In My Garden

Organic Rustic Pared-Down-Traditional Style

A s much as I strive to define my style, it keeps changing. A fickle beast, my taste.

But in truth, I've begun to notice something constant about my taste and it is this: I love *organic* style. I don't necessarily mean things made from organic cotton and sustainable wood (though I do like those too!). What I mean is a rustic sort of "au natural", simple, found-object kind of style. A style I don't really have words for!

I love references to the sea, pale colours, whites and blues and greens, and beachside objects like found sea stars and weathered woods.

I love rough wood, natural fibres like linen and cottons, hand weaving, hand made pottery. I like tables and objets made from salvaged wood, driftwood. I love antiques too, as long as it has a form and shape I like, and a worn heirloom feel. I like old-fashioned things.

I love traditional decor too, so I'm not all about "rustic" and "primitive". But in my traditional decor, I like things to pared down, a little more spare, not cluttered but clean and textural. I gravitate to classic armchairs, but prefer when they are covered in simple cottons or tone-on-tone jacquards so they are textural but not too visually busy. I love pattern most when it is simple, organic, or curvy. I like leaf patterns, simple florals, pale colours. Patterns that come from nature.

I'm not really into contemporary decor and the chocolate-coloured wood that is all matchy match and industrial chic. I find a lot of the pieces just lack character when they are too polished and linear. And while I'm not a huge fan of pine and light woods, I like my woods to be mid-tone or dark, as long as it looks like wood and not something made in a factory. But I do like having one or two pared-down contemporary or modern elements in a room, as they give the eye a rest from all the curvy organic goings on....

What I do love about modern is the art, mostly the paintings, for their spareness, I think, and amazing saturated bursts of colour. Though I am also fond of old-fashioned etchings, drawings, and architectural sketches.

Defining my style is a work in progress. And as much as I hate to sound so out-of-the-box, one of my favorite styles is the Pottery Barn look. All the photos in this post are from their recent catalogue, in which I found a lot to love!

Etching

I have a small collection of etchings I've accumulated in my travels. I have three from Europe and a handful of others dug up in flea markets here and there. I often find myself drawn to etchings, with their delicate detail and often quaint historical content.

Recently, I was shopping in one of Calgary's precious few antique stores (this one located in the gentrified, post-industrial, hip & cool design district called Inglewood).

There is a rather filthy little shop there (with a surprisingly sane and interesting shop keeper), chock full of dirty and broken items, but some very interesting gems, if you don't mind digging all the way to China.

In the store, after a pleasant conversation with a young man visiting from Paris, I came across a pile of old etchings, and brought home ($10) this wee beauty entitled "A Bientot" ('til we meet again). It looks like a lady of some breeding bidding adieu to a hopeful suitor (who looks a little out of her league to me).

The lovely grey-blue mat is soiled and needs replacing, but I've already cleaned the print itself using a soft white eraser.

Maybe I should go back for another - there was a really big pile - one with a shipwreck scene is calling me.

Because It Can't Always Be Heirloom...

Ikea Hemnes dresser

As much as I'd like for every piece of furniture and every object in my house to be unique and rare and terribly significant, it just can't be. It takes time, dedication, and focus to acquire prized and valued possessions, and moreover, you need great places to shop! But sometimes you just need something functional, a place to put stuff, and you can't find anything perfect to do the job no matter how hard you look.

Since buying our new house in December, we've been busily seeking out beautiful things to fill it with. While I've got no shortage of good taste and great ideas, Calgary is sadly not the place to shop. There's a severe shortage of beautiful things, and I have money burning a hole in my pocket.

Yes, Calgary, like every other suburban Hell, has plenty of generic Linens 'n' Things and Home Outfitters where everything looks the same and half of it seems horribly cheap (if I see another Umbra frame...)

We do have a few higher end shops like Chintz & Co (where I had my bedroom curtains made), French Connection (which is small and precious and where bedding can cost thousands) and McArthurs Furniture (which serves the nouveau riche who live in monster houses and have a penchant for monster gilded furniture, most of which I find garrish).

Calgary does have a couple of wee "design" districts, which, as far as I can tell, stock overpriced contemporary furniture made exclusively in China.

But what happens when you're the sort of girl who should be living in New England, the kind of girl who loves rustic/traditional, who admires antiques and things with a classic-historical-flea market-vintage quality? There's nothing.

We do have Pottery Barn (1 store, limited stock), which I like because it's updated traditional, but the quality isn't great and I would like something more "genuine": hand-built furniture, artisanal quality, real antiques. Well, we have about 3 antique stores and one little vintage shop that sells mostly knick-knacks.

