Starlight Quartz Tiles - Good For Borders, Accents And Backsplashes

Creatively designed personal spaces always hold a special place in our hearts. Especially, if they are have use the beautiful and breathtaking starlight quartz tiles. These tiles have an amazing shine that adds a new dimension to the interiors. Use the bright and dark coloured surfaces to serve as borders, accents for walls, or even specialized effects on the backsplashes. To add a personalized touch to your own homes, you have to think innovatively and make the best use of such beautiful tiling materials. Quartz tiles are usually found in many colours, patterns and textures. Starlight tiles are far advanced in colour, shine and the quality, and suitable for any modern decoration project. Use them as they are, or use them combined with other tiles to create borders and accents to make the interiors glow. They have an impact on the mood of the person living in that space, as they create a soothing and calming atmosphere. Starlight quartz tiles work wonderfully as accents and borders. Bathroom or kitchen interiors face a drastic change through their creativity and charming personality. Use these in different sizes, shapes, patterns and textures for creating a new character to the walls. When you use them for borders, they draw the on-lookers' attention towards them with their enticing beauty. Apart from being extremely beautiful, they have great functionality as they are highly polished, non-porous surfaces that repel water. They do not soak in the liquid spills and do not form stains easily. They can easily be cleaned with just a wipe with a soft cloth. The shine remains for a long time, when we don't use any harsh chemical cleansers. Use them for borders creatively and transform the room into a stylish space. You can use starlight quartz tiles as accents on the shower walls, or kitchen walls. Use them as an extension to the backsplash and create a bold style statement. Use them on one of the bathroom walls in a stylish way and create a stunning accent. The black exterior, suits every decor theme and setting, so you can think of many ways of using them creatively. For kitchen or bathroom backsplashes, they are the perfect tiles. They reflect light amazingly and make the room look brighter and shinier. You can increase the life of these tiles by hiring professional help for proper installation. Their experience gives you perfectly finished walls and floors and adds great endurance. Quartz is the most preferred tiling material today, because it is water, stain and fire resistant. This stays colourful and glowing even when there is a lot of wear and tear. This is a magical stone and has many uses, because of which it is gaining a lot of popularity. Take advantage of the beauty and advantages of this tile and improve the value of your home.

A private window

Hey hey laaaaadies! (And men. Hello Dad!) How are you this fine Thursday? Today I’m sharing a super simple project that solved an age-old problem for us. See, we live in a neighborhood. Like, a real, suburban neighborhood with houses next to us. (That gives some people the shivers, I know.) Our bathroom window is one of those that doesn’t open. (And I still don’t understand why. Moisture issues

If You Can’t Find Me. . .

 

I’ll be in my powder room.  For a long time.

 

 

 

The bad news? It’s about 120 degrees in a small bathroom with no windows and a steamer.

The good news?  I think I’ve lost ten pounds since last night. 

(In water weight, but who’s counting….)

 

 

I’ll be back.

 

PS—The steamer and a plastic putty knife were the magic combination!

New Lighting in Our Foyer

Have you ever fallen in love with a price tag?  That’s how I found our new light for the foyer.

 

 

Of course, I had to Instagram a picture (while I was at a local thrift store) so you all could tell me this was meant to be before I bought it.  (It’s like shopping with friends.)  I had always thought we’d put some kind of drum pendant to replace the small lantern that was there.  But, an already-painted, pagoda chandelier for $34 quickly changed my vision for the space.

 

 

 (I’ve put this lantern in storage to paint later.  I think it might work somewhere else in our house.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also had to make sure that whatever we put up didn’t compete with the large lantern (that I spray painted) in our home office, since it’s all pretty much one big space.

 

 

 

What’s the last great deal you’ve found for your house?

