The Best of Colour me Happy 2010

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It's almost New Years and I'm off tonight to celebrate. Dinner with friends downtown and a night at the brand new Fairmont Pacific Rim with the love of my life. So here's the round-up for this years posts that got the most comments, tweets and links in case you missed one:

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10 Tips that will Take your Home Design Blog to the Next Level

For anyone that already has a design blog or is considering starting one don't miss this article.  Some of them are (tiny) pet peeves which I cleverly turned into tips.  Hey sometimes you need to know what doesn't work in order to determine what does, right?

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An Open Letter to my Lover on Decorating

This tongue-in-cheek post about men and their love of wood struck a cord. Ladies, I don't think the battle is over yet but your husband might get a chuckle out of this one :)

My Take on Negative Comments

My posts on blogging are always popular and this one was no exception. If you waffle on how to handle negative comments, here's two opinions (mine and Adam Baker's).

Which Colour Sofa should you Buy?

This post gets a lot of hits through google searches because it is a very important question. And a sofa highly dictates the look and feel of your living or family room. So if you still don't have a new sofa because you are not sure which colour you should buy? Read this one. Since we are taking about sofa's here's my take on when leather is appropriate.

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Is Quartz sexier than Granite?

Everyone loves to weigh in with their opinion and this post was no exception.  Was it the headline that made this one so popular?  Only you know for sure.

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Design Lessons from Elizabeth Stevenson

My dear friend Liz died a little over a year ago and I miss her so much. She was a wonderful designer, mentor, friend, mother and wife. She lived life full out and this post outlines the best lessons I learned from her. Read on, if you are a designer, it's a good one.

Photo by Maria Killam

Inspiration and my Tiffany Blue Office

I always get lots of lovely comments when I post my own projects. This office was inspired by The Devil Wears Prada and I think we were all in love with the Colour of 2010 which was Turquoise.

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Negotiating Lessons from Mad Men

This post is not just for designers.  It's for anyone in the service business who needs to be reminded (again) not to work for free. Boundaries--we all need them--and it's hard when our clients become our friends too! My clients are the best!

Happy New Year everyone!  

If you would like your home to fill you with happiness every time you walk in, contact me.

Related posts:

Do you Dance on New Years Eve?

My Decorating Mantra for 2009

Colour me Happy's Top 10 Posts

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Colour me Happy’s top 10 posts

In June I posted my 10 favourite articles from the first 6 months of the year here. Every time I come across one I like I save it in a folder, so here are my 10 favourites from July until now:

1) Cote de Texas -Top Ten Design Elements #2 [Slipcovers]

Joni Webb writes this Blog/Virtual Magazine. Her blog is ranked in the top 5 because her posts are extraordinary and thoroughly researched. In this post, she tells you everything you ever needed to know about slipcovers!

I had to include one more photo as these are tailored slipcovers – amazing!

2. Victoria Lambert (part of the dynamic duo at Design Ties) wrote a fabulous post about black and white interiors! Click here to read.

Tom Atwood

3. Tracy at Comfort & Luxury wrote two tutorials, here and here, on hanging art or collections! The second one she outlines exactly how to hang mis-matched frames!

Since a huge part of my design work includes styling and finishing the spaces I decorate for my clients, I love these types of posts!

4. Lisa at The Lisa Porter Collection wrote a great post called ‘Hospitality’.

Everything you need to know on getting your house and guest rooms ready! Beautiful, just like Lisa and her lovely blog!

5. Lauren at Pure Style Home wrote an amazing post Natural Rugs; Seagrass, Sisal, Jute, Synthetic & Wool Rug: The Low-down that landed in the Washington Post Blog Watch. Lauren is a highly talented designer who’s house appears frequently in her blog because she’s always doing something new and beautiful to it!

6. Things that Inspire, a well-loved and popular blog wrote Trendy Elements that scream 2000’s a fabulous article (that made the Washington Post Blog Watch for the 10th time—I’m quite sure she has the most in the post :).

