my paradissi

I found this wonderful beautiful gem of a blog this morning, by freelance architect Eleni, who lives on the Greek island of Crete.

I've been fortunate enough to visit the Greek Islands twice in my lifetime, but never made it to Crete. Maybe this wonderful blog will entice me back for a 3rd time!

You must visit My Paradissi









all photos from My Paradissi

Must Have!

LOOK at this bathtub. LOOK AT IT!!! OMG!!!

Truly dreamy.

photo from design*sponge

See the before/after story over at Design*Sponge

The Townhouse {from Poppytalk}

The creator's of one of my favorite Canadian blogs out there, Poppytalk, have just started a new blog entitled The Townhouse to chronicle the adventures of their recent purchase of a 1970's townhouse in Vancouver, BC. I'm a huge reno geek, so I can hardly wait to see what they do to the place!




One day I will take that step and buy that fixer upper in which I can instill all of my design dreams and desire's! Someone give me a kick in the a## or some cash please! :-)

Happy Monday everyone!


all images from The Townhouse

Kim's Home Office

I've been reorganizing most of the weekend, and one of the hot spots in the condo is definitely our home office/dining room. It needs help. Like serious help. We have enough space, that's not a problem, but I'm finding it a challenge trying to combine the 2 spaces into one. Hence, I've been scouring various sources looking for inspiration which led me to the Desire to Inspire blog (Hi Kim!), and Kim's home office.



This is EXACTLY the feel that I'd love to have in our multi-purpose room. Eclectic, worldly, but somehow multifunctional. Won't to join me on a mini-tour of her office today?



You can see more photos of her office at Desire To Inspire.

Happy Monday everyone! Stay tuned, the winners of DecorAddict's ad-space giveaway are coming up soon!

Friday!!!

Well, here it is finally here. My last day at my corporate day-job. Wow, has time every flown by! I'll be spending the next few weeks getting ready for babe to arrive, and I'll hopefully have some more time to spend with you all before beginning a short maternity leave from DecorAddict as well. Don't worry, it won't be for too long, and I won't be 100% gone, I will be posting as often as I can! I'll miss everyone so much this summer!

I've been meaning to share a few new blogs with everyone that I've started reading of the past few weeks, and I thought today would be the perfect time! Fridays seem to be the perfect day to share links, blogs, and other sites with you, my friends and readers!

City Chiq Country Mouse, Kelly + Olive, Feildguided, and Sweet Eventide ,

All of these blogs are saved in my Google reader, and I visit each and every one of them a couple times a week. I'm loving my reader right now, without it I have no idea how I'd keep up with all my favorite blogs!

Etsy is also a place I visit frequently looking for new and interesting things for our home, and ourselves. Most recently, I just can't get enough of ceramic artists. It suits me so well, my aesthetic, my personal style. Yes, I'm an "earth" girl at heart I suppose. I found New Moon Studio this week, I haven't bought anything yet, as I'm trying to save my pennies these days, but aren't' these pieces just divine? I love the organic shapes that have been created. Lovely!



I wish you all a fabulous weekend! See you on Monday!

Link Love {FoundVintageStyle & GreavesDesign}

Lovely fellow Canadian Carol of Greaves Design & Found Vintage Style is a biz-e girl! A blog, 2 Etsy shops, and a set designer to boot! Of course when I saved Carol's blog, I didn't note how I found it, but that really doesn't matter now does it. :-)

Her first Etsy shop, FoundVintageStyle, that I thought I'd show you today focuses on good design. Vintage staplers, dictionaries, and even shoes can be found here.


all images from FoundVintageStyle

Her other Etsy shop, GreavesDesign, showcases Carol amazing talent for handmade jewellery. I usually don't feature jewellery designers here on DecorAddict, but this I just couldn't resist. The detail in her pieces is absolutely breathtaking!


all images from GreavesDesign

Happy drooling! My husband already has our mop out. :-)

Make+Do: The Craft Blog {from Canadian Living magazine}

Probably one of the oldest print magazines in Canada for women is Canadian Living. I have a personal connection to this magazine, as my own mother worked for them for a number of years when I was a teenager ( a long long time ago ). I've had a connection to them ever since!

I frequent their website pretty much weekly, and today I just discovered that have just started a craft blog! Make + Do: The Craft Blog was just launched yesterday, written by Canadian Living's resident craft expert, Austen Gilliland.

image from Canadian Living

This is so exciting, I can't wait to see what Austen has in store for us all!

Link Love {Gathering Spriggs}

Don't you just love it when 2 or more people collaborate to create something? This is the case with today's blog, Gathering Spriggs. "An artistic collaboration between Eve Peach and Heather Spriggs Thompson". Don't you wish your name was Eve Peach? Adorable.