Cuckoo for my clock

Hello there! I hope you’ll indulge me today while I show you something new to our home. It probably isn’t too exciting to most, but it is a piece that makes me so happy I can’t even explain it. :) It’s actually a kind of weird how it came about. Without going into too much detail, let’s just say I have very little from my childhood. I have no toys, no Christmas ornaments – only pictures (that I

Affordable Kitchen Design Ideas

There are strong indications that, although there's a tentative 'green shoot of recovery' in the economy, the housing market is still erring on the cautious side. This means that, rather than moving to a new property, many householders are choosing to invest more in their current home. This includes redesigning the heart of the home - the kitchen. The kitchen is one of the key areas that any householder looks for when they're choosing their dream home - and if the kitchen isn't 'right' then it can make a house feel like less of a home. Interior design magazines are filled with gorgeous kitchens with fabulous styling details... that can cost a fortune. This can leave you with some grand ideas, and a budget that sadly doesn't match up to your expectations. However, it is possible to take a different approach to what can be an expensive problem, simply by changing the way you look at the situation. While instinct may point towards gutting and starting again from scratch, why not work with what you already have? Replace, reuse, recycle... Unless your kitchen is in dire need of a complete workover, then refurbishment rather than replacement offers an affordable kitchen design solution. In fact, it fits in rather well with the entire principle of 'working with what you've got' that has become the mantra of many interior designers during this period of economic austerity. It's actually more fashionable to refurbish, and is also a more environmentally friendly way of tackling the problem too. Because you're keeping the basic framework of your kitchen it means that less waste is heading off to landfill sites, so a refurbishment kitchen design also adheres to the replace, reuse, and recycle principle of the green movement. But that doesn't mean your refurbishment design has to be less glamorous than a complete replacement. Using a little bit of imagination and the skills of a specialised team, a refurbishment can actually produce a real 'Cinderella' effect by transforming a drab, ordinary kitchen into something that's original, desirable and utterly chic - and all for a fraction of the cost of a replacement kitchen. Keeping the costs down And it's that last point that makes kitchen refurbishment a more desirable approach to interior design at the moment - cost. By refurbishing rather than replacing, you can cut your costs dramatically, which means you have more money to spend on the fundamentals such as hiring a professional refurbishment company to do the work for you. By taking this route you can bring on board a team of designers, installers and craftsmen that can work with you to produce the best possible result. They also have access to a wider range of options, fixtures and fittings that will give your final transformation that unique flair, marking it out as a 'designer' kitchen, rather than just an 'off the shelf' option. With a refurbishment your budget goes a lot further because you're not spending money on new units.

Snippets of IDS 2013

Last week, the Toronto Interior Design Show was on. Thursday night was the opening night party and what a party it was! You have an opportunity to see the exhibits while catching up with friends:

Hamming it up at the Farrow & Ball photobooth with my Blogfest 2012 friends.  Aren’t they gorgeous and in shape?

You may recognize this trio as talented DIYers who appear on CityLine regularly. So talented and fun!

On Friday, the awesome ladies at Beige is Dead/Masco invited a few of us bloggers/designers on an InstaWalk.  We were to instagram images of products that caught our attention. It was quite challenging to look/ask questions/instagram and walk at the same time!  But I was up for the challenge and  it was a lot of fun! Here are a few of my Instagram snaps:

My favourite vignette/booth at the show was this one from Cocoon Furnishings. It is showcasing the Suzanne Kasler line for Hickory Chair. I’m dying to use this furniture in a room, so call me OK?

Don’t you think this Oliver Yaphe grey and pink graphic flat weave area rug would look perfect in my daughter’s room? So in love with their area rugs.

Ikea always has eye-catching rooms/vignettes. Take this vintage copper tub in front of a fire for example (not available at Ikea but the accessories are!)

The tub co-ordinates with the copper backsplash tiles. I was loving the round mirror which I think I have seen in-store before. In tweeting with Ikea today, I found out it’s a new product – maybe because the magnifying mirror is attached. Need to find out more.

 

Hanging 85 HEKTAR pendants (according to the Ikea twitter feed but it doesn’t look like that many) in the Ikea kitchen booth makes quite a statement.

Since I have bathrooms on the brain, I loved looking at the faucet collections including the Axor by Hansgrohe.

Every space can use a little vintage lighting like these from Eclectic Revival.

  

These felt clocks in a rainbow of colours from The Felt Store were very affordable.

Love this large photograph by Tony Koukos. His work can be printed as wallpaper or even on a marble backsplash!

