Monday Meandering

Happy Monday!  Hope you had a great weekend. Mine was filled with all kinds of holiday fun!

1)  The new issue of Lonny went live today and I am smitten (as I always am) with art walls in the issue. 

In fact, this entire Denmark home in shades of black and white was jaw dropping. 

The above two images are one wall in a small studio apartment.  It expands the space and just goes to show that if you hang art that you love, it works. There are no rules!  I would love to have an art wall in every room in my home but two are enough for now!

2)  As many of us predicted, the Pantone Colour of the year for 2013 is Emerald Green. My friend Cecilia and I have an annual bet on what the colour is and it wasn’t difficult to choose a green as the “it” colour for next year. It has been everywhere the past two years – in both fashion and decor.

via

I really don’t have any green in my house save for the wallpaper in my powder room (although it’s more of a greyed olive green).  I am working on my bedroom next year and think that green may make an appearance – maybe an upholstered headboard in a green velvet like the sofa above?

3) If you have a favourite family cookie recipe, then take part in Style at Home’s Holiday Cookie swap. You can win a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. But hurry up, the contest closes this Friday, December 14th. Read the contest details here and get baking!

4) Did you see Jenny’s DIY stair runner using Ikea runners? Amazing as usual.  See it here.

5) Everything about this mantel makes me happy.  The moulding, the antique mirror, the scones, those sweet birds…See  more photos here.

Have a happy week!

Make 2013 the year that you have a home that lifts you up! Contact me at vanessa(at)vanessafrancis.com to book a design consult.

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My Holiday Mantel

Happy Tuesday!  Are you getting into the Christmas/holiday spirit yet?

The folks at She Knows Canada contacted me to share a Christmas decor tip with their readers awhile back.  So, I got cracking on decorating the mantel.  I didn’t even pull out the boxes of ornaments and decorations from the basement as I wanted to do something different from Christmases past.

                                                        

I had seen an owl print as part of a Christmas display at a retailer and I remembered that I had taken a photo of a snowy owl at my local conservation area a few summers ago.  I was up close during one of their bird presentations.  I had the photo enlarged and popped him in a frame.
This set the stage for a wintery woodland theme. I bought the woodchip heart from HomeSense, the two deer from the Superstore and the glittery gold and wood bird from my local greenhouse. Then,  I just added in some burlap and my vintage brass candlesticks and that was that!
I have since added in some greenery and of course the stockings are added closer to the big day. Oh, if you looked back at my previous mantel displays, you may have noticed that the wall colour changed. It was a light buttery colour and now it is Para’s P5223-24 (aka Sarah Richardson’s Lily). It’s the perfect greige – not too grey and not too beige. It’s become my go-to colour as it really goes with everything!

(Excuse the terrible photos. Next year, I’m going to invest in a big girl camera - an SLR so I can take better quality photos. I know I have said that once or twice before but it’s time!)

Have you started decorating for the holidays yet? Do you change things up every year?

You can read the She Knows article here.  And I am linking up here. If you are visiting for the first time, welcome!

Have a great week!

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Where I’ve Been and Where I am…

Hi there! Happy Friday!

Just wanted to let you know that I’m featured in an article in the Toronto Star online.  So fun to see my living room on their home page and mentioned next to Debbie Travis and Colin & Justin. You can read it here.

I also have a little mention with some other fab bloggers in the latest issue of Dabble magazine.  It’s on one of my favourite design projects – bathrooms. You can read the entire issue here.

If you can’t read it, I say “If you share the bathroom with your spouse/partner, two sinks are mandatory.” If you have the space of course - don’t you agree?
This week, there were a number of fun events to attend. The first was an event hosted by DIY expert and friend Sarah Gunn of the Yummy Mummy Club.  We all experienced an Oprah moment when we took home a Brother all-in-one colour printer. It even prints 11x17 and I can’t wait to use it.  Thanks Brother!

Then, I attended an event at Decor-Rest with a presentation by Para Paints as well. I love both of these companies and was happy to hear what’s new with both.  My luck continued as I also won a chair!  I have no idea where I will put it, but isn’t she pretty? It would be a great end chair for a dining table.

Oh, and the Home Depot Canada has launched special holiday collections from Martha Stewart Living.  There are three different collections  – Winterberry, Arctic and Celebrate.  They sent me some ornaments from their Celebrate collection which are golds and bronze and will look perfect on our tree. Below is a pic of their Winterberry collection.

That’s it for now!  Sorry I haven’t been blogging much lately.  You know how it is, right? Please stick around though because I will have some client projects to share over the coming weeks/months. And I can’t wait to share our newly decorated den – just waiting for it to be published online first!

