nests

A visual collection of the nests I've made over the years...(and clearly I haven't replaced my bedding for years)...

memory lane

I've been photo-documenting my living spaces for years now (although not all in a before/ after kind of way) so I thought I'd post photos from a few of my past dwelling places - at least the ones that I've lived in since I've had a digital camera (I'll need a scanner to showcase my pre-digital days). I wish I'd taken photos of ALL the places I've ever lived - the spot my roomates and I (and the rest of the university-aged folks in town) dubbed 'the crack shack' would make for a particularly amusing blog post, but I'm pretty sure the shack's mice population held my camera hostage for those 5 months of my life...that, or I accidently buried it in the vegetable garden I attempted to grow next to the back parking lot's septic tank...

By mentally collecting all my homes in my head (which is kind of like trying to count off all the guys I've been on dates with - you always feel like you've forgotten a few), I think my post-parental dwelling places count is at 13 so far. In each one, I've taken great pleasure in re-decorating the space to make it my own.

At what I think was home #7, welcome to my very first, very tiny studio apartment that was two things: my first apartment sans roomates and my first apartment in downtown Vancouver (suburban beach town girl moves to the big city):

israel...

...is amazing and so inspiring. I love it here!

get ready...set, go!!!

I'm off to Israel on thursday for a work trip. Yes, Israel. As in Ottawa to Toronto to Tel Aviv...HOW COOL IS THAT?! I came home tonight with my packing list in hand and plans to start packing two whole days in advance. Of course I haven't started yet because I'm internet surfing, making dinner and baking cookies. But it will happen and I just found a seller on etsy whose upcycled suitcases would make this packing job so much more fun. Check out some of Get ready...set, go!!!'s upcycled, vintage carry-ons:

beirut - elephant gun

Watched this music vid today posted by Ottawa blogger A Plain Jane Day (great blog!) and can't stop watching it or listening to the song. A feast for the senses - let the seasons begin indeed!


A few video stills for your perusal. And tomorrow I'm going out to buy the cd. Yesss...nothing like new music to reinvigorate oneself.



If my life were played out in a music video, I might be okay with it looking like this.

it's about time...

I've been on a bit of a blogging hiatus. Been busy - trips, weddings, life... but now I'm home sick for the third day in a row and in need of something other than sleeping and reading and trying not to die to pass the time, so here's some long overdue photos of my not-so-new-anymore space...


Before and after kitchen:

Before and after hallway (aka closet):

Before and after main studio space:

And there you have it. I'll probably keep posting occassional detail photos of little corners as they continue to morph, but for now that's the state of the place. And now I'm going back to bed...

before and after bathroom

I'm sure I'll continue making changes to the bathroom, as I will for every bit of my new home, but now that I'm actually living here, I figure it's high time I post some before and after pics. The bathroom received a couple coats of fresh glossy white paint, including on the radiator and a layer of almost-transparent, decorative paper to the window for privacy that still lets the natural light in.

I'm going to do something different with the hand towel on the right. The silver leaf hook is too big or too high or something... Below you can see close up photos of some of the new details, including a view of the kitchen/ bathroom divide...

5 days to official move-in

It's been a productive long weekend! I finally finished all the painting (those high bits in the hallway were nagging at me), installed curtain rods, installed bookshelves, completed the kitchenand moved more stuff over. My official move-in date is next saturday and I'm hoping that the only things left to move by then will be the furniture that I can't carry over on my own.

As you can see in the photo above and below, I put up some bookshelves above my radiator. They are $5 white shelves from IKEA and $2 wooden brackets also from IKEA. I painted the brackets white so that they'd blend in. I probably could have done the same thing even cheaper with plywood strips from Home Depot, but when you don't have a car and have limited time borrowing friends' cars (thanks C&E!), it's easier to get everything in one place.

I got the curtain rods from IKEA as well, but instead of buying IKEA curtains, I thought I'd look around for some cool fabric from somewhere else instead. So far I haven't had any luck so for awhile my curtains may be glorified bed sheets, but I'm on the look-out and hope to find something 'just right' sooner than later. I was going to go for gauzy white curtains that let in a lot of light, but living so close to the side walk means I need a bit more coverage than that. Anyone have any colour or pattern suggestions? It may be easier to choose something once all my furniture is in place.

Shots of my kitchen are below. I'm pretty happy with how it's come together. In the first shot you can see the wall opposite the counter, sink and oven (the kitchen is long and skinny). Next to the fridge is an IKEA cutting board table I've had for a few years. I painted in black awhile ago. The shelving unit on top of it is a $7.99 Value Village find. I picked it up last week. I think it was originally a homemade shoe rack and I was thinking that I would use it for the same thing in my hallway. However, I didn't like the look of it in my hallway and realized that it would sit perfectly atop on IKEA sideboard unit, so I painted it black with the rest of my chalkboard paint (it was originally beige) (the chalkboard wall is opposite the fridge so the black shelves balance the room well) and plan on using it to store my glassware. Perfect! And the canvasses on the wall were a quick black and white paint job. A more complete (as complete as I can get a shot of the kitchen anyways) photo of the kitchen is below.

And now I'm off to bring some more stuff over (the new apartment is two blocks from my current apartment so I keep wheeling suitcases of stuff over - I'm a modern vagabond). Enjoy the rest of your long weekend!

oops

I can't believe it took me a couples days to figure this out, but I've been wondering why IKEA changed the design of their spice rack...as you can see in my photo, the top rack doesn't provide enough space to put bottles on it and I couldn't figure out why the metal pieces at the bottom were so long (and thus aesthetically annoying) - especially because in other photos of said spice rack from other people's kitchens, I didn't see evidence of the same thing. It's kind of evidence of how incredibly observant I am and at the same time NOT observant at all that I noticed this difference, but didn't clue into the fact (until 5 days later) that it's because I installed the spice rack upside down. Right. Well, at least it's easily fixable and my spice rack space shortage will be remedied as soon as I make the switch.

Heading to IKEA tonight to get some more shelves and curtain rods for the main studio space and am hoping to use this weekend to move amost everything over and set things up (move in date is next saturday). More photos coming soon!