Gathering Spriggs is one part online shop, and one part online gallery feature. I'm so happy I found this blog via my e-course! These 2 beauties gather inspiration from nature to create new re purposed handmade items for your own personal environment. They have also created a sense of community at Gathering Spriggs drawing together artists, customers, and crafters together by showcasing works of new artists and crafters at Gathering Spriggs.

all images above from Gathering Spriggs

I was peeking at their Flickr page as well, and Heather has uploaded some pics of her home, absolutely beautiful here.

Did you know that Heather also runs her own faux finishing business entitled Heather Thompson Faux Finishing? I'm not talking chicken's, roosters, and sponge painting here. I'm talking elegance and old world style at it's best! Where does she find the time?

all images above from Heather Thompson Faux Finishing

A few years ago when I was looking for a job change, I once applied to be a "faux finishing apprentice". Unfortunately for me the job was filled very quickly. Hmm...wonder what could of been?

Last but not least, Eve Peach is a very talented accomplished fibre artist exhibiting and working in Nashville, TN.

all images above from Eve Peach

Is everyone enjoying my new finds this week? Let me tell you that I'm continuing to be totally inspired each and every day by my classmates. I hope you are being inspired by my new friends as well!

Angela Liguori {house tour love and more}

Wow.

Wow, wow, wow.

Most of you know that one of my favorite aspects, or feature of the top design blogs out there are the house tours. I just can't get enough of them. The best part about them? They are REAL home, of REAL people. Ninety-nine percent of the house tours featured on Apartment Therapy and Design*Sponge are those of their own readers. You can't get any better than that.

One that stuck out to me this week was the home of Angela Liguori, featured on Design*Sponge this week.

images from Design*Sponge

Eclectic comes to mind, with a little bit of whimsy thrown in. You see that turquoise stool next to the sofa? I have a bench like that. It's gray. Ick. Boring. Maybe i'll have to paint it turquoise. :-) You can visit the full house tour here.

Angela not only has a beautiful home; she is also a graphic designer, and is extremely talented. Stemming from Rome, Italy her company Carta, Inc. designs custom stationary invitations, business cards, and hand-bound books. She has also just recently added a line of cotton ribbons imported directly from Rome. Bella! Bella!

I also love that fact that she not only makes and designs there beautiful wares, but she also teaches workshops on how to make your own. Don't you just love it when talented artisans share their talent with the rest of us? *sigh*, now I only wish I lived in Boston so I could take a class!

To find out more about Angela, you can read her interview here via the Squam Workshops site here, visit Angela firsthand at her blog here, or her Etsy shop here.

Here are some of my favorite's from here Etsy shop. Happy browsing!

image from Angela Liguori

Link Love {Parallel Botany}

I’ve been participating in an online e-course for the past week being taught by the totally awesome Holly Becker of decor8. So far, it has been a fabulous experience. I am learning so much, not only about myself, but about blogging in general, that will in turn only make DecorAddict better, not only for me, but for all my loyal readers as well.

There are about 200 participating in the class from all over the world, and i’m meeting some fabulous online friends, and finding some great new blogs out there as well.

I thought that over the remaining 3 weeks of the course, that I'd share a few of my classmates blogs with each of you. There is some awesome undiscovered talent out there, and not just of the design blog variety.

One that immediately stuck out to me is Parallel Botany. Lisa, the writer of Parallel Botany is a New Yorker (love her already), and uses Parallel Botany as her "show and tell" of all the things she finds and loves online, and elsewhere.

image from Parallel Botany


Lisa also runs an Etsy shop, containing absolutely gorgeous and original paper goods, pins, pendants, and so much more eye candy if I continue i'll have to wring out my laptop.

images from parallel botany


from top, shuggie accent pillow, handmade paper envelopes, plaid puffpad, translucent Love note Blank Card

Aren't her items just precious? Can you see why I had to share her blog and shop with you today? Keep up the amazing work Lisa. You're fabulous!

Another domino replacement? Yeah, I don’t think so.

I miss Domino. Don’t you? I’ve found myself at my local Chapter’s standing in front of the Interior Design/Decorating magazine section staring into space, totally amiss as to what is now, or might I say NOT available to us on the magazine stand anymore.

On this last trip to Chapter’s, I picked up 4 magazines. House Beautiful (Apr 2009), Canadian House and Home (Apr 2009), Ideal Home UK (March 2009), and Elle Décor (April 2009). Overall, and I hate to say it, but I’m soooo disappointed. I used to come home with the latest issue of Domino and literally spend HOURS reading it from cover to cover. When I returned home, I spent a total of 1 hour TOTAL leafing through all 4 of them. Pretty pathetic.

The one magazine I was dying to get my hands on however, either isn’t available in my local store yet, or was sold out, the April/May edition of Ready Made. I think I’m going to have to subscribe to the ReadyMade as it’s the only publication that I’ve been excited about over the past few months since the announcement of Domino’s closure.

