Pillow Talk

You might have seen this on Instagram already - I hacked this Ikea tablecloth from the Vinter 2015 collection into two drapery panels for one of our guest bedrooms.  

When I first came across this fabric, I knew I wanted to use it somewhere in my house, in the form of pillow accents, or drapes. 

And as usual, if I love it, I know a lot more people out there also do, so the said tablecloth was quickly sold out in Ontario. I was only able to secure one panel. I needed four. Fortunately they were still available in Calgary, so I ended up getting my BFF to courier the other three to me. I had them professionally sewed together, and voila, they became this fun yet lush backdrop for my custom settee. 

I love the organic geometric patterns. 

Now onto pillows. It's springtime (or is it?), so I started to declutter. I found a few pieces of designer fabrics lying around so I had them sewed into pillows. They are for sale. My blog readers get 10% off. All of these pillows have invisible zipper closure; and seams are double-stitched and serged to prevent fraying.

Pillow A: this ever-popular Schumacher Hothouse Floral linen pillow in mineral (a bluish grey shade), 17x17", same fabric in different patterns on both sides, US$95/CA$125. 

Pillow A - Side A

Pillow A - Side B

Pillow B: Schumacher Hothouse flowers linen pillow, 17x17", same fabric in different patterns on both sides, US$95/CA$125. 

Pillow B - Side A

Pillow B - Side B

Pillow C: Schumacher Hothouse flowers linen pillow, 17x17", same fabric in different patterns on both sides, US$90/CA$115. 

Pillow C - Side A

Pillow C - Side B

Pillow D: Yellow and Grey/Charcoal floral canvas cotton pillow, a la Schumacher Pyne Hollyhock, 18x18", US$35/CA$45.

Pillow D - Side A

Pillow D - Side B

Pillow E: Yellow and Grey/Charcoal floral canvas cotton pillow, a la Schumacher Pyne Hollyhock, 18x18", US$35/CA$45.

Pillow E - Side A

Pillow E - Side B

I couldn't find the name of the designer for this yellow and grey floral fabric, but I love it enough to turn them into drapes for one of our guest bedrooms. 

Project Fauxdenza Complete...Almost

This past weekend we finally got around to installing the fauxdenza. It was a pretty straightforward Ikea hack using Akurum cabinet frames and Applad doors. So here are a few work-in-progress pictures. 

Why a work-in-progress you may ask? Can you see the walnut top sticking out way too much over the cabinet? Ikea's web site says Akurum cabinet is 12 7/8" in depth; the thickness of the Applad door is 5/8". When I added them up I got 13.5" which led me to order the 14-inch wide wood top. Big mistake! It turned out that the total depth of the cabinet frame and door only added up to just under 13" or 12 7/8", so now I have over 1" overhang which spoiled the whole clean and modern look I was going for. So we are going to have to find a way to cut that extra 3/4 of an inch. I briefly finished the top with a water-based clear coat, but I am second guessing that decision now so back to the drawing board between dark and clear stains. I am leaning towards dark walnut which will likely look sharper with a long and massive white floating cabinet unit. Thoughts? 

I was all excited about styling it but I guess that has to wait until we fix the top. Patience is a virtue. Btw, it would appear Ikea has removed Akurum and Applad series from their web site to make room for the new Sektion series. Looks like I caught the last train. 

Basement Hallway

Before I talk about the hallway, I wanted to share with you this new Alex Colville "To Prince Edward Island" print I purchased at the recent AGO exhibition. I think I found a perfect spot for it in our basement media room. 

Note to myself, change that light bulb!

This is what our Ikea Billy built-in looks like today. 

Compared to from Jan 2013, I would say I've been accessorizing it pretty good, no?

Now onto the hallway. We have this really long and narrow hallway in our basement. Well, it's not super narrow so I do have some nice square footage to work with. Right now it's completely underutilized. It's not like we are going to sit down and have a conversation there or anything, so the chest flanked by two chair setup looks good, but useless. 

From the other perspective. 