Have a happy weekend!

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OOAK Ticket Giveaway Winners!

The lucky readers who won a pair of tickets to the One of a Kind Christmas Show (chosen by Random.org) are:

Casey in TO

Brittany

Lisa

Jura

Kaman

Mrs. F

EJ

Heather M

Designwali

Anon Nov 20th 8:46

It was nice to see readers who have never commented before leave a comment!  Thanks for reading! Please email me at decorhappy(at)gmail.com so I can advise where to pick up your tickets.  Have fun at the show!

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One of a Kind Christmas Show Tickets - Giveaway

It’s that time of year again! The One of a Kind Christmas Show starts this Thursday and the folks at the show want you to attend!  They have given me 10 pairs of tickets to the show to give away.  

All you have to do is leave a comment below – easy!  And with 10 pairs of tickets, your chances are pretty good!  If you don’t have a blog (i.e. no way to reach you), please leave an email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win.  Contest closes Wednesday, November 21st at 8:00 am.  I will announce the winners that day and let you know where to pick up the tickets.  Good luck!
  I’ll be heading to the show on Thursday and am looking forward to seeing what’s new plus purchase from some of my favourite artisans.  You can read my previous posts here.
PS Mr. Decor Happy’s Den is finally done and being photographed today. I’ll tweet a sneak peek photo and will share the photos  once it’s published in the Post online.

Have a happy week folks!

If you need decorating advice, please contact me at vanessa(at)vanessafrancis.com to arrange a consult.

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Monday Meandering

Hope you had a happy weekend! Yesterday, the weather here (just outside TO) was incredible.  It gave me time to do some much needed gardening/winter prep and have one last jump on the trampoline before we take it down for the winter.
1) My latest ideabook for Houzz is live and I wrote it on, of all things, pitchers. Lately, I have been noticing them everywhere in all sorts of beautiful colours and materials. You can read it here.

2)  The folks over at Posterjack are having a contest where you can win a Sony camera. Like their page on Facebook to win. Contest closes November 30th.

Remember they enlarged and framed a photograph that my daughter had taken when we were hiking. It hangs proudly in her bedroom.

PS Photographs are the perfect holiday gift and Posterjack can hook you up!

3) My friend Staci of Switch Studio has crafted beautiful stockings just in time for the holidays.  You can read her blog post here and order one here.

Aren’t they modern, graphic and just a little out of the ordinary?

4) While on Pinterest, I came across the artist Rebecca Kinkead and was happy to see that the subjects of her paintings were children of colour, for lack of a better way of saying that.  It’s not that common, let me tell you, so it was refreshing to see children depicted in art that look like my beautiful daughter!

I emailed to enquire about the painting above and let’s just say that I won’t be purchasing it any time soon!  Isn’t it beautiful though? Even Oprah has one (or more?) of her paintings in her collection.
5) My friends over at Decor Rest are having a Blogger event “Living with Colour in the Home” on Wednesday, November 28th at 6:00 p.m.  You will have a chance to see their beautiful showroom plus the folks from Para will be there. And they are having an “Excess Inventory” sale so you will be able to shop at the same time! Email janice@decor-rest.com to RSVP or for more info.

6) The November issue of Lonny is live and it doesn’t disappoint.  They always had a great website where you could browse through images from the magazine but they have added more features like browsing through images by designer.  Happy pinning!

A great example of styling above.

That’s it for now! Hope you have an amazing week! See you back here soon!

If you need design/decorating advice, please contact me at vanessa(at)vanessafrancis.com.

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Upholstered Headboards

Happy Monday! It’s mornings like this when it’s cold out that you just want to stay in bed with a good book.
Unfortunately, my bedroom is in need of some TLC and will be redecorated next year. I still have the same wood bed that I have had for 20 years!  Without a question, my next bed will have an upholstered headboard. This post I wrote over two years ago is one of the most popular on the blog – everyone else is enamoured with headboards as am I.  I have seen so many gorgeous headboards lately, so it’s time for another round up.  (Hopefully some of these are new to you!)

All images via Pinterest. (You can click through to see the original source.)

So many styles to choose from! Which do you prefer? I like those with a straight top (like in the first image) so that you can hang art over it. When you hang something over a curved headboard, it never looks right. For my bedroom, I’m thinking of doing a solid teal velvet, or a yellow, stylized floral velvet or….(see, so many choices I just can’t make up my mind!)

Have a wonderful week!

If you need help creating the bedroom of your dreams (or any room for that matter), please contact me at vanessa(at)vanessafrancis.com.

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