The Condo Project

For today's post I'm going to share a few photos of my condo project as seen through the lens of professional lifestyle photographer Katelyn Fraser. 

Last Friday she took the pictures and on Tuesday I received this series of sneak peek of the images that are being used in promotional material.  She's one very talented gal, see her work at http://www.katelynfraserphoto.com/ 

I think they look fantastic and I can't wait to see how she photographed the entire rooms.  I will have more images of the completed project to share with you early next week. 

Here are a few images of Moving Designz Home & Cottage this week as we head into the holiday season.  Anita, Ashley, Kelly and Trish have it looking so pretty this year in our new space. 

(photo by Susan Snow)

The shop is all decked out with pretty Christmas decorating ideas, bright cheerful displays and fabulous gifts.

I'm loving the Tiffany blue theme this year and planning on a silver,white and blue Christmas theme for my home too :)  The chairs in this picture just arrived late last week.  They are small scale in a soft green colour with lovely button tufting. 

Pretty little gift ideas and stocking stuffers.

I love fresh green for Christmas. 

Some lovely ideas using glass vessels in traditional red.  Note Mr Penguin... my love of adorable penguins continues this Christmas season too!!!  Everyone seems to love them, I think there are only 2 or 3 left in the shop.

Our store hours are extended this holiday season

 Thursday and Friday nights open 10am-7pm.

Thanks for reading.  Have a great weekend!

Susan

Hands On

For this weeks post I have a few things to share with you.  First, an email along with accompanying pictures I received yesterday from one of our customers/friends at Moving Designz Home & Cottage.  I get lots of lovely comments and personal emails from bloggers each week and this is one that I found particularly touching.  It made my day and I'm sure you'll agree this is too cute not to share. 

Thank you Kelly for sharing this moment with me and agreeing to let me post on it. 

 Meet Rebecca Moorehead.  A young designer(and fashionista) at work.

"The day Rebecca and I were in to Moving Designz, Rebecca wanted to buy something. She picked out the items she wanted. When we got home from the cottage she started putting together her items. Here are a few pictures of my little apprentice and the end result. Pretty cute! I especially the work wear - a bathing suit! Kelly"

Rebecca is carefully assembling her lovely beach inspired creation.  Like us,  Rebecca loves to create vignettes in glass vessels.  First ,she puts in a good base of beachy rock and then starts adding the twigs, next come the tiny starfish.

The finished creation.  I love it, beautifully done Rebecca.  Today is Rebecca's 7th birthday.  Happy Birthday to a great little designer!

Nice training, mom :).  Kelly Moorehead is also very creative and has her own blog called Designer Decor at http://kellymoorehead.blogspot.com/

Originally intended for Rebecca's bedroom her masterpiece found a home in the living space instead.

Speaking of hands on, I have another very neat thing to share with you...

When I was in Toronto last week we came across this shop aptly named Cube Works. 

And what do they do here?  They use their hands to create amazing pieces of artwork.

They create and recreate masterpieces of artwork using none other than the humble Rubik's Cube.

I am in awe and in love with this piece.  It was my favorite in the shop.  The thinking man totally falling to pieces.  We've all been here once or twice.   What really gets me about this piece is the cubes are twisted to reveal exactly the right colour combinations.

See more of this truly amazing work at  http://www.cubeworks.ca/

I know many of my readers have been waiting for the final pictures of the finished SGG inspired house I've been blogging on over this past year.  It's finished, done.  And I have really big big news!!!

Style at Home is going to be featuring this house in an upcoming edition of the magazine.  I hope to post on the styling and photography process over the next couple of weeks.  I am beyond excited...

Thanks for reading.  Have a great weekend!

Susan

Colourful in Toronto

Yes it's true...  I flew the coop from PEI.  Today I am posting a quick blog update from my hotel room in Toronto.   

Anita and I are back in Toronto at the August buying show for Moving Designz Home & Cottage.  We flew up Saturday night to begin the show Sunday morning.  I took this picture as we were crusing at 35,000 ft above the earth and above the clouds.

We started the show on Sunday morning with a little help from our friends at Starbucks. 

For todays post I am sharing some pictures I took with my IPhone.  Lovely displays, products and colour inspiration.  Things and colours that caught my eye.

Black and Silver toss cushion.  Bling! Love!

Red and Black Christmas wall display.

Yellow and Grey.  Embroidery is hot!

Fresh Green and White.  We ordered these throws in this green, bright yellow, red, chocolate and blue.

White.  Gorgeous decorations, laquered furniture and very pretty accessories.  Lots of texture.  OMG this display was so beautiful... beyond.

Mmmmm ... Turquoise Blue and White paired with neutrals.  Lovely seaside.... next springs stuff!

Soft Pink flowers and mirrored surfaces. 

Clear glass, white, and silver with hits of green and pink.  Fresh.

Black leather, Zebra wood and chrome.  Loving these barstools... coming to the store soon, so comfy, so chic, so us.