The hallway leads to the staircase. I have an area of just under 8 feet x 18 feet to work with. 

So I am thinking of installing a row of floating shelf units similar to this at MadebyGirl. I can use them for additional storage - who can have too much storage space in their house, right?

Or this by Sarah Blakely at 219. 

I wanted to turn the entire wall above the storage unit into a gallery wall. What do you think? Is it too strange to have such a long row of floating cabinets in the hallway? Do you have any other suggestions on how to make use of a long hallway like this? 

Ikea Vittsjo Hack

The versatile Ikea Vittsjo is yet another popular series for Ikea hackers. This past weekend I picked up this Ikea Vittsjo Laptop Table with the plan to hack it into a sofa table or hall table for the basement.

There are already tons of fabulous hacks done to the Shelving Unit, like this:

Honey Sweet Home's gold leaf hack is by far my favourite and I totally love the distressed yet highly reflective finish.

Islay Street Style's spray-painted version is also glamorous.

And Fiscally Chic's practical yet stylish hack turned the laptop table into a hall table like this:

Or a spray-painted version by Hope, Longing, Life as a kitchen workstation.

Now I just need to wait for a quieter weekend to start the transformation. Stay tuned for the reveal.

Tall, Fat and Wide

As I was researching for kitchen island lights, I came across these utilitarian chic lights by Tom Dixon - a series of lights inspired by the sculptural simplicity of brass cooking pots and traditional water vessels on the subcontinent. The Beat lights are spun and hand-beaten by renowned skilled craftsmen of Moradabad in Northern India. I can't help but wondering where Ikea got their inspiration from for the ANGENÄM bowls and plates eh?



Via

As much as I love them, they probably wouldn't work with my dark cabinetry and somewhat transitional style kitchen. However, they will work perfectly for a modern kitchen like this:


Via

Or a white kitchen like this:

Via Houzz

Or an industrial chic kitchen like this:

Via

If you love the beat brass, the matte black finish and the tall, fat and wide shapes but don't like the price tags at $535 each, you can consider an Ikea hacked version based the ANGENÄM bowls and plates like this. 

When I first saw the ANGENÄM series at Ikea, I immediately thought of a Tom Dixon beat light hack. But upon a Google search I figured I wasn't the first one to have come up with such an idea after all.

 

 

Accessorizing Built-in Shelves and Bookcases

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend. Hubs and I both have the flu, so we pretty much hit the snooze button and slept through the entire weekend.

One of my 2013 decor projects is to finish accessorizing the basement built-in shelves based on the Ikea Billy bookcase hack. While there are tons of articles on how to carry out such a task, at the end of the day, your home and design should look like you. For me, it's about functional, showcasing accessories that reflect my interests and hobbies, and simplicity.

Some designers suggest that you remove all items from the shelves and then decide how much or little you really want to have on each shelf. For me it doesn't work like that, at least not right now. I already have another two huge wall-to-wall bookcases in my house in, so for this one it's more about taking my time and collecting items that can go on to the shelves. I suppose I can relocate some of the interior design books here - but the downside is that I might have to run through three bookcases to find a book in the future.

Another rule of thumb is to start with the centre. This is the spot where your eyes usually land first. This huge piece (50x50cm) of sea fan from a vintage store can undoubtedly anchor the main focal point of the shelves.

To fill up a 15-feet long built-in bookcase can be a pretty daunting task, especially that I pretty much started from scratch. I find to Group Like With Like makes it so much easier: grouping items by theme, colour, shape, texture or material. When you amalgamate like things together, they make a much bigger impact. For me, I have a nautical coral decor theme throughout the shelves.

I also want it to be functional: I want all my ever-growing travel book and favourite show collections to go on these shelves. Therefore, I still have some empty shelf space which allows me to add items over time.

My ultimate goal is to achieve a look like this: a perfectly accessorized bookcase on some many levels. I will be doing another checkpoint hopefully in the summer to show you what my bookcase looks like then.

If you are interested in learning more about how to accessorize a built-in bookcase, you can read more here, here and here.