Birch + Bird Vintage Home Interiors

We have our first house guest from the Westcoast!  The girls and I picked up my mom from the airport yesterday and she’ll be spending the next week or so with us.  It’s so refreshing to have a visitor and I hope that the time doesn’t go by too fast so that we can savor every minute.  We’ve got a few adventures planned starting with a trip to the Lukas Nursery this afternoon.  We’ve visited there once before and the girls are eager to show Grandma all the butterflies in their conservatory.  I thought she might like to browse through all the tropical plants that are in the exotic section back home.  And I just might treat myself to one plant to appease the gardening itch I’ve had the past while, maybe something off my wish list or start small with an herb.  I’ve never attempted a vegetable garden, I’m a bit intimidated but herbs I can do.  With some sun, water every now and then, you can grow them right next to your kitchen sink.

7th House on the Left

Geraldine Adams

Sarah Rainwater Designs

Boskke

Paulova

  sfgirlbybay 

Sylvie Shirazi Photography

Ikea Hackers

Fresh herbs are 1000x better than dried and if I can grow them, you can too! Enjoy the rest of your week!

Lily and I are tackling our bookkeeping this week.  It’s just another moment where I find myself missing her…bookkeeping is so much tolerable with a friend.  On top of that, we’re trying to close on this house.  So needless to say, I’m knee deep in paperwork but wanted to share with you a collection of stripes before I rush off to keep crunching numbers!  Stripes add a tonne of drama.  Even in small doses stripes make quite the impact but I have to say that the spaces that took a large dose are also stunning.  What do you think?  A little or a lot?

Ruche

Stylizimo

 Lonny

 Rios Clement Hale. Photos by Dominique Vorillion

 Style Me Pretty

 Liz Caan Interiors

 Brides

 Lonny

Lily and I are aiming to have our paperwork ready for the accountant by the end of the week!  Hopefully, our eyes will stay uncrossed and our kids happy until then.

Well, it’s been quite the dark and soggy week around here and a big change from the bright white snow that we got to enjoy last week! So, I don’t know about you, but I’m more than ready to browse through some light-filled and inspiring interiors. The work of Portland-based Jessica Helgerson has caught my eye several times in the past few months and, once you browse through some of these photos (all taken by the extremely talented Lincoln Barbour), I’m pretty sure you’ll see why…

Jessica Helgerson Interior Design. Photo by Lincoln Barbour.

Jessica Helgerson Interior Design. Photo by Lincoln Barbour.

Rachel featured this amazing home last fall, and I totally agree with her thoughts that this rancher is what dream homes are made of! In fact, each of the homes featured in the design team’s portfolio are equally drool-worthy and have the perfect combination of traditional and modern elements, in my humble opinion. The use of natural wood, clean lines and white walls is my ideal mix of West Coast style with Scandinavian simplicity. Each house seems to flow from one room to the next and was built or renovated with family living and sustainability in mind…

Jessica Helgerson Interior Design. Photo by Lincoln Barbour.

Jessica Helgerson Interior Design. Photo by Lincoln Barbour.

Jessica Helgerson Interior Design. Photo by Lincoln Barbour.

Now, you know how much I love the Oregon coast…can you imagine getting the chance to stay in this beautiful cottage? It’s a very impressive cottage at that, built for a large family (the project was managed and designed by Jesse Moyer) and be sure to check out the view from the bedroom window below…I don’t think I’d ever leave!

Jessica Helgerson Interior Design. Photo by Lincoln Barbour.

Jessica Helgerson Interior Design. Photo by Lincoln Barbour.

I’m pretty sure I first saw the following living room in a past Benjamin Moore colour book (but I could be totally wrong!) and then saw it again featured on Design*Sponge last year. This whole house is pretty fantastic…vaulted ceilings, window seat, open plan, a fabulous kitchen…yes, please! While I’m not generally a huge fan of dark wood, I could definitely get comfortable with the espresso floors and massive kitchen island in this space…

Jessica Helgerson Interior Design. Photo by Lincoln Barbour.

Jessica Helgerson Interior Design. Photo by Lincoln Barbour.

