In living colour...

I opened my Style at Home October issue yesterday and so many things popped to me - things that I have been thinking of, or even things I have blogged about within the last little while that are featured (beautifully) in this issue! Here's a sneak peak:

Is this kitchen not gorgeous?? And it would have fit in so perfectly with my Counter post!

Via Style at Home October 2011

Marble countertops, amazing stools, and gray cabinets that work. Umm, yes.

Style at Home took their Modern Global trend and incorporated it into other stories like this one:

via Style at Home - October 2011

And finally, an old favourite of mine...don't you love when you see something similar to what you did years before?? I had pinecones (and walnuts) as the centrepieces at my wedding in September 2009. I wanted to take advantage of a natural fall occurance that wasn't orange, pumpkin or leaf-oriented! So, I spraypainted some walnuts and pinecones gold, mixed them with natural ones, put them in a vase, and voila - centrepieces (thanks to my lovely mom who collected hundreds of pinecones on the golf course!):



Here is the Style at Home take:

Cute little place settings! via Style at Home - October 2011







Style trends

Style at Home contacted me about some of fall's trends - you may have seen this on a couple of other blogs, but I couldn't resist jumping in and giving my own spin on the trends. See below for the trends, and some interior groupie perspective on them :)

1. Wood
Style at Home features some great wooden objects including a wooden watch (!), a beautiful tray, and log vases. Here are some additional ideas to incorporate the nice warmth of wood into your decor this fall or winter:



via Ten Thousand Villages

the "new" wood pannelling - via Pinterest

via Pinterest

2. The New Neutrals

Taupe, sage, and lilac are the new trends that Style at Home is focused on for fall - check out the link above to get some great paint colour options! Here's my take on things:



Taupe - via Pinterest

My guest room, painted with Benjamin Moore Saybrook Sage

Lilac pillows - via Pinterest

3. Modern Global

This could basically mean anything, Style at Home has narrowed it down to some great examples including mixing and matching patterns.



via Pinterest

via Pinterest

via Table Tonic

This buddha's a bit big (like, real life size big...scary) but you get the idea :) - via Pinterest

Weekend wins

Hellllooooo everyone.

I hope you all had as enjoyable a weekend as I did. The weather was beautiful, the weekend was relaxing...what more can you ask for? The weekend won out this time...we didn't get to the counter stores to check out kitchen options and we didn't get to choosing a paint colour for the cabinets. But, we did achieve a lot of other small wins which turned into a relaxing yet productive weekend.

Saturday we did grocieries and errands and then cleaned the house from top to bottom, including mopping and a closet purge, and hanging laundry out in the sun to dry. Love that! We headed to a friend's house for a really nice dinner to top off the day. Sunday we watched some of the 9/11 memorial (so sad, even 10 years later), hit the gym (refer to aforementioned delicious dinner...), did a bit more running around, a big run of empties to the beer store (love getting that money back!), and then I got to cooking. It was such a hot summer I didn't want to turn on the stove for more than I had to, but this weekend (although gorgeous in the sun) was cool enough to go to town with cooking. I made a batch of brownies, a lovely eggplant dish that we'll have for dinner with chicken one night this week, and delicious artichoke-cream sauce for pasta later this week. The Mr. took care of dinner on Sunday with a prime rib roast, potatoes and carrots. Hellooooo Sunday dinner :)

I didn't even take photos of all my hard work on Sunday, but I am looking forward to eating all of it! Now back to the main distraction of my weekend, the newest Food & Drink issue from the LCBO.

9/11

It's phenomenal re-watching the coverage and memorials to 9/11 victims today. All the more power to New Yorkers, survivors, and the victims families.

I can't believe it's been 10 years since 9/11. It doesn't seem as though it was that long ago, yet when I think of my life over the last 10 years so much has changed. Everyone remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing when they found out. I had just started 2nd year university and was at home eating breakfast before an 11:30 scheduled class. I couldn't believe what was happening.

Friday faves - silky

What a nice short week this was...happy Friday all!

I am loving silk blouses into fall...they look so good with structured pants and skirts for work. I was able to pick a casual one up in Chicago this past weekend, but am still looking for more to add to my office options. Here are some pretties:



Wyatt via Bluefly

Classiques Entier - via Nordstrom

Theyskens Theory via Net-a-Porter

via Pinterest

via Victoria's Secret

via La Garconne

via Express

Diane von Furstenberg - via Nordstrom

Counter colour

Thank you all for your input on my question about painting cabinets. I'm pretty sure we're going to try this out (hopefully in the next couple of months, while painting weather is at its prime here in Toronto). Of course, this has led to a number of other questions - the first one we have to answer is concerning countertops. We currently have white (plain old white) countertops, and white appliances. I think we'll end up painting the cabinets a shade of white. I like the crisp, clean look and I think it will "last" longer trend-wise than a gray tone would.

So, what type of counter to do? I love love love love love love love (enough?) carrara marble countertops with white cabinets. I just can't get enough:



All photos via my Pinterest

BUT. I keep on hearing that they are difficult to care for, stain easily (who wants to worry about every single drip of red wine?), and can be greatly affected by every day items like vinegar and citrus. I am type-a in most areas, including cleanliness, so staining would eat away at me. I would lose it if I invested in carrara marble countertops just to end up with:



or

In no time I would end up like this:

So...I have tried to find some inspiration photos with darker countertops, or those that look like they might be a lighter version of granite or another stone. Any tips, tricks, or suggestions are welcome!



These ones are light but seem to have a bit of warmth to them:

Photos via my Pinterest