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Summer: Hello and Good-bye
I’ve been meaning to write about summer since it started. Then I blinked and it was gone. So much for that idea. That, in itself, is the true spirit of summer, anyway, isn’t it? One day it’s here, and the next it’s gone. You think of all the things you intended to do at the beginning of the summer, when the long, hot days stretched ahead before you like a string of jewels winking in the sun, and then the end of August comes and you find yourself wondering exactly what you did with them. Photo credit: www.countryliving.com So… what does one write about when it comes to summer interiors? We…
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The Romantic Home
The world may celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14th (or at least convince you to buy flowers and a card) but everyone knows that true love can’t be captured in a single day. Photo source: Hearth & Gable Interiors Romance needs to be cultivated in order to flourish. It’s the spirit in which we choose to live our lives; the passion we nurture within ourselves, and the beauty we seek around us. Living a romantic life is easy when you surround yourself with romantic things. What makes a romantic home? The people who live in it, of course, who fill it with the people and objects they love… the ones who provide…
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Winter White – Holiday Mantel Design
Anyone who knows me, knows my passion for fireplaces. And it is the mantel for which I have the utmost admiration and respect. Photo: www.angelandblumewordpress.com The mantel is one of my favourite architectural details, and if you’re lucky enough to have one, then you can already appreciate it as a focal point of beauty and interest in your home. And it is never more so than during the holiday season. I personally tend towards a traditional Dickens Christmas decor. In the past, my mantel designs have featured a lot of deep reds and woodsy greens, and a cozy, rustic or primitive influence. More Father Christmas than Santa Claus, if you know…
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Harvest Tablescapes
Fall is my favourite season, with its brisk winds and fire-tipped trees. I also love all the colours of autumn: burnt orange, gold, and olive green. In decorating, I personally favour many of these colours all year round, but in the fall, most of us start to crave warmth, texture, and a feeling of abundance, and our homes begin to reflect this. Inspired by the changing season (and Thanksgiving dinner this weekend!) I challenged myself to design a few fall table settings and centerpieces on my family’s harvest table in the kitchen. I wanted to create something that looked rustic and homemade, not polished or Pinterest-perfect, so I used several decorative items and accessories I already…
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Field Trip: Statum Designs
The showroom at Statum Designs is a playground for me. Oh, the eye candy! With hundreds of fabrics and furnishing styles, I could spend a whole day there, just reclining on various sofas and gazing longingly at all the latest textiles. Distinctive interiors begin with distinctive pieces, and Statum’s designs are, frankly, gorgeous. From low mid-century modern sofas to whimsical accent chairs, urban geometrics to plush velvets, it’s impossible not to fall in love with everything. Statum Designs is a Canadian furniture manufacturer with a solid 30-year history and a foothold in the future. With an on-site manufacturing facility and impressive showroom, their upholstered products and textile selection (Kravet, JF Fabrics, Maxwell, and Robert Allen, just to name…
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11 No-Cost Decorating Ideas
In the spirit of my last post, “What If Your Decorating Budget is $0?” I thought I would compound a list of affordable ways to update every room in your home. These are all tips that I am currently putting into practice, myself… some more successfully than others! 1) PURGE, DE-CLUTTER, EDIT Photo: www.gettyimages.ca So often, we hold onto things because they’re still too good to throw away or “might come in handy some day.” Sometimes, we’re too lazy or we forget to find new homes for outcast furniture (much easier to just stash it in the basement.) Sometimes, we’ve inherited pieces we can’t really use, but feel guilty about…
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Igniting the Spark!
With Valentine’s Day approaching, I thought it would be fun to write about an interior design feature that is unfailingly romantic in any room of the home: the fireplace. A roaring fire provides us with an almost primitive sense of comfort, inspired by warmth and safety. It relaxes us and fills our senses. Once upon a time, it was the only way to heat your home; the wealthiest home owners built fireplaces in every room. Today, the fireplace has become an attractive architectural feature that lends presence and simple elegance to every room it graces. There are few things in this world as enchanting as the mellow glow of a real, crackling fire. And…
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PANTONE’S 2015 COLOUR OF THE YEAR: Marsala
Pantone has declared Marsala (18-1438) Colour of the Year for 2015. It’s an unusual choice, and responses have been mixed in the world of design. It has been more favourably embraced in the fashion industry. But I like its uniqueness. It’s a rosy spot in an era of greige and neutrals. It’s certainly better than last year’s, “Radiant Orchid,” which was virtually unworkable from a décor perspective, unless your client was, a) a six-year-old girl, or b) Baskin Robbins. Marsala is a rich, warm tone that reminds me of red wine, cherries, and chocolate. (You don’t need me to tell you these are all good things!) Its darkest…
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Pets: The Best Accessories
This wasn’t supposed to be my second blog post. My second blog post was going to be about Pantone’s Colour of the Year, but the Fates intervened and inspired me otherwise (which happens sometimes.) My beautiful cat, Molly, passed away yesterday. My husband & I had to make the terribly difficult choice to euthanize her, and now I am in the early stages of grief wherein I keep looking for her around the house, expecting to see her in all her favourite spots. As I ache yet again over the emptiness she has left behind in every room, it occurs to me how much pets become a fixture in our home’s…
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Welcome to Hearth & Gable Interiors!
My name is Dana Ruprecht and I love houses. I am a self-confessed bookworm and lover of all that is vintage. I’m a tea-drinking, blanket-knitting, candle-lighting, domestic goddess who decided to turn her love of HOME into both a blog and a business, Hearth & Gable Interiors. Inspired by nature, I enjoy everything textured, tactile, scented, and hued. I love decorating spaces and creating vignettes that make me feel surrounded by beauty, every day. Interiors and aesthetics have a powerful influence on quality of life, and attractive surroundings do in fact inspire us to live our lives to the fullest. Above all, home is where we relax, re-charge, and build…