House of Commons of Canada

The House of Commons of Canada dahu (French: Chambre des communes du Canada) is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign (represented by the Governor General) and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament (MPs). Members are elected by simple plurality ('first-past-the-post' system) in each of the country's electoral districts, which are colloquially known as ridings. MPs hold office until Parliament is dissolved and serve for limited terms of up to five years after an election, but historically terms end before their expiry and the sitting government typically dissolves parliament within four years of an election according to a long-standing convention. Seats in the House of Commons are distributed roughly in proportion to the population of each province and territory. However, some ridings are more populous than others and the Canadian constitution contains some special provisions regarding provincial representation; thus, there is some interprovincial and regional malapportionment based on population.

The House of Commons was established in 1867, when the Constitution Act, 1867 created the Dominion of Canada, and was modelled on the British House of Commons. The "lower" of the two houses making up the parliament, the House of Commons in practice holds far more power than the upper house, the Senate. Although the approval of both Houses is necessary for legislation, the Senate very rarely rejects bills passed by the Commons (though the Senate does occasionally amend bills). Moreover, the Government of Canada is responsible solely to the House of Commons. The Prime Minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of the lower house.

It is widely thought that "Commons" is a shortening of the word "commoners". However, the term derives from the Anglo-Norman word communes, referring to the geographic and collective "communities" of their parliamentary representatives and not the third estate, the commonality.[citation needed] This distinction is made clear in the official French name of the body, la Chambre des communes. Canada and the United Kingdom remain the only countries to use the name "House of Commons" for the Lower House of Parliament.

The Canadian House of Commons chamber is located in the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario.

Black & White Artwork

Perusing through some of my favorite inspiration images recently, I've noticed that one of my favorite elements is black & white art work.  You have to be careful with black & white so that it doesn't feel stark, but when done well, it's one of my absolute favorite combinations:  timeless yet a little edgy.

What makes this room below (by Gerrie Bremermann via Cote de Texas) for me is the combination of antique gold finishes and the contemporary black & white canvas.  There's not even one stitich of green in the room, yet I still LOVE it!!

I've posted the next image more than once & it still remains one of my favorites.  Again, it's that black & white artwork juxtaposed with the gold.  (And they've used greenery & frogs & BALLS so can it get any better?  ;)

{House Beautiful}

This Nate Berkus room (below) also showcases black & white contemporary artwork and I think it stays warm-feeling because of the textured bed and basket.  I love it with the zebra hide. 

Again, another one of my favorite spaces ("favorite" warning:  will say it a lot in this post).. Monelle Totah's apartment feature in Elle Decor.  To the right of the fireplace you can see her black & white print peeking out.

I just saw this image (Martha Stewart) on La Dolce Vida and loved its massive black & white contemporary paintings.. (Honestly, if someone had told me 5 years ago that I would ike something like this, I would have laughed and then groaned.):

Anyway, since I started getting this black & white art craving a few months back, I was at a clients house and we were looking around her home for art options for her living room.  (Love shopping in clients' houses!)  And I saw this original beautiful black & white tree painting she had. 

{Are you ready for my blonde moment??}  I thought she had done it because the name scrawled on the painting looked like her last name to me at first glance.   I was like, "You did this?!  It's amazing!"  

...

And then I looked closer as she laughed...  "Matisse"  

It was an original Matisse. 

Oh. my. goodness.

hahhahaah SO...  at least she's got a sense of humor and we're now using it in the living room. 

(And I would say it's time for me to bruch up on my art ;)

Pure Project # 15: A touch of Fall

One of my favorite things to do is to tweak my home seasonally or when the mood strikes (or naptimes coincide ;)  This weekend in Virginia, we got a beautiful little blast of Fall and it was Heaven!!!  The windows were opened all weekend and when we took our walks I noticed the crunch of the acorns underfoot.  So...  that meant it was time for a few teensy tweaks at home... not full-blown Fall, but just a touch of it mixed with mostly "Summer."

