The uproar continues...

Mucho is happening on the house today (yay). Rod, my intrepid wallpaper guy, has started in on the grasscloth in the bedroom. It's a Gramercy wallcovering available through Design By Color and it's already looking mah-vellous. And Rod, ever the perfectionist, is carefully cutting the paper down so each wall has equal sized panels. Take a look below at the first few pieces up on the wall...

Downstairs in the basement we have the Ikea installers working their magic fitting the kitchen cabinetry into the laundry area. I'd planned out the cabintery last week with the Ikea Kitchen Planner - we went with the yummy hi-gloss Abstrakt white doors - then everything was delivered in super-zippy fashion. Now the work is happening very, very fast. A few hours ago all that was down there was this SmartDispense laundry pair from GE Profile, and by tonight most of the cabinetry will be finished. Phew! Oh, and btw - the latest Ikea catalogue smacked down on my doorstep this morning, so in a quiet moment (lol) I'll be leafing through and dog-earing all my new faves.

And then finally, that last shot is the media room, after we'd gone to town with the Ralph Lauren Paint in Palais Royal (take a look at the before here).

  

Going with Vandyke in the bedroom

The last few days have been nailbitingly bananas. I've basically been living on Hershey's new Milk Chocolate, and let me just say there's been plenty to go around, lol. This is all, of course, for the chocolate inspired hotel suite I've been working on with Karen Sealy.

After the carpet was ripped out Sunday night, and the bedroom was wallpapered with this Graham & Brown paintable paper, the painters stepped in early Monday morning and lickety-split primed the old vinyl wallcovering in the living room and then painted throughout (I went with Para's Steamy Hot Chocolate for the bedroom, which is absolutely perfect in so many ways!). Then it was time for the carpet to show up and I get a phonecall saying the truck has broken down - aaagh - though Carpet One was beyond brilliant in dispatching another truck to rescue the stranded wall-to-wall and keep us on schedule.

Tuesday was the the everything else day; a whack load of furniture from Elte, carts filled with frames and accessories from Ikea, and both myself and Karen showed up with cars packed to the gills with bits and bobs. A few crazy hours later of non-stop lugging, unpacking, tidying , installation of drapes (thanks inVU!) and ironing of bedding - one of my least favourite things - my room was done and looking, imho, pretty darned peppy. Both spaces were shot this morning, so I'll be posting the snaps soon, but in the meantime I wanted to spill part of the beans and show the furniture line I picked for the bedroom. I love its handsome modern lines, great proprtions and on-trend brushed brass detailing; though my fave surprise is when you pull open a drawer and discover it's painted a zingy tomato red inside. The Vandyke line by Mitchell Gold+ Bob Williams is available at Elte. And oh, you just have gotta try the Hershey's Black Cherry and Almond bar (it totally rocks out).

    

Fun with Mikey

I've had a blast over the last couple of weeks, prop styling on a cookbook that will launch in September (shout out to the crazy/cool authors, Julie and Lisa!). The crew on the shoot was just stellar - photography by Michael Alberstat and food styling by Ian Muggridge - and the whole shebang is being put together by Bruce Mau Design. I can't wait until it hits the shelves, and hopefully I'll be able to share a few of the snaps with you when it does.

Michael and I have known each other for years, and have worked together a fair bit too (there's a bunch of shots we did together in my portfolio here), so I wanted to share some of his glorious interior shots with you. He is ace with light and has such an eye for style. Take a boo below and you'll see what I mean. The first is a glossy and modern Ikea kitchen that I designed and we shot for the now sadly defunct Wish Magazine (it was on CityLine too). The second is from Wish as well, and shows Suzanne Dimma's swish kitchen (as you probably know, she's now the big kahuna at House & Home). The third is a lovely dining room shot for House & Home, and the final is a really fab bedroom snapped for Wish. Enjoy, and make sure to check out the rest of Michael's portfolio here.

   

Swedish present

After that construction nastiness let us speak of other things, of cabbages and kings. Well, more importantly, my excitement for the new Ikea catalogue!

I was at the launch last night which was a huge laugh, take a look at the pics below (thanks Madeleine). The smarty-pants at Ikea have taken over a downtown Toronto storefront, on swanky King Street, to showcase all their new gear. Highlights include lots of black in both matte and gloss finishes, new kitchen cabinetry in Pop-y colours and cowhide rugs. In fact, it's open through the weekend, so if you want to take a look head to 143 King St East - I'm going to have to go back and check it out without the hordes of people. 

  

Quick Pick

Am I allowed to start shopping for a house that's months away from being finished? Of course! I was tooling though Ikea today, shopping for an event I'm working on, when this glossy beauty stopped me in my tracks. It's the Norrsten dining table (a minimalist combo of black glass and aluminum), and it might be just the ticket to switch it with the vintage Saarinen-lookalike table we currently have. Oh, but that means I'll have to start looking for new chairs too...