Playing Footsie

After a summer of sandals and beaches, give your feet a treat with Barefoot Venus’ “Playing Footsie”.  Its a wonderful Coconut Milk Foot Soak.  Let the natural source of lactic acid gently exfoliate and soften,while the soothing Epsom Salt helps calm aching feet!  This product is designed and made in Canada for $16.00

Bon Bon Bubbling Bath

Summer sun can be tough on skin!  Try a bubble bath in Tokyo Milk’s “Bon Bon Bubbling Bath”.  This stunning glass bottle, designed by Margot Elena has a beautiful image on the inside, it is a beatuiful addition to any bathroom.  Available in many different scents, Bon Bon has a combination of Crushed and Distilled Essences of Lily, Peony, Vanilla Bean and Violet Petals.  It also includes extract of Japanese Green Tea and comes in two sizes.

Hand Solution

Prepare your hands for another harsh winter with Canadian Made Cake “Milk Made Smoothing Hand and Cuticle Buffer and Velveteen Hand Creme”.  Indulge with the spa like hand buffer, specially formulated with sugar, milk proteins, avocado, and coconut oils.  This vitamin packed recipe with leave your hands and cuticles perfectly manicured and incredibly nourished!  Then treat your over worked (and under paid) hands to the rich, vitamin packed “Velveteen Hand Creme”  It is truly decadent, with mango and shea butters, whole milk and marshmallow extract!  Buffer and Creme are $18 each.

Heavenly Scent

If your idea of pampering involves layering yourself in beautiful scents, you MUST try Lollia’s “Wish” .  It is their sugared pastille scent and it is my personal favourite.  The packaging alone is amazing, but the scent of the “Eau de Parfum” is truly perfection.  Available in many products, a few of my favourites include the Shea Butter hand creme and the authentic Lollia luminary.

Delicious Dish Soap

Why not take a mundane chore and turn it into something special…try Farmhouse Dish Soap in Lemon Verbena!  This rich, fragrant dish soap is made with plant based cleansers.   The biodegradable formula contains no harsh detergents or chemicals, it is excellent for those who have sensitive skin.  Its mixed in small batches with natural ingredients by Sweet Grass Farms in New Hampshire, where they harness the natural abilities of plant based cleansers and produce pleasant, effctive homecare products to make life easier, cleaner, and richly aromatic.  I also love their fabric softener and liquid hand soap!  The dish soap is $10 for a 500 ml bottle.

Happy September!

Michele

The Seattle Dining Chair is a beautiful and reasonable on trend option in natural or charcoal linen at $299, it has a lovely silver nailhead detail!

GRAPHIC PATTERNS
Another popular trend today is the graphic pattern, we see it in fashion and especially home decor. The attached toss cushions ranging in price from $32 – $80 are an excellent way to bring this trend home!

GOLD
It’s back! In home decor and fashion, here we have two gorgeous “Toywatches” with gold embellishments $400 each. The “Foxy” double strand necklace is very hot at $40 and the Indian inspired bangle is only $29.

OVERSIZED LAMPS
Both of these oversized lamps are completely on trend, one of them even covers two trends oversized and natural linen!!! They range in price from $270 – $298.

Christine loved “Innocent” by Scott Turow. This is the sequel to the very popular “Presumed Innocent”, which came out almost 20 years ago.

Jenna really enjoyed “Beach Music” by Pat Conroy. Sounds like the perfect summer read!

Alexis (our youngest) gave me a list of great reads which included F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”.

Jane recommends “Love The One Your With” by Emily Giffen.

Rachel would like to suggest “Divine Justice” by David Baldacci.

Jeana loved Nicholas Sparks “The Wedding”. This is the same author who wrote “The Notebook”.

Taryn is a student at Dalhousie, she didn’t think anyone would want to read what she reads, but her Mom suggest “Eat, Pray, Love”. I’m looking forward to the movie with Julia Roberts.

Trudy highly recommends “The Gargoyle” by Andrew Davidson, which reminded me that I recieved it for my birthday last year and hadn’t read it yet (it’s now on MY summer reading list).

