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/2012/01/hardware-inside-and-out/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2012/01/hardware-inside-and-out/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:52:42 +0000 Chris http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=19532 It's been awhile since a shop window screamed out at me to be featured in Window Dressing but the current display at Toronto's Hardware Interiors (760 Queen Street East, 416.462.3099) has editorial written all over it. Symmetry, scale, surprise, this window by shop owners Murray Duncan and Jordan Tabachnik has it all. The fierce, head-turning mask at the centre of the vignette is from a private collection being sold on consignment. It's not the sort of thing Hardware usually deals in but the shop's clientele is apparently eating it up. The Congolese Kuba Royal Mask in the window is priced at $950, the figure eight lamps are $385 each and the salvaged-wood display console is $2,100.]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2012/01/hardware-inside-and-out/feed/ 4 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/06/cool-kitchen-set/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/06/cool-kitchen-set/#comments Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:00:44 +0000 Chris http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=17459 Bungalow in Toronto's Kensington Market often has terrific pieces in its window and this week is no exception; on Tuesday I caught the display team installing this awesome kitchen set, which the store buyer could only tell me was originally purchased from Scandia in the 1970s. The six-seater set is in mint condition and is priced at $795, which seems eminently fair to me. Just look at that curvaceous corner, you could pull the pie-shaped seat out and use it as an occasional chair in another room.]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/06/cool-kitchen-set/feed/ 5 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/01/ids-11-great-displays/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/01/ids-11-great-displays/#comments Sun, 30 Jan 2011 14:43:28 +0000 Chris http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=15926 When I'm prowling a show like IDS I'm always on the lookout for great displays and vignettes; the more eye candy I can give you darling readers, the more likely you'll be to keep coming back. So here's a selection of beautifully styled booths and spaces that beckoned and said, "Take my picture!" Up Country did a particularly good job, above and below, and was working the hell out of its Down Home Collection featuring the Union Jack, but it was not alone -- Elte also featured the British flag on a distressed, patchwork rug that was combining three trends into one.]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2011/01/ids-11-great-displays/feed/ 8 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2010/03/vintage-heartache-on-queen-street-east/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2010/03/vintage-heartache-on-queen-street-east/#comments Sat, 27 Mar 2010 13:06:43 +0000 Chris http://stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=13720 Toronto's Queen Street East is the city's best mid-century shopping drag and sometimes a trip down there can be the cause of considerable heartache. Like yesterday, for instance. At Phil'z (792 Queen Street East, 416.461.9913), I fell in love with what my companions and I dubbed the Hammock Chair. Shopkeeper Cynthia doesn't have any info regarding its provenance but what we all know is that the chair is a knock-out! ]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2010/03/vintage-heartache-on-queen-street-east/feed/ 3 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2010/03/window-dressing-south-asian-inspired-console/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2010/03/window-dressing-south-asian-inspired-console/#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:34:01 +0000 Chris http://stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=13652 On sale for $850, this console in the window of Toronto's Decorum Decorative Finds is exactly the kind of modern-meets-exotica that makes my pulse race. If my living situation weren't so up-in-the-air I'd have brought the piece home with me yesterday. Instead, some other lucky soul will build a magazine-worthy vignette around it -- I trust they'll cherish it as I would.]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2010/03/window-dressing-south-asian-inspired-console/feed/ 10 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/12/holiday-windows-at-the-bay/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/12/holiday-windows-at-the-bay/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:09:45 +0000 Chris http://stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=13428 One of my fondest Christmas memories is my family's annual trip downtown to see the seasonal window displays at Toronto's duelling department stores, Eatons and Simpsons. The window unveiling was a newsworthy event in 1960s Toronto and crowds gathered on the snowy streets to see the curtains pulled back to reveal merry, mechanized scenes of the north pole come magically to life. This year, I was happily surprised to see a lively moving display in the windows of The Bay's flagship store at Yonge and Queen Streets (former home to Simpson's).]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/12/holiday-windows-at-the-bay/feed/ 8 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/12/pop-up-vintage-the-melissa/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/12/pop-up-vintage-the-melissa/#comments Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:24:11 +0000 Chris http://stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=13361 On Saturday Mike and I got the chance to play tourist in our own town by taking a gallery tour of West Queen West with the inimitable Betty Ann Jordan, a local art writer and flâneur extraordinaire. It was a brilliant afternoon. Near the end of our tour we ducked into a brand new pop-up store, The Melissa (1080 Queen Street West) where owner Melissa Levin has loaded in her stock of flea market finds and vintage fabrics and draperies.]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/12/pop-up-vintage-the-melissa/feed/ 2 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/10/window-dressing-bungalow/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/10/window-dressing-bungalow/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:53:29 +0000 Chris http://stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=12943 Sometimes a shop window will grab me with its styling and story, other times I'm hooked by how great the product is. On Saturday, I was roped into Bungalow in Toronto's Kensington Market by this amazing 1970s club chair. Harvey Probber and Milo Baughman came immediately to mind although if the chair really was by one of those famed US designers it would be priced a LOT higher than $595, especially with brand new upholstery. You'll be hard pressed to find a chair with this much style in new condition for a price this low.]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/10/window-dressing-bungalow/feed/ 4 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/10/classics-hit-bottom-at-canadian-tire/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/10/classics-hit-bottom-at-canadian-tire/#comments Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:01:41 +0000 Chris http://stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=12877 I could see the Eames Lounger through a window from the sidewalk and I was truly taken aback. Surely, the mid-century craze is officially out of gas when cheap knock-offs are turning up in Canadian Tire (chair $544, ottoman $199). Any vestige of cool still attached to this once iconic chair must now be laid to rest. And it's not just the Eames's being subjected to this cruel ignominy — save room in the dustbin for Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Chair ($544, ottoman $269) and Isamu Noguchi's famous, sculptural coffee table ($299, save $50!), too. This is a classic case of too much of a good thing.]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/10/classics-hit-bottom-at-canadian-tire/feed/ 16 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/08/window-dressing-sidewalk-exotica/ http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/08/window-dressing-sidewalk-exotica/#comments Sun, 23 Aug 2009 10:35:11 +0000 Chris http://stylenorth.ca/blog/?p=11595 The other day I happened past Quince Flowers at 660 Queen Street East in Toronto and there on the sidewalk was a most exotic and alluring display (left). Beautiful plants, beautiful planters -- I just had to go inside to investigate. Turns out everything at Quince is on sale beginning tomorrow (August 24) for 20 - 75 per cent off.]]> http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/08/window-dressing-sidewalk-exotica/feed/ 1