I will have a RETRO KITCHEN.

While I was daydreaming today my mind wandered off into the subject of kitchen decor....

So naturally I started googling

 RETRO KITCHENS

I will one day have a aqua and red retro feeling kitchen.

I don't want it to be as though I ripped a kitchen out of the 50s and inserted it into my house.  

I'd rather have a modern retro feel.  

Definitely from the 1950s though.

There is just something so classic about the 50s aesthetic.

Maybe it is because it was the era of the "happy family unit"?

I'm only speculating of course.

I didn't exist in the 50s.

Neither did my mom.

The colours are just so cheery.

 Everything seems so polished and perfect

I know that you will pay more these days for appliance that are a throw back to the 50s but I think it's worth it.

Your appliances are the biggest thing in your kitchen other than your cabinets so they would have a huge impact on the overall feel of the room.

I particularly like the colour palette of the first pic and the pic above.  

They are that perfect shade of aqua or robins egg blue.

I think either the cabinets or the walls with wear this soft colour.

 Then I will use punches of red as the accent colour.

Not the most original colour palette in the world, I know.

BUT 

Ever since I bought a retro clock that was in these colours, 

I knew I would one day design a kitchen around it.

Now I just need a kitchen.

RED? Yes, please. But what shade?

OK So I am getting sick of maintaining my 

bright red hair with MANIC PANIC.

It gives a great colour but it fades almost instantly.

This is the colour of bright red that I had 

and would love to have again,

BUT

I want a colour that I can maintain a little easier.

So, I have come across box dyes that are permanent that will give me the colour below.

BUT

It's more of an auburn.

What I'd really to try pulling off is this bright copper colour (below)

BUT

I can't seem to find a box dye (that I trust) that looks 

like it will result in this fabulous colour.

I could try and find something lighter and more natural like the pics below 

but I feel like as those colours would fade they would become very lack-luster....

I'm not sure yet which direction I'm going to go in.

The lighter coppery colours are the more practical choice 

because they won't be as obvious when my roots grow in 

(which will be dark blonde)

BUT

I'm partial to having brightly coloured hair.  

I love the look a good saturated vibrant colour.  

Why must that be so hard to obtain and then maintain?

The whole wig idea is getting more and more appealing.

SUGGESTIONS ANYONE?

Pictures that make me smile. Part 3

"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.

 Nothing would be what it is, 

because everything would be what it isn't. 

And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. 

And what it wouldn't be, it would.

You see?"

~Alice.

magical moss

sleeping beauty

roses and ruffles

hazy reflections

where the white queen lives

pretty pink path

to sleep is to dream

sleeping on snow

frosty germany

this one's just right

Splendid.

Existing Amongst the CLOUDS.

I would love to visit this exhibition that I came across on 

Visual News

which is a great place to check back for interesting finds.

I love their "slogan",

The Cure for Eyeball Boredom

Genius.

CLOUDSCAPES by Transsolar and Tetsuo Kondo Architects

"As children, we often dream of flying up and touching the clouds; looking skyward, they seem almost within reach. Now, through a collaboration between Japanese architect Tetsuo Kondo and German climate engineering firm Transsolar, that dream has become reality. By using three different levels of air with different temperatures and humidities the team has successfully created a cloud that hangs like magic on the roof of the space. Visitors to the 800 square meter room at the Architecture Biennale Arsenale exhibition travel up, through and above the clouds on spiraling ramps. It’s as if they’ve been given wings."

Source: visual news

Now you can have your head in the clouds...

LITERALLY.

For more on this exhibit on display in Venice, Italy, 

see Architecture Biennale Arsenale

Stylish Blogger Award? I'm honoured. Yay :)

Wow! I feel so special that I am included in this neat "pay it forward" type of act to get the word out on....thats right, STYLISH BLOGGERS :)

Thank you so much to fellow Ottawa Blogger, Katharine Cornfield who's lovely blog 
Girl About Town was picked before mine.


