Sunday, February 24, 2008

Sarah Richardson: Green & Canadian

Sarah Richardson sat down for an hour-long chat in which she talked about her pride in Canadian design, product and manufacture; and her commitment to environmental sustainability, which she proved with her designLive space (I'll talk more about that later) and in her own personal life. She spends summers in her cottage on an island in the middle of Georgian Bay that is powered by solar power. She cooks by candlelight and the only lights are by the bedside table.

One of her first announcements was that she takes possession of a new Sarah's House tomorrow and will be renovating and filming until the end of June. I loved this show and we were told that there will be 2 or 3 more to come! I wonder what she'll do next?

She doesn't have the time to read design or fashion magazines for inspiration but wants us all to help her make Apricot the next big colour trend - after seeing a dress in that shade at auction, she re-did an entire guest room in Apricot.

On art and decor, she proposes the save and splurge approach: hold enough back over the course of your project so that you can splurge at the end with great accessories and art. If given the choice between a $2000 sofa vs. a $5000 sofa, she'd spend $2000 on the sofa and $3000 on a great work of art.

On the dirty word, budget: be honest about your budget. Make a list of absolutely everything you need and then put reasonable price points beside each item. The sum will inevitably be at least twice as much as you think, so decide what you must have - consider your lifestyle and how you're going to use your home.

On timeless design: play it safe -keep the fixed elements neutral, but everything else is open season, e.g. a grey sofa can be accessorized with hot pink pillows one season and aubergine the next; also, a white or cream kitchen is always in style and may be dressed up with different knobs, which are preferred over handles which require more than one hole.

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