Just as the mid-week blahs were setting in I get an e-mail from Etsy seller and artist Miss Crowland. In addition to sharing her new and super funky (check it out here!) silhouette art, she sent along some photos of her handmade, totally boho and pretty green Toronto apartment. I am seriously loving the bright colors and organization of her office bookshelves. Blahs now officially gone - thanks Maria!
"The ever-ubiquitous 'keep calm' poster (above), from SF Girl by the Bay on Etsy. The message kept me going while I had a pretty rough first 5 months this year."
"I stole the dancing couple from a display shelf at Starbucks (they were too cute), and the monkey is a card my friend sent me from British Columbia. It's a painting from Emily Carr of her pet monkey. The doll is handmade from Mexico. My trusty reference books."
"That mustard chair is a really old hand-me-down from my uncle. It was in his 'sitting room', that room almost all Italians have that exists, but no one ever uses, for some weird reason. The print with the blue shapes I found for free from a CD store to promote some event long-passed...it's silk screened, and I love it. The item to it's right is a hand-painted hanging from the middle east (CNE), and it has little doors on the front that open up to reveal a little mirror. The little pillow on the chair has a hand painted figure from India (from a little shop in Toronto)."
"My dad as a young man, and a picture of my brother (I have 4 brothers) that I drew on as a child."
"I bought the wood cage on the shelf at the CNE in Toronto (Canadian National Exhibition), and it is handmade from Indonesia. I traded one of my drawings for the print hanging below it (silk screened) when I was in an art fair about 1000 years ago. The wood shoe form is from my dad (he is a shoemaker/cobbler). His shoe repair shop is attached to the front of my house that I grew up in, and he's still there (you would probably love his shop too..he has all kinds of crazy stuff in there). The vase I bought at a great store in Toronto called Cindiloohoo. They sell used furniture/accessories that they pick up at estate sales. The vase is actually from an old light fixture (turned upside-down). The doily under it is about 1 of 1000 that my mother has at home, that various relatives have made. My budgie Kiwi was handmade from another budgie."
"That painting is one of my own. I've had it forever...I don't think I could ever part with it now."
"The fabric over the bed was hand-embroidered, and I bought that in Mexico. It's from the Ixtapa region (I think that's how it is spelled). I also made the little fuschia tissue flowers, and stuck them to the little branch I grabbed from outside. Oh, and the little cross hanging on the branch is made by hand entirely out of vanilla pods (my friend brought me that from Mexico as well)."
"I painted the fuschia chair that I found left outside to use as a cute TV stand, and the rug is from India (purchased in a shop in downtown Toronto)...I think it is handwoven, and it is made entirely from plastic...you can use it outdoors too, and I like that it is easy to clean."
You are such a super lady, Veronica!
Posted by: Miss Crowland | June 04, 2008 at 09:04 PM
This is stunning and I want to move in right away!!!!!!!!!!!PS. How cute is that flowered gun??? I WANT!
Posted by: Adam | June 05, 2008 at 12:59 PM
God, I love that office space. Especially how she took regular Ikea boring office stuff and put her own creative stamp on it. Very cheerful and I would love to come home everyday to that.
Posted by: Amber | June 05, 2008 at 02:28 PM