Wool and silk grey beauties from Weavers Art. 

This rustic glam chandelier is from Living Lighting on King. Also note the gold sconces behind. Think I need to pay them a visit!

Did you have a favourite booth/product at IDS?

(PS Darn Blogger is acting up again with the spacing!)

If you need design help, contact me at vanessa(at)vanessafrancis.com

Thrifting heaven

Hey all! Hope you had a lovely weekend! Mine was GREAT – I got in a bit of shopping which is always fun. And by a bit I mean a lot. :) My favorite spot this weekend wasn’t a store though – it was a thrift/antique mart like I’ve never seen. A friend told me about it months ago and said we should check it out. We met there Saturday morning and I didn’t have high expectations – I thought it may be

Joys Jots: The Gift of a Day

Saturday morning I woke feeling horrible. I had the kind of headache that no amount of Tylenol seemed to budge. 
 

I was achy all over and went back and forth from feeling chilled to burning up. I had only enough energy to pull myself out of bed, walk into the living room and collapse on the couch just so that I could have a change of scenery as I dozed in and out of conscientiousness throughout the day.

During one of the rare moments when I was fully awake I thought of the list of chores I had written for the day. It was practically the same list I had every Saturday: Laundry, Cleaning, Groceries, Purchase a Card for a Friend, Bake Cookies. 

Nothing on the list was eventful; most items were boring and mundane and yet at that moment I realized that even the boring and mundane parts of life were precious. Cleaning and groceries were one way of giving my love to my family, buying a card would encourage a friend, baking cookies for another friend showed my support for her and her family. 
   If we are in tune life has a way of teaching us how tender and precious it is. Unfortunately those lessons often come through illness, injury, or death. Perhaps it is because in those unfortunate moments we are finally forced to stop and realize the simple yet significant events that we take for granted every day. 
   Today I am feeling much better. I have added a few more chores to my list and I am happy to be able to do those seemingly boring and mundane tasks. Today I have a deeper appreciation of how those tasks touch the lives of those around me and of how fortunate I am to have the health and strength to do them. Today I am very grateful for the gift of a day.
 

This is How I Blog

 

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I asked five bloggers five questions?  Several of you said you wanted me to answer my own five questions.  I hope you were serious. . .   Here’s a little insight into my crazy blogging head.

 

 

My mind is always racing with ideas for how I can make this blog a little better.  I do a lot of my thinking in the shower (one of the few places where I’m ever alone).  An idea for a post could come from anywhere—a pretty picture in a magazine, a question from a reader, something I want to do to our house.  If people only knew how often I have the thought “maybe I could blog about that", they might be alarmed. . .

 

 

I’ll be honest.  The email that comes along with blogging totally overwhelms me sometimes.  I don’t mind questions, and try my best to answer them, but I occasionally have to go through my inbox and just delete those that are over a month old, and decide to be okay with that.  Sometimes, it’s all I can handle to just put regular posts up on my blog and take care of everything else I have to do around here.  I hope you all understand.  (I think you do.)

 

 

 

I am more than grateful that blogging has become a job for me, and one that allows me to do 99% of my work from behind the computer, at home in a crusty t-shirt, with a very flexible schedule.  Beyond that, I love that I’ve made some great “online friends” (which sounds creepy, but really isn’t).  And, okay—seeing our home in BHG was pretty huge for me.

 

 

 

I have to say, I dread Monday morning blogging.  A Monday morning post means Sunday night writing, which means coming out of weekend mode a little early.  Isn’t that silly? 

(Oh, and a very full email inbox, which I already mentioned, sometimes gives me anxiety.) 

These are big problems to have, right? :)

 

 

Lately, I’ve been starting my posts late at night and finishing them in the morning after I drop the big kids at school.  The twins have recently turned mobile, which is making this slightly more difficult.  Sometimes, if I have a good (or funny) thought, I’ll quickly write a title and a few sentences during the day and save it to come back to and work on later.

 

 

There you have it.  More than you ever wanted to know about my blogging habits. 

 

Happy Monday!

Bloggers revealed!

