good design at the vancouver olympics

Well the Vancouver Olympics are soon drawing to a close {sniffle...what will we watch on tv from now on?!} but as a design junkie, I wanted to do a post on some of the impressive design choices that were made for the 2010 Winter Games!

Melanie mentioned a few weeks ago the staging and lighting at the opening ceremonies which was incredible, and I wonder what's in store for the closing ceremonies. Here are a few other things je t'aime...

First, I really like the athlete's bouquets. I know some people think they look like broccoli. But as someone who has been honing their eyeballs on good floral design the past few years, I am relieved that the traditional, and often cheesy, rose bouquet was tossed for this fresh, green one that represents the lush green of British Columbia. Feminine enough for the ladies, and masculine enough for the gents, I thought this was a great choice. And bonus: the bouquet’s designer, 75-year-old June Strandberg {owner of Just Beginnings Floral society} teaches, employs and empowers women who have left prison, are recovering addicts, suffer disabilities or have been the victims of violence. So these bouquets are bettering the community too!

Have you noticed the ceremony podiums? They are gorgeous! By industrial designer James Lee, the podiums 'echo the undulating peaks and ridges of the Coast Mountain Range'. The medal trays are beautiful too, made with the same wood harvested in BC forests, and have a special coating so that the medals don't slip.

And speaking of which, the medals are pretty cool too. Designer Omer Arbel created the very artistic 'wavy' metal look, again inspired by the west coast landscape of mountains and water. The medals each have a unique element of aboriginal artwork which are constructed in a 30-step process. Looking at the medal designs over the past few winter Olympics {all are a bit ew with the exception of Turin's}, you might agree that this are the most unique, stylish and visually pleasing!

The outfits of the medal presenters are awesome too, and were created by every Canadian gal's favourite store Aritzia. I'm loving the heritage knit sweater coat...how cozy!

Is there an Olympic design that you like? Johnny Weir's skating costume perhaps?

{sources from here, here, here and here!}

baby bloomer bump update!

I am at 5 months now...wowee, time is flying! I'm officially half-way through my pregnancy {why did I not know that pregnancy lasts 10 months, not 9?!}. I am big...well I feel big...and yes, there is only one in there! I have a lot more growing to do too, so can only imagine what I'll look like by July. Will I be able to sit at my desk? Will I be able to put on my shoes?

more office idears...

I found so many other fun pictures in my home office search from the other day that I thought I'd do a follow-up post of a few!

Loving this old shutter used for mail/postcards/pictures/whatever papery thing you like! I found it on this nifty site called re-nest.com! And the following two pictures are from the same site. Check out this brilliant way to store paper stuff! And if you have rafters...shove some books in there!


I like this crafty idea for my crafts. Right now I have a Mystery Box full of odds and ends but I like these jars stuck to the shelf!


This enormous vintage suitcase can be closed up to hide all the mess inside. I actually saw it in person at Restoration Hardware and it is quite spectacular. But seeing it closed up makes me giggle a bit because it is just one, big, giant suitcase!! Kind of like you are Alice in Wonderland and you drank a potion!


I found this home office shed on Busyboo Design Blog. I would love this...you could feel like you were leaving your house to go to work! But I can't see how it would work in our cold, wet and snowy Canadian climate. It is also like a sweet version of Dexter's home office shed!

funky rooms continued

My post from last Wednesday is continued with MORE funky rooms, thanks to Meredith, who is lucky enough to be able to read french and therefore read Marie-Claire Maison magazine! Thanks for alerting me to such funkadelic rooms, Mer. They are totally funky and fun. What do the 'Bloomers think? Would you do something this bold? {all pics from Marie Claire Maison}

nifty idears for home offices

I'm always on the look out for ideas for a functional but funky home office ideas since my condo isn't that big and has limited storage space. Now that we are doing the bathroom reno, and re-vamping the living room/kitchen/dining room to a red and yellow colour palette, I feel like maybe I could add a little somethin' somethin' to the office. Right now we have our second bedroom devoted to our "office" but since D's computer takes up the desk, and there is a couch on the other side of the room, I didn't have much space for my own computer and papers. So I bought a cute, white desk on sale from West Elm and right now it sits in our bedroom. It looks cute but it isn't exactly the space I had in mind for myself! I think we need a reconfiguration and I'm going to take some cues from these inspiring pictures!

We actually don't have a closet to spare {shopaholic!} so this isn't an option for me but I think it is a great idea if you have some extra closet space! I love how you can shut the door and all the papers go away!

{top picture from here and second picture from here}

I LOVE this idea! These clipboards found via With This Nest blog are awesome and I am pretty certain they will end up in my refreshed office plan!