Gail loves Wally Lamb and liked both “She’s Come Undone” and “I Know This Much Is True” (I too loved that one). She also recommends “The Shack” by Wm Paul Young amd “Still Alice” by Lisa Genova. Having alot of relatives who have lived with Alzheimer’s, I too found “Still Alice” to be very moving.

Karen doesn’t find alot of time for reading, however, with a teenage son, she does recommend “Teen Brain-Teen Mind” by Dr. Ron Clavier.

Gloria is presently reading (and loving) “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Gloria said the book is delightful, the characters are interesting, kind, and they bare their hearts. She said they are characters who you would like to be friends with!

Barb admits that she will read pretty much anything, trashy novels included. She also doesn’t miss an issue of “Country Living” or “Victoria Magazine”.

Peggy has just finished the trilogy by Stieg Larsson, which includes “The Girls with the Dragon Tatoo”, “The Girl Who Played with Fire” and “The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”. She actually loved the third one the most, when does that ever happen?

Personally, I have so many favourites I don’t know where to begin…”A Fine Balance” by Rohinton Mistry is one of my all time faves, along with “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel and Margaret Atwood’s “Alias Grace”. Right now I am actually in the middle of the second Stieg Larsson book “The Girl Who Played with Fire”…can’t get enough of Lisbeth Salander!!! If you haven’t read these yet, I highly recommend them, very enjoyable! I am also admittedly a magazine junkie! I love all the dwelling publications! Canada’s “Style at Home” and “House and Home” both have fabulous new editors and their recent issues are better than ever before! I also LOVE “Living Etc.”, “House Beautiful” and “Elle Decor”. Now for my dilemna…we are off to Europe for 3 weeks. I have always turned my nose up at the electronic book, I love a real book (especially hard covers if I’m being totally honest)! But wouldn’t it be great to be able to download a whole bunch of books onto the latest gadget and travel much lighter? I’m still thinking about this one! Speaking of reading, wouldn’t this be the perfect spot to enjoy one of the wonderful books listed above…

Photo Courtesy of Elle Decor

Happy Reading!
Michele

Who doesn’t love a PICNIC?

This fabulous Picnic Cookbook will give you recipes and ideas for packing the perfect portable feast, and it’s only $11.95.  The red and white gingham Paviot napkins come in two sizes, they are paper, but they feel like cloth!  Check out the adoreable magnetic “ant” salt and pepper shakers, afterall, what is a picnic without ants?

 If you would rather not pack your meal, here are some great items to plan the perfect summer BBQ!

Brink’s sleek BBQ apron is perfect for the master of the grill.   It includes a 5 peice stainless steel BBQ set, has a meat thermometer and is $88.   One of the best BBQ cookbooks out there, Thomas Fuller’s “Barbecue”, comes in a matchbox with a twist and includes over 80 mouthwatering recipes to suit every taste, it’s $28.  If you don’t have time to follow a recipe, Wildly Delicious has done all of the work for you!  Try one of their spice rubs at $5.50 each, they have rubs for salmon, chicken, burgers and steak!  Their Wildly Hot and Spicy barbecue sauce is also fantastic!

Summer is also WEDDING season!  So if you are planning your own wedding or you are just a guest, we have lots of great suggestions!  Our “Wedding Planner” is great for any bride and groom, with lots of helpful hints and places to keep it all organized!  We also have wonderful books for newlyweds from learning to cook to setting up your first home.  If you are looking for a fabulous wedding gift, our contemporary Zodax champagne flutes say “love” in many languages, they are $12 each. 

 If you are off to the BEACH, don’t go without a very on trend maxi dress!  This one in turquoise and lime (very hot colors for the summer) makes a great cover up, but could also work for going out in the evening!  Paired with flip flops or sandals, and a fabulous beach bag, this maxi is only $64.

