doing so.  I'm just meant to be very busy.  It feels like a lot right now but it also makes me feel really good!  Especially decorating my friends and uncle's place.  It's so rewarding to see a room come together and a house become a home. 

Ok, not sure where I'm going with this post today...

I came across Ashley Goforth on DecorPad.  She is incredibly talented!  So far I've only had a chance to look at her bedroom designs.  I've fallen in love with this one.  One day I would like our master bedroom to look similar to what Ashley has accomplished in her rooms - elegant, cozy and classic. 

I'm having computer issues and can't seem to load any other pictures.  I will be back with more of her work tomorrow. 

Have a great day!!  xo

Fresh Start - Purple Obsession and a Multi-use Room

Good morning!  I have the most inspiring images from one of the tiniest apartments I've ever seen.  This East Village (NY) apartment is designed and lived in by David Kaihoi, his wife and daughter.  The main room is 8' x 8'.  You read that correctly!  My eyes almost popped out of their sockets when I read it.  Even though its extremely small they the room doesn't feel closter phobic to me but looks as if it would wrap around you like a cozy blanket.  The purple walls, painted wood floors (love the design), gorgeous chandelier, and multi-purpose furniture are simply divine!  Not to mention who doesn't love a wall of books!  The owners added antique doors and mouldings to give this once stark white box a prewar feeling. 

This room serves as the foyer, living, dining and study.  How many of us can say the same about the various room functions in our house?  It definitely makes you think that the way most North Americans live is overdone.  Do we really need 4,000 square foot houses or larger? 

All images David Kaihoi from House Beautiful

What do you think?  Could you downsize?  I'm not sure I could live in a home smaller than our current house of 1,500 square feet (not including the basement).  I will however take the multi-purpose functions of this room, the colours, richness and elegant feel of this home and try to apply it to mine.  Would love to have a chandelier like the above in our bedroom!  I love the drama!

Have a great day and a great week!! xo

A Beautiful Nest!

I came across these images from Nest Dallas Design.  I love the feel of each room.  Clean lines, neutral with hits of colour hear and there, great lighting, simple roman shades, not a lot of trinkets lying around.  It's exactly how I like to live.  The prints on the wall of the first room are from the Crate & Barrel.  They work really well against the grey paint.  The colours in this room are not what I would normally think to pair but they work really well together.  The floor lamps remind me of my grandparents old lamps with the tray attached.  I love how they have been modernized with a large barrel shade featuring silver metallic inside.

This is one of my favourite bedrooms.  It has character without the fuss - clean lines, neutral backdrop, pops of green and purple (my favourite fall colour).  I could easily do this in our bedroom.  Now I just have to convince Ryan that puple isn't too girlie (even though he already cut it from the choice). 

Dark grey walls, a lighter grey ceiling, marble surround fireplace, medium toned wood floors - perfection!!  Seriously, if I could paint every ceiling in my house I would!  It would involve way too much work though because we have the god awful speckled ceiling. 

Honestly, the ceiling fans are awesome!  Chocolate brown, light grey and white are such a classic combination that will always remain fresh. 

Ryan is taking me away for the weekend (Sat/Sun) to a surprise destination.  I have no idea and it's very exciting!  Tonight we'll meet our nephew for the first time.  He was born this morning weighing 8lbs 12oz and a full head of hair!  I can't wait to meet this little guy. 

We hope to stop by Babies Fine Furniture on Sunday afternoon to check out some nursery furniture.  We'll see if that happens.  I think I would prefer this weekend to be free of any house duties, errands or decorating.  We need a break. 

Oh, our powder room is looking fantastic!!!  Seriously the colour is gorgeous!

Have a great weekend!  xo

6 month photo & more on Margaret Bosbyshell

Another crazy day at work.  I'm counting down the minutes until lunch as I'm very hungry!  I think baby is going through a major growth spurt right now.  :)  Mom and dad were surprised at the size of my beach-ball tummy.  It's grown a lot since they saw me 3 weeks ago.  We had dinner last night.  I love spending time alone with my parents.  It's so rare with having 2 siblings. 

Here is a photo of me 24 weeks pregnant taken on Sunday morning with my iphone.  It's a bit odd to take a picture of yourself but I wanted to capture my cute outfit and adorable tummy. That's right... I'm calling myself adorable and cute! ;-)  I'm not smiling though because it felt fake. 

I was so intrigued with the bedroom I featured on Monday by Atlanta designer Margaret Bosbyshell so I had to show you parts of the rest of the house.  I love how bright each room is.  The combination of white and black with hits of blue and green in the bedrooms and office is very sharp!  This is a great summer house.  I couldn't live in it during Toronto's cold winter. 

And the lovely lady...

 

All pictures via Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles

The Powder room will be painted tonight.  I went with the dark colour.  I can't wait to show you the finished product.  Hopefully I love it.

Tufting, Beautiful Fabric & Nail Head Trim!

It's finally Friday... Thank goodness for weekends.  I need to catch a few extra zzz's and do some serious shopping for maternity tops.  I hate spending money on mat clothes because I would much rather be investing in items for our home but I must do it anyways.  Wish me luck!

I also plan on picking the paint for our powder room.  Here are the selections I've narrowed it down to with the help of my colour expert uncle Don.  :)  The large chips are from Sarah Richardson's new collection for Para Paints.  All of them look quite blue in the photo but in person are actually very grey.  Which do you like?



I'm a girl who falls for tufting so when I saw this room by Christopher Maya Inc with these two sofas it was heaven.  This would have been a very cool idea in our living room if we had more space and more money.  I love the open back on one of them and the sconces flanking the simple art work is perfection. That throw pillow fabric is a must on my list.  It would be perfect as drapes in our master bedroom.  I'll look into it. 

Christopher Maya Inc

I also had to feature this beautiful nightstand with its blue and bronze fabric scheme and nail head detailing.  I'm dying over it! 

Christopher Maya Inc



Have a wonderful weekend!!  xo

Jennifer Worts Design

I might have found my new favourite designer here in Toronto!  Jennifer Worts Design team have captured the perfect mix of contemporary and traditional.  The rooms are impeccably designed with every day living in mind.  There isn't a section of the rooms untouched by her and the team's genius.  The end result is sophisticated yet comfortable.  I would say their specialty is bathrooms but I'm just as in love with every other room they design.