Today’s Eco-Friendly column is made of the story of actual friends. First, my friend Renee of En direct des iles is making a big change in her life. She lives part time in Montreal and part-time at Isla Mujeres in Mexico. It is easy for her to find people to take care of her cats while she is in Montreal but it is more complicated and costly to do so when she is not in Montreal. She decided that it was time for her to stop maintaining an apartment in Montreal.

What this means is that she sold, gave to friends, donated to charities and thrown away most of everything she owned in Montreal your stuff. Starting a nomad life is a big step that ultimately reduces her footprint on Earth compared to how she was living before.

As a result, I inherited her set of beautiful lemonade bottles. Recycling glass bottles instead of buying new jars is a little step. You can use it for liquids and dry foods, like she did. I am glad that she passed them along to me. I will take good care of them. As you can see, I already found a place in the spotlight for 3 of them.

After the Metrosexual Male comes the Eco-sexual

Carmen of Urban Green Girl wrote a guest post for I am that Girl about a new trend in dating. With green living becoming more and more mainstream, it is normal that you seek these values in your potential mate.

You can look for people who defined themselves as tree hugger, vegetarian or people who share your interest in animal rights, green economy, alternative energy, recycling, organic farming or endangered species. No need for enrolling in a dating services, participating in social media can help you find the right person through conversations in Twitter, joining groups in Facebook or attending Meetup.

Like Carmen said, you can always educate and convert to the green living cause your potential or current boyfriend.

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If you cannot splurge in the mid-century iconic clock by George Nelson or the Eames Hang-It-All coat rack, UK retailers Heal’s sells a Saturnus magazine rack and a coat rack. The Saturnus coat rack looks so so but maybe it is the picture. They are not as sophisticated as the iconic pieces but at that price we will not complain.

Closer to home, I spot the Sunburst Multi-Color Wall Clock. I think it is cute. I may buy it for our office. There is also the Orbit wall clock, a copycat of the Nelson clock. I am not a fan of reproduction but I thought you should know.

Color Blocking Home Décor Trend

I spotted the Saturnus magazine rack while reading about the color-blocking trend on the February 2009 edition of Living etc. The current look stays away of the primary shades. You do not want to reproduce the Mondrian color blocks.

Use it to bring life to your space. You can simply paint the walls or furniture, customize your curtains or use color blocking on accent pieces. The Stack drawer tower unit is build by stacking multi-colored floating drawers. It is a clever design.

SOURCING:
+ Multi Colored Ball Clock by George Nelson on sale at $268 USD at DRW
+ Eames Hang-It-All $179 USD
+ Sunburst Multi-Color Wall Clock $39.95 USD
+ Saturnus Magazine Rack £39.15
+ Stack drawers designed by Shay Alkalay for Established & Sons 8 drawers, green multi-color £1763
+ image of Donna Wilson’s Hue Armchair at SCP
+ Swag Leg Desk by George Nelson for Herman Miller $1899 USD

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With the current state of the world economy, I think that comfort food will continue to be hot. Exotic patterns and a fresh take on traditional patterns will ornate our table.

The casual chic trend is here to stay. We would not indulge in expensive formal dinnerware set that we used once in the blue moon. Look at wedding registries, the formal dinnerware is less and less on the list. Instead, most couples opt for registries at Crate & Barrel or Pottery Barn.

Gold accents serving ware like shown here with the stoneware Cargo Raisin dinnerware by Calvin Klein is a nice example of how to dress up an everyday set.

I illustrated some of the 2009 tableware trends. I hope you enjoy them.

+ Debbie Travis predicted that Blueprint, a pattern inspired by French and Delft blue and white style will be hot for Spring and summer 2009. The shown plates are Crate & Barrel. Via styleNorth

+ Cargo Raisin by Calvin Klein, $874.50 CAD for 12 settings (48 pieces) at William Ashley

+ I wish the porcelain Maya Dessert Plates and Tea Cups were available in North America. It is a beautiful Egyptian pattern in green and gold that are dishwasher and microwave safe. £29.34 for 6 plates, £46.92 for 6 cups and saucers at Zara Home

+ Large Double-Handled Soup Bowls, $29 USD for set of 4 at Williams-Sonoma

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I am finally uncluttering my house. My husband and I are proud that we donate and recycle twice the stuff than we throw away. I am completing my Spring cleaning that was put on hold due to my ACL surgery.

