Have You Ordered Yours Yet?

I love it when someone through talent and sheer perseverance makes good things happen and that's just what Matthew Mead has done with his Holiday magazines.  

Now I'm a firm believer in no-Christmas-before-Hallowe'en talk, but I'm making an exception in this case so you can order your copy of the new Holiday with Matthew Mead 2011 magazine.  I've had several issues of Matthew Mead's magazines in the past and loved them. 

• I love the recipes, crafts, and decorating ideas.
• I love, love, love the beautiful photography.
• I love the inspiration.

Check out this video clip to see what I mean. (I love that the video starts with the photo of the lovely, talented Linda MacDonald from Restyled Home - one of the first blogs I found and still one of my favourites.)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fs08ocTDFk

I'm looking forward to getting my copy in the mail - how about you?  Have you ordered yours yet?

Log Chutes and Family Links

One of the highlights of our weekend at the cottage was going to the Hawk Lake Log Chute.  We have been there several times, but this trip was the first time we went knowing the role my husband's family had in introducing log chutes to Canada.

Back in April, my husband was reunited with his brother and sister after 50 years (which you can read more about here) and, along with meeting his siblings, my husband learned about his ancestors.  It turns out that my husband is a great-great-great-great grandson of Philemon Wright, the man who founded Ottawa and Hull.  One of Philemon Wright's sons, Ruggles Wright (you've got to love a man named Ruggles), went to Norway in the 1820s and observed how they navigated logs over rapids and falls to get them down the river.  He then modified the idea of the log chute when he returned to Canada, to allow wider timber rafts over the falls.

At the Hawk Lake Log Chute we read the historic boards with new eyes and were pleased as punch that they mentioned the log chute my husband's ancestors built over the Chaudière Falls in Ottawa.  

The log chute here in Haliburton is the last one in Ontario, so we were mighty proud to be standing near something that my husband's ancestor had introduced to Canada that had been so important to the early timber trade.

In the 19th century logs were hewn into square timbers and then joined to make cribs, which were then attached together to make large rafts.   The lumbermen lived and worked on these rafts navigating them down the river to Quebec City and then by ship to Europe.  When they came to a rapids or falls, the rafts would be broken apart and sent down the log chutes in separate cribs.  The log chutes prevented the logs from being damaged while going over the falls.

Cookery on a timber raft on the Ottawa River, 1880

Apparently it was not only timber that went down the log chutes, however. A popular activity was to ride down the slides for a small fee.  When the Prince of Wales visited Ottawa in 1860, he rode down the Chaudière Falls log chute right after laying the cornerstone for the new Parliament Building of Canada.  

The Prince of Wales going down the log chute in 1860 from A History of Canada Online

"Slowly at first, but quickly gaining speed, the crib shoots down in a wild spray of water. Riders and spectators roar their excitement, rivaling the thundering of the crib as it sways and bounces in a flurry of flying water."  (Source)

The royal party going down the Chaudiere log chute in 1901

Now does that look like fun, or what?

Leaf Photos and Leaf Art

Although our weekend started off with a rainy heavy-traffic drive up north, followed by the realization when we awoke on Saturday that there were not that many coloured leaves on the trees this year, it still turned out to be a great weekend.   


I managed to find some gorgeous trees and take a bazillion photos.

I enjoyed the last of the flowers in my Mother's garden

 and picked a bouquet to take home to my parents when we left.

I love all the different coloured leaves, but have a soft spot in my heart for the ones that just can't decide what colour to be - cause you know what - if I was a leaf that's what I would look like.

Of course I had to carry on my leaf art tradition from last year (read this post to see what we made last year) and I made two new ones this year.  I had to be fast because it was windy, so they are by no means perfect.  


First I made an arrow,

and then the Bangladeshi flag.  If you aren't up on your flags of the world, then you can add this one to your repertoire as it is one of the easier ones to remember - a red sun on a green field.

All in all a lovely weekend filled with long walks, beautiful leaves - and log chutes which I'll tell you about in my next post.

Thanks Style at Home

I never thought I would see Sense and Simplicity on the website of one of my favourite design magazines, Style at Home, but that is just what has happened.  You can see why I'm so excited in the screen shot below (which, by the way, involved me downloading and learning how to use Snagit in order to get a screen shot of the whole page so I could show you the awesomeness). 


