Sunpan Imports

Have I mentioned how much I love Sunpan Imports? If not, I do.  I paired my Ikea Tulip knock-off with their Vintage dining chairs in linen and have their now discontinued Zoey occasional chair in my living area.

And even though I'm done furnishing my place and have no reason to really stop by, I can't help myself.  A girl can daydream and they've got some fantastic new additions to their catalogue.  Seriously - check these out!

How many of you love Crate and Barrel's Colette bed?  Doesn't SI's San Carlos bed look strangely familiar?

This modern wing-back chair, along with the height of this wing-back upholstered bed makes me giddy!

This glamorous bench would be perfect at the end of a bed or in a dressing room and I love the clean lines and shiny chrome of this desk.

 

Nail-head trim is ubiquitous but I don't care - I love the subtle metallic gleam it gives off particularly when applied to furniture that's feminine as in the curvy arms and skirt of the Cameron sofa on the left, or luxe as in the velvet-y cushiness of the Cathedral sofa on the right.

 

Finally, for storage, there's the Carvaggio Audio/Video stand with it's wavy facade and the mod/retro feel of their Snake bookcase.

All these gorgeous goodies make me wish I could move and start all over again!

Umm...

You know I love me them birds but this bed by Francois Lalanne is way over-the-top:

via Apartment Therapy

DIY Chair

So, you know how I've been thinking about getting a new desk chair? After seeing this DIY in the latest House & Home, I thought maybe I won't get something new - brand new, that is. Maybe I'll hit up the vintage shops, something I really enjoy and haven't indulged in in awhile, and find a chair to re-finish and re-uphoslster, just like Michael Penney did here:

It's totally easy and I already have some of the tools after re-upholstering my mom's dining chairs a couple years ago....Oooh! A new project!!

Generation by KNOLL

This is totally geeky, but how wicked-cool-fantastic-fun is Knoll's new Generation task chair for the office?


Play the video and check out the flipbook on the site. I tried embedding the link for the latter but it doesn't seem to work...Available for order online July 31st!

Birdcages and resistance

I've been inspired by the idea of using birdcages for display ever since coming across these images online:


I can't recall now where I came across the 2 above, but this one below is from a March 2008 house tour over at Apartment Therapy:

So when I stopped at the HomeSense in Etobicoke today, I was super-excited to see these over-sized birdcages:

Too bad there's not enough room in my condo for them.

I do have this small one below, which is also from HomeSense. I found it in March and added the clip-on butterflies which I picked up at the Ideal Home Show in London a couple months ago.

But the hardest thing for me to resist tonight was this pair of Oriental garden stools:

Even though I already have one for my balcony, and I'm not sure I really need two of them, I just could not help myself. Plus the price was so right! Yes. I am weak.

Ta da!

Here's what my balcony looks like now:



I planted ranunculus bulbs I brought back from Amsterdam in the 2 pots this afternoon and according to one of my online sources, they should flower late summer...fingers crossed!!

Bistro Sets

A quick browse yielded the following possibilities at pretty good price points:

Bolero Bistro Set at Canadian Tire on sale for $89.99

City Patio Set at Urban Barn for $169

Neo Patio Set at Urban Barn for $169

Tarno by phoenixc on Polyvore.com

Tarno Folding Chair, $15 each and Tarno Table, $19 at Ikea

Summer! Furniture!

Thanks to Wanderluster's tip, I hurried on over to the Ikea website and stumbled upon their outdoor furniture line - it's filed under Summer if you click on the link for All Departments! And HELLO, jackpot!

I had in mind a modular set similar to Nuevo Living's Cubit line which, guess what, Ikea has too! It's called Arholma!!

Here're some of my favs:


Ikea outdoor favs - by phoenixc on Polyvore.com

New pricing at Ikea?

I'm on the hunt for balcony furniture and it ain't cheap. What I need is for Ikea to come out with an outdoor furniture line. Their Urban chair came immediately to mind but there are no options table-wise for outdoors. And then I noticed the odd pricing:


Their pricing is typically round dollars - is there a web monkey behind the scenes having fun? I mean, what's with the Docksta for $228.65? You telling me I could have saved $40.35 if I'd waited a few more months?

