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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Highlights from the Toronto Interior Design Show



On Sunday, we spent the afternoon at the Interior Design Show in downtown Toronto. The exhibition hall was packed with people and filled with inspiration. 

Here are just a few pictorial highlights and my notes on design trends at the show.


Trend ideas in this picture: Ground level marble coffee tables, legless sofa and a book case with shelves organized in an irregular pattern. The shelves are filled either with spare accessories or stuffed full of books that have had their covers removed. (Should defacing books be a fashion forward idea? What do you think of those low tables? Are they really practical?)


Trend idea: Over sized arrangements. 
(Did you notice the vase within a vase that holds the flowers and foliage in place? Clever!)


Trend ideas: Black and white accessories, blond wood, whitewashed floors, chrome and glass.


Love this statement making chandelier!


Bedroom ideas: Greige linens, distressed wood, collection of small mirrors.


Inspired by WWII aircraft this chest of drawers in the UP Country's display have a romantic, 
vintage feel.

Accessory trend ideas: Collections of vintage globes, vintage trophies, worn books and antlers.


Trend ideas: This industrial chic look mixes metal cabinets, distressed leather furnishings, romantic mercury glass chandeliers and contemporary styled armchairs with clean wooden arms. All from Elte in Toronto.


Trend ideas: Over sized wall clock, graphic black and white artwork, rough wooden headboard
and a distressed chest of drawers. All from Elte in Toronto.


Trend ideas: Charcoal wall color, rough wood surfaces, metal legs and chairs, amber colored glass chandelier, silhouettes and high gloss decorative plates. All from Elte in Toronto.


All from Elte in Toronto.


Kitchen trends: High gloss kitchen cabinets, dark grout on backsplash tiles, clean walls without upper kitchen cabinetry

(What do you think of the fashion for using dark tile grout in kitchens and baths? I think that this is one trend that will date itself quickly. The dark grout may be practical, but it has a way of making even a simple white backsplash look busy.)


Color trend: Tangerine and lime colored accents



Outdoor furniture trend: Woven faux rattan, metal legs, and sculptural, over-sized floral arrangement.


Trend: Zigzag patterns, orange terry pillows


House and Home magazine has a video clip of a few other show highlights. 
See it here: House and Home Online.

29 comments:

  1. Oohhhh! Thank you so much for the photos Jennifer! I love all the design ideas but you're so right that they are impractical for everyday living - those low, low pieces of furniture would be painful to get in and out of after a while. Are the book covers torn off or are the spines turned to the back of the cabinets??? I like the look, but I like my books (and actually read them!) so I would never participate in this trend!!! lol

    Thanks for sharing!

    Have a great week,
    Anne

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    1. Anne, I believe that the covers were removed.

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  2. Thanks for the pick me upper on this wintry morning. Love the black and white abstract modern... Great photos and great inspiration.

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  3. Looks like it was such a great show and it would appear that there is something for everyone with some of these current trends. Thanks for all the pics.!

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  4. Well, it all looks pretty, but I'm not so impressed with the new trends - maybe I'm just getting old. No way that sofa would be comfortable getting into or out of, or even sitting on. (I knew a guy in college that had one of those! Of course, his was not high end, but Goodwill!) I do love the tangerine and lime, though! Two of my favorite colors.

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  5. Love to see the interiorcolors for 2012.
    gr. Marijke

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  6. Tangerine was a great choice for the color of the year. Love the cotton bolls in the vase on the bedside table.

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  7. Hi there. My name's Andrew Metrick. My great grandfather started Elte more than 90 years ago, making my brother and I the fourth generation in the family business. I was just going through various design blogs to see their wrap ups from IDS and I stumbled across yours, which just so happened to feature some photos of our booth this year. Thank you so much. Seeing that really makes me proud so I'm just very happy to know that you liked what you saw. Anyway, if you want to see more pictures of our booth, we uploaded them on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/elte). Thanks once again and I hope to see you at Elte sometime soon! Take care.

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    1. Thanks Andrew, I have been a fan of both the Elte and Gingers stores for years.

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  8. Great photos Jennifer. We are designing bookcases for our living room so the first picture really caught my eye. Not crazy about those low tables or couches but the irregular pattern in the shelving is interesting. I read somewhere else recently about turning books so their spines faced inwards as a design feature. I always thought one of the wonderful things about books is the titles and colours they display, they show personality. Seems removing the covers or turning them inward says something about depersonalizing a space.

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  9. Jennifer, these are wonderful photographs! I'm with you on the dark grout. Just too busy for me. Love those wonderful bookshelves. I could use every inch of that space!

