Going Under

& not going "Down Under" to Australia unfortunately...

{ Cable Beach, Broome, Western Australia }

Don't you think could run forever on this beach & get tired before you ran out of sand & surf ??Kind of a tropical Long Beach? And the retro station wagon? Love love LOOOOOVE it. But I digress...

Soooo ~ both my kids are in a private clinic this morning getting their teeth fixed up. Long story short they inherited their parents' weak enamel & it would take an interminable series of hour-long visits to get the work they need done, done. In light of the dental techniques & equipment of old:

...I think the current scenario is pretty sweet. They are getting their teeth taken care of in a sterile room with fuzzy ducky blankets to cozy into (Paulina) & cool high-tech equipment to check out (Sebastian).

So, to keep my mind off the fact that my kids are being put to sleep chemically & having are surgery (yikes!) I am blogging. Blogging about going under...

This bed from Anthropologie seems like somewhere you could have sweet dreams:

{ Dawning Lark Bed }

And this is something I would dream of if I could pick & choose:

{ De Beers Enchanted Lotus band }

And of course, because this is a design related blog in my dreams I'd be able to pick the brains of this trifecta:

Kelly Wearstler

She kind of scares me because I'm not sure how friendly she'd be. She looks perfectly perfect. Which I am so not. Not even kind-of perfect. But her talent is hard to dispute. Evidence here:

{ Viceroy Hotel, Anguilla }

and here:

{ Hillcrest Estate, foyer }

Billy Baldwin

I love his quips & quotes found here. I like a lot of the things he liked (books, the iconic slipper chair, rattan, pattern on pattern) & dislike most of the things he is averse to (fake flowers, fake books, (although I don't mind leggy furniture), fake fireplaces, satin, clutter). I think you could have a really good chat with Billy Baldwin, probably over a cocktail of sorts. One of my favourite quotes about design is his: "Be faithful to your own taste because nothing you really like is ever out of style". I like the fact that his rooms stand the test of time.

{ La Fiorentina }

{ Billy Baldwin Design }

And Billy Baldwin Decorates is as useful today as it was when it was first published.

Erika Powell

True confessions: I stalked Erika's blog & design website when we were building our house on Sunnycrest. Her design work is approachable but is always something that you wouldn't arrive at without her insight. Case in point her recent work featured in Coastal Living & Southern Living:

and here's another of her creations that I drooled over while I was in construction mode:

And [small, small world] she is actually a dear friend of my sister, Leah's, best friend, Katie. Any friend of Katie's must be pretty fabulous.

So now, wake up, stop dreaming.... I have 2 post-surgery kids who are convalescing. Must run...

Tea Party

We took the children to see Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Visually it was everything you could ask for: fantastical, fabulous, far over-the-top. The story-line was OK but the eye candy made up for whatever was lacking in spades (or should I say hearts??!!).

Ever since I was first read the story by my parents, I was fascinated by Alice & her Wonderland world. And tea... well, I've loved tea ever since I can remember.

{ Arthur Rackham's illustration }

Since the weekend I have been obsessing over garden tea parties. Paulina suggested that we have a Wonderland tea party for her birthday which made my heart leap. Let's hope she doesn't change her mind between now & mid-April or mummy will have to have a little temper tantrum of her own.

Couldn't you just imagine a bunch of little Alice-look-alikes gathered around a table like this one enjoying tea with some funky mini Mad Hatters? I could.

{ photo from Martha Stewart }

{ stack of Martha's teacups just waiting for a cup of lovely brew }

{ sugar cubes from The Secret Garden Tea Co. }

Could tea with sugar cubes like the ones above inspire a chandelier like this? Methinks so:

{ 1950s light fixture can be purchased from Gilt & Gloss }

Would a lovely old teapot like the one above inspire you to wallpaper with this:

{ wallpaper from Anthropologie }

Perhaps. And how about this photo:

I love the silver teapot redolent of another age, the Asian-inspired blue cups with double saucers & the rustic, well-used tray. I love the beat up trunk used as a coffee table. I love that there is a fancy-pants couch with a rolled arm nearby with an up-cycled sweater pillow on it. You could lounge back & read in that couch with the pillow behind your back. You could lounge with teacup in hand, and still have room for a friend at the other end. It looks like it might be a scary couch but really it's quite friendly. Friendly enough for tea. I like that.

