We went to the Decorate Vancouver “Urban Living Expo” today and met Abby from Kermodi. We saw Kermodi there last year, with their fabulous display of houseplants you’d actually want to own. That’s right, they sell pre-potted houseplants. But (unless you hate repotting) doesn’t that take the fun out of selecting your tropical and a […]
Indoors
How to: get your plants drunk
Now here’s a worthwhile study. A new Cornell University researcher has found a way to keep paperwhite narcissists from tipping over – by getting them tipsy. The study finds that a touch of booze keeps certain houseplants from getting too tall by stunting their growth. “Dilute solutions of alcohol — though not beer or wine […]
Modern garden accessories
Chiasso carries a number of items that will interest gardeners with a modern minimalist aesthetic. These botanic vase bookends merge my top two passions: gardening and books, while these aluminum planters would solve my container crisis. And just check out birdie in his swanky pad! Love it.
Embrasse-moi Romeo
I love the gorgeous vases created by Marianne Guedin. Check out the quirky, beautifully-designed glass vases with names like Embrasse-moi Romeo, Zab and Coupelou at her website. I love this one, the Virgule (literal translation, comma). Its description, below, will give you a taste of the design concepts behind these delightful vases. This vase welcomes […]
Horsetail in the home
In what seems to be a glorious moment of serendipity, I’ve discovered Livinglass, laminated architectural glass that can be used in furniture, doors, partitions, floors, countertops and more. Described as “inspired by the colors and textures of nature,” Livinglass “captures organic materials within luminous sheets of clear glass.” Perfect for gardeners, n’est pas? I mentioned […]
LED overload
Remember when, in the early 2000s, “extreme” became the lazy marketer’s solution to naming new products and we were suddenly bombarded with extreme fruit juices, extreme razors and even extreme shower heads? Tack the word “extreme” onto any lame product and suddenly – it’s cool! That’s how I’m feeling about LED technology these days. Yes, […]
Brugmansia lamp
You can really bring the outdoors in with this Angel’s Trumpet Lamp, made of sculpted Unyru Japanese paper. The Angel’s Trumpet is also known as Brugmansia, although I’ve also heard Datura referred to as Angel’s Trumpet. Although similar, Datura is herbaceous rather than woody, and its flowers point upward. Brugmansia’s flowers hang downward, just like […]
Glowing furniture
You gotta love Gau Designs’ Glowing Wireless furniture. Made of reclaimed and refinished wood, polyacrylic, and reclaimed steel, this indoor/outdoor bench/table has a built-in rechargeable lighting system (those acrylic tubes are wireless LEDs) which provide up to eight hours of light. I just love the juxtaposition of the sleek acrylic lamps and the earthiness of […]