Who let the dogs out?

Last night, hubby and I went to “In The Dog House,” a fundraising event at the brand new Ottawa Humane Society. A number of well known Ottawa personalities were thrown into the dog house and had to raise pre-determined amounts of money in order to get bailed out. There was also a silent auction, and local businesses and restaurants provided appetizers, desserts, beverages, and music. Stuntman Stu from Majic 100 was the MC and judge, and Sandy Sharkey from 93.9 BOB FM was one of the dog pound celebs. Sandy is a huge supporter of the OHS, and is always involved with their fundraising efforts – Sandy, you rock!

The event raised $75,000.00 for the OHS’s “Breaking Ground Building Campaign.” How awesome is that?! The current OHS location on Champagne Avenue is old and too small to handle the 11,000 animals that come through its doors every year. The new building is HUGE, has lots of room both inside and out, and it’s also green. Here’s the old building…

Image via Capital Neighbourhoods

And here’s the new building – much better, yes?!

Image via Ottawa Humane Society’s Facebook page

There’s a wall in the lobby area with the names of all the major donors. Hubby thought it was amusing that the Government of Ontario was outdone by an anonymous donor – by a million dollars!

A couple of pictures of the interior… I love the light fixtures and the wood ceiling area. The windows at the tops of the walls go all the way down the main hallway.

This is the cat room, which has a 3-season area where the cats can practically lounge outside. Inside view…

Outside view…

And some pics of the exterior. I love the combination of materials – wood, stone, concrete, and metal.

I love this wall – there are a couple of other walls like it.

Need to have dog runs, of course!

The BOB FM sign kept blowing into my pictures!

It really is a beautiful building. All the dogs & cats & other furry & feathered friends will be moving into their new digs next week. I think they’ll be very happy here while they wait for their new homes :-) You can read more about the event and OHS’s building on Sandy’s blog, and on the OHS Facebook page.

And while I’m on the topic of happy animal “tails,” have you heard about Wall-E? He’s a puppy that was dumped at a shelter in Sulphur, Oklahoma along with his brothers & sisters. The vet at the shelter made the tough decision to euthanize the puppies because of space & health issues. Wall-E was given TWO euthanasia shots, but somehow he survived both!

Artist Ron Burns created a painting of Wall-E, and is selling prints for $40 plus $5 shipping. 40% of all money raised through the sale of the prints is being donated to the Murray County Animal Shelter in Sulphur. Click here if you’re interested in buying a print. Mine arrived last week, and I love it!

Images of Wall-E from Ron Burns’ web site

You can read Wall-E’s amazing story here, or check out the video below. He’s SUCH a cutie!

Wall-E’s been adopted by a family that wants to remain anonymous. I hope they have lots of happy years together filled with doggie kisses and tummy rubs :-)

Happy weekend!

Marvelous midcentury modern makeover

One architectural style that I really like is midcentury modern. The closest thing we have to midcentury modern architecture in our neighbourhood are bungalows that were built in the middle of the last century. There are a few with some potential that I’d love to get my hands on to renovate, but that won’t be happening any time soon!

The June 2011 issue of ELLE Decor features a marvelous midcentury modern makeover. It’s the home of designer Michael DePerno, his son Nova, and his Whippet Bose. {All images from ELLE Decor, photographer Laura Resen.}

The couple Michael bought the house from had lived in it since 1964, two years after the house was built. He spent three years putting his own personal spin on the house, while retaining some of the original elements, like the cedar exterior.

Inside, Michael kept the V-groove-and-beam ceilings…

…and filled the home with a collection of furniture and pieces from around the world and various decades that add lots of warmth and texture to the home. The living room furniture includes a pair of vintage Danish armchairs covered in a mustard linen fabric, a ’50s Dunbar sofa upholstered in a Barbara Barry check, and a free-form Japanese wood table.

The kitchen cabinetry is oiled teak and the countertops are poured concrete. All of the beautiful woods inside {including fumed-oak floors} and the huge windows throughout the house really bring the outdoors in, giving the home a wonderfully organic feel.

