Barbie was my favourite toy growing up. I liked picking out her snappy outfits as much as the next person, but it was setting up elaborate houses for her from boxes and pillows and my nightstand drawers that tickled my fancy. Now that I think about it, I don’t recall ever really playing with my Barbies (aside from one or two or twenty Ninja Turtle invasions from my brother), but I do remember spending hours painstakingly setting up the perfect home for Barbie, Ken, Skipper and Kelly. That was my idea of fun. I hope that makes it acceptable for me to be madly in love with these darling dollhouses designed by Miniio. Not only are these houses aesthetically pleasing, decked out in their stylin’ mid-century modern furnishings, but they’re also eco-friendly using locally sourced materials and sustainable resources. Now that’s what I call a dream house. Barbie never had it so good!

The raw natural textures, liberal use of white, and modern architecture have me seriously envying Barbie’s new digs. She even has a Pantone chair! So jealous. Hey, Christmas (and my birthday) is around the corner… Santa, if you’re listening, my inner 8-year-old would be bouncing off the walls if I woke up to one of these in my stocking.

Images via The Huffington Post & Miniio.

I’m working on all residential projects for this semester at university. And while they’re re-reminding me of just why I got into interior design to begin with, I miss my beloved commercial/retail spaces. They have so much room to go big and bold with design ideas. But they can also incorporate a lot of elements of residential design as well, and that’s why I find my heart completely set on commercial design – it’s like the best of both worlds!

Take the design of Mazzo Restaurant (by Concrete Architectural Associates) for example. There’s the powerful design statements that larger commercial projects allow – see: giant light up lettering of the restaurant’s name – but it also mixes in lots casual and homier elements through its use of materials & finishes. Best of both worlds.

My absolute favourite part of this entire design is all of those raw, natural textures. It has such substance and authenticity! I love that like woah. (Sidebar: Was that a song? That sounds familiar and I feel like I should be singing it and busting a move and now it’s driving me bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Gwen Stefani knows her shit.)

Anywhooo! (That was such a great segue from my lame song jokes, wasn’t it?) You all know I’m a huge obsessee of white+black+neutral textures so you know I’m not kidding around when I say I want to live in this restaurant. I’d be good, I promise!

P.S. I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately, so you’ll have to excuse the slow down in quantity of posts, and the shorter in length posts.

Images via The Contemporist.

Girl crush + house crush = Erin Fetherston and her charming little apartment. Swoon.

Everything about her style is so pretty and soft. The textures are lovely, the muted pastel tones are a dream. The space perfectly represents her and is so very much in sync with her design aesthetic as the whole. Plus, how eloquently does she describe what the space illustrates: “I see it as a reflection of my creative universe. It’s romantic and chic, but clean and modern.” I wholeheartedly agree with this. Body, mind, soul, imagination, right? That’s the recipe.

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Welcome to a prime case of “you can look at the shiny things, but you can’t have”. This is actually pretty much the story of my life, to be honest. Like it physically pains me to walk through the “expensive-er” parts of stores and streets and such because there’s nothing worse than ogling all of the pretty things you know there’s a snowball’s chance in hell you can afford.

That said, Net-A-Porter is killing me dead. First, I have to boycott their website because of the reason above, but now, now they have the most gorgeous head offices I’ve ever seen, too? Good lord, I have so much envy right now it’s amazing the envy bank inside me isn’t overflowing and seeping out my ears or something. Next you know they’ll be shouting in the streets, “Quick, get the girl some ear plugs! She’s oozing!”

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Hey dudes! You should probably head on over to Moxee today (Bre’s awesomesauce blog). It’s a favourite of mine every day, of course, but today is extra special since she’s featuring some photos of my favourite little nooks and crannies around my apartment back in Canada. Horrah! Here’s a little peek:

And the rest, you’ll have to see at Moxee. Check it:

Behind The Scenes / Krissy

Photos by me for Moxee.