Object of my desire

Ever have one of THOSE??

The "one-thing-that-you-hate-that-you-want-it-so-much-but-know-that-it-is-totally-unrealistic-and-even-if-you-saved-your-money-to-purchase-it-you-would-feel-ridiculous-spending-that-amount-on-one-single-material-object-when-there-are-so-many-other-more-important-places-that-money-could-go (bills, trips, donate to the underprivileged)-so-you-just-look-at-it-and-love-it-and-then-return-to-regular-life-and-carry-on-without-it"  thing.

I met mine in Vegas...

The Valentino petale bag, in red.

If you know anyone looking to get rid of theirs, let me know..

Opposite of Home

I am a little bummed out as I will be missing my design class tomorrow as I am being sent out to Prince George for work tomorrow night. Where the heck is Prince George? Well it is the center of BC, even though many of us southerners refer to it as "up north".


Thursday I will be up before the sun to complete a site inspection 2 hours into the bush outside PG. Now while PG has a pretty bad rep here in BC for being a stinky pulp mill town of days gone by, it is still quite beautiful territory. This is what I look like when out on a site visit...


However since there is about 5 feet of snow and the current temperature there is expected to be -2 degrees c.and they have called for more snow I will look more like this..


So instead of being inspired by my class I am hoping that the great outdoors will work some restorative magic. Maybe a little rustic inspiration???



Love it!

Living the Blog Name

Today I am living the name. It is raining here in Vancouver, and I am wishing I was elsewhere. Say in a Tuscan vineyard when the clouds are parting after a rain and there is the fresh smell of wet earth...


I have been doing some introspective exploration thanks to an awesome book Style Statement by Carrie McCarthy and Danielle LaPorte. This book is about finding your personal style statement that identifies you and your outlook on life and how to use that to carry yourself through life decisions and remaining true to the real you. I came across this while reading the design blog of Patricia Grey, my favorite local interior designer, who posted a quote by the girls on The Divine Law of the Great Chair.

The first question was Where Do You Feel Most At Home? Initial response: Near the water, ocean, lake, river, doesn't matter which. Vancouver works well for that as anytime I can go out and I am 5 minutes from the ocean, I can see the inlet from my bedroom.


Thinking of that feeling of home makes me think of time snuggling on the couch with the beasts. However I also remember that feeling of being home when I arrived in Ostia and Venice in Italy.


Since I have the ocean, and the beasts, how can I bring in the feelings of Italy into the house without trying to make it "Tuscan Style" that overdone, italian villa style that i see in so many magazine? This is the challenge. I think for me (and Gio) the best would be to create a westcoast and italian blend. With that decision, I dove into the world wide web for some photographic inspiration. Now, while I realize this will be a search for the bits and pieces and, most preferably, things from our travels that will come together to create this effect, it was proving to be more tricky to find inspirational photos of Italian rooms that were not all over the top Venetian or tuscan styled. What I realized that I mostly identify with in terms of italian living are the kitchens and eating areas. Italian life revolves around eating it is difficult to find anything to do with any other room of the house but the kitchen!!! So I will start there...



These photos are from a realty link to homes for sale in Italy. The one that I chose most of the pics from is available for $900,000$US.



..and here is our family enjoying some of that awesome italian family style dining al fresco..


On to the next question...stay posted!

Yellow

It is the New Year and I have been very delinquent in my blogging.  However it is still January and I can make up for that, as is the way with new years and the opportunity to start afresh. 

I started a design class, Introduction to Design through the Vancouver School Board Continuing Education  program. Though it is a simple program it has proven to be very fun and interesting. During the first class we discussed the most important thing to identify first when designing a room: PURPOSE! Answering who will use it and how will it be used will help you to determine the type of furniture, lighting and layout that will make the most of any room. Seems obvious doesn't it? 

Next up was how a room makes you feel. What is your first emotional reaction when looking at the room. To do this we simply looked at picture of rooms and identified how the room made us feel before our brains switched in to whether we mentally appreciated the design or identified if it was "my style".  It was interesting that quite a few in the class who had a more difficult time with it. It was a very interesting exercise to discover that I was feeling good/relaxed/calmed/energized in some rooms that had decor that really wasn't my style but I could identify the mood created by the design. 

Try it, I found some awesome rooms online, in yellow. As I am getting ready to head out of this white and grey winter on this sunny saturday I am loving the yellow room design. These examples are all different styles but are so fresh and full of life. I would love one of each for my home, my chalet in the mountains and my cottage on the beach.. oh if only.

Just look at the rooms and see how you feel when you see each..