Found

I like these little stools. The elephant images and graphics on the black one are a lot like some really old Indian candy packaging I have. Nice!

Sweet little stools from here

Interiors

I'm really loving some of the imagery from Country Living these days - they really seem to have added a whole new contemporary country feel to the decor that they feature - lots of industrial and found objects. Love the home of designer Annie McClure . . .

Random Objects

Doug took these pictures down at the beach the other day - someone was using a piece of old equipment with this very cool logo/type. Thought you might love it as much as I do - and the colours are amazing. Great shots Doug!

Spotted

I was so excited when a friend of mine forwarded these images to me of our pretty little Cartolina recycled notebooks looking fabulous at Ink and Peat in Portland OR. Here is a link to their very pretty blog too. Living in the middle of nowhere doesn't give me much opportunity to see our Cartolina products out there in the world so I am thrilled to see these shots.

Pictures by Lisa Warninger

Project

I bought this box at World Market in Spokane the other day for Doug - I just knew he would like the wooden rulers on the top. It is solid wood and just a great little tool box - It has pencils in it now. Well then I saw this online project to make a table with a yardstick top - great idea. I just wished they had used my favourite vintage brass drawer pulls on the front instead of those goofy brass knobs! I have a funky old cupboard down in the barn that needs a new top - I think this would be a fun solution because I was eventually going to put my sewing machine and fabric in it.

Interiors

Mmmmmmmm, I like these shots. This looks like a place I could be very happy in! Pictures from here.

Hardware

Call me boring but wanna see my favourite new thing at Anthropologie? - This is it, the "card catalog drawer pull". This little beauty is going to turn a lot of boring old chest of drawers around the country into something far more interesting - good job Anthro!

Random Objects

I think this is lovely and would look great in our place. By the way, when I was in TJ Max last weekend they had a whole bunch of rolled up canvas botanical science charts hidden behind the art and mirrors - very nice just like the one pictured on the left hand side of my blog here.

Studio

Welcome to your new studio - an ultra organized creative space from Apartment Therapy. Wow makes my studio look positively messy and makes Doug's studio - well, we won't go there!

Well, I have officially bitten off more than I can chew this week and I am taking a blogging break this morning. I'll be back here tomorrow morning, bright and early. Thanks for all the comments yesterday - made my day :-)

Home

I took the opportunity the other day, when the sun was shining, to finally take some pictures of our house. As you probably have read here before we live on the edge of Kootenay Lake in BC and so our home is appropriately cottage-like. We are surrounded by mountains and trees and wildlife. We have a lot of wood and stone in the house - though these days I am busy gathering lots of ideas to start adding some more colour to the rooms. We have lived here for 5 years and have done quite a bit of work on the house. We do all the work ourselves, figuring it out as we go - there are a couple of good before and after shots right here.

The house is very open concept with large windows on 2 sides of the living/dining room that look out to through the trees to the lake. We don't have any window coverings because we don't have any neighbours. We put the teak floors in a couple of years ago and I love them.

The stone fireplace was a crazy project that we tackled and wish to never have to repeat. Lesson learned - hire someone to build a stone fireplace!

I have lots of vintage oars, paddles and skis around because its all about mountain culture here! Believe it or not those green oars did not come with that cupboard and I didn't paint them the same colour they just matched!

This kitchen was a budget makeover project (see before picture) and I think it turned out very well. Doug built the breakfast counter out of reclaimed lumber - it's perfect!

Studios

Doug's studio is in our house. Doug likes to have a small studio. Most people find it fascinating to come and visit Doug in his creative space surrounded by all his inspiring objects - I find it totally claustrophobic! He has so many collections and books and rough drawings and tracings - apparently he knows where everything is! The first 3 pictures are of Doug's studio.

The next 3 pictures are taken in the Cartolina studio where everything is neat and tidy and organized - well most of the time! I'll take some more studio shots in the near future.

This last image is of our Cartolina stock room just off the studio. You can see 3 levels of shelving in this picture - there are 7 rows of shelves on all 4 walls of the room - each one loaded with boxes of cards. I guess there must be close to half a million cards in this room - good grief!

Not in the Barn

So when I was in Pottery Barn at the weekend (down south of here, in WA) I didn't see these cool storage units. If I had I might actually have bought one. Perhaps these are website items only(this must be where they hide all their interesting stuff because it's definitely not in their stores.) I like them and could definitely find a place for them in my house (talking about which, I took a few pictures the other day of our place and, if I'm feeling brave, I will post them here tomorrow - stay tuned.)