So, there's little here to satisfy my tastes and less to suit my quality demands.

So, I've re-discovered Ikea, the king of affordability! I happen to have re-fallen in love with Ikea because they don't pretend to be something they aren't. They're cheap and the design is great. It wasn't always this way. When I turned 25 and got my first job in Toronto fresh out of grad school, I was happy to leave my Billy bookcase behind.

But 10 years later, I'm back, simply because I've decided that if it can't be heirloom, I'd rather have something that I know is cheap, and is still stylish. Something that doesn't pretend it's fancier and nicer than it really is.

David and I are going to Ikea this weekend to buy the Hemnes dresser for one of our spare rooms (which also doubles as David's *gentleman's dressing room* where he keeps his clothes and such). The Hemnes dresser looks smart and masculine...and costs $350 instead of $1200, like the made-in-China dressers all those "contemporary decor" stores are trying to hawk.

vignette: an afternoon in my house

vi·gnette [vin-yet] noun, verb: any small, pleasing picture or view


Biscuit napping in the master bedroom...we don't sleep here in summer because it's too warm, but good for kitties who like the heat.



Scenes from the downstairs spare room, which gets lovely afternoon light...we sleep here in summer because it's partially underground and very, very cool.



Biscuit in his favorite bird-watching spot..our neighbour has several feeders which are rather popular with local birds.

Acquisition

Whilst shopping for home-office furniture, I was pleasantly sidetracked and bought a killer gorgeous Asian table for our master bedroom. Since setting up the room, I've been annoyed by the long expanse of empty wall between the two doorways. I was just preparing to commision a carpenter we know to build us a long rustic table - basically something longer and narrower than a a sofa table to fit the narrow available space.

The Asian table I found wasn't as long as I wanted, but it had exactly the same rustic charm I dreamed of. And it measures 13" wide, leaving plenty of space for walking!

The table was constructed in Vietnam from salvaged wood. I'd never seen anything like it, but today as I looked through a reference book (Influential Styles), I found an almost indentical table dating from the 1700's. Tables with precisely the same lines and size have been popular exports to Europe and America since the late 1700's. So I suddenly felt much more content with my unusual and slightly out-of-character choice!

On the table sits an eye-catching little green antique ginger jar, which sadly is missing its cap. And on the right side of the table is an Ikea Grono lamp ($24 for two), which I hacked by covering in Martha Stewart gift wrap to cut the glare. The lamp now looks lovely and I get lots of compliments on my handi-chick design.

Buying Art (and inspiration) Online

"Tea Bird" image from ohmycavalier's Etsy shop (see below)

There's been much ado about Etsy lately that I just can't stay away from it! I click on a link to see the art in question, and the next thing you know, I've spent 45 minutes looking at jewelry...

While this isn't great for my career (I end up staying late at the office), it is good for my little artist's soul.

And while photography is my One True Love, and pottery a close second, nothing beats the sublime beauty of a simple sketch...

So I finally bought my first two online art pieces from ohmycavalier's shop.

The first is the lovely little bird print shown above. I adored this print because it's simple and sort of naive, but it was the little bird feet that sold me on it. They are just so delicate and perfect - simple lines whose precision tells you this is a very skilled artist! I also love that the print was painted using tea!

And the second print, "Tangle Hair", I love because it's mythical looking and old-fashioned and gestural, and I have a little thing for swallows and period dresses with great necklines...



I will frame these for the entrance of our house.

Inspiration: Oh so blue...and muted

A lthough I change my mind about 50 times per day, I've recently begun to really narrow down what makes my heart sing loudest when I look at decor photos and when I study beautiful rooms. Here are a couple of rooms I truly love, courtesy of the amazing shoot factory. What is there not to love about these grand, spare spaces? But it's the colours...the whites and pale watery blues and grey that I long for most.

I recently painted my office the same saturated blue (and white) shown in the top two photos....

In Our Garden

At last, some photos taken in the gardens of our new home in early June...I need to do an update already!