This next home won the 2011 Pacific Northwest Award for Best Home under $400,000 and was also featured on Design*Sponge. It’s pretty impressive that Jessica and her design team were able to create such a fresh modern home out of a one hundred year old house without stripping away the original character, isn’t it? I think so! Something that I love about Halgerson’s design approach is her use of timeless materials and a neutral base for each project. Each space will be able to age gracefully and be easily updated with colourful accessories and other furnishings over time…

Lincoln Barbour Photography featuring Jessica Halgerson Interior Design.

Lincoln Barbour Photography featuring Jessica Halgerson Interior Design.

I’ll leave you with some of the design firm’s key questions that are asked of each client:

“At the beginning of each project, Jessica likes to start with the same questions: What’s the best design for the client? What’s the best design for the building or space? What will stand the test of time, stylistically and functionally? For any project, her goal is to ensure that the fundamental design and the materials are classic, long lasting, and appropriate to the building and its period. Then she likes to layer on fresh, contemporary elements—such as lighting, furniture, and art—that feel just right for the clients and for the moment.”

Some questions and thoughts that I’ll definitely be running through before diving into our own future projects. Have a great Thursday!

Brrr…we are having such a cold snap right now!  The temperatures have been hovering around -12 Celsius and with the wind chill the weatherman says it feels more like -24.  On days like these I’m so looking forward to Florida.  Being cold isn’t one of my favourite things. We were snowed in a couple days so I had some extra time to feed my Pinterest habit and I came across a handful of kitchens I wouldn’t mind calling my own.  I guess my tastes are leaning towards the modern side of things these days.  Which one is your favourite?

 Johanna Ekmark

 BOLIG Magasinet

 Riikka Kantinkowski via Decor8

 Lonny

 Elle Decor

House & Home

Off to pack a few more boxes!  Enjoy the rest of your week.

How has your week been so far? Mine has been pretty good, maybe a little busier than usual now that I’m trying to get a few workouts in…ouch! I’m also getting my house ready for a special friend’s visit on Friday but I’ll be keeping my lips sealed about that for just a little bit longer…sorry but I couldn’t resist just a little tease! All of this talk of relocating and family adventures (wasn’t that French home Rachel featured yesterday gorgeous? And to move their whole family to France? Amazing!) has got me feeling a little bit restless. It was about this time last year that we were getting ready to head to Mexico, so that may have something to do with it, but I’m feeling like I’m due for a little bit of travel or adventure. I’ve also been feeling a little restless about my house as I’ve been reorganizing and sprucing it up for Spring. I love it and it’s a very good fit for our family (for now) but there is one room that just doesn’t quite hold my heart the way it should…the kitchen.

Photo by Jordi Canosa via Desire to Inspire

Now, as we all know, the kitchen is truly the heart of the home and somehow guests are always drawn there for parties and gatherings. We went to a Halloween party last year with about 8 other couples and we literally never left the kitchen. For hours! Albeit it was a very large and fabulous kitchen but none of us felt the need to take a few steps over to the equally large and fabulous living room…the kitchen is where it’s at! While visiting Will over at Bright.Bazaar, I saw his post on West Elm’s Rustic-Industrial Inspiration and felt my restless heart beat a little bit faster…

West Elm

West Elm

West Elm

The folks over at West Elm seem to get it right every time, don’t they? Clean lines, industrial metal accents, rich wood tones…yes, I would very happily add all of these ingredients into my dream kitchen. Here are another few example of some rustic cooking spaces…

Celerie Kemble’s Black and White via Canadian House & Home

Jeroen van der Spek

Hege Greenall-Scholtz

Decor8 via Stil Inspiration. Photo by Joanna Gwis.

It’s the little details that will bring warmth to such rustic spaces. Art, vintage finds, dishes, cookbooks and accessories can all add colour and personality…

1. Hindsvik 2. Little Brown Pen 3. Red Onion Woodworks 4. Sweet Fine Day

Now that I got that out of my system, I can focus my energies on doing a thorough Spring clean of my house. Thankfully, I’ve got a good chunk of time sans kids today to scrub away in peace and to dream of  the journeys and adventures to come! If only my house would stay clean overnight…wish me luck!