Oh! The enticing smell of summer night barbecue with the fire crackling and oils and juices sizzling as hot as the sun in the sky. Cold drinks on ice, laughter, and above all, people, the people that we’ve missed so dearly. Any gracious host is concerned with setting a great environment for the guests. Albeit…
Category: RITUALS OF LIVING
Explore the role that design and creativity have in shaping an impeccable life: enjoyable, imperfect, livable, likeable and full of surprises, positive mistakes and rewarding accomplishments.
Advice on how to curate a better lifestyle through design from the award-winning expert Adriana Mot – Toronto interior designer specializing in residential design with a focus on the impact of good design on the positive connection between people and the space around them.
Stylishly laid back, the new kind of casual
2021 💫 STYLE 💫 TREND SPOTTER A new kind of casualness What is casualness but the relaxed and unconcerned manner we inherently have without the filter of conventions and care of others? Have you defined what this is for you? How are you most comfortably dressed? What’s your “thing”, that which does it for you, that which…
Best seat for news browsing and more
We are glued to our phones, iPads and laptops in every place of the house. The kitchen table. The tv couch. The bed. The office. Even the garage, at that moment when you’re right to get out of the car yet you want to give a few more seconds to the virtual self. The more…
Celebrating 1st of March
The first of March celebration is one of the most unified and beautiful customs of Romanian folklore. The day is called the day of “Martisor” and it represents the glorious arrival of each spring at the end of winter. Under the warming sun, towns and villages alike turn their main streets into open-air markets full…
Intimately Yours, Happy Valentine’s
Valentine’s Day is all about spending time with the ones you love and respect and the ones that feel the same toward you. Typically celebrated at dinner, this year the day falls on a weekend. With work out of the way, a full day can be planned around love, intimacy and affection. So set up…
Best Cooking setup to siZZle up!
Cooking is a pleasant activity only if you have the right tools and if you can minimize the need to clean after you’re done. Which tools those are, vary with the cook but it is safe to assume that non-stick frying pans are on everyone’s list. Add to that wooden spoons and transparent lids and…
Retrospective 2020: A look the top 12 stories that made my year
📽📌There is no countdown to the new year if you don’t tally up the old year!✓ There is incredible satisfaction in gratitude, especially the kind of gratitude one feels for things well done. It is not a polished gem that sparkles in your face, that you see at every turn or carry proudly in your…
Balance is everything – how to get your feature wall look great in just a few moves
Feature walls can take a room from ordinary to extraordinary. As cliched as that sounds, getting one for yourself is not as complicated nor costly as you may think. What you need is to create visual balance by using the art technique called composition. Start by selecting the right wall. The key to that is…
Ladies and Gents – welcome to the 2020 holiday season and the fun blabber that goes with it
A time to recap and plan ahead, see those you have not in a while, get yourself in shape and dress up in fancy clothes only to not fit in them after the holiday feasts and pleasures. Yes, that’s how it was – and will be again. While not all will happen this year, certain…
How to set up your study area for successful home learning
According to science, we’re better off having designated areas for learning. As the Ontario students have made their decisions to either go back to school or continue the remote learning, having a proper place for them to study at home is now crucial to a good education. By setting up a learning hub at home that is conducive to concentration and even more, helps create a healthy pattern of concentration in the day, you not only offer physical help and a great place for education, but you help shape a lifetime of good learning and brain curiosity.
How much space you need when everyone is working and studying from home
Ok fine, we’re working from home and learning from home. We figured it out: kids in the basement, one per room, mom in the den and dad in the office on the second floor.
But what if you do not have a basement, or a den, or a second floor? How many rooms do you actually need to have in order to be able to do this properly, meaning, protect concentration sufficiently so that you can do what you need to do, and still live happily ever after? And what if you do not have them?
Healthy eating and good cottage appetite
In order to have a healthy appetite and develop proper eating habits, stress is the number one enemy and relaxation is your best friend. And what better way to quickly relax, truly relax, than get yourself out there in the country-side and enjoy country-everything with its greens and soft sounds, the birds, the water and all those basic little pleasures that make for instant nature-therapy. While nature plays its part, architecture and design have an equally big role that is crucial in achieving a relaxing state. A break from the stress, a true break that has positive effects does not need to be long, but it does need to be effective. And that takes just the right design, the right people, or sometimes lack of, the right meal and the right sunset.