overdue sneak peak

I finally got around to taking some photos of my 'new' apartment. I've been here for two and a half months now and things are coming together and feeling 'homey'. Lucky me - I'm renting this great space from a friend of mine for a steal! The furnishings are all mine and after some rearranging, creating, and hanging, I finally feel content to curl up on the couch with some tea, a good book and the fire going - without feeling like getting up to rearrange things yet again. So, enough of the talking. Here are some visuals and descriptions of my own little space on this planet...

Welcome! This is my entrance way - great big closets for shoes and coats and cat food :) To the left of the door (but unseen in this photo) is another skinny closet with a stand up clothes washer and dryer - one of my favorite things about living here! No more coin laundry - yay!

When you enter the apartment you can walk straight ahead to the eating nook and kitchen or turn right to walk into the living room and access the stairs to the loft...

(view of eating nook from the kitchen)

(looking down at the eating nook from the loft)

(view towards the living room from the entrance/ kitchen area)

(detail: little corner nook with journals, music, magazines and access to the balcony)

The living room is the 'heart' of my home - it's where I curl up on the couch to read, it's where I use my laptop, it's where the cats stretch out in front of the fire, it's where I hang out with my guests. It's also 'home' to most of my books (on my makeshift 'bookshelves'), my solitary plant, my dumpster-diver-find-turned-coffee-table and my blank canvases (hung up on either side of the fireplace awaiting divine inspiration ;)...

(looking down at the living room from the loft)

(view from the living room up to the loft and beyond to the kitchen)

And up the stairs to my sleeping and 'grooming' nook...

(sleeping loft - the thing in the corner is a little cat bed which is never used. Why would they sleep in that when they can sleep on my bed? What was I thinking?)

(bedroom detail)

(dresser nook)

(and last but not least, the bathroom)

The bathroom: if I were concerned about looking really coordinated, I would have hung up my ivory-coloured towel that matches the shower curtain, but instead I'm just going to tell you that the blue towel is my back-up towel and it's what was hanging up when I took the photo (and yes, I acknowledge my geek-factor by caring ;).

And that's my sneak peak - thanks for coming!

traceyj on etsy

My monday morning got a whole heck of a lot better when I found out that my favorite photographer made her images available for online purchasing over the weekend - yay! Still bleary-eyed and coffee-less, I whipped out my handy plastic money card and ordered myself a photograph - the first of many for sure!

Check out tracey's etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5459903

house proud friends on 'steven and chris'

It's always fun to feature what friends are up to - especially when it's something as cool as showcasing their creative, tiny Vancouver apartment on the CBC's Steven and Chris show! Check out Trish and Nathan's small, awesome space that accomodates three family members and functions as an office space for both T & N! Amazing! Clearly, bigger is not better. Watch house proud Trish and Nathan here.

T & N - I love it! And Trish, I would be excited about an appliance as cool as your washer-dryer combo too :)

You can check out Nathan's own blog post about it here.

mike brodie...

...takes very compelling photographs. View his portfolio here.

wowzers!

Sooooo cool! Check out this story on apartment therapy about this uber cool sculptural home in Arizona - made completely with found materials. The photos remind me of a similar home (although much smaller!) that some friends and I explored in Lithuania years ago. If my photos of it weren't on film in a box somewhere on the west coast, I'd post them as well :) Anyways, this is neat! neat! neat! Check out the full story and all images at the link above. You can also read more about it in The New York Times.

ideal bite

Despite the fact that I supported calling decor mags 'home porn' in an earlier post, I still have a handful of said porn being delivered to my mailbox on a monthly basis (hey, at least I can admit it).

Arriving home last night after a 24 hour quick trip to Toronto for work (the kind of regular work trip that is making my eco footprint look like it belongs to a giant!), it was a nice surprise to find the latest domino waiting for me alongside my bills (ugh) and flyers (straight into the recycling box they go).

So after feeding my cats (they dig their new organic food) , cleaning out their litter box (eco-friendly litter which they and I love - I know you wanted to know that ;) and giving them a solid snuggle, I poured myself some wine, lit a scented soy candle, hopped in the bath (water resource intensive I know - but afterwards I used the bathwater to water my plants! I wonder if they'll start smelling like Body Shop vanilla shower gel?) and relaxed while flipping through my new mag.

