Sarah Walker The Curated House, Author at The Curated House

Foodie Friday | An Ode To The Summer Picnic

For today’s Foodie Friday inspiration, I couldn’t help but share a re-post of a video we made for you last summer. The rising temperatures, the gleam of sunlight glistening off the lake, and the warmth of the breeze are all beckoning me once again to dive head first into this season with aplomb.

An Ode to the Summer Picnic from The Curated House on Vimeo.

I hope this little tidbit inspires you to gather your friends around you, pull together your favourite flavours and get outdoors for a delightful gathering this weekend! The wind and the waves are beckoning to be your soundtrack.

My unending thanks once again to the incredibly talented, gentle and lovely human being Phil Lindsay for sharing his video brilliance with us. My heartfelt and lifelong thanks also go out to the beautiful Melody and Gaby Hansen for sharing their hands and their hearts with me.

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|June 21st, 2013|1 Comment

A Chair Worth A Stare | Taylor Llorente

Inspiration comes in all shapes, sizes and price tags – some accessible, some just dreamy-worthy. Today’s inspiration is certainly the latter variety for me as the über-luxe sticker attached certainly puts it well out of my reach. But no price tag can prevent me from taking great pleasure in admiring it from afar and drooling over it with you, my friends.

Feast your eyes, if you will, on Taylor Llorente’s Cane Chair Design 5610.

This extremely sculptural and modern reinvention of a traditional wingback chair first captured my attention as I was perusing images I had stumbled upon of a stunning hotel in Paris, La Hotel Maison Champs Élysées. I am in love with so many details of this chair: the large scale honeycomb, faceted panel construction; the strong nod to the traditional wingback in a fiercely modern silhouette; the use of traditional caning {in use since the 1600’s in traditional European furnishings} made utterly fashion-forward, edgy and anything but commonplace. This chair gets it so right in so many ways and is the ultimate statement piece to punctuate a space with soaring ceilings and abundant natural light. Just look at how it shines like a diva on stage in these images of it in situ at La Maison Champs Élysées.

It must be said that the architecture and finish selections in this hotel are unspeakably fabulous, and yet this singular chair still managed to leap out and grab me by the lapels and say “Look at me! Look only at me. Love me.”

Of course, I couldn’t help but take some time to admire the other spectacular design details in the space. Sophistication and humour seem equally honoured with the impeccable juxtaposition of modern and traditional at La Maison Champs Élysées.

Traditional wall paneling and fireplaces are made far less serious when installed as wallpaper murals. The application over bi-fold doors opening into minimalist and restrained modern vistas {seen below} is simply brilliant, as if an invitation to walk through design history as easily as passing through a doorway. The balance of sophistication and whimsy is positively delicious.

And all of this, of course, serves as the perfect stage to spotlight today’s design inspiration and Chair Worth A Stare, Tayler Llorente‘s brilliant Cane Chair Design 5610.

Standing O, Tayler Llorente. Standing O.

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|June 20th, 2013|0 Comments

An Update on Project Ugly Duckling + Some Wallpaper Love

It’s time for an update, and I am SO EXCITED! My amazing husband has been working hard to lay this rather complicated floor for me. Let’s just say, this is an installation that even my professional tile installers would moan about, and Graham didn’t so much as winge. I am BEYOND impressed at how successfully he passed this test of patience.

He is currently working on the electrical so the best I can show you right now are these photos taken with the natural light available on a really rainy day, but I think you’ll agree, the new floor is SPECTACULAR! I am beyond in LOVE with it and still can’t believe I found these tiles for $3.50 a square foot. Steal of the century! The statement this floor makes as soon as you open the door to this hallway makes me SO happy. Stylish, sophisticated, subtle in its striation…simply STUNNING!

With the vanity on order, I’m currently turning my attention to what to do with the walls. Given all the wallpaper that once adorned this space, it seems only fitting to consider an homage of some sort. The first option to grab my attention and make my heart skip a beat is this absolute STUNNER: Nuvole from Fornasetti made by Cole and Son.

I am almost as obsessed with clouds as I am with all things herringbone and chevron, and I simply adore the look of an antique etching accomplished with this gorgeous, hand-drawn paper. How poetic would it be to enter a bathroom and find oneself enveloped in clouds? The only catch? I might have to sell my first born just to paper the bathroom, and given that this bathroom is in fact for HIM…well…seems a titch counterproductive.

{Image via Elle Decor}

Still, Fornasetti has my head even more “stuck in the clouds” than it ever was with this amazing paper. Much to consider…

For the sake of having a less expensive option to weigh on the scales of design, I searched out and found this rather whimsical and charming paper from UK-based illustrator Abigail Edwards.

I love the simplicity and playfulness of Abigail’s hand-drawn illustration, and I am warmed by the idea of feeling adrift on a sea of dreams in this little bathroom – a sweet escape in which the imagination could journey to many a land. Our son is in fact a sailor, so there is something that feels rather apropos about this one.

The third option, of course, would be no wallpaper at all, and my imagination is playing with the options for what I could do to create interest on the walls, complimenting the stunning floors while not competing with their texture and style statement.

What do you think? Do you have a favourite wallpaper between the two? And could we all just take a moment to celebrate – nay APPLAUD with a standing ovation – my superstar husband for the DIY floor installation of the year? Still so impressed with his mad skills. I am a very lucky girl to have married the son of a builder man – he’s a software sales superstar by day and a DIY champion by night. Colour me grateful!

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|June 18th, 2013|3 Comments