/kitchen

Spiced Delicata Squash Soup + A Harvest Table Setting with Urban Barn

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The weather has truly laid out the red carpet for us for Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. The air is crisp but the sun is still warm and the colours are just starting to turn.

This time of year makes me so happy. I feel like it’s an invitation to savour life more fully, both indoors and out. There are so many wonderful opportunities to host friends as the weather cools, and there are few things we love more than inviting the people we love to share a meal around our table with us.

At this time of year, I find myself craving simple beauty and heart-warming soups, and today’s post brings together both of those things with a soup recipe by yours truly and a simple but beautiful table setting inspired by our friends at Urban Barn.

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When it comes to a simple table setting, I like to work with dinnerware that does a lot of the decorative work for me. Enter the beautiful light grey Sintra collection from Urban Barn.

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I love the sophistication of the delicate pattern and the gentle wash of grey glazing. The colour is soft and looks great as the canvas for any dish you can cook up, and I love the way it integrates so effortlessly with my décor. For me, this is decorative dinnerware that is fresh and timeless.

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I chose to use 3 of Urban Barn’s White Outline Vases for the centre of the table, and I love the way they create a modern frame for the flowers while serving as a clean backdrop for the dinnerware. Add in the Camile Highball and Old Fashioned glassware along with some simple white napkins, and you have an effortlessly casual yet sophisticated table setting for your next gathering.

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Speaking of casual yet sophisticated, this soup recipe is as easy as it is delicious. I had several discerning taste-testers (including my guys and the lovely Bruna from Simply Lace Photography, the amazing woman behind these beautiful images), and everyone raved about it. Here’s how you can make it at home (and if you click on the recipe it will pop up in another window so you can print it off!):

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I can guarantee this one will be on repeat in our household over the next few months, especially as the weather gets colder. I hope you and yours will enjoy a few bowls of it together, too, as you savour the changing seasons and as the nesting instinct that comes with winter kicks in.

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Huge thanks to my friends at Urban Barn for working with me on this post. Massive thanks as well to the lovely Bruna of Simply Lace Photography for such delicious photos. And thank you to all of you for coming and hanging out with me in my pretty little corner of the internet!

For all of my Canadian friends, I wish you a meaningful Thanksgiving weekend filled with gratitude and the opportunity to make happy memories. And to all of my international loves, I wish you a weekend filled with moments to treasure.

Be sure to pop back on Monday for more design inspiration! I’m bursting at the seams with things to share with you these days, so keep checking in to see what’s fresh and happening.

Sarah-Signature

By |October 7th, 2016|0 Comments

One Room Challenge Spring 2016 | Week 6 | THE BIG REVEAL!

“Good things come to those who wait,

But better things come to those

Who work for it.”

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Hello darlings, and welcome to my virtual “The One Room Challenge Is DONE!” dance party! You may not be able to see me dancing, but believe me, I am dancing, and I’m singing Sia’s Alive at the top of my lungs! I’m not gonna lie, It. Feels. Good.

My photographer jokes that I really should have called this one the “One Floor (And A Bit) Challenge.” He’s right. Because our main floor is so open concept, our living room makeover spilled over into zhushing the kitchen and dining room a bit, and even crept up the stairs with our lovely gallery wall. The good news is this: ONE, we did it! And TWO: we love it! I couldn’t be more grateful to be on the other side of this design dare, and I’m thrilled to be sharing the reveal with you today.

For simplicity’s sake, I’ll share the source info with you below each photo. I can’t wait to hear what you think, so please share your thoughts in the comments below!

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SOURCES

DRAPERY FABRIC: Groundworks for Lee Jofa / UTTERMOST COPPER DRUM TABLE: Bellacor / BRASS FLOOR LAMP WITH LINEN SHADE: LampsPlus / COPPER FRAMED ARTWORK BY JAIME DERRINGER: Minted / GUMI ARMCHAIR BY BRUNO MOINARD: Avenue Road / VELVET LEOPARD PILLOW: Arianna Belle / BABY TEARS PLANT: Sweet Woodruff / PINK SOFA BY HUGUES CHEVALIER, PARIS: Emily Quinn / VINTAGE BEADED LEATHER TRIBAL PILLOW: Stone Textile / PEARL COFFEE TABLE: Bernhardt / SOUK RUG: West Elm / BRASS BOX ON COFFEE TABLE: Pottery Barn / COPPER CANDLE: Kit + Ace / QUARTZ GEODE: Centro Garden

