Whittington & Co Speaker Series

Last week many in the design world attended a lecture on The Psychology of Furniture for Designers hosted at Whittington & Co.with Gordon Peteran a professor at Ontario College of Art and Design and an award winning artist and scholar. Aside from the presentation we enjoyed a light lunch and had the opportunity to browse the showroom.  Tony Belbeck & Dan William, furniture designers at Whittington also joined in the conversation about designing and making exceptional furniture.

Below are some photos of their latest pieces .....

Sheridan College Interior Decorating Awards

Monday night Sheridan College hosted their annual Interior Decorating Awards Event.  As in the past, CDECA provides a one year complimentary membership to the winning student.  This award is awarded to the student who has shown outstanding performance and contribution to the Interior Decorating and Design Industry.  This year Ina (Rosie) Roh was the recipient.  Congratulations to Rosie!   

 

An evening at Bergsma's Paint & Decor in Milton

Last evening many CDECA GTA West Chapter Decorators attended our monthly event at Bergsma's Paint and Decor in Milton.  Wow... what a fantastic showroom and the seminar was great as well.  Jeff Bergsma who knows this business inside/out gave us the scoop about the newest in C2 Paint which will be of interest to all of us undertaking paint projects.  C2 has the best pigments of all paint and they use anywhere from 5 - 8 different pigments in varying amounts to create incredible saturated paint colours.  This paint has a built in primer which speeds up the labour time, thus lessens the cost.  One of the interesting details about C2 paint is that they do not use black colorant, since it absorbs rather than reflects light.  By using many different colorants to create their colours they are able to produce luxurious and pure colour.  Currently they have 496 colours in their palette, and will be rolling out 56 new colours within the next month.  Of course this paint qualifies for LEED credits and has 0 VOC.

Of particular interest is the newest collection they have introduced - their Cabinet & Trim paint which can also be used on Floors.  The technology is amazing in that it provides an 'oil' like finish and silky hand, however is water based.

The second part of our evening was spent learning everything new in the lighting business which is changing for the better every day.  Phillip Todoroff, a Lighting Representative, Designer and Educator shared the latest in LED technology and the most up to date in bulb innovations from Phillips.

We enjoyed lovely refreshments compliments of Bergsmas and toured their great showroom.  This is a must visit location!  Thanks to all for providing us with a fabulous and educational evening.

Design Event At Toute Suite in Mississauga

Yesterday was not such a great day with all the rain we experienced but last evening turned into a great night.  The rain ceased and the fun began with a Spring Open House Event at Toute Suite Custom Decor.  Many of the public and Designers/Decorators were seen enjoying the  incredible hors d'oeuvres from Rocos Plum Tomato Catering & Restaurants which can be found on Islington Ave and The Queensway;  while viewing the great Canadian Made furnishings as well.  Toute Suite has everything including beautiful ready made drapery from Faab.   To top that off Jane Lockhart, well known and extremely talented designer was on hand to present some spring design tips and her new line Jane by Jane Lockhart which will be available at Toute Suite. 

Some of the Design Tips shared were that we will be seeing a lot of colour and pattern.  She talked about graphics, geometric, and the all time favourite stripes.  You will also see a lot of furniture with the nail head treatment, contrast piping, tufting and once again yellow metal is showing up as in brass and copper.  As for colour there is an abundance with Pantonne's Colour of the Year being Emerald Green leading the way. We also see mirrored case goods which really help to expand a space.

One can start small with the accessories to add colour to our neutral larger pieces.  White will always be popular and when you add colour and pattern it really gives it some impact.  Below I share some of the photos from last night and you will see I selected mostly grey and light neutral pieces, which I am personally fond of, but there is a myriad of colourful and patterned fabrics available to have smaller custom pieces created to work with your neutrals. If you are ready to go full out any of the pieces below and in the showroom can definitely be fabricated in a bright and colourful pattern!

As we had a chance to network, check out the newest in home decor and of course eat very well, we were also treated to live music from Angelica Ganea who has the voice of an angel.  Check her out on you tube as well.  www.youtube.com/AngelicaGanea

Wow, I would say that Toute Suite really knows how to host a party!!  Thanks to Vish and staff

Lots of Nail head trim and tufting as seen below....

 

The colour we are hearing about will be seen in accessories for many people but if you are not afraid of  colour here is one of Jane's chairs in a lovely pattern with some colour...

CDECA Annual General Meeting & Awards Presentation

April brings us to our CDECA Annual General Meeting and Awards Presentation.   Once again, we met at the Sunnybrook Estates for a day of networking, learning, celebrating and a lovely lunch.  The guest speaker this year was Robin Siegerman who spoke on "Renovation Bootcamp" and offered some good ideas for designers and decorators working on large projects.  We ended our celebrating the winners of our annual Decorating Contest.  Congratulations to the winners!  Check for them on our CDECA Website

Spring Blossoms were our table decor and offered as prizes to attendees.  Created by some members of the GTA West Window Committee;  Dorota Amirmansour; Jasmina Coffa, Debra Schaff Clark; 

Karen Stephens & Jeannette Wisby

National Home Show

The spring brings about many home shows and this year several CDECA Members were sitting in the Homes Publishing Booth, for Reno & Decor Magazine providing complimentary design solutions.  It was a great success and many people booked appointments and came with samples, floor plans etc., ready to gain some professional advice.  Great fun and met some great people.

Jeannette Wisby

Deb Darlington

Helena Asikainen

Audrey Macdonald

Designing French Style

Designing French Style

As an interior decorator  in Mississauga & Oakville, I have the opportunity to attend some really interesting home furnishing events put on by local suppliers, manufacturing and retail businesses in Oakville, Mississauga and Burlington.  I recently attended an event at SOFA about French Design.

SOFA Marketplace, Presented David Thomas of French Market Collection  who spoke on Designing French Style. 

Within the next few years, we will be seeing a lot of the French Style theme blowing up the trends. The French country theme will likely become very popular.  Many home décor showrooms have already been incorporating the beautiful French style décor in many homes especially, homes in Oakville and Mississauga.  It can be added with a more modern look to the old French country, perhaps a nod to French shabby chic. Lots of new merchandise will be showcased in the coming months.

A view of a typical French themed kitchen. Complete with pastels and rustic looking pots and pans.
A typical French theme is a ceramic roosters and lemons on the kitchen counter, very popular in French décor.

 

The French country theme includes rustic looking furniture with slightly faded or worn fabrics. Mixing and matching dark and white furniture also goes well with the theme.  Pastel yellows, greens, blues, black and white accessories are the perfect accents when decorating any room. Accessories such as French ceramics can be placed throughout your living room on the mantel, side tables, and cabinets.

Sunflowers are also very favoured in the French culture as seen below.

A typical French country themed living room lots of pillows and lots of textures. Some decorators would recommend a little less would give it a new French twist and less clutter.

   

Back in the 16th and 17th century, the King Louis of France had their own style of furniture that differentiated from the others, however the tradition of the chairs remained fairly similar with minor changes.

The image below are Louis XIII styled chair. This pair is from the 19th century with new up dated upholstery early Louis XIII straight back, curved arms and turned legs.