My husband put on boxes most of our DVDs to free space on our living room bookshelves. Before buying new decorative items, I see if I cannot reorganize the stuff I still like. I will then add a few accessories. But the major changes will wait until the makeover of the floor.

Which brings me to the importance of buying stuff for the long run. After all, it is the most ecological solution. Everyday, I used the Braun coffee grounder that I bought when I started university. I displayed on my bookcase a beautiful vase that an ex-boyfriend bought me one Christmas; I shown him the vase enthusiastically while we were shopping.

10 Commandments of Good Design

Dieter Rams is one of the most influential industrial designers of the late 20th century. He wrote his 10 commandments of good design:

1. Good design is innovative.
2. Good design makes a product useful.
3. Good design is aesthetic.
4. Good design helps us to understand a product.
5. Good design is unobtrusive.
6. Good design is honest.
7. Good design is durable.
8. Good design is consequent to the last detail.
9. Good design is concerned with the environment.
10. Good design is as little design as possible.

He preached for a Back to purity, back to simplicity style.

Tomorrow is my husband’s birthday and we are having a party at home. The unclutter of the house and the party planning keep me quite busy. It explains why I am less active on my blog this week. I scheduled good articles for next week; I think they are worth the wait.

MORE READING:
+ Dieter Rams at Design Museum
+ Ten Commandments of Good Design
+ 606 Universal Shelving System By Vitsoe At Moss
+ Images: Dieter Rams, 606 Universal Shelving system by Vitso, 4 record player by Braun – rights reserved

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Gray is hot this autumn both in fashion and home décor. People are not used to put this color on walls. But gray produce amazing neutral walls. Depending on the hues you selected, the room can look warm or cold.

These pictures taken from Living etc. to infuse some industrial influence into your house have a lot of charms and even a sense of cosiness. After the smoky eyes, it is time for the smoky walls.

This season, think about muted grays and blues, silver leaf finishes, a liquid-metal-edged quilt or a floral trellis and leaf pattern in muted metallic print for your bedding or a greenish gray wall.

My Design Challenge

I am thinking of using grays for our new office. Because I love bold color, I may apply on a small wall an orange wallpaper with a metallic large pattern that I saw at a wallpaper shop while walking in the street.

I have to sell the idea to my husband now. I wish to create an open concept conference area with a dining room vibe. He is not sold on that concept. The other problem is that the wallpaper pattern may be too feminine for his office taste.

SOURCING:
+ Khari Trellis Quilt at Toast – £225 for king bed, £195 for double
+ Inessa Quilt at Toast – £295 for king bed, £275 for double
+ Industrial Influence by Living etc

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Lately, I wish to update my home décor. I still like my furniture for the most part. By changing the accessories, you can totally redo a room. By for now, my first challenge will be our new office. We will be moving since our space is now too big for our needs.

I still not have finished the design of my home office. Besides being too busy, what is stopping me is that I must remove some furniture. But I cannot decide which ones. I like them all.

We watch on TV shows and read on magazines the liberating effect of removing the clutter in our space. When you buy stuff, the key is to opt for things you really like. For furniture, this also means buying the best quality you can afford.

In terms of housing, downsizing makes sense in our quest for a simple life. The more space you have, the more waste of space you will experience. Challenging spaces force us to be more creative in finding solutions. This is why the most cleverly designed interiors are often small spaces.

With the current economic situations, many people will have no choice but to downsize. See downsizing as an opportunity to examine what is really important to you. Does living in the suburbs where you need two cars is the best lifestyle model? Can you renovate your house to get what is missing instead of moving to a bigger house?

Video

Ideas on renovating or downsizing: A list of 4 tv shows that help you design a room that fits your lifestyle

MORE:
+ Love It or List It on W network
+ Pure Design on HGTV Canada
+ The Style Dept on HGTV Canada
+ Home to Stay on HGTV Canada

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Highlights

Since I thought that some of you may want to stay current on trends, I am publishing a summary of my presentation. I compiled key facts about what is going on right now. And I finished with my opinions about the market.