Well we have a winner of the epic Before they were DIY bloggers contest! There were so many of you who were SO close to guessing all of us correctly, but finally one person...one blogger...rose to claim victory! Please meet our lovely winner: Sara from Mom Endeavors This girl knows her DIY blogs because she's a blogger herself. Sara spent a lot of time holding a sick little baby and

Kitchen Design and the Latest Trends

Just like any other form of interior design, kitchen design goes through its own trends and fashions. It may be shabby chic, or a return to the incredible design signatures of the 1950s, where the home was being influenced by science and technology (remember those 'space age' gadgets and polished stainless steel surfaces of that were all the rage after the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969?) So what can we expect to be the hot new trends as we race past the predicted Mayan end of the world and headlong into 2013? Here Is five of the hottest tips for kitchen design and trends for next year - and how you can get the look for less! 

 #1 - Art Deco makes a comeback The elegance of the 1920s and '30s is making a big comeback and Art Deco design features will be huge next year, not just for kitchens but for interior design in general. Back in the kitchen acrylic doors emulate the 'Bakelite' look of the era and will be a big statement, as their high-gloss finish works perfectly with the clean, smooth lines associated with Deco design. Exotic wood veneers combined with polished steel trim will give any kitchen refurbishment that essential Deco look, for a fraction of the cost of a new replacement kitchen. 

#2 - Radical Retro Following on from the Deco theme, Retro is back for 2013 as designers look back to yesteryear for inspiration. Expect to see ornate finishings and bespoke touches such as decorative hinges, handles and knobs that can give even the simplest refurbishment a subtle and elegant design twist. 

 #3 - The clean look The kitchen is the heart of any home and in 2013 focus is shifting back to this space and how we interact with it. That means kitchens will be seeing even more day to day activity, so wipe-clean surfaces and clutter-free worktops will be key to keeping any busy kitchen look great.

 #4 - Waking up to wood It's not all acrylic doors and wipe-clean high gloss finishes; wood is still king of many kitchen designs, particularly if you're going for a traditional Shaker style or country cottage look. However, choosing to replace your existing doors and drawers with wood doesn't mean you have to forgo all the convenience of easy maintenance materials, as wood effect patterns also come in easy care vinyls too. So even a traditional look kitchen can be created with less expense than you might think. 

 #5 - Bold and bright Don't be afraid to break out of the mundane this year - go for bold and bright patterns and colours to really stamp individuality on your design. This particular look can, like all the other hot trends for 2013, be easily achieved with a simple refurbishment, rather than a complete make-over. All of the latest design trends for 2013 are suitable for any type of kitchen, although if you really want to make the most of the space you're working with and get a show-stopping effect, talk to a professional designer. They can sit down with you and give you an objective view of what is achievable, what will work (and what wont!) and how much it will cost. If you retain the basic structure of your existing kitchen and go for a refurbishment rather than a replacement, you can have a kitchen that looks as if it stepped straight out of an interior design magazine - and all for a fraction of the cost.

(Not So) Vintage Trophies

I’ve always loved the look of using vintage trophies as accessories.  But, every time I’ve thought about starting a collection, my hopes have been dashed by the price tags I see on them in thrift stores and even at flea markets. 

 

   

    

 

Images:

Martha Stewart, Miss Mustard Seed,

Eclectically Vintage, AntiqueChase,

Style Me Pretty, Holly Mathis Interiors

 

 

In case any of you have thought about starting a collection of your own, I saw these on One Kings Lane earlier today, and at $15 to $19 each, the prices are a lot more reasonable than the real vintage ones I’ve seen around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’ve never shopped on One Kings Lane before, you can sign up for a free membership to the site here.  (This sale ends on Monday.)

 

Sprinkling in a Little Spring

When the weather outside is full of  

white and gray 

it can get a bit depressing.

Just look at all the snow 

on my make-shift spray paint table---

that's enough to make any DIYer a bit sad. 

To help lift my mood I've sprinkled in 

a little bit of Spring green 

 in with my winter decorations. 

 Green accessories and plants 

(faux and real)

 

 give me hope that  

Spring is just around the corner.