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SOURCES

ESSEX CREAM LEATHER CHAIRS: Industrial Storm for Whittington & Co. / KUBUS ARGENT PILLOWS: Arianna Belle / FRINGE FLOROGRAPHY PRINT: Ashley Woodson Bailey via Citizen Atelier, finished with ArtResin / MODERN RESIN CANDLESTICKS: Creators Of Objects / DWELL STUDIO BLACK DECORATIVE BOX: AllModern / COFFEE TABLE BOOKS: Emily Quinn / HAVEN SMALL DRESSER: Bernhardt / BRASS SHIFT KNOBS ON DRESSER: Upper Canada Specialty Hardware / DWELL STUDIO GOLD URCHIN (on side table): AllModern / SILVER TRAY WITH HORN HANDLES: AllModern

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SOURCES

PAINTING ON PIANO: David Gillanders via ArtInteriors / “LEGS” PHOTOGRAPH: Jeremy + Claire Weiss via ArtStar, framed in Framed & Matted frame / SEBASTIAN HERKNER BELL SIDE TABLE: Avenue Road

And now, on to the dining room refresh! I can’t begin to tell you how much I love the softness added by the simple Kravet linen drapes, made sophisticated by the elegant trim detail banding the leading edge of each panel. As it turns out, softness was the theme for this room’s update, and the lambswool seat covers communicate that in both look and feel, making our Ghost chairs a much more comfortable perch for long, lingering dinners with family and friends. Also adding to the feminine edge is the stunning floral arrangement by Lisa Gray of Sweet Woodruff in the centre of the table. In my dream life, I’ll have arrangements from Lisa in my house on a weekly (or at least monthly) basis! Also on my dream life wish list is the stunning Serax Belgian tableware from Emily Quinn. So organic, so elegant, so unexpected. I couldn’t love these pieces more!

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SOURCES

PANEL MOULDINGS: Metrie / BLACK HONEYCOMB VASE: Joss & Main / FLORAL ARRANGEMENT: Sweet Woodruff / ORGANIC FINE BONE CHINA DINNERWARE: Emily Quinn / STEMWARE: Emily Quinn / COPPER FLATWARE + LINEN NAPKINS: West Elm / CREAM LINEN DRAPERY FABRIC + GREY DECORATIVE TRIM: Kravet Canada / ARTWORK: Kathleen Weich via ArtInteriors

Up next is the zhush of the kitchen which was one part pretty and one part practical. The practical came in the form of an upgrade to touchless technology with our amazing Brizo faucet and matching soap dispenser. Practicality also came home to live with us via the glorious arrival of our Bosch dishwasher, the silent, panelled-in wonder that has made our lives forever better. The pretty is all about the transformation of the bookcase, the gorgeous Groundworks Channels linen faux roman valance, and the gorgeous copper accents from Wayfair.

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SOURCES

COPPER CANNISTER SET: Wayfair / HAMMERED COPPER TRAY: Wayfair / POTTED ORCHIDS: Fiori Oakville / TURKISH TEA TOWEL: Pamuk & Co. / CHANNELS EBONY LINEN FABRIC FOR FAUX ROMAN: Groundworks for Lee Jofa / SOLNA TOUCHLESS FAUCET + MATCHING SOAP DISPENSER: Brizo / PANELLED-IN DISHWASHER: Bosch

I’m not going to lie, the bookcase makeover is my favourite change in the kitchen. The tension between the sophisticated and edgy Thibaut faux alligator wallpaper on the cabinet back, the more feminine leopard wallpaper-wrapped books with their calligraphy labels, and the Anewall portrait of a lady, elegantly framed and dipped in Farrow & Ball paint sets up my favourite kind of juxtaposition. It is both modern and traditional, a mix of masculine and feminine, a touch of classic and a dash of unexpected whimsy.

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SOURCES

FAUX ALLIGATOR WALLPAPER: Thibaut / LEOPARD PRINT WALLPAPER: Thibaut / PORTRAIT OF A LADY: Anewall DIPPED IN PITCH BLACK PAINT: Farrow & Ball /

And last but not least, the gallery wall seen from a different angle than the one I shared with you last week. If you’re planning to create a gallery wall yourself and want to know my sweat-proof method for getting it done in no time flat, be sure to pop back to last week’s post and download your guide to installing a gallery wall like a pro!