Room to play

A quote attributed to Maria Montessori is that "..play is a child's work". As parents we can see that in the faces of our little ones when they concentrate with great intensity on their task at hand. Be it building LEGO creations, dressing up dolly or racing around at the beach, our children are doing the work of childhood & it is wonderful.

My sister, Esther, has her own little Maria...

{ Maria-Leticia playing on the beach }

... & has decided to convert a maid's quarters at the back of their home in Quito, Ecuador into a playroom.

Although Esther has great style & a knack for making any space look fabulous she has asked for my advice on putting the playroom together without too much expense. Here are the before pictures (will post "afters" soon I hope!):

{entrance to playroom}

{ interior space }

Not wanting to do a theme that Maria-Leticia will grow out of quickly, Esther's idea is have a lot of areas for creative play. The bottom half of the walls will be painted a sweet soft yellow colour similar to Winter Sunshine (Benjamin Moore 345) & Esther's sister-in-law Patricia will paint a garden-themed mural on the wall. I've suggested possibly adding some inexpensive light fixtures from Ikea like these cutie-pie flowers that come in pink or white:

Floor covering will either be a large rug keeping with the garden theme like this one from Rosenberry Rooms online:

or perhaps puzzle-piece foam numbers & letters.

Mosquito netting will be hung in one corner over a couch or a pile of pillows to create a secret hideaway place to read or make-believe with dress~up clothes nearby similar to these:

The existing bare light bulb could be covered by Chinese lanterns (this Paper Lantern Store has a fabulous assortment online) such as:

{ but maybe hung closer together... but not too close to the

light bulb so as to cause a fire hazard!! }

{ love the multi-colours & vintage look of these lanterns }

or a hand-made floral ceiling fixture like this (click here for 'how to'):

{ for Maria's playroom I'd use tone-on-tone yellow paper for

the flowers or do a mix of yellow & green & pink }

I'm getting so excited to see this playroom in progress & after. I just want to hop on a plane to Quito & craft & laugh & paint with my lil' NetBet & her family and see Maria-Leticia in her new space. For now the virtual world will have to suffice. Will post more as the project progresses....

Olympic Pride Part 2

The Olympic experience so far has been pretty incredible. Paulina was a little overwhelmed by the crowds & noise (I think she prefers VIP access, just like her mama):

"too loud, mummy"

And I get it. It was emotional. It was exciting. It was amazing to see the quickly growing crowd in front of the cauldron last Friday night & hear an impromptu "Oh Canada" being belted out. I am so proud to be Canadian. We ROCK!

And a dance with Uncle Kuckle at the medal ceremonies where Alexandre Bilodeau accepted the FIRST GOLD MEDAL ON CANADIAN SOIL makes it all better:

Olympic Pride Part 1

Olympic fever is sweeping the nation, the city, our house. We have all caught it... it's a pandemic! We've even created an Olympic Village out of lego to celebrate the occasion:

The torch passed through Edgemont Village & Sebastian got to hold it:

We stood in the rain for about 40 minutes awaiting the Olympic flame & there was some complaining but it was kept to a minimum when you have your buddies & a big stick of candy to keep you happy.

Sebastian in the crowd

Max & his Canada Colours

Sebastian & Michael awaiting the torch

I'm actually pretty impressed with how many people the torch has connected with. Everyone you talk to has either held the torch, knows someone who ran with the torch, or seen it run through their neighbourhood. Very GRASS ROOTS!!

to be continued.....

Concrete Questions

The design musings continue chez Baker Hills...

