March flew by so quickly, we can hardly believe it! Remember way back to the first week of March when we teaked ourselves out? It seems I have not yet recovered whilst putting together this recap. We’re looking forward to more house tours, store watches and articles like John’s great French Modernist post in the coming months! And don’t forget, starting soon we’ll be covering our (hopefully/mostly) DIY cottage reno.

Thanks for checking in with us, and thanks to all who contributed!

Teak Week: Hans Wegner’s “The Chair”	Teak Week: Poul Cadovius Teak Wall Unit
Teak Week: Using Teak in your Home	Teak Week: Finn Juhl’s Chieftan Chair
Teak Week: Jens H. Quistgaard	Teak Week: How to Score at Auction
Gone Fishin’ (Florida Thrifting)	Teak Week: Kay Bojesen’s Monkey
Teak Week: Grete Jalk’s Coffee Table	Spaces: Juliana Neufeld
Store Watch: Rogue Gallery	French Modernist: Getting the Look
VV Boutique: The Kathie Winkle Saga	Affordable Art: The Sculptural
The Weekender: Flickr House Tours	Around the house: Vikings!!!

We’ve been obsessing over these Italian table lamps from Artemide!

The Nesso table lamp designed in 1967 by Giancarlo Mattioli $429 CDN (Gabrielross)

The Dalu lamp designed by Vico Magistretti $115 CDN (Gabrielross)

The Eclisse Table lamp also designed by Vico Magistretti $200 CDN (Gabrielross)

Photos: Gabrielross

Last month we featured an article on Chabichou, a fine cheese and gourmet food shop that opened up down the street from us. We’ve since become addicted to french cuisine and like so many, we can’t seem to kick the habit. Even the weekly newspapers have spotted the rise in demand for all things decadent (food wise) and Toronto isn’t making it easy! Just the other day while walking down Queen Street West I found there was a new Crêpe cafe opening on the corner of Queen and Shaw.

So we thought it would be fun to show you how to create a Modern French interior, with influence from early French modernists (post Bauhaus, we’ll leave tube steel for another day).

(above picture) Bryan Adams’ home from the April issue of Elle Decor featuring a cocktail table, upholstery, floor lamp, and rug by Christian Liagré.

Palette:

Textiles: navy, grey/charcoal, black (Lanvin FW collection)

Accent Colours: (Charlotte Perriand Sconce collection – 1962)

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Don’t be afraid to introduce classic french characteristics like these great chevron floors and the crown moldings in the picture above. Sofa and table lamp by Christian Liagré. Read the rest of this entry »

In an attempt at making our lives a little bit easier, whilst keeping you, our loyal readers continuously entertained, we’ve devised a new series! Every weekend we will comb Flickr for photos of objects and spaces that we think are the bees knees.

Our first stop is KITKA’s flickr friend jonnieeleven who has an amazing space down under. Check out his photostream for more house shots as well as objects of interest.

We love the Arne Jacobsen lamp and stool. Read the rest of this entry »

Just the other day I was thinking about how John and I are in the process of graduating from watching First-Timer Mondays and Design Tuesdays on HGTV and moving towards an interest in Reno Thursdays (we’re not quite there yet, but I can feel it in my bones).

Carol Gray from Machine Age Modern is kicking off KITKA’s summer of renovation with some photos accompanied by her experience renovating their loft balcony wall and handrail. So without further adieu, take it away Carol!

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We all like to improve our homes. Some improvements take very little money and effort, others take a large bank roll and super human effort. Mine fell somewhere in between. Here’s our story. Read the rest of this entry »

Remember March 19, when we posted about some of the great finds to be had at the Value Village in Vaughn? Well we thrifted our way home from Collingwood the other day and although it was slim pickings in Stayner thrift shops and the Barrie Value Village, we had a great time at the Vaughn location only 5 days after our last visit. You may recall the photograph of the almost full set of English dinnerware:

This set initially intrigued me because I thought it was by English designer Kathie Winkle. Holly from Twice Found carries a selection of her dinnerware, which I had been admiring for some time. I enjoy it because of the patterning as well as the hand painted colouring that is not always completely between the lines.

Photo of Twice Found’s display of Kathie Winkle tableware

Of course, in true collector fashion, I had looked on the bottom of the set at Value Village and did not see Kathie Winkle’s very recognizable signature, so I wrote it off to just being a cool set of vintage tableware.

Above: the catch. What I had looked at was the bottom of one of the cups, which very plainly says ENGLAND. The stamped signature, however, resides on the bottoms of all of the plates. Lesson learned. Read the rest of this entry »