On my wish list

Adesso jewelry is all i wear these days. And here is a new crush I have from their Sorellina collection. Their new Fall collection is on my mind as well, the pieces are so lovely. I hope the designer Samantha Goldstone doesn't mind me describing her collections as bohemian chic. I wear her bracelets day and night. This necklace is icing on the cake!

Visual oh so stimulating!

My first intro to design was in a far away land walking by a far away place. It was the most expensive clothing store in the city. They were famous for their window displays. What i loved about it mostly is that i was far from being able to afford the clothes they were selling, but what i appreciated was that they appealed to everyone's senses no matter what amount of $ we had in our pocket. They were the only store in the land that welcomed poor students like myself at that time to waltz in there without feeling intimidation, stroll around, and gaze and tickle their merchandise and then turn on my heels and walk out without a bag of new digs in my hand. I admire stores who share their love of merchandise with those who can easily fall in love with them too. My next project will hopefully be a store front window and i hope to create that spark in a young persons' memory too.

Memory Lane

Shake looks back to this project that was wonderful to create. Très Mademoiselle.

Glass + Acrylic Knobs = chic

I like a good challenge when shopping for furniture. For myself and clients I am a strong believer in Craig's List. The key is to narrow down your search to cities and their neighborhoods that you know could have quality furniture. Small towns are most likely to have old and perhaps bad condition furniture however may have some good antiques. If Shabby Chic style is what you are looking for than, that's your best search bet. Find your piece and keep in mind you can paint it a solid color and change the pulls or knobs. What's fun is to find glass or acrylic knobs (these look the same but much less expensive) , best to find at this website I came across a few years back.
http://www.dlawlesshardware.com
This site has the best prices that you can find on reproduction period knobs, better than your local hardware store or even stores like Pottery Barn or Anthropolgie who have reproduction glass and acrylic knobs for sale at 3 times the price. The photo attached is only $1.47 from this site. And at my local hardware store they were selling them for $7.50. For a 6 drawer dresser, you need 12 of these, which adds up at a price difference of $17.64 vs. $90.00. For a personal project, I bought a Sears dresser and changed their wooden knobs to this acrylic one and created a new shabby chic look. The same can be done to your contemporary furniture finds.
shake tip: buying on line could be a great money saver even with the delivery charges. If you are not sure what style you would like to get, go visit your Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barns, and Anthropologie websites to get inspired for furniture, then go to Craigs List, to see how you can give new life to a used piece of furniture. You don't need to always match styles in your home, sometimes one different piece adds new life into a room which is a whole new shake tip in itself. More examples like this to come in the next week.

Super Woman

This morning I woke up to a great interview with Kelly Wearstler. You can spend hours looking through the details of her work. Enjoy like i have for the last couple of hours:
http://www.kwid.com
Boy do i have a design crush on kwid.com!
Her color combos are insatiable and her style very addictive. Even her fashion sense is outstanding. I'm a true believer in none-matching patterns and colors lead to a canvas of delight.
Way to go Kelly! I honor you. Its brave in California, and to recreate this phenomenon of hers in Montreal would scare most clients. Wish I had her power of conviction to get my clients to lean in that direction too...maybe someday (wink wink).