Calgary sits in a cold, arid gardening zone (Zone 2-3), so sadly, our gardens lag behind those in much of the rest of Canada and other warmer climates. Our peonies haven't bloomed yet, while in some parts of the country, they're already past their prime! However, we are a hardy and optimistic lot, us desert gardeners, so in Calgary, we wait. And we savour our precious blooms, which change and grow every day but seem o-so-slow unfurling.... Containers of impatiens, verbena, dahlias, alyssum, and such on the front steps (above).
The shade garden (above) in our back yard, full of ferns and hostas, wonderful sweet woodruff (which has since filled the bed), and a little Japanese pagoda we inherited. We rested Davey's antique gate against the fence and placed a low-slung pot of geraniums in the crook of the mayday tree (back).
My three herb containers (above) with a cedar box in the background, which is full of coniferous shrubs and an ornamental caragana. We planted heather in the cedar box this year. My herb garden is luscious with lemon balm, basil, rosemary, chives, humble parsley, and several varieties of thyme, my favorite herb.
One of two new columbines (above) I planted this year. If it survives the winter, it will spread into new stalks, which will climb the fence alongside the original.
Pots on a window ledge (above) containing the ubiquitous geranium, and bacopa (the little white flowers), which remind me of wild strawberry flowers.

The cedar box, again, plus my precious herbs. The little cymbal-playing cupid/muse was inherited from the previous owners whose tastes ran to the traditional. Note the solar lanterns we have scattered throughout the beds, to add a moonlit glow at night.
Hydrangeas starting to fill out (they will get very tall), plus lamium (purple nettle), I think...
Containers in the front yard, where we have a "dry river bed" rock garden feature. The spikey purple flowers are salvia, which I love. There are also pansies and crysanthemums and stuff that wasn't yet in bloom since the pots had just been planted.

Another pot of snapdragons and osteospermum (sp?) under our crabapple tree in the front yard. The neighbours dogs like to run around here. A cotoneaster hedge sits in the background...

Fleurs

Some flowers from a recent dinner party.

My Mom was here visiting for 2 weeks but returned home last weekend. Her visit and her company was simply wonderful. I miss her so now that she's left, but I have some wonderful memories, especially memories of her here in our new house. It was her first visit, and since she lives several thousand miles away, it may be the last for a year or two. But now I have memories of her here, to keep me company, and she has context now for all my stories. But more about that later.

I'm lonesome for my kind and lovely Mom (who is great company, like a best friend only better...a best Mom!) but I'm keeping busy with work and our bountiful backyard garden, which is revealing new wonders every day. I will soon post about the garden, shopping for a console table for the living room, and other exciting bits, like choosing paint colours for the office. Oh, and I also borrowed several decorating books from the library, including Pottery Barn's Work Spaces (for office planning) and a gorgeous book published in Spain called Cozy Atmospheres: Bedrooms, which is terribly inspiring and makes me want to do the whole house "rustic" with lots of relaxed, natural materials...I wish I could stop changing my mind about which styles I love most - it's making this nest-building process awfully hard. I keep falling in love with new things...

Decorating Crushes: I am presently in love with feathers and light watery colours, like pale blue, and things from the seaside like driftwood and polished stones. And anything and everything white!

More updates soon.

Something worth collecting (and I smell divine!)

I've married (to use the word loosely) into a family of collectors. David isn't an intentional collector (unless you count cookbooks and rugby shirts). But his Mom, brother, and sister-in-law are all collectors at various stages of their collective illnesses (sorry!). His Mom collects depression glass and loves shopping for various antiques. His brother is a geo-phile who collects ammolite (a rare gemstone) and petrified wood in the wilds of Alberta. But his biggest collection by far is Coke memorabilia, action figures, old signs and bottles and the like. His sweet wife collects tea pots. And like any sane woman, has a fetish for handbags.

David and I are the ones without a collection. Sure, I have a lot of books, but like David's cookbooks and cooking magazines, mine is accidental. I have a lot of pottery from my travels, but it doesn't constitute a collection in my mind. However, I've begun to notice that there's a certain item I can't stop admiring and buying - soap! Luckily, soap's a disposable item that never gets a chance to lay around and get dusty, and I wouldn't have it any other way! I buy it to use it and wish I could shower more often.

Yes, I've fallen in love with soap - bar soap that is (there is no liquid soap in my house except at the kitchen sink). My favorites are the custom, organic, all-natural, homemade kinds, though I also have a penchant for the elite European luxury stuff!

I don't know why precisely bars of soap appeal to me (considering I have eczema on my hands and have to be super careful about what I put on my skin!). I guess it is the girliness of it all- the gorgeous scents, the shapes. I love the rough-hewn shapes, the fancy smooth ones, and all the cliche little shapes like sea shells and robin's eggs. I like soap cut from a slab, and soap with little bees stamped on the front, and soap that smells like almonds and cloves and calendula and...the choices are endless!

$6 for a little heaven in the shower.

