How to Downsize: Travel Edition
Travel can be a challengeā¦ between planning itineraries, organizing transportation, and finding accommodation it takes a lot of prep to get that vacation off the ground. We know travel season is in full swing, having just come back from our design tour in LA and finalizing our tour in Baja (in addition to family vacations!) so we love a good travel tip. But what about an extra travel challenge? Have you ever gone on an extended trip without checked luggage?...
5 trends that defined our LA Design Tour
Itās been a little while since we landed back in Vancouver from our design sojourn in La La Land, but our brains are still buzzing with inspiration. We had such a great time with our design tour participants too! Each time we go to LA we make sure to explore new spaces and uncover whatās emerging in west coast design. It probably is no surprise that LA is a goldmine for innovative interior and exterior design; we made sure to...
In the garden: harvest your efforts
With sunshine and warm temperatures in our Vancouver forecast, who isn't itching to spend more time outdoors or on a great patio? Wouldn't it be a dream to skip produce shopping and instead opt to grab fresh flowers, veggies, and herbs from your own garden? With some mellow summer musicĀ and sangria in hand, harvesting your garden canĀ feel more like a mini vacation than another chore. Depending on what you planted you may not be ready to start harvesting your goods for...
What the hygge?
Like avocado toast and geods, the Danish concept of Ā hyggeĀ has been growing in popularity with no signs of slowing down. It's appearing everywhere from how-to books to interior design collections and Instagram accounts (at the time of writing there are 2,033,609 posts with #hygge).We might have a general idea of what it means, maybe a quick glance at the back of a book on the hygge display at Chapters let you know it's inclusive of coziness and a feeling of...
In the garden: assemble with style
In design, it's all for nought if it doesn't look good.There are many parallels between creating indoor and outdoor spaces-- how we look at colour, texture, sight-lines, and functionality can be applied to herbs and grasses in the same way as they are to architecture and wall colours. Ā Gardens (from a single pot to a large yard) are a visual feature, thus they are another opportunity to showcase your style.Last week, our first āIn the Gardenā post was a pep...
Show and Tell: LA
Do you rememberĀ show-and-tell from elementary school? Every once in a while classmates would share something that they loved or thought was really really really cool...
In the garden: A pre-planting pep talk
The calendar said it was spring over a month ago...
Our Designer ‘Eat Pray Love’ Moment
Our Designer 'Eat Pray Love' Moment [caption id="attachment_6592" align="alignleft" width="865"] Meet April Tidey[/caption]Every once in a while you meet someone who shakes up your preconceptions and makes you see possibilities you had not even considered. So was my meeting with Vancouver Interior Designer, April Tidey. I have never met anyone like her before, and feel so grateful for the introduction by our friend Heather Ross.Brooke and I, along with Heather Ross of Natural Eclectic, went on a reconnaissance trip to Los...
Bringing the Gallery Home
Art galleries.Ā This particular place may bring to mindĀ a large public institution with cavernous rooms, or something cool and modern on the same street as high-end boutiques, or even an artist-run space filled to the rafters with unique works...
Discovering Colour, Inspired by Nature
Last weekend we packed our studio with material samples, inspiring objects, and a gorgeous floral bouquet or two in preparation for our sold out workshop "Discovering Colour: Nature as Your Guide". For this workshop, Brooke and Tina had the pleasure of collaborating with the multi-talented Heather Ross to take our participants deep into into the world of colour and coach them on how to look critically at colour and how to develop harmonious palettes for their design projects. Ā Armed with...