My appearance on the Style at Home website is thanks to a very sweet (and completely thrilling) invitation from Elaine Song, the web-editor, to join in a round-up of bloggers weighing in on which fall design trend they like the most.  Style at Home identified three fall trends - wood, new neutrals, and modern global - which I used as inspiration to decorate my sideboard and blogged about here.  I then revamped my sideboard using the same fall trends as inspiration and blogged some more about about it here.  By now you are probably tired of seeing my sideboard, but just one more time - okay?

The only other blog I recognized in the list is the lovely Bright, Bold, and Beautiful, which means there are ten new blogs for me to discover.  I'm working my way down the list and finding a whole bunch more must-reads.  Hop on over and have a look at the inspiration.


Thanks Style at Home!

5 Ways to Style Your Sideboard

I recently decorated my sideboard for fall (you can read about what inspired me here), but then I second guessed myself and wondered if I had done it all wrong.  Were things supposed to be piled in the middle like I had done or should they be arranged in groupings at either end. Well given my confusion I'm sure you know what I did next.  Yep, I headed straight for the computer and Googled some images.  Since the main event in dining rooms is the table, it actually wasn't easy to find pictures of sideboards/buffets/console tables/credenzas (it likely doesn't help that there isn't one clear name for them).  I did find some pictures though and I thought I'd share my research findings.  


As it turns out there are a variety of ways that sideboards can be styled.  I've divided the types of arrangements into five main groups.


1) Sideboards with objects placed at both ends - asymmetrical arrangements:
When the arrangements are asymmetric the displays usually seem more modern and less formal than when the arrangement is symmetrical.  In the next four photos you can see examples of this type of arrangement done in an paired-down, simple way using a limited number of larger objects.

Sarah Richardson

Style at Home

Sarah Richardson via Style at Home

Canadian House and Home

Sometimes the arrangements are done in a more-is-better way.  Interest is created by using a large number of objects in a variety of sizes and heights.  You can still see that the highest objects are placed at either end with all the lower objects around them filling in toward the centre of the sideboard.

Martha Stewart

Pottery Barn

2) Sideboards with objects placed at both ends - symmetrical arrangements:

Symmetrical arrangements are similar to the first type, but here the highest objects anchoring either end are a pair of lamps, jars, candles, or vases of flowers.  Other objects, sometimes matching and sometimes not, fill in the middle.  This usually results in a more traditional formal look.  

Canadian House and Home

Mrs. Howard Personal Shopper

Mrs. Howard Personal Shopper

Canadian House and Home

3)  Sideboards with repetition of a single object:
This type of arrangement involves a single item being repeated across the sideboard.  If the items are small-scale then multiples of the item are usually used across the entire sideboard (like in the first photo below) and if the item is large then only two may be required to stand alone (like in the third photo below).  While I love this style I would find it difficult to be so disciplined.

Sarah Richardson

CB2 via Canadian House and Home

Mrs. Howard Personal Shopper

4)  Sideboards with the highest objects placed toward the centre:
These asymmetric types of arrangements have the highest objects near the centre of the sideboard and then other objects placed around them forming a visual triangle.  The triangle can be taller or flatter depending on the height of the centre objects.  Again a large variety of sizes and heights of objects are used, with items layered in front and behind each other to create interest.

Pottery Barn

Martha Stewart

5)  Sideboards with the highest objects placed toward one end:
In some displays the highest object is placed off-centre at one end making an asymmetric arrangement (interestingly in my examples, the right-hand end seems to be most popular) .  

Pottery Barn

Suzanne Kasler via Home and Interior Design Picture

House Beautiful via Staci Edwards

After considering all the layouts I went back to my sideboard and rejigged things.  I'm still going with all-the-stuff-in-the-middle type arrangement (#4 in my list above), but I've added a few things, spread the items out a bit more, and it is little more balanced.  

Just to refresh your memory - even though I know you never forget anything I have done around the house - here is what it looked like before.

It occurred to me that it would be a good exercise to try out each of the styles I identified.  I think I might just give that a try over the next year.  I love me a decorating challenge - almost as much as a photography challenge.   Anyone want to join me?

Linked to Good Life Wednesday at A Beach Cottage
Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style