It was full of lovely interiors and fun ideas of course, but the article that really got my attention was an interview with Jen Boulden (photo above from domino) about her sassy green website and blog, http://www.idealbite.com/.

The interview is fun, inspiring and realistic - clearly I'm already a convert - look! I've even added a link to her daily tips to my blog (see right column - hard to miss :). It's great to see women like Jen (intelligent, beautiful and convicted) living their life with such purpose (read her personal story of how she got to where she is now).

It seems like these kinds of stories have been waiting for me around every corner lately and they're piling up alongside my own personal convictions and have got me thinking about and planning for some major changes of my own. They're very exciting plans, but too early to be revealed! In the meantime, articles like the one I read last night help keep my inspire-fire burning.

eco prefab

An upcoming exhibit of prefab housing models at the MoMA emphasizes environmentally sustainable architecture and living. Read about it here.

new year, new ideals

"You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment."

I love design. I love decorating. I love inspiring interiors. Yet, despite all this love, I've always felt pulled by some guilt. I hate poverty, I hate how mankind's thoughtless lifestyles are damaging the environment and I hate the overconsumption of materials things and all that that overconsumption reflects about our values - or lack thereof (not to mention how it negatively -most of the time- lends itself to global poverty, unhealthy lifestyles, pollution and decreasing resources). I'm putting it bluntly and oversimplifying it, but you get the point.

I've also always felt strongly about not having to feel guilty for taking pleasure in beautiful things and creativity. It's the way in which we pursue and accumulate beautiful interiors that needs to be checked - in my opinion.

Despite feeling this way, I've filled this blog with 'stuff' - beautiful, fun 'stuff', but 'stuff' nonetheless - without taking much account of what goes on behind the 'stuff'.

So, with this new year, I'm vowing to look more carefully at what I consume and what I promote - on this blog.

I'm reading a great book right now that has some interviewees refering to decorating magazines as 'house porn'. I kinda agree. My apartment is filled with glossies advertizing expensive, gorgeous stuff that tends to make me want more than I already have - as if it might make me happier. I'm a staunch believer that money doesn't make one happier. However, I am also a staunch believer that a home that reflects you and your ideals in a comfortable, thoughtful way is a beautiful and wonderful thing. The great thing is that you don't need a lot of money to get the kind of 'home' so many glossies try to project (because let's be honest - cool furniture does not a home make - a 'home' is so much more).

But before I really let this turn into a rant, let me leave you with a great little video that puts some of these concepts into perspective: The Story of Stuff.

And let me showcase my friend Tracey's before-and-after shots of her small, simple apartment that she recently decorated on a very tight budget with a large, creative imagination. Talk about Bang without the Bucks! She's amazing and always inspirational. Additional photos of her space can be seen here. (photo above is hers as well)

Happy New Year everyone! Blessings and contentment in 2008!

reusable wrapping ideas

I love Apartment Therapy's suggestion that Christmas gifts be 'wrapped' in reusable shopping bags. Great! I've recently taken an inventory of my 'stuff' and my 'waste' and have been taking bolder steps to limit both in an attempt to live simply, walk lightly and lesson my ecological footprint. And you know what? It's fun and contagious! Part of the fun has been keeping rolled up reusable shopping bags in my purse. I had no idea it would feel so good to pull them out at the grocery store and use them instead of the disposable, plastic, oil-consuming, landfill-filling ones the store gives out. (Insert shopper peer pressure - it can also make the person behind you feel guilty and thus inspire them to purchase one of the reusable ones available at the till!)

touching base

My blogging presence has been non-existent lately, so I'm doing a quick check-in. My life has been so full of wonderful people and events lately that blogging and computers have been the last thing on my mind (this is a very good thing), so I may be missing in action for awhile, but I'll be back again when the inspiration and the free time hits.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a sneak peak of my new apartment.

Merry Christmas everyone! Happy, lovely, festive December!