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ART FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: ABSTRACT PAINTING BY KATHLEEN WEICH: ArtInteriors / CALIFORNIA WALL: Art by Melody Hansen in Framed & Matted frame / BLUE MONDAY SIGNED PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINT: Minted, framed in Framed & Matted frame / ABSTRACT PAINTING BY TREVOR CRAIG MCDONNELL: ArtInteriors / SMALL LANDSCAPE WITH CLOUDS PAINTING: Etsy, framed in Framed & Matted frame / SIGNED + FRAMED TREE RING PHOTOGRAPH: Minted / PAIR OF MIXED MEDIA SMALLS BY JAY HODGINS: ArtInteriors / MANUEL ANTONIO ROCKS SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH: Minted

I don’t know about you, but I cannot wait to see the reveal posts from all of my fellow One Room Challenge daredevils! Be sure to check out the links to their blogs below, and come on back here next week for more fuel for your beautiful life!

For now, I’m signing off with a heart bursting with gratitude for the amazing people who made this edition of the One Room Challenge possible: my incredible husband, Linda from Calling It Home, my supportive network of friends and incredible brand partners, and all of you amazing friends who have chosen to come along for the ride. Thank you for joining me! I hope you’ve come away feeling inspired for how you can tell your own story through designing your home one room (or perhaps one floor) at a time.

All photographs by Larry Arnal

 

Sarah-Signature

Claire Brody | The Curated House | Design Manifest | Driven by Decor | Honey We’re Home | Hunted Interior | The Makerista | Making it Lovely | My Sweet Savannah | Pencil and Paper Co. | The Pink Clutch | Simplified Bee | Sketch 42 | Jill Sorensen | Orlando Soria | Thou Swell | The Vault Files | Waiting on Martha | The Zhush | Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by CIH 

By |May 11th, 2016|85 Comments

One Room Challenge Spring 2016 | Week Three (aka The Good, The Bad + The Ugly)

This business is not for the faint of heart. I’ll be the first to dispel the notion that being a designer is glamorous. Being a designer is 10% inspiration and 90% sweating-bullets-while-putting-out-fires-and-trying-to-make-it-look-as-easy-as-your-mama’s-homemade-pie, and don’t let anyone tell you anything different!

I could have titled this post “What To Do When Nothing Goes According To Plan,” but that would have been too dramatic because there are truly a LOT of things going right. So that’s where I’m going to start.

THE GOOD

I promised you last week that I would share my pillow story this week, and I cannot wait for all of these beauties to come to life in this space.

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ONE: I’m beyond excited to have managed to snap up the last of these two beautiful black and gold burnout velvet numbers from Hollie Cooper Interiors.

TWO: I may or may not have drawn blood biting my lip when I first laid eyes on these stunning tribal beaded vintage leather pillows from Stone Textile. I am pretty obsessed with the graphic energy they possess, and I love that their vintage soul will imbue an uncommon sense of history into the space. Love them hard, along with literally every other pillow in Elizabeth’s edgy collection. Be sure to check it out.

THREE: I have been a fan of Arianna Belle‘s stunning collection of pillows for years, and these killer beauties have my designer heart a-pounding. I love the patina to the silver sections of this pair of gorgeous linen pillow covers. So modern, so elegant, so yasss.

FOUR: Also from Arianna’s collection, this yummy leopard velvet is totally a win for me. As the only female in the house, my guys have reacted pretty hard for years now to my attempts to bring anything leopard into the house. Take note, friends: the tide has turned! I got a unanimous “sure” to this one, and I’ll take it!

If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen this close up of the gorgeous Bernhardt Pearl Cocktail Table last night.

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The finish is made of crushed mother of pearl, and I feel like no photo will ever do it justice. It is lustrous and elegant and luxurious and yet so simple. Truly divine, and the perfect centrepiece to the entire room.

I have also been paying regular visits to Whittington & Co. to capture the process of the making of our two beautiful Essex chairs. I am such a believer in the power of a beautiful process to produce a beautiful product, and the team at Whittington & Co truly embody this in their work. From the initial design concept to the highest quality materials used in construction to the finest finishing details, they really do offer a design lesson in the Anatomy Of A Well Made Chair, which is why I put together this infographic below to help tell their story.

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STEP ONE: All well-constructed furniture begins with a kiln-dried frame for stability and the assurance that your piece will resist warping over time. All the joints are double-dowelled, glued and corner blocked for further stability.

STEP TWO: I’m pretty sure the team at Whittington & Co. love wood as much as I do, and that’s saying something. We may or may not have had a moment while discussing all of the varieties available, and the figured maple chosen for the show wood on the Essex chair is so yummy I want to bite it.

