the entertaining posts

How about a theme week?

Are you up for it?

Fresh from a wonderful weekend filled with some of our favourite friends,

and one which we were at their houses, not ours,

my thoughts today are all about entertaining.

Of course, the company always makes or breaks the evening,

but I love to go over to a friends home and try out a new gem of a recipe,

or enjoy an old favourite,

to relax, inevitably, around the kitchen table,

and catch up over a bottle of wine...

It makes our family happy to have our home filled with the laughter of those we love,

and so we have company almost every weekend.

I think that D and I tend to be attracted to people who, like ourselves, are very relaxed about entertaining.

Are you the same?

Even at holidays, while the table may be a bit more spiffy,

the atmosphere in our home is always one of relax, eat (I am half-italian, after all!), and be merry.

It's all about the food and the company.

That said :) I'd like to know how you all entertain.

This week I am going to open discussions about what type of kitchen you prefer, where you entertain in your home, what's on your table, the cocktail area,

and entertaining with children, and see where you stand.

Sound good?

Let's start with the kitchen.

Are you an open kitchen or closed kitchen sort?

Do you choose to serve food that can be prepared in advance and left to roast away in the oven,

 while you are off somewhere else?

Or too you chop merrily away while chatting with your guests?

I tend to do quite a lot of prep ahead of time, and always try to have some appetizers ready to go,

but no matter who comes over, we always settle in at our kitchen table,

or if the kids have claimed that space,

our dining room table, which is also open to the kitchen.

The country style kitchen, with the table literally at the centre of it all,

is the most intimate type of dining.

As a bit of a klutz, I love an open kitchen, but one where the cooking are is clearly delineated,

so that you don't end up with major traffic while you whirl around with pots of boiling water

and enormous, sharp knives.

And in smaller spaces, the galley kitchen is perfection.

and of course, somewhere comfortable to sit is an absolute must - entrer dans la banquette.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 

Now let's hear about your kitchens -

do you spend a lot of time there when you have company?

What do you love about your space?

What would you change?

yay or nay: mixing metals

With gold back, and black always en vogue,

it's becoming more and more common to see a mix of metals in interiors.

(apologizing now for the irregular sizing ahead, but I really wanted you to be able to see the details, 
and they were all strangely sized today!)

Kitchens, in particular, are veering away from all stainless.
I know I'm feeling tired of it - you?

both of these dining room have got a splash of gold warming up these grey metals.

Black, white, and gold - need I say more.....

but wait, maybe black, white, gold AND silver?!!

here gold and grey tones form the basis for the palette....

and several layers of metals are seamlessly incorporated into this space.

 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10



I'm wondering if this is more common because
 people are slowly switching over from cool to warm metals,
 they are just adding hits around the home (as an easily removed trendy item),
or it's just become more modern to mix finishes, just like we do furnishings.


what do you think -
is mixing metals something you do in your own home?
Is it a look that's here to stay?

changes at headquarters

so we've been working double overtime round here...

during the holidays I looked at those dreary grey walls and decided enough was enough.

Down came the art, 

out came the plaster,

and with it promise of a clean slate.

There's nothing quite like rolling on that first coat of primer, is there?

That cinderblock grey ran through our entry, the halls on each floor, the kitchen, dining room and family room.

Just a wee bit of painting!

Along with the walls, the dining room and living room are getting the attention they deserve...

I've embraced the hue of the Love Chairs (as the darlings have named them), and here's a hint at the direction we're headed...

1 2 3 4 5 6 

It's been years since I've truly embraced such pure, saturated colour into our home,

and the energy that it brings is incredible!

The posts may be a bit sporadic as I endeavour to get the painting finished...

wouldn't life be easier if I could be satisfied with someone else's painting skills?

Just can't do drips, darlings...

x

creativity fix

hullo, hullo!

You may have read that one of my resolutions this year is to get back to making,

to take the time to create.

So, since I've had some interest in featuring the 10 Rooms headquarters on a rather fabulous venue,

(akkk!)

and I've got to get busy zhushing up the place,

it seemed like the time to was nigh to break out the paint brushes.

It's been a LONG time,

so please be gentle in your comments :)

Whether or not they are masterpieces, it felt wonderful to be playing with paint on canvas,

ans I think they are going to the the first of many more...

We got a foot of snow here last night,

and I have a consult across town, so off to shovel before heading out -

have a lovely day!

blue monday - what does it mean to you?

Apparently today is blue monday.

Have you heard about this?

When I heard "blue monday" images of azure, cobalt and sapphire flashed through my mind,

it sounded gorgeous!

However, that's not what they meant.

It's supposed to be the most depressing day of the year.

 I like my version better.

source

cheers!

the difference between gray, grey, warm grey, beige, greige, and taupe

Yesterday, I was speaking to a client about the difference between grey, greige, beige and taupe.

It's a conversation I have A LOT!

 I thought perhaps a post about how I explain it to my clients
would be helpful to sort through these terms more easily,
and so here we are :)

First off, for our purposes,

gray (American spelling) and grey (Canada, the UK and Australia) are the same thing.

Just like color (American) and colour (Canada, UK and Australia).

In some technical circles, gray would describe only the grays from the grayscale,
but we're not all that fancy here at 10 Rooms, are we?!
I'm trying to make this simpler, not more difficult...

Let's just start off by saying true grey is any mixture of black and white.

That means that black, white and grey are the only true neutrals.

That said, when we are discussing colour, 

we generally include more than just those colours.

Once pigment is added to a mixture of black and white (grey),

it actually becomes a colour,

although the undertone may be almost imperceptible to the eye.

Therefore, grey, as we know it, can actually have any undertone,

but only purple, green or blue can be added in larger quantities 

for the colour to retain it's title as grey, because these will all produce cool tones.

Are you asleep yet?!!

Lets' define grey as 

black + white = grey

or

black + white + green/blue/purple = grey.

Sound good?

Now let's head into the beige territory.

Beige basically describes the umpteen versions of light brown.

To make brown you add complements from the colour wheel.

When you add complements,

what you are actually adding are all the primaries together in varying amounts.

Blue + orange

is actually

blue + yellow & red.

Yellow + purple

is actually 

yellow + blue & red.

Red + green

is actually

red + yellow & blue.

That is why adding complements always makes a brown,

and why adding different complements creates different browns, 

usually ones that are predominantly yellow, red, or occasionally orange.

So, we know beige contains some red and some yellow, and some blue,

but what else is in it?

White.

White lightens up your brown to beige.

So lets define beige as

white + red & or yellow + a little blue = beige.

So where does greige fit in?

To grey down beige, you simply add black, because the white is already present.

Let's define greige as 

white + black + red & or yellow + perhaps a little blue = greige

Yes, that would be the entire colour wheel!

That's quite a colour-techy way to look at things, 

but I think it's helpful to understand the way colours interact,

and then it all makes sense, doesn't it?

SO -


 when you're looking at a colour, and trying to determine what it actually is,

you need to look at the subtle undertones.

If it's cool, with a blue, purple, or green tint, it's a grey.
(I wrote a post about choosing the right grey, here)

If it's warm, with a red, orange or yellow undertone visible, it's a beige.

And if it's warm, but contains black, it's a greige (or as so many people say, a warm grey)

source 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Does that makes sense, lovelies?

If you have more questions, please leave them in the comments, and I will respond tout de suite - x

Happy friday... hope your weekend is filled with love and laughs...

oh - and taupe?

That's just a fancy way of describing a red-based beige,

with a little green thrown in,

so that what you end up with is a slight dirty pinky-beige.

It's not actually a group of colours, but different variations of the same mix.