Blogger's Home Tour: Chris and Mike's Northern Exposure

To send y'all off into the weekend right: Stylenorth's Christopher Jones is new to blogging but not to home décor. He's been hooked on shelter magazines for years and more recently on home style blogs. Being a Canadian, based in Toronto, Chris was frustrated by a lack of web content about his local market so he bit the bullet and started stylenorth.com in June 2008. Chris's ultimate goal is to grow the site to the point where it incorporates micro-sites for other Canadian cities, much like Apartment Therapy. Enjoy this very special tour of Chris and Mike's absolutely stunning home.

"Current décor trends embrace eclectic interiors that mix styles and eras; it's nice to be trendy but my partner, Mike, and I, would do it anyway because this really is our style. The vintage Italian Louis XV sofa was the first piece we bought together when we began to purge his stuff and my stuff in favour of our stuff. We loved the sofa because the smooth, tight back and single seat cushion felt like it could work with modern pieces. The orange flokati rug was a $200 Craigslist purchase and is the stylistic jumping-off point for the rest of the room. Mike found the drapes at Value Village for $20. When we spotted it in a vintage clothing store, the coffee table base was badly pitted brass that we stripped with metal polish and steel wool; we subsequently found an exact match on 1stdibs.com for $4,800!"

"Another view, another find: the Hollywood Regency mirror and the Moorish-looking lamp both came from a favourite junk store, $25 and $20 respectively. We painted the mirror with a $4 can of gloss alkyd from a Habitat for Humanity Restore. The art deco light pendant came with my first house; the amber and cream coloured glass depicts a stylized lotus flower-gorgeous!"

"Mike and I found the Louis-style fauteuil at Pottery Barn, a floor model reduced 60 per cent because the piping was badly finished. We bought a complimentary stool at an antique shop then had the set reupholstered in a $200 cowhide from Tandy Leather Factory. The silk painting is from Vietnam."

"Mike had these beautiful cockpen chairs when we met and we reupholstered the seats to match the sofa. The square backs and open arms influenced us to buy the Pottery Barn chair because the shapes were so harmonious. The pierced porcelain vases are souvenirs from a trip to Savannah, GA."

"Mike and I love chinoiserie. In addition to this beautiful 1940s breakfront cabinet that we found on Craigslist for $500, we also have a pink lacquer cabinet upstairs in the spare bedroom that sports lots of Chinese-style fretwork. The 1960s Italian gilt chandelier is hung with amber-coloured, glass pears and apples; we won the piece at auction for what we had agreed would be our bid ceiling ($800, plus 20 per cent premium). The black glass drops were originally clear but we switched them out to compliment the room. The table is another Craigslist find ($300)--the custom piece sits on a marble base with a cast-brass tripod depicting three Chinese dragons. The original top was white marble, beautifully trimmed in brass, but the 60" diameter was too large for the room; we traded it out for an oxidized gold-leaf top found in a junktique boutique. The cowhide is a reference to the chair in the adjoining living room and plays off the black and white Staffordshire dogs in the corner."

Thanks Chris! The rest of you, be sure to drop by stylenorth for a little northern inspiration! For more photos of Chris and Mike's home, including additional rooms and detail shots, check out the constantly updated Blogger's Home Tour Flickr set here. Feel free to subscribe to The Love List to keep up with new homes as they are posted.