STEP THREE: This one is a BIG DEAL to me as a designer: heavy gauge coil springs are hand tied to the frame 8 ways. This is truly the Gold Standard of spring systems for bench-made furniture. Whereas drop-in coil units can be noisy and don’t offer an exact fit for custom furniture, hand tied coils are a perfect fit every time and unlike the much cheaper s-spring or zig-zag spring systems, they won’t sag over time, ensuring you a beautiful piece of furniture that will last a lifetime.

STEP FOUR: The seat springs are covered in high quality cotton felt lining to prefent the springs from transferring through to the fabric. High quality foam edging is also secured and then STEP FIVE: The leather deck is sewn to the sisal webbing underneath for a perfect finish.

STEP SIX: Things start to get exciting as the supple top grain leather is all single or double top stitched and then upholstered to the frame.

STEP SEVEN: Not pictured above, the seat is constructed from a core of soy based foam and wrapped in a feather blend envelope. All cushion covers are made to be reversible to once again extend the longevity of the piece.

To say I’m excited about enjoying these beautiful chairs in our home would be a massive understatement! I’m so delighted to be working with Whittington & Co. on this aspect of the space.

Also on the GOOD list, Graham managed to get the frieze mould from the kitchen cabinets wrapped around the dining room and living rooms thanks to some poplar plans from Metrie.

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I believe details are a love language, so I get pretty excited about seeing this happen. It may seem a small detail to some, but for me it’s the final touch that’s been missing for 6 years and I couldn’t be happier to see it finally happening! I love that this delicate trim detail integrates the 1960’s plaster valances and the beam between the dining room and living room, making it all feel very intentional. Up next for me: fill all the nail holes, sand and paint out all that happy trim.

THE BAD + THE UGLY

So the last week has been pretty loaded with plot twists, not the least of which was the discovery that FEDEX LOST THE GREEN VELVET FOR THE SOFA. Yes, you read that correctly. Somewhere between the mill in Holland and the workroom here in North America, that stunning emerald green goodness went totally MIA.

When I first learned about it, I spent two days scrambling to find a substitute fabric because (naturally) the original choice is now backordered. Clearly emerald green is the sleeper Colour Of The Year (hello Pantone!) because we probably vetted 20+ options without finding anything that was the right colour matched with the right performance ability and actually in stock.

After one really restless night, I made the executive decision to handle this situation the same way I would handle it if it was a client project without a media deadline: I am waiting for the right fabric.

I’ve seen it too many times: driven by “the magic of Christmas” or some other über-important event, a client decides to compromise the design plan in order to have the space finished for the calendar date and then they regret it for all the remaining dates on the calendar thereafter. I’m going to be living with this sofa for far too long to compromise on the fabric. While I’m sad that my reveal will not be true to the original emerald vision, I’m turning them lemons into lemonade with the opportunity to make the room over twice (enter a beautiful loaner sofa!) with two photo shoots to show the room two ways. Hoping y’all will come on back for both reveals!

To secure the “One Room Two Ways” theme, I learned today that the brass and black Strand chair is still at sea and will also not arrive in time for the reveal. So I’ll be adding “find a fabulous loaner chair” to my to-do list for this week. Onward and upward.

Bad news usually comes in threes, and my third was dropping my iPhone in the toilet leading to a rather undignified death. And you know what? It’s all good. I have friends struggling with FAR bigger REALLY HARD battles right now to think I have anything to complain about. These design dilemmas are peanuts in comparison, and the truth is I’m summing up Week 3 with a sense of gratitude. I may not be able to do the splits anymore, but I’m still flexible-as-heck as a designer and will use my love of strategy to make this week’s plot twists work to my advantage.

I truly can’t wait to check in with my fellow design daredevils to see what ORC goodness they’ve gotten up to this week. Be sure to check out their updates and let me know which projects are your favourites!

Claire Brody | The Curated House | Design Manifest  | Driven by Decor  | Honey We’re Home  | Hunted Interior  | The Makerista | Making it Lovely | My Sweet Savannah | Pencil and Paper Co. | The Pink Clutch | Savvy Home  | Simplified Bee | Sketch 42 | Jill Sorensen | Orlando Soria | Thou Swell  | The Vault Files  | Waiting on Martha | The Zhush | Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by CIH 

Sarah-Signature

By |April 20th, 2016|15 Comments