Designing Woman

The Great Ottawa Senators room isn't quite finished (next week, I promise), so I'm interrupting coverage to bring you Designing Woman: Industrial Designer extraordinaire.

Here in Ottawa, we're really fortunate to have Carleton University where Industrial Design is a key program. And, fabulously, there are a lot of amazing young women enrolled.

Bonnie Van Tassel is one of these women. She has just completed her fourth year at Carleton, and is obviously driven, creative, and very, very talented.

Here are some examples of Bonnie's work for easy viewing. And, if you're interested in seeing more, click here for Bonnie's web site.

*** A word of warning: prepare to be impressed. This is a Designing Woman with an eye to the future!

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Bonnie Van Tassel ...

Wazo Lounge Chair

This piece was designed for the Asahikawa International Furniture Design Competition. The challenge was to design an elegant piece of furniture that celebrates wood as a material and shows its beauty. From the beginning, Bonnie envisioned a flow of grain and texture. She worked in quarter scale (amazing but true!) to create a comfortable and beautiful lounge chair. The end product is a flexed fan of mahogany, cherry, walnut and maple, finished with olive oil and brass hardware.





Portable Seating: Axis

This piece was designed with mobility and portability in mind. The challenge was to design an ultra-portable seat which would be able to withstand any grown adult sitting on it, while being compact enough to be easily taken on a bus or carried around. The seat is made of birch russian plywood, ultra-suede fabric and high-density polyurethane padding, and weighs only six pounds.

The Great Ottawa Senators Decorating Adventure: Part 3

Happy Sunday. I hope everyone had a great weekend!
Work on the Great Ottawa Senators Decorating Adventure slowed a bit this week, but here are a couple of shots showing how amazing everything looks with the black chair rail up. The wall colours just pop right out now! Especially the amazing red. I've moved the bed towards the window to gain some floor space, started outfitting the bed (note black coverlet and ever useful Hudson's Bay blanket!), and added an Ottawa Senators floor mat. Obviously, there's still lots to come including more bedding, a fun window treatment, lighting, storage, and other accessories, so do stay tuned. Enjoy your week! And, if anyone's decorated using a sports theme, please send along photos, and I'll post them up so everyone can see! Look forward to hearing from you!

The Great Ottawa Senators Decorating Adventure: Part 2

Hi everyone. The Ottawa Senators are in a bit of trouble right now, but our room transformation is coming along fabulously! Here are some images of what's been done so far thanks to my extremely talented painting husband. The walls are finished now, and we are just about ready to add on a chair rail, which was very precisely measured, cut, and painted black. Again, thanks to talented husband.

BTW, we used a new Benjamin Moore paint line called "Aura". While it's quite expensive, it goes on easily with great coverage, and is environmentally friendly, too. Normally, red requires many coats to get the right intensity, especially if the paint is not high quality. But, using a tinted primer as our first coat, we only needed one coat of the red because the quality of "Aura" is so high.

I hope you all have a fabulous week! I'll be posting on tile patterns later this week, so check back when you can. And, I'll have Part 3 of our decorating adventure up soon, too. Bye for now.

The Great Ottawa Senators Decorating Adventure: Part 1

Well, I think spring is finally here and that means painting time! I've been dreaming of redoing my son's bedroom the whole winter, and now the warmer weather is here, it's time to get started!

Here's a picture of his bedroom now. It's actually quite cheery, and it's worked well for us because I kept the wall colour that was there before he was born, and just added stuff to brighten the room until it was redecorated for him. But, now he's really a little boy, and it's time for a fabulous change reflecting his personality and the things he loves.



So, with no further ado, here are the colours I've chosen for him, and some marvellously complementary fabric for the roman shade and accent pillows. Yes, it is most definitely bright, and, yes, I can hear my college instructors saying, "Jen, red does not go in a bedroom." But, what's a girl to do when your son is a hockey fanatic and lives and breathes for the Ottawa Senators ... !! The answer's pretty simple actually, and we're all having a lot of fun pulling it together. I'll keep you posted on developments, so stay tuned for the next installment of The Great Ottawa Senators Decorating Adventure. Have a fabulous week!