styleNorth

“Gustavian” is one of those decorating references that means different things to different people. Generally speaking, the term refers to a Swedish style that favours white walls and pale, painted furnishings typically in blues, greys and greens. Scandinavian modern may have swept the design world since the 1950s and 60s but the Gustavian penchant for neoclassical style has enjoyed a timeless appeal since King Gustav III of Sweden warmed the throne from 1771 – 1792.

When a professional acquaintance, Ms. T, told me about her search for the perfect “Gustavian blue” my interest was piqued; when she mentioned the patchwork of paint samples on her dining room wall the hook was truly in – I requested a house tour.

Like me, Ms. T is smitten with the Farrow & Ball palette though not necessarily with each of the colours. Her first misstep, above, was Parma Blue, the base coat beneath the tester swatches. “It might be nice in a nursery,” she acknowledges, “but not in a dining room.”

Similar pale blue-greys echo throughout the main floor of the home and I was delighted when Ms. T peeled back a tapestry, left, to reveal yet another swatch for consideration, in this case F&B’s Light Blue, one of my all-time personal favorites thanks to its silvery quality.

Sadly, on the day of my visit a steady rain kept the sun in hiding, probably like Sweden — or Toronto for that matter — in winter. The good news is that Ms. T’s dining room, below, is finally at peace with its small but significant band of blue, which isn’t blue at all but Farrow & Ball’s Lamp Room Grey. Never judge a colour by its name, especially a Farrow & Ball colour!

I ask Ms. T’s husband what he thought about her slapping up so many paint samples in her hunt for just the right shade. “Well, she can be a little indecisive,” he responds, an assessment with which the lady takes umbrage.

“I have a picture in my mind’s eye of what I want,” she counters, “and I’m not satisfied until I find it.”

Thunderstorms are about the only thing that will keep me away from the fall 2010 Christie Antiques Show in Dundas, Ontario, Saturday, September 11. I’ve missed the last several Christie sales for a variety of reasons and even though I don’t need a thing, I’m still looking forward to Canada’s largest and arguably best vintage furniture fair. Christie was the source of many of Sarah Richardson’s best finds on the most recent edition of HGTV’s Sarah’s House. See my earlier post for tips on how to make the most of this excellent day out.

I’ve heard it said that the good we do comes back to us but I never imagined that included coffee tables. Many months ago I helped a friend pull together a new apartment. Now, circumstance is taking her in a new direction and she offered me the table back, one of my all-time favorite finds.

And it just so happens that I recently purchased a vintage Moroccan berber carpet on Craiglist for the absurdly low price of $150 (the rug is 7’ x 11’ in amazing condition!). I know the rug is not to everyone’s taste. My friend Doreen came to dinner last night and thought it was one step up from hideous. “The style brings back bad memories of the 1970s,” she said. Fair enough. But the colours — cream, brown, black and orange — are my exact palette at the moment so the purchase seemed fated, somehow.

A few other things have changed in the room. Now that Punch is gone, the console table could come out from behind the sofa – Judy is perfectly happy with the narrow runway I’ve left for her. And I took commenter Lin’s suggestion of raising the artwork, which really owns the wall now. Together with the smaller, lighter coffee table, the room feels MUCH more spacious, albeit busier visually.

And then there’s “that” chair, the sole survivor from a trio you’re probably long past tired of reading about. My friend Ingrid very kindly gave me a plush Mongolian lamb pillow that’s the perfect size to cushion the spine-crushing back rests. A few coats of black lacquer and a new seat cover and now the chair will be able to hold me over until I’ve saved for the $600 lounger I’ve picked out to go with the Bertoia Diamond. The “hair chair” as I’ve taken to calling it, looks like Cousin It from the Addams Family but I sort of like the quirkiness. And it’s comfortable now! Thanks Ingrid.

You’re probably thinking, ‘Does this man ever stop decorating?’. Um, no.

I’d forgotten how much I missed Debbie Travis until I lucked into a one-on-one interview with the décor diva Wednesday at Toronto’s SOHO Metropolitan Hotel where Canadian Tire had arranged a press day to promote its Christmas 2010 product line. That’s right, Christmas! It was hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk but never mind, upstairs in the penthouse a small army of publicists and product demonstrators (below) was taking turns steering junketeers across three floors of ho-ho-holiday vignettes. Talk about surreal.

My audience with Travis happened by fluke and I jumped at the chance to question the star about her Christmas line and about her new TV show, launching September 26 on CBC TV. Called All for One, the show concept is reminiscent of Extreme Makeover, a confusion Travis tried hard to dispel.

“Extreme Makeover benefits a victim or someone who’s down on their luck,” she explains. “Our show is built around a hero, a person who is the glue of a community, the one who people run to when they need a hand. And the twist is that we don’t do the renovation, the community does — it’s modern-day barn raising. I just design it, the community builds it.”

“It’s real reality TV,” stresses Travis. “If we can’t find plasterers we go on local radio and put out a call for plasterers. In Montreal, we had to have the nuns come in and paint. On the show we just did in Nova Scotia, the priest of the church called in the Canadian Army because they weren’t going to be done in time. The army got the job finished in two hours. We had no idea they were coming, they just showed up.”

Travis is clearly pumped about All for One, which has landed a prime Sunday night time slot following Battle of the Blades. “There’s a social message that comes out organically where we see the cracks in the community,” notes the star. “In one case, the only plasterer wouldn’t come because he hadn’t spoken to the people in 40 years. And I said, ‘Well, he bloody well will come and I went and dragged him out.’ ”

“In another show, we wanted to do a project with skateboards but it turned out skateboarding is banned in the community. The story was that the skate park was torn down and the kids were promised $60,000 to build a new one but it went to a sewage plant instead. So I go see the mayor and he tells me his side of the story. You’ll cry like a baby when you hear the kids plead their case in front of the local council. It’s really, really good.”

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While surfing 1stdibs.com today I came across the coffee table below, which I instantly recognized from the August 2010 issue of Canadian House and Home, above, photo by Stacey Brandford. In my opinion, it was the most glamorous shot in the mag that month and I was crazy, absolutely crazy about the coffee table, which belongs to journalist Karen Von Hahn and her husband Thomas. I love that 1stdibs displays the table one way, like a letter M, and the Von Hahn’s present it the other way, like a W. What’s your preference? The M’s a bit golden arches don’t you think?

The 1960s era table is by designer Roger Sprunger for Dunbar. I contacted the seller, Talisman London, to get a quote and, are you sitting down? After converting the price in sterling to US dollars and including shipping from the UK to Toronto, the table would cost $4,362, give or take a few bob. Can you imagine?