Tag Archives: castor canadensis

Feeling right at home at Oddfellows

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"Tee Te Te" by Charlyn W

Thanks to somebody’s wonderful organizational skills, the other night we finally were able to get a crowd together and have a belated birthday dinner for myself at Oddfellows in the Ossington/Queen neighborhood on Queen West. It’s been a fairly difficult year all around, and we want to take every chance to have a celebration when we can.

Oddfellows, a relatively new restaurant out near Queen and Shaw is a place I’ve been meaning to go for a while now, and it seems like it’s become Toronto’s go-to birthday party spot.

(I took a few photos on my iPhone, but they didn’t turn out so great in the low light).

Despite being a little drafty, the small restaurant was a great spot for a get-together: the food was like slightly fancy comfort food, served in tabletop pressure cookers and home-dinner style plates. I had their juicy Pork Belly as an appetizer, and was jealous of the table’s many selections of “Buffaloaf.” Because the space is so small, it felt more like eating at a friend’s house with a great record collection (ie someone who loves krautrock), and immediately instigated a party atmosphere.

If you go to CastorDesign.ca, you can see the designs that appear inside Oddfellows, including the massive “Invisible Chandelier” above the bar, “Table 2″ (I sat at the end in the photo), the “not a” Droog Light, Antler Headphones, and of course, the Recycled Tube Light that runs the length of the communal table.

So if you’re thinking about planning a birthday outing to Oddfellows, I recommend booking well in advance: they only do 2 seatings a night at 7 & 9, and I’ve been warned to not book at 9 because large parties often go long (guilty!) and so if there’s no room, you’ll have to stand around near the bar or go wait somewhere else on Queen.

I wouldn’t say it’s become my favourite restaurant in the city (mine’s still the Black Hoof), but I wouldn’t hesitate to go back… especially on PIROGI NIGHT!

Update: Got to find a reason to rent the Oddfellows/Castor Winnebago!

Ikea hack: My Castor Canadensis inspired recycled tube lamp

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Recycled tube lamp

Because of my small apartment, and lack of yard/balcony/tool shed, my projects are mostly limited to simple projects, and easy builds… Sure, I’ve done some heavy sanding in the bathtub, but overall I try to keep things pretty basic.

With that said, I’m pretty proud of my first full-on ikea “hack,” in which I’ve taken some discarded tubular light bulbs found in the trash behind my apartment building, some duct tape, some empty duct tape rolls and an old Ikea STORM floor lamp and turned them into a Castor Canadensis inspired “recycled tube lamp.”

I’ve always admired the design work by the Canadian company, especially their amazing recycled tube lamps/sculptures. They’re the perfect blend of industrial and warm, and the perfect example of how recycled goods can be sexy. With that said, there’s no way I can afford any of their designs in the near future… I’ll have to be satisfied for now on gazing at the real thing at Oddfellows.

So after spotting around 6 tubes in the garbage out back (yes, I usually find lots of cool things in the trash), I knew I had to see if I could give this design a try.

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I did this pretty quickly, and the hardest part was tearing down the lamp, removing all the lamp parts, so that it was basically a stick with a light on the end. (I’ve never wired anything before either, except for stereo systems, but with my blue electrical tape on hand, I’m confident that I did just fine). The STORM also has a nice foot/floor switch, which is perfect for a project like this.

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After giving the tubes and thorough and gentle cleaning, I used duct tape to attach the tubes to an empty roll… I didn’t have enough tubes to go all the way around, so I filled in the back using cardboard from an old pizza box. (It will be a corner light for now). Like I said, I did this pretty fast, so I didn’t measure anything and if I did it again, I would use more care laying down the tape… I think I’ll grab a nice roll of gaffer tape to finish the whole thing off, and maybe cap off the pointy ends of the lamp.

Overall, the lamp gives off a very nice, very gentle warm glow, and will make for a great accent in our soon-to-be-redesigned bedroom, which will have a mix of post-industrial inspired furnishings. I’d recommend this simple project to anyone, but just be very, very careful with the tubes.

And yes Andrew, you will always be the IKEA HACK master, and your G&M story is still cut out and stuck to my fridge.