P.S. I finally figured out how to print screen in Mac OS! Yay!!! :)

WIP: My Bedroom

In my bid to procrastinate the real work of organizing my study which is seemingly overwhelming because I have so much stuff - I decided to take some pictures of my bedroom, which is mostly finished. The 4 Muchas posters I'd dropped off to get plaqued are waiting to be picked up and will be hung over my bed.


The colour on the walls is CIL's Lilac Duvet, appropriate for the bedroom, wouldn't you say? It's pretty bright in these photos because the sun was shining but at night, it's super cozy...actually, it verges on too dark because I find it difficult to read. Anyway, I'm looking for the perfect floor lamp to place on the right of my bed for reading...and I've got an armchair left still to be re-upholstered...


Remember these vintage dressers I picked up last spring? Here's one of them painted crisp and white with its hardware made new again with nickel-plating:

My (mostly) finished Living Area

I met S&W this afternoon for brunch at Jamie Kennedy's Gilead Cafe. I dined on the tasty sandwich of the day which was smoked turkey with roasted red peppers and cheese and split the divine pulled pork poutine with S. W had plans with his brother so S and I went to the Metro in Liberty Village to pick up some groceries and stopped by the West Elm for a look-see.

I'm glad I did because I came away with some great finds, including a pair of the new medina stand and hammered trays which now serve as my coffee table. I had in mind the cabo coffee table here which I've seen described elsewhere as the waterfall table but I've also loved the look of the tray table in a space...probably ever since seeing a tour of Rashida Jones' studio in Domino. After inquiring about their return policy, I bought a pair to try them out and have decided that they're perfect.

So here's what my living area looks like now:


The picture ledge above my couch is still rather bare. I stopped by the nearby De Serres to order a couple mats for my prints and have yet to pick out all the photos I'd like to display but it's coming along!

Button-tufted AND Purple?!

I've always had a thing for button-tufted detailing in upholstered furniture - and early in my search, I was focused mainly on sofas with this detail. Crate and Barrel's Petrie Sofa is a recent obsession of mine, although I'm more than happy with the sofa I ended up getting for my space. But an email from Urban Barn was waiting for me in my inbox announcing the arrival of their new Moma Sofa and I had to gasp: I know purple isn't for everyone - it's one of those colours that you either love or hate. But I LOVE purple, and this sofa is my idea of gorgeous. I love the clean lines, the bolsters, the button tufting, the cozy velvet and the colour! Ohh!! The colour!

Busy Saturday

I went to Direct Interiors yesterday and bought my dining chairs! So, you know how I said I was going with Nuevo Living's Rudi Chair for my dining room? Well, in the last few days, I'd changed my mind a number of times and was most recently considering Calligaris' Ice Chair - look how gorgeous it is below in the way it catches the light:

Like diamonds, non? They're not super-duper comfortable though...so I went back to an earlier choice - Sunpan Imports' Vintage Linen Dining Chair. See:

Vintage Dining by phoenixc

I also bought Nuevo's version of Eames' Moulded Plastic Armchair for my study, and am awaiting pricing for the gorgeous Dahlia light, which I'm considering for my bedroom, if the price is right:


Here're some other things that caught my eye:

Chrome Bamboo Table by Drexel - so brilliant - like jewellery for the living room

A sparkly accent pillow that can only be purchased as part of the bed-in-a-bag set

A luxe blue, button-tufted ottoman paired with a nail-trimmed couch

And a zebra bench which I love love love

AL came along with me and bought a sofa and after 3 hours at Direct Interiors and a late lunch at Dirty Bird, aka, Swiss Chalet, we stopped at Rona where I picked up painting supplies. And because there was a Winners across the street, I, of course, could not resist and went in to browse and left with a lovely mirror with bevelled-edge detailing for my hall.