What do these magazines (the ones that I wasn’t very happy about) have in common? It’s like I picked up the same magazine, the same issue, 4 times. Nothing stands out, nothing is remotely unique about any of them. They are just simply blah. Maybe it’s just a coincidence that everyone’s issue sucks this month, but I must say it’s very disappointing. Most notably, House Beautiful.

House Beautiful has been touted as being the next best thing to Domino by various other design bloggers, well, I have NO idea where that comes from to be honest. The cover of the April ’09 issue is even boring.



After taking the 12 minutes in total it took to go through the entire magazine, I was unimpressed. There was nothing unique, nothing original, it was simply 147 pages of advertisements and editorial coverage that only embellished on their advertisements. Eesh. Give me something new people! Something that I haven’t seen before, or heard of. Every page was just fuddy-duddy traditional. Every single house tour in the issue was professionally decorated, and there was nothing REAL about them whatsoever. Over styled. Stuffy. Snobbish. EEsh. Like, do people actually live here? Or is this a model home I’m looking at. Yes, I understand that ever home is styled for a photo shoot, but NOT every home, and NOT everyone hires a designer to do so. Some of the best homes I’ve seen were designed by the homeowner over time, those are the best homes out there, and the ones that I want to see.

Do you feel the same about the existing shelter magazines available out there today? Would you like to see more REAL homes? Do you already have a source of where to find REAL homes for decorating inspiration? (please enter your suggestions, and opinions in the comments section below)

i did this {do not leave unattended}

Wow. I finally finished my contribution to the "Do Not Leave Unattended" project.

There's more, you'll just have to wait until Judy posts it on their site, here.



This is the first time I've completed anything like this in YEARS. Probably close to 20 years now.

I fully intend on doing more.

*smiles*

DecorAddict needs your help! {and happy weekend!}

I emailed AT today, as I'm truly at a loss. My hubby and I recently purchased a
Malm King size bed from, but I can't decide on nightstands.....trying to shy away from the Malm nightstands....as I think they go too well. Know what I mean?

You can see the thread, and comment here!



Looking forward to seeing every one's suggestions, and I just can't seem to find anything that goes, or that I like so far.

Extinguishing the Winter Blahs {House of Turquoise}

It’s February, it’s still winter, and I feel like i’m living in a black and white movie. Going outside is at the point that it’s depressing. I’m no longer saying “but it looks so pretty when it snows!” especially when i’m at the office digging myself out of yet one more snow bank. I swear I was not meant to live in this climate!

Enter COLOUR. Our new apartment doesn’t have one white wall in it, which is a first for me in YEARS. I’m sooo tired of white walls. Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about that any more. What’s funny, is when you do live with white walls, you are scared to paint. But when you live with colour, you could paint every weekend. Colour inspires me.

When I’m tired of looking at my own walls, of course i’m continually looking for colour on the web. Enter Erin Olson. Blogger extraordinaire! She author’s 12 blogs!!! OMG! Twelve! But, what’s most original about them, is each is dedicated to a specific colour, or colour scheme. Brilliant!

Her most popular and my personal favorite is House of Turquoise . Perfect viewing for dark and dreary days, the photo collections found here will instantly perk you up!










Her other colour blogs are Black and White Delight, Pink and Brown Love, Everything Turquoise, The Chocolate Blues, Just Blue & Green, and Pink & Green Scene. Her personal blog can be found here.

So Lovely!


all images from House of Turquoise

Online Workshop {Unravelling}

Thanks to Holly over at Decor8 for cluing me in to this amazing online creative workshop.

Find all the details here.

image from Unravelling: Ways of Seeing Myself

AT: The Homies 2008

Merry Christmas Everybody!

I just thought I'd stop in today for a visit and to say Ho Ho Ho !!! I have today off from my "day job", so I'm catching up on some blogs I just haven't had time to read in the past week or so with all the holiday festivities going on.

Guess What!!! Apartment Therapy is hosting The Homies: Best Design Blogs of 2008.



"There's awards for all sorts of blogs, but no one ever pays enough attention to the home blogs, so we're starting a little impromptu reader nominated and voted awards ceremony this year, and we're calling it The Homies. There are five categories and none of our five blogs is eligible (we're hosting). The prizes? $100 to the winner of each category and lots of traffic as we publish the five winners in a big congratulatory post across our network on January 6th. We want to elevate good home blogs, see who you love and gain awareness for the home niche."

Click Here, and head down to the comments section to nominate DecorAddict!

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love this! {via design*sponge}

I can remember a telephone table almost exactly like this at my grandparent's house. At the time I thought it was ugly, but look what you can do! I love this!



You can find the full post on design*sponge here.


all photos from design*sponge

DIY Gift Wrap {via Creature Comforts}

I've printed out my templates already, what about you? Find full instructions here.

Love This! {via apartment therapy}

How-to's can be found here.

House Tour Love - Chad Maltby of Sandbox Studio {via design*sponge}

Gorgeous, just gorgeous. See the full tour here.