My cousin-in-law Tracey asked me: "Some friends are attempting concrete countertops. Insights? Tips? Books? People to talk to?" Well ~ here are the countertops we had in our old house at 1120 East 13th:

(photo by Brent at Anmore Woodworks who did all our millwork)

And the counters being well used...

(photo taken by me, post-party)

And a picture from a photo shoot last year

Photo by my sister-in-law, Karen.

Check out her work at Blooming Pictures

I loved our concrete countertops. The features I liked best were:

• the thickness of the concrete. It was about 2 1/2" and I loved the beefy-ness of it
• the industrial feel of the concrete juxtaposed with the traditional woodwork & pulls & house (circa 1908)
• the colour; you can stain/colour concrete pretty much any colour. I loved our warm gray tone. We used Rempel Bros. BLACK 20 concrete which was added into the mix prior to pouring (not a colour stain applied afterwards).

Cons of concrete are:

• It stains/marks/etches easily. Our colour was dark enough that you didn't see the staining but anything acidic (juice, wine, coffee, tea, etc.) will leave an etched mark if it isn't wiped up immediately. I'm OK with a bit of a patina; so I was happy with it. But you can't be a OCD type and relax around concrete. Apparently you can seal/wax concrete which should be reapplied every 6 months or so
• it is SUPER heavy. We hired a small hi-ab to get the slabs up from the ground floor to the main floor & then needed 3 muscle-y type guys to get it into place. IT IS REALLY REALLY HEAVY!

Costs of concrete:

• similar to natural stone or engineered quartz; and
• I found a comparison online at Concrete Countertops. I think this is US pricing because Craig said that the cost to have counters installed here would be about $150/sq ft

Craig did the construction of forms & the install himself, Mr. Concrete that he is... Here is a picture of him pouring concrete at our current house:

pouring concrete for exterior hardscaping

It was a LOT of work to do the counters (so says Craig who is a concrete EXPERT). There are people in town that do this stuff... friends have used: Counter Cast . I've never used them so can't recommend them personally, but they'd be worth checking out.

...additional info...

Just the other day I was at my friend, Jenny's, house (more about the fabulous Jenny in another post) and she has awesome light concrete counters. She had hers done by Elementum Concrete & they look awesome. She says to talk to Kevin Wood there. A note on the lighter colour of concrete; Jenny said can scrub the stains out, which I didn't realize. Still not the choice for someone who can't handle the counter showing it's age.

Phew... that was a lot of chitchatting about concrete. You'll probably never look at an underground the same way. I hope this helps your friends, Trace!!!

Window Covering Dilemma

I know, I know. For those of you who are writing theses on world peace, competing in the winter Olympics, or saving lives in Haiti, this really is not much of a dilemma. And really, in the grand scheme of things it isn't. HOWEVER, for little ol' design obsessed me this is a

D-I-L-E-M-M-A.

And a dear friend of mine, Jane, asked for my advice so I thought I'd post my musings here.

Jane wrote: "Gotta question for you...have these hideous fabric blinds for my sliding door that leads to the sundeck. Would love to throw them in the garbage, but not sure what to replace with...any suggestions..." Jane, you are not alone. I think fabric vertical blinds are kind of icky too. Here is a picture of Jane's sliding door. (BTW - Nice casings & trim, Jane!!)

Here are some alternatives to vertical binds on sliding doors:

Regular Drapery on Rods

Act as if the door is a big ol' window. Hang the rods above the sliding doors & make sure the rods have some clearance on either side of the doors so you can have the curtains bunched up on either side of the doors with plenty of room to get in & out... Voila:

I think these are Restoration Hardware drapes - yummmmy!

(photo from Decor Pad)

Another option would be to have the drapery hardware mounted on the ceiling which seems like a great idea:

These are available from Country Curtains & there is an alternative from Pottery Barn.

Another idea might be to do fabric panels that slide. Could be a cool modern option. I see some from Ikea but I'd like to see them in person to make sure they aren't too cheapie.

Hope this helps, sweet Jane.