Female Internet

There are now more women on the Web than men. My presentation put emphasis on the fact that women use technology to communicate, create, collect, share and fulfill their dream/passion.

Revealing Statistics

ComScore Media Metrix’s year-end report: Women’s community was the most visited and fastest growing Internet category, tied with politics. The number of unique visits to women’s community sites jumped 35% to almost 70 million from 52 million.

This is quite an achievement considering the Presidential race.

InsideFacebook: Two days ago, a new survey shows that women outnumber men on Facebook in every age group

A BlogHer survey conducted by Compass Partners : 36.2 million American female Internet users actively participate in blogs every week. You get 15.1 million women publishing at least one post a week and 21.1 million reading and commenting at least weekly.

eMarketer established that more than 8 out of 10 U.S. moms go online at least once a month.

2007 survey by Intelligence Group:

• 88% of mothers said the Internet has helped them stay connected to the world
• 85% believed technology has made their life as a mother easier
• 66% said they relied more on technology since they became a parent.

I believe that with this large women presence, we will change the face of Internet. I shown 7 blogs besides my own on my presentation to represent the different voices of women. Everyone were impressed by the level of quality. I show the homepage of Steamy Kitchen, TasteSpotting, decor8, Design Sponge, Oh Joy!, Babygadget, Simple Mom and Hostess with the Mostess.

Traditional Media are Waking Up

The BlogHer survey found that because of blogging, 24% of surveyed women watch less television, 25% read fewer magazines and 22% read fewer newspapers. This is why the traditional medias are starting to embrace the Web 2.0 inside their publications.

Last week, on September 17, 2008, Martha Stewart did an entire TV episode on blogging. She encourages women to start their own blog by giving Blogging 101 tricks.

Two magazines, Domino with My Deco File and Style at Home launched Web 2.0 initiatives this fall. As a blogger I asked myself, what does it mean for my brand? How I can leverage that fact to convert audience to my site?

Twitter

I observed a switch in the Twitter population since last year. The foodies, the moms and on a lesser extent the event planners are very active on Twitter. Foodies and moms use Twitter to have dynamic conversations with their peers. I even found a site called Twitter moms.

Have you noticed a change in the Web? Do these facts reflect your reality?

Watch My Presentation Online

You can see the last third of my session at PodCamp MTL on September 20th, 2008. The presentation was recorded on live stream but as it something occurs, there were some technical difficulties at the start. The four pictures at the top rely to the last segment of my presentation about how the print media is catching up.

Fell free to watch it. Since it is a live stream, the video quality is not the best. You will see that I am still not completely comfortable in front of the camera. One thing I would like to do is to give the same conference several times to see how I improve.

Free TV Show from Ustream

Women and Mom blogs are an exciting domain. I am proud to be a part of it. I strongly believe that we moved from a Male Internet to a Female Internet. The more we participated, the more the Internet will become a social, simple and practical place.

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In a quest to serve you better, I am glad to announce that you can praise your favorite local places and share them with the At Home with Kim Vallee community.

I am really thrilled to host a Praized community on my site. The team at Praized Media developed an amazing tool. Their tool fits so well within the current needs of women and shoppers.

The recommendations you find on places.kimvallee.com are better than searching in the Yellow Pages or Goggle because you know that they come from people like you. You only see the praises from At home with Kim Vallee’s tribe.

Time Saver

I added the Places (Praize your Local Merchants) feature as a way to save you time. You will easily find the places that carry what you are looking or that provides the level of services you wish for. It is about ratings and reviews. You get a voice.

Help us discover the little gems in your neighborhood by contributing to the content of At Home with Kim Vallee. It is about peer recommendations and not simply my own. Naturally, you can see which places I like the most on my profile. Do you hesitate to share your profile link on your blog and other social networks.

Day-To-Day Scenarios

I will give you some answers on how places.kimvallee.com can simplify your daily life? Amazingly, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

I love small designers and independent stores. But where can you find these niche products in your city? In my future posts, I will direct you to a list of retailers, not just one. With your contribution and the input from brands and merchants, the retailer list becomes dynamic.

When we travel, we want to know the best hotels, restaurants and bars. You can check places.kimvallee.com to find which ones are preferred by women with similar taste and lifestyle than you.

