Vancouver: Hotel Georgia

We just returned from six wonderful days in Vancouver.  I thought I would share some photos of our lovely and amazing hotel, the Rosewood Hotel Georgia.  

The Hotel Georgia is a historic hotel, first opened in 1927.  Plenty of famous people, like John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn have stayed there, not to mention Elvis.  The hotel was recently renovated, so it is fresh and modern inside, with lots of historical detail left intact, as well as the original facade.

Our room was tastefully decorated!

The bed was deliciously soft and inviting with its lovely pillows and chevron blanket:

The pillows were all goose down:

And all the bed linens (silky soft) were by Pratesi:

Our room, a Premium Executive room, had a great seating area for relaxing at the end of the day:

The draperies and patterned sheers were so pretty:

We also had fantastic views over the Vancouver Art Gallery:

And the adjacent Fairmont Hotel Vancouver:

Three of my favorite features of the hotel were its fantastic gym (which I visited three times), the serene Sense Spa (where I had an amazing 80 min. massage) and the Nespresso machine in our room (for an occasional migraine-friendly decaf!):

They got me hooked.  Now I need a Nespresso!!!!

The bathroom was quite amazing, with a rainforest showerhead and a giant soaker tub, as well as his and hers vanities (I do hate sharing!):

We enjoyed the (unexpected) nightly "turndown" service, where each evening, used towels were replaced, the sheers were drawn, and soft lighting was turned on in the room.  They also delivered shortbread cookies and water each evening and topped up the coffee supply...now that's customer service!

The first evening, we toured the hotel with one of the (very knowledgeable) valets.  He took us to the Spanish ballroom with its beautiful hand-carved details: 

The chandeliers were quite spectacular:

Even the (very high-tech) conference room was tastefully appointed, with original art and Barbara Barry chandeliers.  I could totally tolerate a long boring meeting in here:

The hotel was filled with stunning original art.  I forgot to photograph the spectacular lobby, but even the upstairs banquet rooms had lovely art, like this ethereal large photograph (sorry, I have forgotten the artist's name):

One of my favorite pieces of art was this giant 300 lb carved wax sculpture (which was framed and looked like a painting) in the stairwell:

I also really enjoyed the divine Bel Cafe (great coffee) and Hawksworth Restaurant, both located on the main floor of the hotel.  The Hawksworth Restaurant was beautifully decorated and its lounge featured exquisite embroidered pillows by couture embroiderer Ankasa:

Photo from Hawksworth's website

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay despite a few rainy days and a broken foot!  


I was also impressed in that (magically!) we were often greeted by name after only short interactions with the staff...how do they remember all their guests?

Thanks Hotel Georgia for your loveliness and impeccable service...

We will be back!

This!

I finally found the headboard I want for my spare room!  I forgot that I had seen the perfect headboard in Paris! 

This gracious beauty was for sale at Blanc d'Ivoire's shop in Printemps. It was even the perfect height for my location.  And now I recall why I didn't buy it - they don't ship to Canada and it was about 800 Euros, which is a little over my budget for a simple headboard.  But oh, how I lingered over it.  I snapped this shot for you, dear readers (the saleslady was rather cross with me).

*

Tonight I found this beauty at OKA design, another favorite shop over the pond.  They probably would ship to Canada but it's also rather dear (almost 1000 pounds!).

Oh, and just in case you're wondering, that Ethan Allen bed was CAN$2800 (about $2400 US).  Can you believe it?  I mean seriously, it's probably machine made in China.  I shall have to investigate further and find out - perhaps it is made slowly and surely by skilled craftsmen and would be worth the cost, but I doubt it.  

Which brings me back to the upholstered bed frame.

I still cannot find one ready-to-buy in the height I require.  I am now considering having one custom-made, like this beauty, also from OKA.  Several shops in town will make simple upholstered headboards, saving one tedious hours of DIY (no, it is not so easy - I know a designer who spent 6 hours making one, not to mention the time to get the rental saw from Home Depot, the wood, the fabric, etc. when you don't have a live-in carpenter/seamstress).  I would rather pay someone $700 (the going rate) and get a perfect custom job with a removable slip I can launder.

But I am still on the fence.  I have living room furniture in need of TLC (an upholstery job, a slipcover job), and we need a new furnace.  And I want a new digital camera.  Ah...the joys of slow decor indeed.  

Happy hunting to you too.

This!

I've decided that THIS is the headboard I want for my spare bedroom. Ideally, I'd prefer a complete upholstered bed frame (with footboard and rails), but there are several issues with this: (i) the room is rather small, (ii) I want to place the bed in front of a window so the headboard can't be taller than 45" and (iii) my budget is tight.

But mostly, it's been a real challenge to find a classical, pretty, low profile upholstered bed frame. I found one by Mitchell Gold for $3700, a little over my budget, and a little too modern.

So I've decided to build my own headboard base, upholster it, and then cover it with this lovely headboard slipcover from OKA Direct. I will visit one of the OKA shops later this month when I'm in London to see if this slipcover is worth the cost (£ 140). Seeing as how it's a simple design, I could just have one made by my tailor, but I do love the monogram on this one. And I hope the quality is good.

Oh, and luckily, the UK King bed is the same width (60") as the Canadian Queen so the headboard cover will fit precisely!

I'll still need to build a frame to fit the slipcover on, which makes me a little nervous. But my darling David is pretty handy and I've watched enough HGTV DIY shows that surely we can accomplish this minor engineering marvel? And hey, once it's done, any imperfections will be covered by the new slipcover! I might also be able to buy an ugly upholstered headboard at The Home Depot, say, and cut down the legs to fit my 45" height requirement. And I'll also have to temporary-hem the OKA headboard cover since it comes taller than 45".

How's that for ingenuity? Let's just hope the cover is as lovely as the photo suggests, and more importantly - that it's available!

While I'm shopping at OKA, I'll also hunt down these pretty little boxes, which would go swimmingly with the new headboard in the spare room: