Birch + Bird Vintage Home Interiors

Well, hello again! How has your week been so far? Mine’s been busy but I feel like I’m keeping up, which is all I can hope for at this point! With less than a month until market day, we’ve had some amazing silent auction items and goody bag contributions generously donated by many of our vendors and other local businesses and I can’t wait to share them all with you! There will be some very lucky shoppers in attendance at our Sneak Peek wine + cheese night and tickets are selling fast so don’t miss out on purchasing yours soon. Some people are just so creative and I’ve been really inspired by all of the store and home visits I’ve made over the past week, seeing the work that others are so passionate about creating. Maybe too inspired as I’ve been thinking a lot about the future and have some big dreams swirling away in my head! Something that Rachel and I already have in the works after Scout, is a new logo design and a fresh look for the blog. Brush script fonts and watercolour accents are something we’re really drawn to (as you can see by our market poster) and I can’t help but noticing them elsewhere in the design world….

EST Magazine via The Daily Imprint

Red Yellow & Blue Ink

Homes & Gardens. Photo by Emma Lee.

Michael Graydon for Canadian House & Home

Clare Elsaesser via Frolic

Rue

From Impressionist-style paintings to Asian ink drawings, hand-dyed fabrics and more, brush strokes can add a bold and graphic statement to any room. Whether you’re looking to add more colour to your space or want to keep things neutral, simple DIY art is only a trip to the art store away. Use watercolour paints and paper for more abstract “ink blot” patterns or use leftover latex paint on canvas to create a landscape effect with broad horizontal brush strokes…

Oh Happy Day

Lonny

Anthropologie

West ElmCreature Comforts

Isn’t this glazed ceramic bowl from Ez at Creature Comforts gorgeous? I will definitely be trying this project out…just in time for Mother’s Day too! Have you started planning anything special for your Mom or the other special ladies in your life? A hand painted card or bowl would be just perfect, don’t you think? Made with love, of course! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

I’ve been slowly working my way through The Eames documentary that’s streaming on Netflix right now and so far, it’s fantastic.  I’ve always loved Eames furniture and I’m ashamed to say that I had no idea the influence the duo had on American design that goes far beyond furniture.  Most of us are familiar with their iconic chairs but their portfolio is bursting at the seams with a long list of fine examples of modern architecture, short films, exhibitions and the list goes on.  I found their creative process fascinating and respect their simplistic approach to design.  I’ll get into the Eames’ a little more in a few days but for now, let’s talk about chairs.  I’ve mentioned it once or twice before that I happen to love chairs and have a collection of about 20 neatly tucked away in storage.  I don’t usually hesitate if I see a chair for $3.50 at the thrift store especially if it makes a statement like one of these.

Evans Molded Plywood

Styling by Helen Wiggers Photo by Line Klein

Alvhem via Desire to Inspire

Anthropologie

Styling by Helen Wiggers Photo by Line Klein

More Design Please

Micky Hoyle via My Paradissi

Sasa Antic via My Paradissi

Styling by Helen Wiggers Photo by Line Klein

Joe Schmelzer via Desire to Inspire

Now, I just have to clarify that I have not come across an Eames chair at a thrift store just yet but you will be the first to know.  Enjoy your day!

Lately, I feel like I’ve been apologizing for the untidy state of my home a lot. Can any of you relate? I used to pride myself on my weekly cleaning routine but that has slowly gone downhill over the last several years. Blame it on 3 young kids, blame it on blogging and/or market planning, or simply blame it on life…whatever the reason, I’ve been slow to accept that this is the “new normal” for our family way of living. Nagging my children and/or constantly picking up after them makes me feel like I’m on repeat most days and, while I do believe that kids need to pick up after themselves, I do think there are much more important ways for us all to spend our time together. Don’t get me wrong, it’s clean but I honestly just cannot keep up with the zillion pairs of shoes, Squinkies and art projects that come through our home each day. While I refuse to completely give up, (I tackled and conquered our hall closet this weekend), I thought I’d ease some guilt and show some perfectly lovely spaces that look perfectly lived in, just as they should…

Krickelin

Chris Barrett Design for House Beautiful via Sacramento Street

Style by Emily Henderson

VT Wonen. Photo by Jansje Klazinga.

Old Brand New via Apartment Therapy. Photo by Marcia Prentice.