I am sure you will find plenty of other uses for places.kimvallee.com. Therefore, I invite you to start sharing your best spots. Simply click on Places (the last item on the main pink background menu at the top of the page).

Calling for Help

I am looking for the Bento Boxes available at Plastica. Unfortunately, they do not ship to Canada. If any of you knows retailers that carry the bento box I am looking for product write down bento_box as a tag for the merchants. Even if it is not in Montreal, I want to know.

MORE:
+ Read what Praized Media had to say about the launching of my Local Praized community.
+ Praize your Local Merchants [Places on At Home with Kim Vallee]

I will go sidetracks today for my first post. I wish to talk about what is happening in my life.

Some of you may be aware that I worked for 15 years in the IT and Web industry. I gained a pretty good understanding of the challenges and processes governing the online and offline universes.

I coupled my Web expertise with my design skills to build and operate At Home with Kim Vallee. My husband is a bright system architect and Chief technical officer. So I am still connected to that previous career. All this brings me to my participation at PodCamp Montreal this fall.

What is Next?

The world of social media is so exciting. For the first time in the history, non technical people, like most of the bloggers in our circle can participate actively and build a business around their passion. The female and mommy blogs are booming at an accelerated rate. It is normal that women embrace social communities because we like to converse.

I am reflecting about that because I am preparing for the two sessions I will give at PodCamp Montreal on September 20-21, 2008

1. Beyond the Blog – How to Better Serve the Woman Market Through Social Tools: I am really excited by this topic.
2. Managing the PR Beast : Building Relationships With PR Practitioners While Maintaining Credibility With Your Audience. This is a panel made of Michelle Sullivan, Rayanne Langdon, Eden Spodek and Kim Vallee. I am lucky to sit on a panel with these three talented women.

August 22, 2008 Update: The PodCamp Montreal schedule is out. My first talk (Beyond the Blog) is at 3 pm on Saturday and then at 4pm, it is the panel. So I got a busy afternoon.

Register for PodCamp MTL

The line-up is incredible at this unconference. So register, the event is FREE and you will get to visit the beautiful Montreal. The weather will still be nice but bring a light coat as nights are colder.

Love Links

Since I am talking marketing and bloggers, why not share blogs I enjoy reading but that are in a different sphere.

I feel guilty that I did not respond earlier on my blog to Renée from En Direct Des Iles who awarded me an Arte y Pico at the beginning of the month. I do not follow the rules on her award but I respect the spirit. Here are five blogs outside the niche of my blog that I enjoy for their creative thinking.

• Six pixels of separation by Mitch Joel: I listen to Mitch’s podcasts while I do my daily exercises. If you see me smile or laugh at the gym, this is why. Mitch Joel has two upcoming sessions. His company, Twist Image is a major sponsor of PodCamp Montreal. First Mitch will talk with David Usher, the singer about the music industry. Then, his second session will be with C.C. Chapman, a new media maven living in Boston.
• By the way, David Usher has a blog on art, technology and the communications revolutions called CloudID. There are good discussions on David’s blog.
• Problogger by Darren Rowse: I go there for tips on how to build a more successful blog.
• Innovation Playground by Idris Mootee: I enjoy his blog because it talks about innovation, brand development and consumer experience in an easy to understand way. It is easy to read.
• Community Divas: Introducing a newcomer by veteran bloggers. Community Divas is the new podcast started by two of my friends from Toronto, Eden Spodek of Bargainista and Connie Crosby. Eden and Connie are doing a session at PodCamp Montreal about her podcast.

I will go back to my original programming now. But first, do not forget to register for PodCamp Montreal if you are free for a week-end of great networking, sharing and learning. If you there, please come say hello.

SOURCING:
+ Sessions at PodCamp Montreal
+ Fall foliage – 4×6 print by sixhours on Etsy – price: $10 USD

The creativity level of designers continues to impress me. One furniture trend is sofa and chairs that adapt to the body and not the other way around.

I prefer the use of bands to the wire frame structure. But they are two interpretations of basically, the same trend.

I selected my favorite pieces from the crop of 2008 Red Dot Winners in the product design category to illustrate a few furniture trends.

Best of The Best

SKiN, designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel for Molteni & C, won the best of the best award. Within this avant-garde design, Jean Nouvel announces a new kind of comfort that is achieved through leaving things out.