The breakfast area is paved in concrete tiles from Ann Sacks and includes an antique Korean tansu chest, a vintage Hans Wegner chair, and an antique spear from Africa. The pieces from all different parts of the world really add a lot of interest and character to the home.

The dining room is also very international – an antique English side chair is upholstered in a vintage zebra-print fabric, the rosewood table is Danish, and the Art Deco teak cabinet is from Indonesia.

I love that the artwork in the master bedroom is hung low – perfect height to admire the artwork while sitting or lying in bed :-)

And I LOVE this corner of the bedroom – aren’t the windows fantastic?

More beautiful teak in the master bathroom…

The teak tub surround is custom made – almost like taking a bath in a log! I could sit in this tub for hours just looking out the window. Or until the water is cold and I’m all pruney ;-)

As beautiful as the inside of the home is, I’d spend lots of time out here on the patio if I lived here. Beautiful rustic wood table, and the light fixture above the table is a great touch.

Do you live in or have you come across a fabulous midecentury modern home? I’d love to hear about it!

A little boo boo bling

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I broke a finger. After being sent from my doctor to the X-ray clinic to a walk-in clinic doctor to an emergency room doctor to a plastic surgeon, I finally got sent to someone who actually knew how to fix my finger. Thank you Joyce at Riverside Hospital! I saw Joyce on Wednesday afternoon, and she made me a custom-designed splint specifically for my finger that can even get wet, so I can go swimming this summer– YAY! On the negative side, it isn’t all that pretty and I’ll have to wear it for anywhere from 3 to 8 more weeks. UGH.

How to turn lemons into lemonade…. my friend Maureen joked that she should look for her daughter’s old Bedazzler to bling it up. Ah-Ha! I had bought a bunch of little faux diamonds a while back that I was going to use for a framing project.

I had to recruit hubby to help out because I’m still not too nimble doing things left handed. A pair of tweezers and some Krazy Glue, and we turned a plain piece of white plastic into a {little on the rough side} piece of bling:

We did this after midnight and didn’t know if it would work, so the quality of workmanship isn’t the greatest ;-) We randomly stuck on a few diamonds and then tried to create a bit of a design. I might add more, or if these ones fall off I’ll come up with a better design plan!

I much prefer my blinged out splint over the original plain version. It’s the small things! If you want to glam up a boo boo, just get creative and see what you can do! Or, you can buy all sorts of interesting things on line. How about some fancy band-aids from Boo Boo Bling:

Designer band aids from Cynthia Rowley.

Or these band aid accessories from Sephora:

Have to use crutches? Pick up a set of animal print crutch buns from Broken Beauties.

Are you good at sewing? Then you could take a shot at making a custom-designed tweed sling, complete with a pocket (image via Ready Made).

So next time you or your kid gets a nasty boo boo, there are lots of ways you can make it a bit more fun to live with – just think outside the box and give your boo boo some bling :-)

Happy blingy weekend!

Star struck

I love star light fixtures. Years ago when I bought mine, they were almost impossible to find. Now they’re available in all shapes and sizes and finishes both online and in stores. My star light fixture is in the kitchen:

You can hang a star light fixture anywhere. In the bathroom…

        Images via High Street Market, House Beautiful, Home Interior Design Themes

Designer Carol Reed hung a star light in her client’s bedroom.

 

Here’s another starlit bedroom…

Image via House and Home, photograph by Virginia Macdonald       

Hang them anywhere in the house!

    Images via High Street Market, House Beautiful (designed by Ginger Barber), Cup of Delight

And hey, why not hang them outside too…

  Images via Izivubap, The Griffiths

Love the look of multiple star fixtures hung together…

    Images via Frugal Dinks, Houzz (home by Ryan Associates), High Street Market

And why not hang multiple stars outside too – after all, there are already a few bazillion of them in the sky :-)

  Images via My Design Dump, The Goods Design (via Pottery Barn)

Are you feeling a little star struck now too?