If you’ve got TRAVEL planned for this summer, the “Little Black Books” of Paris, London and Rome are wonderful and cost only $14.95 each.  They are small enough to take along and include hotel, restaurant and shopping suggestions.  They have all the details you need for must-see attractions and inlcude fold out maps!  If you can’t get to Paris, bring a little Paris home with Fringe’s Paris candles and soaps, they are truly decadent!

Whatever you have planned this summer, make the most of it, do it in style, and be safe!

         Yesterday I had to do some fabric sourcing, so I headed over to one of my favourite haunts…Kravet Fabrics!  I am like a kid in a candy store.  I absolutely love fabrics, and Kravet’s selection is second to none.  Rich, delicious, glorious fabrics!  Kravet has just brought in Thibaut Fabrics, they have a wonderful selection of fabrics which are very fresh, yet classic.  Most of them are cotton or linen based which is ideal for this time of year.

The beautiful selection of colorful fabrics are so lovely to look at.  If you are decorating a new space, or just need a new toss cushion to freshen up a room, the choices are endless.

If you are searching for that perfect fabric, come in and ask one of our sales associates to arrange an appointment for you to visit the Kravet showroom. 

It is not too far from House Warmings…or you could visit their fabulous website at www.kravet.com

But if you go in person, the sales people are amazing and they have good snacks!!!!

It has been just over 15 years since we first opened House Warmings. My fourth child, as I like to call it, has evolved from a little shop (only 600 square feet) in the Town Square, to a three storey “teenager” on Lakeshore Road. Today, I love my little shop more than ever and here are some of the things we carry right now that I am especially fond of…

KEEP LEAF ECO-FRIENDLY STYLE

Keep Leaf is a Canadian designed and manufactured line of eco-friendly products. The smart, functional sandwich and snack bags are the perfect alternative to wasteful and expensive plastic baggies. My daughter loves the pink floral set, but we also have the less “pretty” black and white versions. There is even a little cloth napkin. Each of the bags are made of 100% cotton with a water resistant liner and a secure Velcro closure. They can be washed in the dishwasher!!! These are brilliant, and you feel good using them. I also love the Keep Leaf “all purpose reusable bags”, washable and 100% cotton, I take these to the grocery store and fill them with fruits and veggies. Check out more of what Keep Leaf has to offer at www.keepleaf.com

PADDYWAX MINT MOJITO CANDLES

I love candles. I burn candles every day. One day I will probably have a post all about candles, that’s how much I love them. I recently had a customer ask me if we carried the little battery operated candles, it took everything in me not to shout out “those are NOT candles”! Now that you understand how much I like candles, you should also know that I really enjoy a good Mojito! So you can imagine my excitement when I found the “Paddywax Mint Mojito Candles”. They are a glorious turquoise blue color and the scent is sugar cane, lime and mint leaves…ahhhh! This is the perfect summer candle! If you are not a fan of the mojito, we have four other scents that are equally fabulous!

SEATTLE DINING CHAIR

This beautiful chair would look great around an old farmstyle table, or a new contemporary version. It is upholstered in a natural linen and has silver nailhead detail. It also comes in a dark charcoal color. In addition to being classic and comfortable, this chair is only $299. What is not to love?

PAVIOT NAPKINS

These paper napkins are so wonderful, I don’t know where to begin? They are made in France, and they actually feel like cloth. They come in the most beautiful patterns and colors, once you use them it is difficult to go back to just an ordinary paper napkin!

UNO COFFEE TABLE

This good looking coffee table is made in Canada, and is a wonderful combination of clean lines and warm wood tones. The stainless steel frame is topped with Natural Walnut Veneer and it retails at $850.

MARIPOSA MONOGRAMMED COCKTAIL NAPKIN HOLDER

I think this is such a great gift! Made of 100% recycled materials, and handcrafted in Mexico, every step of the production process is ecologically sound. The Mariposa Monogrammed Napkin Holder would make a wonderful hostess, shower, or wedding gift. Very special and personalized!

I hope you have enjoyed some of my favourites. I love doing the buying at House Warmings, each season I am excited by all of the beautiful new products we can offer our customers. I really have the best job ever!