Pictures to come as soon as the walls are painted....Everything hinges on the painting of my walls now. :)

Mission: Execute Dining

I had some friends over a couple weeks ago for a holiday brunch/housewarming and received a copy of Apartment Therapy Presents as a gift. I read it in a week and was taken by this image from Marilyn and Peter's Home Studio:

It's Ikea's Docksta with a glass top and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I'm pretty much over the fact that it's a cheap knock-off. What's been holding me back is that it's only 41" in diameter compared to the 48" unlicensed version of the Saarinen Tulip I've been eyeing and tight for 6.

But A brought up a good point over lunch today: how often will I really seat 6 at my table? So here's my brainstorm: The Docksta with a tempered glass top with 4 of Nuevo Living's Rudi, a play on Bertoia's side chair, but without the wire:


They're light and airy and don't take up much visual space since they're clear. And for when I have a couple more guests, the Lucid Crystal folding chair from Urban Barn, which can be tucked away in my study for all the times they're not needed:


The best part of this solution is that the entire set as I've envisioned it is well less then what it would have cost me just for the marble-topped Tulip! Fantastic!

Now I just need to execute!

Because I'm a geek...

I taped the footprint of the tables I've been vacillating between on my floor: the 48" round Tulip and a rectangular table that I'll call Ikea's Melltorp as a proxy - this would be my super-cheap alternative:
And I keep coming back to the Tulip because I have enough long rectangles as it is with my island in the kitchen, the 3 Malms and bookcases I've got flanking either side of the table, and the rectangular coffee table I plan to put in the living area....so, round it is.

Which got me thinking about cheaper alternatives for the round table. While there are many glass top options out there, I'm against seeing people's feet when I eat so that's out. Ikea's knock-off Docksta would have been ideal, except at 41", it's not big enough to seat 6, and I really want to seat 6. Plus I'm rather partial to a white table top...so should I pull the trigger on the marble top???? UGH. Why does it have to be so expensive?

I want...

...this extendable bookcase by Reinier de Jong:

via Apartment Therapy

Like, wow.

Too good to be true?

I stopped by the Winners on Spadina today to pick up some black tights for my work holiday party tomorrow night (yes, we're still having a holiday party) and decided to do a quick stop across the street at The Lifestyle Shop as well where they have my Tulip table, or rather, the Cal Dining Table for a crazy low price! OMG!

Be still my heart...

...but look at this gorgeous bed by Shawn Lovell:

Guest Quarters

My cousin M and his girlfriend I are FINALLY coming for a visit next month and will be staying with me so I have been thinking a lot about my den and how I'm going to furnish it. This will be I's first visit to Canada so I'd love for it to be lots of fun. Granted, they're only going to be here for 4 days, but you can pack a lot into 4 days!!

I've been browsing daybed options for awhile now and am thinking West Elm's circle-cutout daybed would be alright, although the overlapping squares daybed would have been better to go with with Ikea's Expedit which is what I had planned for the adjacent elevation. Or would that be too many squares?? Anyway, it's moot anyway since I'm thinking a scheme in red and black for this room and that particular daybed is only available in white....


According to their website, the Toronto store is opening on the 16th!!! I will have to check it out as soon as I'm back!

Weekend Finds!!

I spent the weekend hanging out in my neighbourhood. My original plan was to head out to the Queen West Antiques Centre after running a few errands but I stumbled upon the perfect little teak dresser for my hall at Red Indian Art Deco on Queen West. Here it is, in place:

I don't know why, but all the light switches are placed about 3' off the floor in my condo and this little dresser at 34" just hits the bottom of the switch. How perfect is that?! I'm now looking for the perfect mirror - something tall and Venetian perhaps - to place above it...or would that be too much of a juxtaposition?

I also found this lovely vintage Art Deco-style set for cream & sugar made by Medicine Hat Potteries in Alberta:

I walked as far as Trinity-Bellwoods Park where I came across the Queen West Art Crawl where I bought these 3 original ink and acrylic prints by Alison Mackenna which I think will be perfect for my bathroom. I just need to buy the frames now.


And these are the adorable coasters I picked up in Chinatown:

Now, I must clean.