7. Brooke at Velvet & Linen posted a house that her husband Steve had completed and it had been staged beautifully, a treat to see, click here. We love her blog, it’s like the blogosphere’s version of the Lifestyles of the [blogger/designer] Rich and Famous :)

8. La Dolce Vita wrote Putting it all on The Table. A great post about tablescapes (shhh, don’t tell her I said that, she hates that word :)

I could take this opportunity to plug the one I wrote as well, but I won’t because this is about everyone else.

9. Greet at Belgian Pearls; Belgian Interiors & Restoration Hardware

Belgian inspired interiors are all the rage to replace the brown-on-brown interiors that we have been inundated with for so long and Greet did a wonderful and thorough post on how to create the look yourself!

10. Kristin at Discover: Interior Design posted an interview she did with another blogger favourite Valerie at Visual Vamp on her Design Resolutions for 2010. It’s a perfect article to include in this post because that’s what we’ll be thinking about next and it’s so funny and playful, just like Valerie!

So there you go my lovelies, some fabulous posts to read this holiday week!

*All images from the blog posts I’ve mentioned

Related posts:

10 of my Favourite posts (from Jan – June, 2009)

10 Things Every Blogger Should Know

10 Commandments for a Happy, Chic Home

10 of my Favourite Posts

Things that Inspire does an annual “Favourite Posts” every December. She said every time she comes across a post she likes, she saves it in a folder. I thought this was such a great idea, I started doing the same thing but it’s June and I was already at 14, so I thought I would do a mid year review instead. So here are my top 10 favourites in no particular order:

1. Since this post is inspired by ‘Things that Inspire, I’m starting off with one of my favourites from her blog. It’s hard to choose one, she writes such extraordinary posts, this one is called Light on Two Sides. Who would have thought there was even such a distinction, but there is!

2. Next is COTE DE TEXAS. You need a fresh beverage when you sit down to read one of her posts because each one is like a magazine. This is a woman that get’s over 100 comments on every post she writes. And it’s easy to see why, the amount of work and research that she pours into every one she writes certainly deserves the amount of attention her blog gets from her readers.

This post is called “Like Mother, Like Daughter”, where she compares. . . well you’ll have to read it to find out.

3. Next is ‘Design Esquire’. It’s called Kitchen Inspiration and I fell instantly in love with this kitchen (below) without upper cabinets. So beautiful and clean looking. Love the windows!

4. This post from Designing Your Dream Home is called ‘Staircase Railing Part One: Iron’. She has a total of 5 posts about railings, everything you need to know about this topic! Here is one of my favourites from her post:

5. And one of my ‘closer to home’ blogger friends Patricia Gray Interior Design wrote a post about ‘DIY Canopy Beds’. With drawings and instructions, she walks us through the process of doing it yourself!

6. Just Imagine, wrote a post about my favourite colour called ‘Yellow’, it is filled with images of this happy colour!

7. Another Vancouver blogger friend, Albarosa from Brillante Home Decor has a wonderful blog all about design and travel in Italy. Here we got to see ‘A House on Como Lake’.

8. A Schematic Life wrote a very cool post with images of the set from the Kevin Costner movie from the 90’s. It’s called Message in a Bottle Set, Even I would approve of this leather sofa!

9. One of my blogger friends Brooke Giannetti from Velvet & Linen has a fabulous blog which covers the everyday life of a luxury interior designer in LA. It was very hard to choose my favourite and I already posted a photo of her dining room here because I loved the way it was styled. This is Brooke’s second home in Channel Islands Harbour and this post is called C Magazine, because it was also featured in the magazine.

10. LaurenFaythe, posted a house that was entirely decorated in yellow, called ‘The Yellow House’.

In my experience, an entire house all done in yellow is too much for most people. Clients that have all yellow homes have called me--not to get rid of it--but to help them choose other colours that coordinate with it. I did think the bathroom above was very luxurious, with full drapery, not something you see very often.

I hope you enjoyed my top 10 posts. Hopefully this will inspire you to start your own lists! There are so many talented bloggers out there, it was very hard to choose only 10.

Related posts:

Colour me Happy's Top 10 Posts (from July - Dec 2009)

When to Buy Leather Furniture

Why is it so hard to choose yellow?

The New Hollywood Regency (A Kelly Wearstler Residence)