Christmas wish list

1. The Things That Matter by Nate Berkus (amazon.ca) - I've heard good things about this interior design book. But such a broody looking Nate on the cover!

2. Surya tobias black throw blanket (amazon.com) - This textured black throw would be pretty at the end of our bed. I've been on the search for one and they are surprisingly tricky to find.

3. Red birds print by Judy Kaufmann (etsy.com) - I've had my eye on this print for so long. It's perfect and would look fabulous in my kitchen...but where to put it?!?

4. Case study cylinder plant pot with stand (modernica.net) - I love this pot/stand combo. This would be so awesome in our living room.

5. MELLBY armchair in Dansbo dark gray (ikea.com) - I dig this chair and think it would be pretty sweet in our living room. We tried it out when we were at the Edmonton IKEA a couple weeks ago and it's comfy. 

6. Woven felt basket in large (westelm.com) - I've had a bit of an obsession with felt baskets lately. I wanted one for my throw blankets in the living room but ended up settling for a gray plastic basket from HomeSense...it's okay, but settling doesn't equal loving.

1. Heart locket pendant (tiffany.ca) - I would love love love this large heart locket on a long chain (24 or 30 inches). I've never seen a locket so perfect...you can't even see the hinge. And it's Tiffany blue inside. Swoon!

2. Your name here silk bracelet (coattonline.com) - I just think these are cool. You can get your name spelled in morse code! Of course I would choose sterling silver and a black silk cord to match all of my other jewelry.

3. Cozy long fleece robe in spring orchid (victoriassecret.com) - I have a summery robe but not a big, warm one. I saw this at VS when we were at the West Ed Mall and it was heavenly.

4. Cotton mayfair pajama in pink/white stripe (victoriassecret.com) - So classic pajama-y. I have other pj's from VS that are awesome so my guess is these would be also.

5. Single legacy tassel key ring (coach.com) - Ideally, I'd like one from Hermes, but since they're a cool $260 I'd be happy with one of these for $38.

6. Sherpa-lined sweater boots in coconut milk (oldnavy.gapcanada.ca) - Oh, I love a good slipper boot! My feet are pretty much always cold and these are ever so cozy.

Now that's what I call a WISH list!

Magazine inspiration: Volume 1

I really like magazines. I really really like home design/decor magazines! I have two mail subscriptions and buy others too. Dave and I also go to the super nice library in our neighbourhood where I can read a few (without having to buy them!). Still, I have such a pile accumulating at home and I just can't bear to get rid of them. I seriously look at them over and over. When I look at one the first time, I give it a somewhat quick first pass and then I end up going through it at least four more times. It's crazy. You can look through the same magazine so many times and always discover something new.

Anyways, I decided to share some of the things I like and find inspiring. Some may surprise you and some certainly won't. So this time around, I want to show you this lamp I saw in the October 2012 issue of Elle Decor:

Scanned from page 148 of October 2012 Elle Decor

It's a 1950s tripod lamp by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings. I don't have to have this lamp necessarily but I would really dig a tripod lamp one day. I actually like this lamp in brass but I'm sure I'd get a brushed silver one. Somebody doesn't care for brass! So I think a tripod is unofficially (or maybe officially) the style of floor lamp I'll be buying for the basement living room some day!

Colour and pattern

I found this very cool site that is a shop and a blog. It's called From Sthlm ('From Stockholm') and they sell only a few items at a time, featuring an independent Swedish designer each month. I went through what they have/had for sale and oooh...I pretty much love it all.

I would really love this candleholder by Maria L Dahlberg for my dining room table. Three would be great in fact (they come in different sizes and colours...so simple but lovely):

I would also put this tray by Maria Holmer Dahlgren in my kitchen:

The sweet little retro pattern on these dishes by Lotta Odelius is ever so cute:

I also love the graphic black and white pattern on this trivet by Barbro Tryberg Boberg:

And lastly, this tea towel and oven mitt set by Bengt & Lott would certainly add some punchy colour to a kitchen:

If you don't know by now, I LOVE Swedish design! If only I could get my hands on this book called Detaljer Hemma by Annika Huett and Ulf Huett Nilsson:

With 650 pictures from beautiful homes in Sweden, I'm pretty sure it would keep me busy for a while!

