Schumacher fabric. My new fave.

For the longest time my favourite fabric has been the Chiang Mai in aquamarine from Schumacher. It's gorgeous and filled with colour. I've wanted to use it in my home for ages but haven't bit the bullet, mostly because I'm still busy fending off milk spills and crushed Goldfish crackers from the furniture.

But last week I was out sourcing fabric for one of my clients and I found this new Schumacher pattern that I can't stop staring at. It's Citrus Garden and it's been released again recently after having been taken out of production for many years. It was originally designed by Josef Frank in 1947 and is now part of the Schumacher 125th anniversary collection.

My client is having drapes made in it (swoon). I would like a roman in my kitchen. Here are another few ways it's been used.

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Collecting Vaseline Glass

You guys, I have a new obsession! I was at a fantastic antique show over the weekend and spotted a collection of stemware that has me swooning. It was neon yellow and fabulous in every way (except for price!).

I've been doing some online hunting and I think it must be Vaseline Glass. Have you heard of it? 

According to vaselineglass.org, "Vaseline Glass is a particular colour of yellow-green glass that is made by adding as little as 0.1% to 0.2% Uranium Dioxide to the ingredients when the glass formula is made." Apparently when you shine uv light on it, it will always turn a bright fluorescent green.  

I have a thing for colourful glass (colourful anything really) but I've never ventured into collecting anything in the neon family. Before any serious purchasing is made, however, I have some homework to do so I know what to look for, average prices, and how to tell a dud from the real thing. Also, I'm a wee bit concerned about the speculation of radiation emissions due to the chemicals added, but hopefully more research will prove that to be a myth!

I am partial to the stemware, but here are some other pieces found on vaselineglass.org. Because it was made in the Victorian era until WWII, they tend to be more ornate. The images below are honey pots, marmalade dishes and decorative pieces. 

What do you think? Do you like it? 

Vintage Stamps as art

I recently worked with a client who wanted a gallery wall in her dining room. Whenever I put a gallery wall together I try to mix a variety of elements and art types to keep it interesting and dynamic. In her case, we had a few special photos to put up but it was so fun pulling other elements together. Like this vintage stamp piece.

There's a fantastic store downtown called The Paper Place. They sell the most beautiful papers by the sheet and anything else paper-related like notebooks and cards as well as party supplies. Have you shopped there? I went there to get some papers to frame, but while I was there I found these packets of vintage stamps. They were inexpensive and came 5 or so to a bag. All random Canadian stamps dating way back to more current.

I just bought an Ikea frame and arranged a few of the stamps on a white piece of card stock then stuck them in the frame. Super simple. The wall is a rich blue and I love the way the white frame and small hits of colour pop against the wall.

I was so happy with how this little project turned out. I hope they enjoy it too!

Black cabinets in the kitchen

I've talked before about my love of dark blue kitchen cabinets, but now that I'm really starting the think about fixing up our kitchen, I'm being drawn more toward black lower cabinets. I've rounded up a few images that make me swoon.

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I especially love the combination of black lower cabinets with simple tiles and butcher block counters. The glass and brass light fixtures make me pretty happy too!

Hopefully this will be my reality sooner than not so stay tuned!

Colour-blocking books

I think it's safe to say that just about every home has at least a few books lying around. Some people are avid collectors and display them in the most clever and thoughtful ways while others prefer minimalist decor and books serve only as clutter once they've been read.

In our house, we're somewhere in the middle. We had a pretty good size book collection, but over the past few years with a view to organization and living with less, we've minimized the collection to just the books we've yet to read, we love so much we can't part with or those which serve as guides for different subjects (parenting, pregnancy, gardening, etc.). Design books and coffee table books are on display throughout our house.

We have a small corner in our basement where we had a bit of space to display the keepers and I played around with colour-blocking for fun. I always like seeing this way of display - the thoughtfulness of organization and focus on colour makes me happy.

The only problem with this method is that when it comes time to find something specific, you better have a pretty good memory of the cover. So what about you? How do you organize your books? Do you keep them somewhere unusual? I'd love to know.