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Friday, January 28, 2011

Interior Design Show Gala - Toronto 2011

A few weeks ago I stood outside Sarah Richardson's house and took photos (which you can see here) and last night I stood right near her and watched her talk to some of her friends.  Yes I am definitely getting closer to her.

Now I'm sure you're wondering how I came to rub shoulders with Sarah, well it was because I won tickets at the Blogger Meet-up (thanks to Jennifer from Rambling Renovators) to attend the gala opening night of the Interior Design Show in Toronto.  I invited my friend Tara, from the blog Cinnamon Post, to come with me and we had so much fun.  


Here we are holding our entrance tickets in front of the sea of black-clad visitors. 


 I even had my name in lights (just kidding - it was a coincidence).


There were so many big names in the design field there, that I have to say I was impressed.   


There was Alfred Sung at the display of his new line of patio furniture,


Peter Fallico from Home to Flip and other HGTV shows (on the right) being interviewed by Mark Challen from House and Home (on the left),



 Suzanne Dimma, editor of Canadian House and Home magazine,


Chris Hyndman from the Designer Guys (many apologies Chris for how horrible the photo is, but it is the only one I got of you),
 

Erin McLaughlin, editor of Style at Home magazine (a blur on the left) and Tamara Robins Griffith, managing editor of Style at Home (third from the right).



Sarah Richardson and Tommy Smythe,

Photo taken by Tara (Cinnamon Post)
I overhead Tommy telling some visitors that the American TV stations don't like the fact that he swears so much and they have to bleep it out.




I was also pleased as punch to meet up with Jennifer from Rambling Renovators and her adorable, charming husband aka the Handyman.


Tara from The Cinnamon Post, Jennifer from Rambling Renovators, and me.  Photo taken by the Handyman.
There were so many amazing booths at the IDS, but my favourites were the Style at Home booth and the Sibling Revelry rooms.  Since this post is already so long, I'm going to put my photos of the Sibling Revelry together into a separate post.  You're going to love Sarah's rooms.

Here are some of the booths I enjoyed:



Montauk sofas against a blackboard covered in furniture design sketches.




Gorgeous lights from the SNOB booth.




Alfred Sung's black watch plaid outdoor patio furniture.




The gorgeous Up Country mix of industrial table, jadeite dishes, and sparkly chandelier.





The cheerful patio furniture from New Caribbean Design which also appealed to me because it is fair trade.





The industrial, steampunk look (I think it is, anyway) at the Metropolis Living booth.





The very charming, and might I add handsome, Andrew Metrick (whose great grandfather founded Elte) and their new line of colourful over-dyed antique carpets.






The quilted carpets at the Elte booth made from over-dyed remnants of antique carpets.



A touch of spring with these hanging vases filled with yellow tulips.




Ikea's booth with paper lanterns overhead,


and a sophisticated dark kitchen.


There were other smaller booths that had things like unique Canadian pillows,


a beautiful piece of rustic wooden wall art,


and two gorgeous, I-totally-want-these paintings by San Murata



And finally the amazing Style at Home booth.  Isn't this an ingenious use of paint can lids.




I loved the free-spirited mural done by Alanna Cavanagh,




 the painted striped floor,



the bright, cheerful table decorations,



 and who doesn't love overhead lights made out of paint cans.



Coming soon - some photos of the three rooms designed by Sarah Richarson.

12 comments:

  1. Oh, I'm so jealous! So many ideas! Where would I begin? I love those hanging tulips!! I can't wait to see more photos.

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  2. You are so lucky! I would love to attend a show like that. Very cool! I can't wait to see the rooms designed by Sarah RIchardson.

    I think the quilted rugs are too, too cool!

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  3. Oooh, lots of eye candy! Show us more!

    Kelly

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  4. Now I realize why you and Tara said I should drop by the Elte booth. That Andrew is handsome, lol! ;)

    So glad to see you & Tara at the event. Your pics are great! Looks like you saw almost every design celebrity in the room. That's Mark Challen from H&H interviewing Peter Fallico. Let's do it all again next year, shall we?

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  5. Wow...what an event to attend! Lucky you! Great pics...so funt o see all our Canadian celebrity designers. I love/love/love evrything from the Style at Home booth. Oh my goodness.....can't wait to see Sarah's!!!

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  6. What a great post!! It is so fun to read and remember the good time it was with you. You are so funny:) You got some great shots. Thanks again.

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  7. I loved seeing your photos from the show. I had seen a blurb on BT when Jennifer did a live eye from there. Looking forward to seeing Sarah's rooms. Thanks for sharing with those of us that couldn't attend.

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  8. I believe those gorgeous lights are from the SNOB booth

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  9. wow, i am jealous! so many great ideas and finds!

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  10. Andrew Metrick from Elte here. I can't thank you enough for the mention, the photos and your kind words. It really does mean the world to me. I was so happy that I got to meet you on opening night. We just finished the show and it was an amazing experience. So many positive reactions from everyone. I met a lot of great people and you were definitely one of them.

    Hope to see you at Elte or Ginger's sometime soon.

    All the best,

    Andrew.

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  11. Awesome pictures! I took a lot of the same ones, and there are some booths that I seem to have totally missed! I didn't get to the gala till about 9:30 on Thursday, and didn't really get a chance to walk around the show till Friday afternoon. Amy from eye see pretty and I hooked up at the blogger meet-up at 3:00 and walked the show together till almost 6:30. I met and talked to lots of great people, and it was fun to catch up with the TO bloggers I met back in November :-)

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  12. What a great day you must have had!

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