Birch + Bird Vintage Home Interiors

How was your week? Mine seemed to go by very slow in the beginning (we finally got our snow days, yay!) and then suddenly sped right on up. And now it’s Friday and we woke up a coating of very icy snow over our town so it’s another slow and homebound snow day for us, which is quite alright by me and the kids! I’ve been feeling like I’ve got a lot going on in my head, ideas and plans for the year ahead, but haven’t been making a lot of headway finalizing decisions and making headway. Do you ever have that feeling? I think it’s time to take a step back and stop adding things to my list until I’ve crossed at least one or two off!

The featured seller on Etsy this week, Jenna Rose Handmade, caught my eye and I just had to share some of her beautiful textiles with you. Jenna illustrates each design by hand before screen printing them onto natural and organic materials. She uses only non-toxic, water based pigments and mixes the colours in small runs before hand printing them onto the cloth. Her Etsy feature gives an inside look into what inspires her work and design process and I love that her patterns are completely hand drawn, not computer generated…

Yellow Honeycomb Pillow

Etsy Feature: Jenna Rose Handmade

The Ships pattern is my particular favourite and I know at least a few friends who would be happy to receive any of these nautical printed goodies…which would you choose?

Ships Bucket

1. Gray Ships Pillow 2. Ships Large Zipper Tote 3. Ships Pouch 4. Gray Ships Tea Towel

Hemp Jersey Cowl

Gray Bikes Organic Cotton Blanket

Birds of an Old-Growth Forest Poster

Honeycomb Bucket

Etsy Feature: Jenna Rose Handmade

I find the whole screen printing process fascinating and would love to take a class and try it out someday. I’m always so awestruck by talented artisans and wonder what inspired them to try their craft for the first time. And how long did they wait to actually try it before discovering that it was their calling? Who knows, maybe there’s a budding artist in all of us! Have a wonderful weekend!

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.

We are in the midst of a Winter Wonderland!  It isn’t often that we have a good snow fall and it is so very beautiful.  The girls have spent hours playing outside and are sleeping soundly as a result.  I hope to take them for a walk in the snow later on this evening, one my favourite things to do.  If you haven’t already heard the news, Lily’s home is going be featured on HGTV.ca in the next little while! Pretty exciting, right?  I couldn’t help but invite myself over for coffee so I could watch Janis in action and join in on the fun.  We’ll all have to wait for the big reveal because HGTV.ca has first dibs but in the mean time, take a snoop through this lovely home.

 All images from HGTV.ca 

You’ve probably seen at least few of these rooms before if you’re as addicted to Pinterest as we are.  It’s the home of Emma over at The Marion House Book.  I’ve virtually toured many homes and it doesn’t happen very often that I love each and every room.  And this home is one of those.  It’s bright, fresh and wonderfully eclectic.   I LOVE all her vintage finds…oh, my goodness.    Emma has made a few changes here and there and you should really stop by The Marion House Book to see the “before” and “afters”.  You won’t be disappointed, I promise.

Hello Monday! How was your weekend? Despite a rocky start with the invasion of a nasty hacker into our email account, the rest of my weekend went off without a hitch and included a great visit with Janis Nicolay (more details to come!), a late night brainstorming session with Rachel and some bonus alone time for Brad and I (hurray for grandparents!). We also got our first good snowfall of the season on Friday night and everything is looking so beautiful covered in white. I’m really hoping that we get a few more inches and can maybe even get a snow day in this week…going sledding was always more fun than going to school when I was little!

Canadian House & Home

How are you feeling about the ongoing pattern trend of chevron and herringbone stripes? On board? So over it? Well, I’m still loving it although I am enjoying the more organic and subtle versions more than the bold graphic patterns that originally caught my eye. But, nearly a year after my last post on these patterned details, I am still head-over-heels for herringbone hardwood floors…

The New York Times

Per Gunnarsson via CocoCozy

Interior Magasinet via Emmas Design Blogg. Photo by Birgitta Wolfgang Drejer.

The NY Times via The Style Files. Design by Ilse Crawford. Photo by Magnus Marding.

Photo by Pia Ulin.

There’s something so classic yet timeworn and inviting about these floors, isn’t there? Nancy over at Marcus Design has a great image showing the difference between the Chevron and Herringbone patterns but I think I’d be perfectly happy replacing our outdated laminate floors with either one…which would you choose?

Marcus Design Inc.

Last year, Lynda Reeves and her team from Canadian House & Home designed the Princess Margaret Showhome in Oakville, Ontario, using blond chevron floors extensively throughout. I especially love the matte finish as well as the transitions and change of pattern direction between rooms…

Canadian House & Home. Photo by Michael Graydon.

Canadian House & Home. Photo by Michael Graydon.

Canadian House & Home. Photo by Michael Graydon.

Not just for flooring, chevron and herringbone patterns continue to be a big hit with small shops and large retailers alike. Here are a few of my recent favourites…

Lindsey Lang via Decor8

West Elm

Nube Green

Martha Stewart via La Dolce Vita

Plume Textiles

What do you have planned for the week ahead? Rachel and I are working through some details to see if we can make a late Spring market happen and are crossing our fingers that everything (specifically the location rental) falls into place. But other than that, my calendar is looking refreshingly open…for now, anyway!

Well, it’s starting to look like we are moving around here.  I made good progress this week sorting through all our belongings and it seems that things aren’t as bad as I was expecting.  I do have a few trips to the second hand store to make and a few people are picking up some odds and ends.  Since it’s the weekend, I think I’ll put my feet up but first one last French inspired post since it’s Friday and all.  Amusez-vous!

 Metro Line 6 Photography

 Rifle Paper Co.

 Design*Sponge

 Lonny Magazine

  Rifle Paper Co.

ooh pretty shiny…

 House Beautiful

 Ivory Bird

 Design*Sponge

Rifle Paper Co.

By the way, if you happen to have received an email from Birch + Bird with a very random link, don’t open it.  It wasn’t from us.  Our email account was hacked and spam was sent to  every single person we’ve ever emailed.  We sincerely apologize and we’ve taken steps to prevent it from happening again.  You can rest assured that we have not started up a side business selling a certain little blue pill.  We’ll be back on Monday!  Au revoir.