I found the antique quatrefoil table at Lucketts this weekend and its granny-feel is perfect for my mood.  (Not that I'm feeling like a granny but a touch of it feels perfectly "homey" for early Fall ;)  I brought out some of my old golden-orange pillow I made a while back and mixed them with a piece of my grandmother's vintage fabric.  (I think it used to be curtains??  When I saw the fabric being used to store something in my grandparents' garage a couple of years ago, I asked them for it.)  I don't have a patterned sofa & sometimes wish I did, so this is a nice compromise.  The white slipcpvered ottoman is still out but the lucite coffee table should be back in a few months when Justin's fully walking. 

Here's a close-up of the table...  I love having that shelf for my magazines:

{The boys' book basket fits just below}

How cool are the glass ball feet?!!!

{I love the creepy little faces}

I've also been drawn to cloveresque shapes lately.  (I have two gorgeous trefoil end tables in storage to be sold...  I am having issues parting with my finds...  something I haven't mentioned yet but could go on & on about.)

I picked a bunch of these purple flowers that sprouted up all over my "garden" and put them in a vintage cut glass vase.  I think they're in the mint family but I love them most because they are actually ALIVE.  (Even my mint has died...  keeping plants alive doesn't come naturally to me.)

Here's a little picture of my sofa this Spring...

And here it is now:

Who knows how long it'll stay this way but a little bit of change makes me appreciate it all the more.  Once I came to the realization that my home will never be truly "finished" and that "finishing" is not my goal, I relaxed a bit.  Things don't need to be permanent and yes, some furniture arrangements, framed prints or pillows are better than others, but that's okay because part of the fun is in experimenting. 

This week's Pure Style Project is to tweak your home a little bit for Fall...  If you'd like to share your pictures, please link up below directly to the post!!  We'd love to see them!!

If you missed my last post about the pink silo, please take a minute to read it here

Help save the Pink Silo!!

One of my favorite stores, On a Whim Antiques, located in Lucketts, VA needs our help.  They need us to sign a petition to the county so that they can keep the pink polk-a-dotted silo.  We stopped by yesterday and were sad to hear that Donna Troxler now has to fight to keep her silo pink:

{On a Whim Antiques:  owner, Donna, with my two little guys and the pink polk-a-dotted silo}

There have been complaints about the color of her silo on Rt 15, and although Donna has found no law dictating the color of a structure, she is being forced to repaint it.  Donna's pink silo is not only whimsical & fun, but it also serves to bring attention and income to her store.  Without the eye-catching silo, many people could drive by without even noticing On A Whim Antiques.   Not to mention:  just down the road are some other amazing stores - The Old Lucketts Store & the Beekeeper's Cottage- and both have their own beautiful whimsical details that I'd hate to see go anywhere.  They also have items out in the grass for sale and it's an awesome treasure trove.  Donna has already been forced to move the merchandise in her lawn to the inside of her store, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they go after the other stores.  :(   

I seriously admire Donna: she's a determined, hardworking woman who's turned her dreams into a reality.  Donna's been in business for over 5 years and has built On A Whim from the ground up.  Donna donates a percentage of all sales to the National Breast Cancer Foundation and has already been forced to remove all of her pink breast cancer ribbons from the outside of her store.  She's got a steel core & I know this won't keep her down, but she does need our help.  She's supported me from the beginning when I was just starting out & I can't thank her enough.   

If you have a minute, please sign the online petition: 
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/onawhimsavethepinksilo/

When you've signed your name, you will see a donation to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, and you do not have to donate in order to sign the petition.  (You can just "X" out the page once you see that pop up but of course you can donate if you'd like to)  Thank you so much.

DC Metro Mommy

Check out DC Metro Mommy for an interview I did with Claudine!   DC Mommy is a blog for DC- area moms so be sure to read it if you're in the area. 

Thanks so much to Claudine for the interview!!  You can read it here.  Enjoy your long weekend!!

   

Our white bedroom

We don't do well with white carpets.  When we moved into our house a little over a year ago, there was wall-to-wall creamy white carpet everywhere.  We almost immediately replaced it with hardwood in the living room and hallways, but we kept it in the bedrooms to save.  It hasn't fared well in our master bedroom.