Here’s how it works:

1.  Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.

2.  Share 7 things about yourself.

3.  Pay the award forward to 10 great bloggers.

4.  Contact those 10 bloggers and let them know that they have received the award.

OK So here's the fun part.  I get to try and think of 7 interesting things about myself...haha.

Self-Portrait, 2006

1.  I am an Artist.  Always have been.  I can't remember a time when I didn't yearn to create things.  And yet, a lot of new people I meet are surprised to find this out.  I feel like artists constantly get a bad rep. of being flaky people who don't want to participate in the "real world".  On the contrary, I love being active in the "real world".  I just want there to be more art in it.  If being an artist means I have my head in the clouds, then maybe I do....but I wish more of us did.  It's really cool up there.

Grand ideas aren't always bad ;)  

The Garnetts

2.  I just got married in August.  Mike and I had been together for 7 years and finally decided to take the plunge :) He proposed last October, the weekend after my birthday.  We went for a cool night walk along the Canal and he popped the question on the way back.
Simple, romantic and not cheesy.  It was perfect.  Our wedding was full of love and loved-ones.

He is the love of my life and I'm so happy that I have him.

Fresh Ink

3.  I just got a new tattoo in December.  It was my Christmas gift from Mike.  It is my second tattoo.  The first one I got when I was seventeen and is what most refer to so lovingly as a "tramp stamp".... well sort of.  I don't regret it.  I don't think I ever will.  I might add to it at some point but its still a pretty tattoo and at least I can say that I got it well before they became popular....maybe I even started the trend! haha....  I'm not sure why it took me eight years to get another.  I think because the possibilities are endless, it's just hard to settle on one thing.  I love my new tattoo and what it stands for.

I'm already thinking about what I want to get next.

Cuteness

4.  I have two cats named Dexter and Zoey.  Dexter is the one in the back and Zoey, of course, is in front.  They are polar opposites.  Dexter is independent and sleeps almost all day.  He is very affectionate but only when he wants to be.  He is very playful but only when he wants to be.  AND he is crazy.  All the time.  Oh, and he never meows....which is weird.   Zoey needs to be where people are.  She doesn't sleep that much for a cat, spends every minute she can on your lap, and never stops meowing.  If you talk to her she will talk back.  They are both FULL of personality.

They are our family.

Rock out

5.  I secretly wish I was a rock star.  I love music.  It is my other passion.  BUT I can't sing and I don't play an instrument.  I'm not really musically inclined, I guess.  I just think, how awesome would that be?  I feel like I would be naturally inclined to the performance part of it.  AND the style part of it.  It would be great to have an excuse for wearing the crazy things that I do.

 I do rock out in my car though.

What?!

6.  Somehow I have a knack for getting into Guest-list only parties.  Do you know what my strategy of choice is?  Just walking in.  Yep, believe it or not I have gotten past security and into some pretty exclusive parties by just acting like I'm supposed to be there.  The most recent one was while I was in Toronto for TIFF my good friend Jen and I got into George Stroumboulopoulos' party at the Hazelton Hotel.  I'm not trying to brag or anything, I just want people to try it.  If you have nothing to loose, then just watch what the people who are supposed to be there and then just do what they do.  If you get kicked out, you get kicked out.

At least you can say that you tried.

Me Being Silly

7.  When I get nervous, I make stupid jokes.  My husband and I have this in common.  It just happens.  Most of the time it breaks tension or lightens the mood, but sometimes with the wrong person (someone with no sense of humour) in the wrong situation (a job interview maybe) it can keep people from taking me seriously.  I would consider myself to be goofy at times.  I am not the demure and graceful person that I sometimes wish I were.  I am awkward at times.  I am clumsy.  I often swear like a sailor.  But I try to do all of these things in a dress :)

Does that make up for it? I dunno... :)

ANYWAYS, Enough about me!  