(all pics are from www.fromsthlm.com)

I can't help falling in love

...with Tiffany & Co.! Just when I didn't think it was possible to love Tiffany more, it's happened. I've been oohing and aahing over the book that Dave bought me for my birthday called Tiffany Style: 100 Years of Design since I got it. Last night I spent another hour looking through it and oh my...love I tell you! This book is a history lesson wrapped in beautiful pictures. I'll share a fun fact that I've learned: Charles Lewis Tiffany, along with John Burnett Young, opened their first store in September of 1837 and on their first day of sales they made $4.98. Extraordinary really!

I decided I must share some images with you from the book because they are so so nice (they're from pages 2, 162, 264, 261 and 94 if you want to look them up one day!). Here's one of a pretty lady wearing a pretty necklace from 1963:

So pretty! Here's a picture of Elizabeth Taylor in 1960 wearing beautiful pearls:

Lovely. And this next Tahitian pearl necklace with the gorgeous diamond clasp makes me drool a little bit:

Gosh it is divine! And if you're wondering where the big rocks are, well here you go:

It's a mere 35.63 carats. Probably would only cost a few pennies...or a few bazillion maybe.

This next necklace is my favorite in the whole book:

Majestic really! It's just so gorgeous. The book says that Tiffany's showed this necklace at the 1889 Paris exposition, and it doesn't say when it happened but it has disappeared. The author wrote that the diamonds were probably reset in other jewels. Crazy. It's sad that something this beautiful would have been taken apart.

This just crossed my mind but perhaps in my next life I should become a jewelry designer and work for Tiffany's. Hmm...

Me...spoiled?

Indeed I am. Spoiled rotten really. It's not even my birthday yet and I've gotten a bazillion presents! And I just want to show them off! This is what Dave surprised me with:

The beautiful carved horse is a dala horse that he ordered from swedishness.com (straight from Sweden!!!). And I couldn't be more excited to read these books he got me! The first is Tiffany Style: 170 Years of Design - be still my heart...I may have mentioned once or twice (or maybe a few dozen times) how much I love Tiffany & Co. and I can't wait to drool over this book of pure loveliness! The other book is Valentino: Themes and Variations - again, my poor heart...I open this book and I'm pretty sure it races just a little! If you haven't noticed, I do throw around the word 'love' every now and then...but please be assured I do love Valentino. Every image of the fashion he created is a work of art I tell you! I can't even imagine how many times I will look at these books after reading them the first time! Thank you so much Dave!!!

And I also got a super gift from my friend Steph...who is also super by the way! It's a Riders toque that I will be rocking at the Grey Cup. Thanks Stephanie!!! Take a look at how cute it is in all of it's stripey goodness next to a little ivory crocheted number I bought myself today with some birthday money from my grandma:

Aren't they both great? And do you know what else is great? The Trews! If you don't know The Trews, what you must do is immediately go to their site to find out about them and also buy any one of their albums (or preferably all of them) so you can listen to one of the greatest bands in the world! Dave, Steph and I went to their acoustic show in town last night and it was so unbelievably good. This is the fifth time I've seen them and they put on the best live shows ever. Do I love The Trews? Yes, I do indeed!!!

IKEA catalogue

Exciting news!!!

Check it out: ikea.com

Thanks to 'From Scandinavia With Love' - a sweet site I like to look at - I found out that the U.S. version of the 2011 IKEA Catalogue is out!

That means the Canadian version should be coming very soon!

Oh IKEA, I do love you so!

IKEA = a better world

If you know me, you know that I love IKEA. My house is basically an IKEA showroom already and if I lived closer to one I would have even more stuff from there...really! So a while back my friend Alissa showed me this book:

Image from betterworldshopper.com

They rank companies from A to F on their social and environmental practices (I bought it on Amazon, if you're interested check it out here or just ask me nicely and I might lend it to you). So if you haven't already guessed, IKEA is making the world better! It's categorized under retail stores and got an A-! They're also named a corporate hero. Not really surprising...they are awesome in every way!!!

Just out of interest, I looked up a few things that I ate/used today:

Corn flakes: C+

Aveeno lotion: B-

Dole fruit cup: B-

Ferrero Rocher: C

HP laptop: A-

Not bad. However, the Dole fruit cup is from Costco (D+) and the Aveeno lotion was bought at Wal-Mart (F). Tsk, tsk.