Design^Sprout | Your Guide to Green Design

D^S Contest! Win a reusable shopping bag!

 

 

    Hi there! This being your average Friday I figured, "Why not brighten up everyone's weekend with another contest?" The generous gals at Flip and Tumble have bestowed another bag upon me to pass on to one of you lucky folks! Read below and let's save the Earth together!

    So, you're not perfect. You buy bottled water from time to time, occasionally mow down on a little Mickey D's (gulp) and don't have the foggiest idea how to compost last night's dinner (nor do you really want to learn). Trust me, you are not alone! The designers at Flip and Tumble realized that despite our best "green" intentions, forgetting to bring a reusable grocery bag to the store was a common problem.
As a solution, they designed this teeny, tiny, sock ball that happily sits at the bottom of your bag waiting to be filled with goodies. Maybe you're not perfect...but no one has to know!

                                     WIN THIS BAG!

    That's right! You too can avoid the oh s*%t moments at the checkout stand and look ever-so-designy while doing it. Just drop me a comment saying anything at all. Any 'ol thing will qualify you to win. I'll announce the winner on Wednesday. Good Luck!

Groupings! Because one is the lonliest number.

    Pretty groupings are really doing it for me lately. I love that you can take so many tiny vintage finds, throw them together and suddenly you have big modern statement. It's a really great solution if you can't afford a large piece of art. The "sin" plates above are a fun and funky way to add a boho twist to vintage plates. Wouldn't they be great in a dining room?

     This gathering of old photographs from artist Lisa Congdon is just stunning! I'm really loving the no-frills attitude toward their display while the over all feel is still elegant.
 

   These matchbox cars tacked up like butterflies are so clever!! I could see them working beautifully in a  little boy's room. Try vintage fabric in painted embroidery hoops to add a pop of color.  I think they'd be even cuter with something embroidered right over the nostalgic pattern.

   These carafes from Three Potato Four look so interesting when grouped together and filled with different colors. Plus, for every one sold, they will donate $1 to help fight hunger.

    And of course, old suitcases. Offering up a bit of romance while secretly hiding last years tax papers!

Lost in Wallpaper Land!

    

     I feel like I've fallen down the rabbit hole every time I visit Walnut Wallpaper.  Their featured designs, by underground artist Geoff McFetridge (below), are just the kind of fun patterns my friends and I squeal over!

    The best part?  It looks straight out of the vintage stores we frequent downtown, but the line is produced using only water based ink, with no chemical waterproofing (I'm guessing with the similar-style vintage wall papers - that would not be the case!).

     Since wallpapering a whole wall for me is definitely scary,  I would scour goodwill for different size frames, spray paint them all black (or all white) then create a wall collage with all the different styles... wallpaper without paste!

     Also, if you browse by style, be sure to click on the Eco-Friendly and Femme Fatale styles.  You could save some $$$ by ordering just a bit and wallpapering a wooden panel to use as a creative art solution.  Maybe three, since grouping adds more impact?  Ooo, brainstorm! I could use it in the center of the collage I've been thinking about...

- The Conflicted Thimble

Eco Chic

    

     Maria Yee designs a wide variety of furnishings, and better yet it’s all done using ecologically responsible materials.  The company prides itself on eco-luxury.  Doesn’t that sound lovely?  And everything is put together without screws or nails with seems a very old-school and skilled way to make furniture.

These pieces particularly caught my wantful eye:

     This sofa from the Mendocino collection has a laid back cool feeling that would lend a great vibe to any room.  I may not be cool enough for such a thing, but I wouldn’t mind trying to live up to it.

This bamboo nightstand from the Carmel collection is such a terrific color!  And that shape is perfect.

- Claire

     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."

Latest Work.

DIY - Frame it, Frame it Good!

   

     Welcome Guest Author The Conflicted Thimble! I have been a follower of her inspiring blog for quite some time and she was kind enough to offer up this artsy (and cheap!) idea to spruce up a boring bathroom!

   So typically galleries sent out postcards to alert their adoring fans of new artists and shows.  Being that h is an artist, and he has shows, and most of our friends are artists, and they have shows, and this has been going on for oh, about four years now; my collection of postcards has become, how you say, excessive.  overflowing really.  So... in an effort to add some pizazz to our generic, white on white guest bath with large-boring-mirror syndrome, I added a frame. 

     As you can tell, there are some gaps.  this is mostly because I haven't found just the right postcard to fit in each place.  The best part of this frame is every time I pop in the guest bath, I remember the show, the artist, and (of course) the art.  Like the one below:

     This show was curated by a good friend who finds art in pop culture. such as the phenomenon of Britney Spears.  So his postcard was a prescription bottle. 
     I love how it changed the entire attitude of my guest bath, and that it cost virtually nothing!

     DIY at it's best!