    Thank you for taking us along with you!

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  10. Thank you, Jennifer! The photographs are great! I certainly love oversized floral arrangements. Using two glass vases is a simple and wonderful idea!

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  11. Oh, I like! Mercury glass and weathered textures with lots of greenery looks divine. Thanks for sharing. :)

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  12. Hi Jennifer. What a lovely posting. Whites and earth tones must always be in style now. Makes the touches of orange and greens seem even more brighter. I am waiting for blue to come back in style then I will be spot on. LOL!

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  13. Honestly Jennifer, I did not see anything they marked as trends that has not been done in recent years. The first display really does not look like it will have much life for very long. Book defacing has been around too, and I always found this a bit unnerving. Designers do it to unify but add a consistent texture. I have a very good friend that is an interior designer and much of what is going on currently in her field is not what I see lasting. Another designer friend of mine just redid his home and it is covered in linen. Just too beachy to me.

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  14. Hi Jennifer, you are now the recipient of the Versatile Blogger Award! http://bit.ly/yhCUbI Hooray!

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  15. I had wanted to go to the show - and now I feel I have - many thanks Jennifer. Noticed that many of the trends embrace the old - wonder if that's where the dark grouting comes in. Looks like our old white tiled bathrooms that we've had from the 20s and 50s.... I suppose if you don't read, turning your books around does give a wall texture. Perhaps this is a comment on the book publishing industry as a whole?

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  16. Beautiful photos - thanks for sharing. I absolutely love the look of those book shelves!

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  17. Future shot - five hot dogs lying on the low marble tables trying to keep cool while I look for a book with no cover. I'd probably end up outside with my head on the orange terry pillows and a drink in my hand.

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  18. Hi Jennifer,

    I always enjoy reading your blog, and especially enjoyed your recent posts on creating focal points and the design show. So I am also nominating you for the Versatile Blogger Award. Cheers!

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  19. Podoba mi się pierwszy pokój w całości ( półki na książki, kanapa i szklane dodatki). Nie podobają mi się półki w kształcie walizek, no może do młodzieżowego pokoju. Ciemne fugi podobają mi się i mam tak. Wspaniałe zdjęcia. * Bardzo dziękuję za komentarz na moim rocznicowym poście * Pozdrawiam. *** I like the first room in the whole (book shelves, a sofa and glass additives). I do not like the shelves in the shape of suitcases, maybe the youth room. Dark grout I like and I like that. Great pictures. * Many thanks for the comment on my anniversary post *. Yours.

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  20. What a full post you have prepared for us and a veritable feast for the eyes, plus food for thought as well. I did not like the undressed books shoved any old how on to the bookcase shelving neither do those ground level slabs posing as tables appeal to my sensibilities. I do like the use of mirrors, antiques, glass and wood and the vase within a vase is a novel idea of which I needed reminding. Dark grout? No. Chandeliers? Absolutely. My daughter recently painted a charcoal wall as an accent in her bedroom. It works beautifully with her decor accents. I have always been a white and cream person. Raw, untreated wood is not my preference, although I love wood and we use it extensively in our own home. Tangerine and lime? Looks very attractive, but again, not my personal preference.

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  21. The first couple of pictures are exactly what I'm all about. Not too much, lots of bright spaces, careful choice of decoration, it's all about the accents I'd say! Last year I painted my book shelves and wrapped all books in white, similar to the first picture and the compliments keep on coming every time our guests enter the living room! (Although the impossible position of the books in the photo made me smile a little). The best thing about bright interiors is that you can change them through new furniture and decor accents according to your mood and it's easy as that!

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  22. Those WW II chest of drawers that look like steamer trunks are really cool. Would love to get my hands on something like that.
    I do like the tangerine and lime color combos.

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  23. Jennifer, after all those pics, I still cannot shake that 'eye' plate. Who in the world wants that staring at them?
    I could not strip the binding or covers off the books like that. I find the spine and cover to be beautiful, no matter what condition they are in!

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  24. I love it all! You really captured inspiration in your photos.. thanks so much for sharing these. I'm hoping to re-do the dining room and bedroom this year and these will come in handy! :)

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  25. Just found you and I'd have to agree, you deserve a versatile blogger award. Great photos! I'm pleasantly surprised they allow you to take a camera around the design show? And I'm with Sissy, I could never strip my book covers like that. How would I find what I was looking for, lol?

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  26. Awesome designs..i like bookcase very much.

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  27. Great post!! This work is very nice. You share some nice picture in this blog . I really appreciate very much.

    Toronto painters

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