{You can see in the pic that even when it was taken -after only a few months here- we'd done some damage...  It's really inexpensive carpet and so it's also held up terribly}

I want to keep our bedroom feeling light, airy and natural and I know that pulling our dark hardwood into the bedroom would make it much darker than I want.  We've been loving our indestructible wall-to-wall seagrass in the basement and decided to do it in here too.  Seagrass can be tough on barefeet but you do get used to it.  It's weird though... when I'm really tired (ie sometimes when I first wake up or really late at night) the seagrass is too much for my feet so I plan to layer the seagrass in our bedroom with a massive soft white hide rug:

I'll let you know how it goes!! 

And thanks so much to everyone for all of the comments & advice about childcare...  I really appreciated hearing how you all have done it and how things have worked out for you.  I guess I've realized that in the end, (which is what many of you pointed out) we have to go with what we feel works best for us & our family.  It might not be what others would do in our situation but we have to do what's right for us, and we know that best.    Have an awesome Labor Day weekend and enjoy wearing that WHITE!!!

 

Mountain Home with Increased Comfort in Australia

For those of us traveling to the mountains, accommodation consists in humble but inviting cottages, usually with a rustic feel. This mountain home however took us by surprise with its modern architecture, pool and sauna. The Bowen Mountain house comes from CplusC Architecture and is located in New South Wales, Australia. Meant as a weekend-escape, this home combines…

I know I said I'd be back yesterday with a real post but I'm pretty backed up right now with work & trying to figure out the childcare situation, so I need a little break.  We toured a couple of daycare/ preschools  yesterday and I'm feeling pretty good about 1 so we'll see how it goes.  For now I'll just leave you with an image I got from one of my favorite reads, Head Over Heels.    It's perfect for the beginning of Fall and I cannot get over that velvet.  So sumptuous & beautifully aged!!  (I'm not sure I've actually used "sumptuous" in a sentence before but could think of no other word!)

And some news/ details about the new store:  The Loudon Design Center plans to open a new trade-only showroom in historic Leesburg, Virginia and I'll have an office at the showroom.  On the weekends, the store will open to the public as Pure Style and we will offer a line of furniture and fabrics I'm currently designing, along with one-of-a-kind pieces and trade-only fabrics & furnishings.    The owner, Elise Seidita, is finishing up negotiations and if all goes as planned, we will open for business in October.  (keep your fingers crossed!!) 

The showroom will need to be totally redone and I'll definitely take you along in the process of designing the new space.  I am so excited to start this new venture!!  As you probably remember, I love shopping at the Old Lucketts Store & On a Whim Antiques (both in nearby Lucketts, VA) and other shops in Leeseburg, so I'm so excited to be nearby and become a part of the growing design community there. 

xoxo,

lauren

Taking the Plunge

We're off today to check out a part-time daycare/ preschool for our little guys.  I'm sort of mixed about it, but mostly excited.  It will be 3 days a week and my mom will be watching them on a 4th day.   I'm attempting tp take the 5th day off so we'll see how it goes.  Christian's three years old and is dying for "friends" and loves classes and that sort of thing so I think it'll be great for him.  I worry a little bit about Justin (8 months) but I'm sure he'll be okay too.

We're really hoping that with me moving my office out of the house (and opening a store in Leesburg-  more news on that soon!!)   and with almost full-time daycare, that we'll be able to get a bit more of a separation of work & home.  I hope my expectations aren't too high but I really feel right now that "something's gotta give."  If anyone has any insight out there about all of this, I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

I'll be back today later with a real post!!

 

America Apartment Interior Design

This bedroom apartment with 39m² of livable space is composed of a hall, living room with a balcony, equipped kitchen and a bedroom with a mural wall cupboard and a luxury en-suite marble shower room. The Bathroom is independent. The apartment faces north/south and has been renovated and decorated with much taste and character and includes high ceilings giving a sense of space. The bedroom with its marble ensuite shower room means that this apartment approaches a bit of luxury. The balcony is large enough for meals which is a great extra to have.