To my fellow bloggers, 

TAG YOU'RE IT!

Lets hear some things about you :)

1. i go by katie

2. chichichic

3.  hello, lovelies

4.  melissa dixson, taxidermist.

5.  design for mankind

6.  Rainy Day Story

7.  turquoise shed

8.  Paper*Cakes Finds

9.  Little Chief Honeybee

10.  Delightfully Tacky

THEN PASS ON THE LOVE!

Living the "High Life", 462 ft. above Seattle.

I recently came across an article in the

 New York Times online called:

Making a Home in a Pyramid, 462 Feet Above Seattle 

By MICHAEL TORTORELLO

I thought it was pretty neat-o so I decided to share some it. 

"TO get to the top of the world, Petra Franklin Lahaie ushers her two young daughters and their girly bikes through a set of heavy bronze doors, greets the 24-hour elevator operator in the Prussian blue uniform, rides up 35 stories past mostly vacant office suites, debarks next to an observation deck and Chinese-themed banquet room, passes through a portal marked “private residence,” climbs two stories into a neo-gothic pyramid and enters a penthouse apartment."

"The 1914 Beaux-Arts tower, with its white terra-cotta cladding, was an instant landmark — the tallest building on the West Coast at the time and, by many accounts, the fourth tallest in the world. But Mr. Willis said that no records endure to say who lived in the caretaker’s apartment atop the tower."

"As late as the 1970s, the rent was just $300 or $400 a month, and possession would pass with the key from friend to friend, many of them “writers and artists."

"WHEN Ms. Franklin first visited the Smith Tower in 1997, the apartment had been empty for more than 10 years — and for good reason. “There was a huge water tower that was being taken out,” she said. “And there were big piles of concrete. There weren’t stairs, there were ladders to get from floor to floor. And you’d be living among amazing dust. When it rained, the rain all came in. It was like standing inside of a river.”

"What the Smith Tower really needed, Ms. Franklin decided, was a newly expanded two-story dwelling. Two bedrooms and two baths could be squeezed onto the 37th floor, and an open living room/kitchen/dining room would fill the 38th. Naturally, this fantastic 1,750-square-foot apartment would need an occupant: herself."

Check out the rest of the article HERE.

MAISON MOSCHINO. Hotel of Enchanted Fairytales...

Upon wandering aimlessly through the vast world wide web I stumbled upon this 

WHIMSICAL BOUTIQUE HOTEL in Milan.

Maison Moschino

The hotel, “home and place of enchanted fairytales,” has 65 rooms, the "Clandestino” restaurant headed by acclaimed Chef Moreno Cedroni, a bar, the “Culti” spa, and a boutique. 

It is situated in a Neoclassical building that was once the city’s first railway station and is now at the heart of what is becoming the modern centre of 21st century Milan. 

Staircase

Maison Moschino is the splendid result of a design project supervised by Rossella Jardini in cooperation with Jo Ann Tan. It is the outcome of an artful combination of fashion intuition and brilliant design applied to the hotel industry, and it expresses a new approach to hotel hospitality. The language of fashion has been transformed and adapted to create imaginative settings and surrealistic imagery for rooms in which fairytales are brought to life. “Alice’s Room”, “The Petal Room”, “Red Riding Hood”, “Forest”, and “Gold” are the names of the rooms (16 different designs) that transform sleep into a unique experience, with a constant interchange between fables, dreams, and an upbeat, optimistic reality. 

Even in the lobby, guests are welcomed by fluffy origami cloud lamps, and they enter a fantastic world that reveals the allure of fashion, with Moschino dresses and accessories turned into floor and table lamps.

"Life is a Bed of Roses" Room

"Luxurious Attic" Room

"Forest" Room

"Sweat" Room

"Sleeping in a Ballgown" Room

"Zzzzzzzzzz" Room

Info Courtesy of www.luxos.com

I would stay there of course....

If I could possibly afford it.