Technologically, Skin is impressive too. The double leather cover is only supported by self-modeling geometric incisions. The leather feels soft to the touch. The floating seat makes this sofa surprisingly comfortable and brings a delicate touch. I would like to sit in one to fully appreciate the shape.

The Pumpkin Seating Furniture designed by legend Pierre Paulin for Roset follows the same concept but results in an opposite look. Pumpkin is a relaunch of a design originally part of the revolutionary redecoration of the Elysée Palace for Claude and Georges Pompidou in 1971. Pumpkin would sit perfectly in a family lounge.

From Ballet To Your Home

The laces of ballet shoes stirred the birth of Ribbon Stool series in the mind of its designer Nendo, a design group directed by Oki Sato. This amazing design is made possible due to laser cuts.

These high and low Ribbon stools are manufactured by Cappellini Spa with a polish lacquered finish in white, black, red, yellow and blue colors or in polish stainless steel.

Invite Your Buddy Home

The hourglass shaped table of Buddy is fun and chic. The leather-covered frame is matched with a steel top. In a pure European tradition, Molteni & C offered different finishes for the top and several leather colors for the frame.

The top opens to function as a small container. In fact, Buddy is fun, chic and practical. It characterizes the best friends of the fashionable crowd.

Stacking Chairs

When you host a party, having 5 or 6 chairs in reserve can make a big difference in the comfort level of your guests. Stackable chairs used to be the poor parent of furniture. With smaller condo living, it is time that thing turned around. 

Karim Rashid imagined a set of intersecting surfaces to form of the seat and the backrest of the Poly chair. The chair does not feel square-edged. The Italian brand Bonaldo manufactured Poly in transparent colors or shiny black and white. Shop around since the prices of the Bonaldo Poly chair since to vary a lot from one retailer to the next.

MORE READING:
+ Ribbon Stools by Nendo for Cappellini at Unica Home – price: $538 USD low, $846 high, $375 cushion
+ Black Poly Chair at Topdeq – price: $195
+ Entire Poly Chair series at Karim Rashid shop – price: $340 USD

I am not generally inclined towards pastel rooms. But by referring to pastels as ice cream colors presented in a modern way, Living Etc caught my attention.

Soft Backdrop

Pastel colors are now on a mission to become the chosen backdrop. The softness of pastels is its biggest advantage over white. Pastels produce a high contrast against dark colors and look great next to light shades.

If you live in a small condo, white is not your only option. Extend a pastel wall color onto the floor for a seamless look. Pastels walls and floor create a subtle backdrop on which you can build on and add characters.

How To Create A Modern Interior With Pastels?

Pastel decors are typically associated with traditional decor. Living Etc tells us in their July 2008 issue how to renew the look. Their recipe relies on adding a dash of neon for modern edge and an unexpected twist. Here are some examples:

Use pastels as a base to boost punchy colors, such as this bright cube and acid cushion.

Paint white furniture of different pastel tones. Then, mix it with a huge bright color piece of furniture.

If you are tired of the clinical white look, paint your bedroom and select bed linens of different pastel tones. Add punch by incorporating a single statement piece.

If you miss the July 2008 issue, you can read the Decorating with Pastels article on Living Etc’s Web site.

CREDITS:
+ Photography by Paul Massey, Styling by Marianne Cotterill for July 2008 Living Etc

An interesting fact from the 2008 Mercer’s cost of living report. I would not have guess that it costs a tiny more to live in Toronto (54th), Canada than in Los Angeles (55th), California. For the weather, I know which city I would pick.

But the Unites States exhibits more  discrepancies in the standard of living. Take Venice Beach for example. This is a town founded by hippies where you now have hippies, surfers, performers and modern architecture fans living in the same cities. Venice Beach is not huge.

I visited a 2-million modern house on my last trip for the pleasures of seeing real-life examples of my dream house. The house was at least half a mile from the beach on a residential street. I can imagine the prices of the ones facing the beach.

I took plenty of pictures as I visited the house. I forgot to write about it while I was traveling. I will try to show you this beautiful house in the upcoming weeks.

MORE READING:
+ Mercer’s 2008 Cost of Living survey highlights
Via swissmiss

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