Ok, I will admit that many *gourmet* soaps are ridiculously expensive. I am very discerning. I won't pay more than $10 (usually) for a hefty bar, and $8 is my usual limit. And I don't use the stuff with scratchy bits. And I don't agree that just because an ingredient is "natural" it's good for your skin (lemon is an acidic no-no for the face!).

The saving grace of my gourmet, custom soaps is that mostly they don't flare up my eczema. For years, I've done "scent-free" - using unscented laundry soap, dryer sheets, body lotions, unscented facial moisturizers, minimal make-up. Anything and everything seemed to keep my hands and face in dermatitis-hell. Commercial soaps were often bad due to strong perfumes (or preservatives?), although I still love Dove Unscented! And mainstream cosmetics - forget it! Even the natural-looking pseudo-pharmacy line Kiehl's is full of perfume and makes my face red and raw. Their super-sensitive line is so strongly scented I threw the sample out without even bothering to put it on my face! So I put almost nothing on my face, but at least now I can wash my body with earthy-scented things and not break out in welts.

My preferred soaps come from the farmers markets - like my favorite Kogi Naturals. I love Kogi soap and the prices are good, about $4 for a good-sized bar.



I also love some of the expensive French milled soaps, even the ubiquitous Pre de Provence, especially their cucumber one!Another favorite is Lothantique from Provence. Their soaps are expensive, but the scents are d-i-v-i-n-e!

When I was last in Provence, I brought home a suitcase-full of soap and soap presents for everyone (who didn't seem so impressed - I guess they don't get my obsession!)

There are a many brands that catch my eye but I am discriminating! I like a subtle, interesting scent, a good cost per weight ratio in my bar, and often fall for insanely beautiful packaging (although I like Kogi's simple rustic enviro-conscious design too)!

So if you ever need to buy me a gift...something small and (relatively) inexpensive will suffice!

The Arrival of Drapes

Along with the civility of spring in the air and flowers everywhere, our bedroom drapes have arrived! They were custom-made at Chintz & Co. And they are resplendent and lovely...
In addition, the new bedding has arrived. I remain conflicted. Partly I want a white, airy, quiet bedroom, and partly, I like the soft copper colour, which is sophisticated and warm and makes a statement.

The first two elements are in place. Now, we will move along (over several months, no doubt) to replace our bedside tables, buy new bedroom rugs, and change the overhead light fixture (which is oddly located in the corner of the room) from something ugly (see photo) to something utterly sublime. There will also need to be things for the walls....




(previous bedding)

Migraine & Memory: A New Study

Excerpted from Science Daily —

Women with a lifetime history of migraine showed less of a performance decline over time on cognitive tests than women who didn't have migraines. Researchers say medications for migraine, diet and behavior changes may play a role in helping women with migraine protect their memory.

For the community based study, 1,448 women, of which 204 had migraine, underwent a series of cognitive tests beginning in 1993 and again approximately 12 years later.

The study found while women with migraine performed worse on cognitive tests, such as word recall, at the beginning of the study, their performance declined 17 percent less over time than women without migraine. Women over age 50 with migraine showed the least amount of cognitive decline on a test used to assess cognitive functioning.

"Some medications for migraine headaches, such as ibuprofen, which may have a protective effect on memory, may be partially responsible for our findings, but it's unlikely to explain this association given we adjusted for this possibility in our study and the medications showed no indication of a significant protective effect," said study author Amanda Kalaydjian, PhD, MS, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.

Dr. Kalaydjian says another factor that needs to be explored is the possibility that women with migraine may change their diet or behavior in some way that might improve cognition. "For example, alternative treatment for migraine includes adequate sleep, as well as behavioral and relaxation techniques, and a reduction in caffeine," said Dr. Kalaydjian.

"Despite these theories, it seems more likely that there may be some underlying biological mechanism, such as changes in blood vessels or underlying differences in brain activity, which results in decreased cognitive decline over time," said Dr. Kalaydjian. "More research is needed to fully understand how migraine affects cognition."

The findings are published in the April 24, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

I *love* William Morris wallpaper

From the first moment I saw them, I fell in love with the beautiful, historical wallpaper patterns designed by William Morris (the father of the English Arts & Crafts movement) over a century ago. Not to mention the fact that I'm still longing for a trusty Morris chair.


I'm not sure whether to paper an entire wall or room (say a powder room) in one of these luscious prints or if it would be too busy. Hmmm. Maybe I'll just wallpaper my computer screen or make a little framed art piece?


Aren't the patterns exquisite?! I love them!

All photos below are from http://www.historicstyle.com/ (previously Charles Rupert), a Victoria B.C.-based company specializing in traditional fabric, wallpapers, hardware and so on.