apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a Canadian who would think it a good idea to keep gas cans in the house, right next to the fireplace, no less ;)

The buoy lamps are so cool!

Lose the geese...they are mean little buggers! (attacked 3 times last year in my work parking lot, lol).

Being Cdn...I don't think I'd have most of that in my home. I think US and Cdn home decor is the same generally except we like to take our shoes off in the home :)

Have you been to Cape Breton Angus?

Douglas Coupland is a fantastic author. I love his books! I'm excited for this film!
Hurray Canada!

Wow, just realised the film is 7 years old. I've been in the dark!
I will rephrase and say that I am excited to see his film at some point.
(must go searching...)

Love it!

i really don't think that Coupland is referencing things that would ACTUALLY be in the house (jerry cans, etc) but i do find myself identifying with those objects and the certain level of livability/familiarity they hold.
...this conjures the frozen whiteness i still see outside my window today (yes, i watched it snow all day yesterday, argh)....the days i've had to run with the jerry cans in hand to a generator just to keep the power running for showers in a treeplanting camp....the driftwood piling underfoot by the shore on hornby island....being chased by evil geese between classes in university.

...Canada House indeed.

Look like a Gallery!

http://brownbunnybyiris.blogspot.com

i'm pretty much sold on the plexi blanket chest, the quilty thing, and the fireplace. my favorite way to parse these things is to just take a couple or a few things that really grab me and toss the rest in the archive. cubic sitting furniture rarely transcends its ouchiness.

the buoy lamps also hint at inuit totems.

Coupland is great artist whose work is obviously informed by humour -- I just regret that the world sees stuff like this and thinks that this is Canadian decorating. This is pastiche with a big dollop of satire.

What, you mean actual houses in Canada don't look like this? :) I think even an American could recognize this as art rather than actual Canadian decor, Chris.

I adore those geese! That is a fun way to use animal figures. We used to have to watch out for the "parking lot geese" at my old job (they actually nested in medians on one or two memorable occasions), so seeing the goose at the end of the hallway is quite arresting!

Huge Coupland fan, had never heard of the movie. I have to go search it out now!

Well he avoided Maple leaves, mounties and beavers so that should please most in Canadialand ;-)))

He also avoided Canadian tourists with flags on their backpacks, flags on their tee shirts, flags on their underpants, flags on the souls of their shoes, flags on their athletes' foot ointment, flags on their kid's diapers, flags on their umbrellas, flags on their...

Uhhhm. It's and ART INSTALLATION, people. It's not meant in any way shape or form to be taken literally.

Those lamps are really cool. I´d actually put one in my house.

Those lamps are just too fun. Love the geese too!

I've seen the film, got the book, etc, etc. It's a great movie, and there was also a British installation of Canada House quite a few years ago. What he makes clear in the film is that these are objects intended to be so quintessentially Canadian that there are few of our nationality who wouldn't at least *recognize* them, if not own our own version of it. That being said, it's a really, really cute movie, that I make a point of giving to ex-pats :)