Life is busy, no matter what your stage of life, and I for one will never be caught ironing my sheets! My mom always enforced making our beds each morning though and, while it may only happen by 3pm, that is something that I do always make happen each day…well, most days anyway (sorry Mom)! I find nothing spurs me to get cleaning more than having friends over. In fact, during our last home’s reno, Brad and I would often plan a house party as a deadline of sorts (aka an excuse to blow off steam!) to get each phase of our remodel finished. And there’s nothing like that 5 minute power clean right before that unexpected guest arrives…

Country Road via 79 Ideas

Design*Sponge

Elle Espana vía SF Girl by Bay. Photo by Maria de Miguel.

Anthropologie

Livet Hemma. Photo by Roland Persson.

Design*Sponge. Photo by Trevor Tondro.

Our children’s childhoods are so short in the grand scheme of things and I don’t want my kids’ memories to be of cranky/frazzled mommy. Having an organized and clean home makes me happy though so I guess I’ll move onward in my quest for the perfect balance…could there really be such a thing? That remains to be seen!

So far this week has been fairly relaxing and as usual, I’m scratching my head wondering how Friday got here so fast.  We’ve closed the books for a week to spend time with my mom while she’s here.  And I don’t feel too badly that we’re taking a break from homeschooling especially since some of our “field trips” have been fairly educational.  The other day at Lukas Nursery, the girls set butterflies free to fly for the very first time and found homes for a container full of caterpillars.  Lessons on the life cycle of butterflies and homeless bugs took precedence over my plant shopping list so I’ll have to make a trip another day sans kids.  Then yesterday while they spent the day “at work” with Daddy, my mom and I got to take in the shops along Park Avenue in Winter Park and enjoyed some Turkish food for lunch.  Have you ever had Turkish Hollow Bread?  YUM!  We made stops at Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Williams Sonoma and all that was missing was West Elm.  So, I was thrilled to find the latest catalogue in my mailbox on our way home.  I’ve gone through it about 11 times…here are my some favorites.

Baltic Dining Collection – $159. – $1036.

 Swiss Dot Duvet Cover + Shams – $24. – $139.

 Henry Sectional – $1797.

 Arc Pedestal Table – $499.

Dumont Dining Buffet – $699.

I’m pretty sure that a shopping spree at West Elm won’t be happening any time soon but I came away inspired to make do with some of the furniture pieces that I have in storage already and scrimp and scrounge for the ones I don’t.  A little white paint never hurt anyone.  Happy Friday!

As the warm weather inches ever closer, I’m finding myself drawn to brighter and bolder interiors. I’ve already incorporated a good amount of colour into our home (mostly blue and green), but after seeing some of these spaces, I think I could definitely add at least a hue or two into the mix. A few bright flowers, pots and accents for our deck will be the perfect excuse, as our large living room windows make it fairly easy for us to bring the outdoors in. Can’t decide on just one accent colour? Why not grab a handful from the rainbow and take it full spectrum…

House to Home via Bright.Bazaar

Our budget is very tight to move forward with the updates and renos that we’d like to accomplish, so we’re going to have to get creative. Thankfully, paint is cheap and there are stores like Ikea nearby that make it easy for all of us to add a few small budget-friendly tidbits without breaking the bank. Here’s a great table setting that I saw at the new Ikea Richmond store on Monday night…simple wood furniture and white dishes livened up with a vivid pattern and bright dessert plates….so easy to create and perfect for Spring! You can see some more fun pics of our media night over at Hodge:Podge, The Simply Inspired Home and Flutter Flutter too.

Style At Home. Photo by Donna Griffith.

Elle Decor Espana

Lowes Creative Ideas

From Bazaar Style by Selina Lake via The Style Files. Photo by Debi Treloar.

The Glitter Guide. Home of Katie Rodgers. Photo by Tasha Bleu.

Styled by Emma Persson Lagerberg for Design Interior. Photo by Petra Bindel.

Martha Stewart

Life Thru A Lens

Michelle Edgemont

How do you feel about colour in your own home? Are you from Team “Less is More” or Team “More is More”? I think that as long as you surround yourself with things that you really love, really use and really have room for, you can’t go wrong. And with our regular bouts of pouring rain followed by sunshine lately, odds are pretty good that we’ll see a real rainbow in these parts soon…have a great Thursday!