Cream and Rusty Brown.  We ordered more of these oversized clocks for the shop. 

A beautiful Blue, Yellow, Green and White quilt.  So perfectly cottagey.

 

Our preliminary collection of clutches for our girly section of the store.  I think we covered every colour here.  This was this mornings shopping adventure.  We both found our happy places at this booth.  Did I mention Cash and Carry?  Some are mine, some are Anitas and some for the store.

We brought lots and lots of shiny jewellery, bracelets, necklaces and earrings.  This is a small sample our our stash.  Fun, pretty accessories :)

My last purchase of the day.  This icey delicious Orange and Raspberry Bellini topped with a red shoe toy.  We had a perfect day of shopping! 

We are moving on ... we've finished the show and are headed for a little weekend R&R in downtown Toronto.  As I have been writing this post Oprah is on TV.  Her topic today is dream jobs.  People living their dreams by following their passion in life.  I truly feel like I am lucky to be living mine.  I love every single moment of it. 

Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!

Susan

More Projects... Completed and in Progress

For todays post I thought I would share some images of a couple of the projects we've been working on over the summer and finishing up during these last couple of weeks.

First up a major laundry room and bathroom renovation. I posted progress pictures of this project a few weeks ago. Both of these rooms are now 100% complete and we're waiting for a few more things to finish off the house in the diningroom, livingroom and kitchen. I'll post those rooms later this month.

Thursday, Anita and I spent all day at Mary's house applying finishing touches to her laundry/powder room. Below is the original laundry/powder room. It is a small space at only 8' X 9' so we had to make every inch count. The room was in need of additional storage and updating as it is the only washroom on the main floor of her home.




View 1 before the renovation. This is the original wall of appliances with open storage.

View 2 after the renovation. Our solution was to have 2 sets of closets built to enclose this wall. A small coat closet on the left and a double laundry center closet on the right. Now all of the laundry equipment and cleaning supplies are conveniently hidden and well organized.

And behind those custom built double doors a newly organized laundry center with shelves attached to the inside of the double doors . Now there is plenty of room for organized storage of cleaning supplies. The interior shelving has storage for laundry baskets and a rail to hang dry clothing.

View 2 before the renovation. The original location of the main plumbing fixtures.

View 2 after the renovation. The new plumbing fixtures are now moved to the wall opposite the laundry closet. The scope of work involved new tile flooring, new built-ins closets, a new set of stacking appliances, installing wainscotting, new toilet, new vanity with matching storage cabinets, new faucets, new lighting and a new paint scheme.

The artwork is an original painting of the homes exterior. It's a very pretty house.

Let's look at the upstairs washroom renovation.

View 1 before the renovation. Everything was removed so we could start fresh.

View 2 after the renovation. This room has completely changed. Here we added another new marble topped vanity, new faucets, new wainscotting, new built in storage under the eave, new lighting, new wall colour, new tub with double shower heads, new shower tiles, new artwork, new towel racks, new window treatments and a shower curtain. The only last detail missing is the shelf for the top of the built in cabinets. Our carpenter will have this last element painted and installed next week.

On to another project. I was at this house yesterday with my installer to hang up the beautiful silk draperies. This room has undergone a major change as you will see.

View 1 before the new furnishings, the original livingroom. This client desired a new updated look for her livingroom.

Here is Bruce up the ladder starting to install the drapery hardware. This is the in between shot that I couldn't resist taking.

... and a couple of hours later the room was looking pretty good!

Although not completely finished the room has undergone a remarkable turn around. We're waiting for the back ordered lamps and the large piece of artwork that will be placed over the sofa. Back orders are annoying but usually worth the wait to get the perfect piece.

View 2 the diningroom before.

View 2 the diningroom after. I love the clean new look of this large open space. I particularly love the new modern diningroom light fixture. We are the exclusive dealers on PEI for this line of Canadian made lighting. In fact every piece of furniture and all of the accessories including the area rug is from Moving Designz Home & Cottage. I've been hoarding the area rug back in our warehouse for months waiting for just the perfect project and it looks WOW in this room.

Next up... I was in Western PEI late last week to review progress on another bathroom renovation.

I took the following pictures while getting lost on the way to my clients home... Getting lost wasn't so bad as I got to see some spectacular scenery. PEI is a very windy place to live but the wind does have its advantages when its energy is harnessed with these giant wind turbines.

There about 54 of these giant beasts dotting the landscape in the Cape Wolfe area.

And on the other side of the road is the fabulous picturesque PEI coastline.

When I finally found the house... here is the bathroom I am working on. Still under construction this room was once a guest bedroom. Soon it will be a luxurious master bathroom complete with a custom vanity, storage cabinets, a large jetted soaking tub and a flat screen television mounted at the foot of the tub.

Stay tuned for the completion of this room and other projects we have on the go.

Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful long weekend!

Susan