http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog Real Canadians decorating Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:34:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/12/turning-to-a-pro-for-help/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/12/turning-to-a-pro-for-help/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:53:03 +0000 Chris http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=18990 StyleNorth reader Liza wrote to me seeking some help finding a well-priced coffee table (up to $250). Liza lives in North Bay, Ontario, where the Craigslist pickings are slim to non-existent so after discussing size and style, I pulled scads of Toronto-area options for her to consider. Liza found the winner herself, above, but there was a caveat (or two, as it turned out). There were a couple of pronounced, white watermarks on the surface that I was pretty sure I could tackle and turn into a good blog post (this one!).]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/12/turning-to-a-pro-for-help/feed/ 5 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/09/iidexnecon-megatrends/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/09/iidexnecon-megatrends/#comments Tue, 20 Sep 2011 10:03:57 +0000 Chris http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=18365 On Thursday, for the second year running, IIDEX/NEOCON presents a conference session with professional trend spotter Jamie Thomas. This year the Stylesight trend director looks ahead to spring/summer 2013 and sees four big-picture trends all basking in the shade of a single epochal umbrella, which Thomas pithily describes as “East is the new West.” “We're talking about a worldwide shift away from Europe and America and toward the East,” she says. “This is a long wave trend that will affect fashion, design and interiors for the next 10 to 20 years.”]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/09/iidexnecon-megatrends/feed/ 4 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/05/reposttips-for-todays-christie-antiques-show/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/05/reposttips-for-todays-christie-antiques-show/#comments Sat, 28 May 2011 09:19:27 +0000 Chris http://stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=12124 If you're checking in with styleNorth this morning on your way out to the Christie Antiques Show — Canada's largest — here are a few tips: Wear comfortable shoes! Take a little more cash than you'd be comfortable spending. You will inevitably find something fabulous that you just can't live without and to come up short, well it would be criminal wouldn't it? Clear out the trunk of your car before you set off. Pack a lunch if you have special dietary requirements and take some bottled water. There is a "food court" at the show but the line-ups are long and you'll have cross a very large site if you feel peckish. If you find something wonderful, buy it. Don't resolve to "be back" because you'll never locate that particular stall again and if you do, the thing you're chasing will inevitably be gone. Go slow: There is so much to see that you'll feel urgency nipping at your heels — ignore it. Take your time, enjoy the day and kibitz with the dealers who also want to have a good time. ]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/05/reposttips-for-todays-christie-antiques-show/feed/ 7 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/04/lousy-styling-great-tip/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/04/lousy-styling-great-tip/#comments Sun, 17 Apr 2011 14:16:39 +0000 Chris http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=16843 Apologies for the sorry styling of this pic but it was taken on the fly at yesterday's wildly successful styleNorth Garage Sale just before a sweet young couple carried the table off to their new loft/condo. I bought it on Craigslist after several price drops because the brass plate and the original dimensions of the piece were conspiring to keep buyers at bay. The mint-condition marble top was beyond luxe but the table was 28" square and 21" high, which meant it was too large for a side table but too high for a coffee table. Enter my cheap, easy fix; I took the legs to my local Home Hardware where they cut them down to 15" for just $3 per leg. My $12 outlay doubled the value of an item that was previously unsellable.]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/04/lousy-styling-great-tip/feed/ 3 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/02/when-two-beats-three-of-a-kind/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/02/when-two-beats-three-of-a-kind/#comments Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:09:18 +0000 Chris http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=16173 I've written before about my admiration for interior designer Michael S. Smith and the cover story in the latest Architectural Digest (all photos by Pieter Estersohn) is yet more proof of his incomparable abilities. I tend to analyze Smith's work carefully and after going over the AD feature with a nit comb I noticed that in many of his tabletop vignettes the designer prefers pairs over threes, which are favoured by so many other stylists (notice the small bronze urns on the side table above). A lot of designers rely on symmetry to balance their rooms and I see Smith's taste for twins as an extension of this preference. It's a bit of an eye-opener to see him use the trick over and over in this swish Manhattan apartment.]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/02/when-two-beats-three-of-a-kind/feed/ 3 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2010/12/novus-the-cure-for-acrylic/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2010/12/novus-the-cure-for-acrylic/#comments Tue, 14 Dec 2010 09:27:32 +0000 Chris http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=15405 While I was touring Patina last week, shop owner Sal Shivji was busy at the counter polishing each and every Lucite slab of a stacked, spiral lamp. Shivji was using Novus plastic polish, a miraculous product known to few outside "the business." Novus takes scuffs and scratches out of Lucite, acrylic and just about any other polymer. And given the explosion of sexy plastics and polycarbonates from manufacturers like Kartell and Calligaris, it might be a good idea to buy some Novus stock. The product will certainly keep your chairs, lamps and anything else made of acrylic crystal clear. In the past you could order Novus through the Home Shopping Network but a recent search revealed they're no longer carrying the product. Shivji's partner Garry Punnett tracked it down online and ordered directly from the manufacturer. Given the abundance of gorgeous Lucite at Patina, my guess is the boys are going through cases of the stuff.]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2010/12/novus-the-cure-for-acrylic/feed/ 1 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2010/04/good-rental-karma/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2010/04/good-rental-karma/#comments Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:15:37 +0000 Chris http://stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=13796 A lot of you will think I'm nuts but I'm going to share my latest project with you anyway. The bathroom tiles in my soon to be former apartment are original to the 1952 building and look it thanks to years of paint splatters and God knows what else. I knew that an easy fix would be to give the floor a once-over with my favorite paint stripper, a biodegradable, green product (if you can believe it) available through Lee Valley (below). What a difference!]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2010/04/good-rental-karma/feed/ 15 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/09/vip-seating-product-placement-at-tiff/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/09/vip-seating-product-placement-at-tiff/#comments Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:43:10 +0000 Chris http://stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=12004 High-end Toronto furniture retailer KIOSK has partnered with publicity machines M.LINK (Los Angeles) and GAT (Toronto) to outfit a rented Yorkville townhouse, ground zero for the promotion of 17 festival films including Suck, London River, Bunny and the Bull and The Good Heart. Like a fashion designer who loans a gown to a starlet for a red carpet appearance, KIOSK has provided floor models to leverage some of TIFF's buzz.]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/09/vip-seating-product-placement-at-tiff/feed/ 7 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/08/when-paper-and-paste-are-bred-in-the-bone/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/08/when-paper-and-paste-are-bred-in-the-bone/#comments Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:02:59 +0000 Chris http://stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=11260 Hanging wallpaper isn't rocket science but it's not a walk in the park either, especially if the walls being dressed have lots of cut-outs, corners or slopes. When I asked professional painter and paper hanger Mike Scapillati for tips on how to do the deed well, his advice was simple, "Hire a professional! High-end papers can cost upwards of $500 per roll," he says, "and in a lot of cases the order turnaround is six or even eight weeks. If you mess up the application of just one sheet of paper it could leave you looking at half-finished walls for a couple of months."]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/08/when-paper-and-paste-are-bred-in-the-bone/feed/ 13 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/05/trade-secrets-crazy-joes/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/05/trade-secrets-crazy-joes/#comments Thu, 21 May 2009 09:54:48 +0000 Chris http://stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=9069 An upholsterer I know recommended Crazy Joe’s for inexpensive fabric and when someone in the trade makes a referral, I pay attention. Joe’s tagline is, “if you don’t shop at Crazy Joe’s you pay too much!” With three locations – two in Toronto and one in Mississauga — I figure Joe must be doing something right . . .]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/05/trade-secrets-crazy-joes/feed/ 2