I'm definitely inspired by these offices found via inspire*inspire blog although the top one is a bit too girly for our gender neutral apartment. I really like the floating square shelves in the green room.

love story

{a better version of this video is on their personal site! Scroll down to "2002 Winter Olympic Games" and Click on "Love Story" - I highly suggest watching it rather than the youtube version above}

The Winter Olympics makes me think of my favourite figure skating routine of all time. Back in 2002, I remember watching our Canadians pairs team, Sale and Pelletier, clad in simple grey costumes, win the gold medal with their routine, Love Story. I found the video again on Youtube (but a better quality video is actually on Sale and Pelletier's site if you just scroll down to where it says 2002 Winter Olympic Games - I highly suggest watching this verson instead of the youtube one!!). Boy oh boy I felt the shivers all over again. Lori Nichols (who happens to be our neighbour, although we've never met her!!) choreographed it, and I remember hearing she was pregnant when she made up the routine. If you watch it, you can actually tell - their movements are just so gentle and loving - as if he's taking such good care of her. I would like to meet Lori Nichols; she might be my hero. I have seen her on tv at this Winter Olympics too. She choreographs so many of the figure skaters' routines that she has to switch her team jacket each time they perform! But alas, I don't want to appear like a stalker and go knocking on her door to say hi, so, Lori, here's an open invitation to come knocking at ours - we're just up the street!!! We love pretty things, so I think we'd have alot in common :)

a cottony wonderland wedding

A while back, we blogged about the possibilities of using cotton as a main floral in a wedding here! Well I recently saw this beautiful cottony wedding on Green Wedding Shoes and was completely smitten. So cozy, unique, rustic and beautiful. A loverly, cottony wonderland!

some crazy funky rooms

In my search for cool bedrooms and living rooms for our new house (which can't be finished soon enough by the way) I came across some really funky, kind of crazy pictures of hot pink rooms! I don't think Craiger and I would REALLY agree on neon pink in his own home, but it sure is vibrant and I would love to risk it !

I also found this cool room of all different shades of greens ....

{pics 1 + 2 from designlovefest.com; pic 3 from coastalliving.typepad.com}

good lookin' toilet brushes?

I never thought I'd be blogging about toilet brush design, but D. has very particular requests when it comes to toilet brushes and so I found myself researching toilet brushes that would suit our currently in renovation mode bathroom. He doesn't like when they have an open top because that is just gross {I agree} and it has to have a replaceable brush because otherwise you are throwing out an entire toilet brush holder which is wasteful, it has to be a strong enough material to allow for some sort of bleachy disinfectant to be left in the bottom at all times BUT it can't be metal because it tends to leave rust rings on the pretty tiles. Hmmm.

We did have a perfect one from IKEA once that was white ceramic with a little grey stripe on the top that met all our germaphobe and design needs and we were finally happy {yes this great search for toilet brushes is years old}. But one day it got knocked over and cracked in half and then IKEA stopped making them and currently only offer a metal one with a dorky flower cut-out or the cheapy $2 plastic ones that are a great price but unfortunately don't meet the closed top requirement.

I saw one that I am tempted to buy at Vienna Douglas Collection, which is where we bought our vanity and towel bars, that is a white ceramic bulldog. I'm not normally an dog/cat kind of decor person but there is something about this one that makes me giggle. Only prob is it has a covered front but the back is left open and the brush won't be able to disinfect in its requisite bleachy product.

Here are other ones I found. Oddly the UK seems to have the market on these things. I think I'm most taken with the old-fashioned bucket and brush...it's funny and nice! But sigh...open concept...however open in a deep kind of way where the bleachy can be contained. But will it rust?



Ha ha...funny Pinocchio staring at you while cleaning! And I like how he balances on his hat. Not sure it will do justice to our beautiful, modern reno!


This is pretty purdy but it is from the UK. NOT going to ship my toilet brush from the UK!

These are nice...I found them on the Furnishing My Home! blog but I can't figure out where to buy them.

opening ceremonies: the stage

Happy Olympics, Bloomers! It has been an exciting weekend as a Canadian. With Alex Bilodeau's gold medal last night in the moguls (which made me cry by the way), and the fact that Canada is ACTUALLY tied in 2nd place for medal count...it's all just pretty darn exciting. In addition, us Bloomers have to discuss a little something about the Opening Ceremonies: Despite the disorganized VIP box, and the technical difficults with the internal torch, we HAVE to address the staging. That stage was amazing. In fact, I've never seen anything like it! I have NEVER seen a projection transform a stage so beautifully, and into so many different terrains. From making it look like white snowy ice with that slight blueish tinge, to the trees that grew OUT of the stage, to the squares of prairie patches (which I cannot find a picture of anywhere by the way), to the way they made it look like an ocean with 3D whales jumping out...I was speechless! I also loved how they made everything look so white and icy in general; and how they made the audience wear white so they matched too. Kudos to the producer of the show, David Atkins. {pics from New York Times blog}

Here's a video fo the 3D whales. So beautiful!