Life in a Cottage

When I was first old enough to dream of where I would live one day I always had one sort of place in mind. Since I was little I have wanted to live in a guest cottage, a tiny little garden hideaway behind a big, grand home in a beautiful and quiet neighborhood. I have never seen a place like this in my Vancouver apartment hunting but it hasn't dampened my dream to one day live in such a place. I can picture a tiny little home smothered in ivy and surrounded by gorgeous gardens~ a place where I could escape from the busy noise of the city, revel in quiet and set up home for awhile. These photos make me yearn to find my dream cottage.

One day...

Ghost Love

Today I'm obsessed with this office. Although I think it's too pretty to be called an office~ den? study? No matter. It's darling. I adore the tiny, crystal drop chandelier, the fantastic gallery wall and especially the Philippe Starck Ghost chair (maybe I love this most of all because I own one, but it's not sitting as pretty in my living room as it does in this perfect space). I think if I had a room like this I would never leave~ I could write that book I've been longing to or just look at Shopbop all day! Love!

(Photo via The City Sage)

Quote of the Day~ Sickie Edition

"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."

-Bertrand Russell


This awful cold is still kicking my butt so today I spent the afternoon curled up on the sofa in my pj's, watching a Sarah's House marathon on HGTV (my fave!) and hanging with my fur monster. Though it feels like a wasted day I both needed and enjoyed it (hence the above quote). Down time is good! Plus, it gave me an opportunity to start my Wish List for my spring redecoarating project. And, wow, is that list long (a carpet for under the dining table, floating shelves for a big bare wall and chic accessories are just a start)! Details to come, but for now....
I think it's nap time!

No Domestic Goddess Here

I am no domestic goddess, believe me. Though I love amateur decorating and baking the odd piece of sugary goodness (usually from a mix), I am no Martha Stewart. This hugely frustrates me. I wish I were effortlessly crafty and handy. I am definitely not.

Today I started painting my bedroom. After a little over a year in my apartment I have finally felt strong and assured enough in that my roomie and I will stay for awhile and so I took myself off to the paint store to celebrate settling in a bit more. The colour I picked is called Skylight and is a soothing, pale aqua~ very reminiscent of this pretty room and this one above. One litre, two hours and several repeats of my current fave iTunes playlist (featuring Phoenix, Mumford & Sons and The Silversun Pickups) later there is one wall done. One! So why does it feel like I scaled a mountain?! I'm a wuss, I know! But seriously, one litre equals one wall?! Back to the paint store I go tomorrow. Still, it looks dreamy. So much better than beige. Who needs a beige life? Not this girl. Even if I did step in the paint can lid several times. See what I mean? Definitely not a domestic goddess.

New Obsession~ Dreamy Kitchens

The only thing I truly dislike about my heritage apartment is the kitchen. Ugh, the kitchen. Its only redeeming quality is that it has two original (aka 90 year old) dreamy built in china cabinets with leaded glass windowed doors at its entrance and room for my full, six seater white dining table. Other than those two things? Grim. It was renovated a few years ago when the daughter of the building's owner lived here~ and at least it has had a small renovation. I hear some of the kitchens here are majorly dated (did I mention the building is 90 years old?!). Seriously, it has green laminate countertops (green. laminate.), taupe tile backsplash (not the worst but seriously blah) and blond wood cabinets (boring). Did I mention fluorescent lighting? Eek. 

I dream of even a tiny kitchen renovation. My Wish List items~ Stainless steel appliances? Sigh. White marble countertops and backsplash? Mmm hmmm. A pretty chandelier? Please!!! These kitchens are enormous inspiration points and I'm strategizing ways I can convince my landlord for a bit of an upgrade... yeah, I don't think it's going to happen either! 

One day, I say, one day. 

Incredible tile floor, red accents, gorgeous hardwood table and dining benches to boot? 

Serious deep love here. 

Professional gas range meets pretty mirror and stunning light fixture. 

Utilitarian juxtaposed with feminine... love! 

The gallery wall in the kitchen is heaven!

All white? I'm all in.

I adore this carriage lamp fixture for over my dining table, seen at Pottery Barn.

(Photo 1, 2 via The City Sage, 3, 4 via Erin Ever After, 5 via Vi.sualize, 6 via Pottery Barn)

Christmas at Home

Here are a few images of Christmas around my home~ as you can tell, I get a little overexcited and every surface has to be decorated! I realize it's a little "much" but I adore it for one month of the year. Every time I come home to the pretty tree, the smell of cinnamon scented pine cones and the cheerful decorations I feel warm and fuzzy inside. It truly is a magical time of year! 

Now... if only it would snow! 

I Heart This Stunning Heritage Home

I love stumbling upon photos of homes that remind me of mine, because then it inspires me and offers brand new decorating ideas. This house is breathtaking and far bigger and more beautiful than mine, but the architectural bones of this place are reminiscent of my heritage apartment. I love the all over whiteness of the below living room~ it's so soothing, simple and elegant (but I would switch out the dark coffee table for something prettier). On the other hand I absolutely adore the pale robins egg blue shade in the room above. I would love this exact colour on the walls in my bedroom. 

I can't wait to start painting~ any takers? Please! 

(My mother already said no. Hmph.)

Parisian Style At Its Best

I am madly in love with this Parisian apartment. I adore everything about its charming quirkiness. It looks so unstudied and casual yet it is elegant and hip at the same time. This is what I always hope my future home will look like. It exudes the fun of the young family who lives in it. I especially love the oversized mirror above the fireplace, the wall of books and the amazing amazing herringbone floor~ swoon! 

Love love love it. 

A fantastic gallery wall above another gorgeous mantle. 

The simple home office area~ fantastic art and stunning 

architectural details! 

A heart shaped polaroid wall above the bed~ sweet, fresh and original! 

Display at its best~ books, art and white fairy lights! All my favourite things! 

(Photos via A Cup of Jo from Cookie Magazine)

Roommate Philosophy

For Nic,

Here is our mantra in our new home. Appropriate, no? 

xo Goose

(Photo via You Are My Fave)

I Would Die Happy Living Here

Isn't this the most breathtakingly beautiful perfection of a gloriously white home you've ever seen? (I know that sentence is ridiculous and it still doesn't do this house one ounce of justice) I could die happily living in such a place. Waking up in a poofy white bed, putting on a white silk robe and having cafe au lait from white china while perched on this dreamy white sofa. 

Yes, please. 

Where do I get me one? 

You won't be even remotely surprised to learn that the home belongs to Darci Ilich, co-owner of (you guessed it, my happy place) The Cross. I worship her. She has flawless taste. And she is nice, to boot! One day I hope to cultivate a home even one tenth as lovely as this. 

And maybe if not a whole home.... 

then one room?

 

(Photos via The Cross' Facebook Fan Page~ become a fan yourself!)

Big Style In A Small Space

Sometimes it is very cool to be on a "hello" basis with someone you admire from afar. That happened to me the other night and I got a little kick out of it. It might not mean much to other people but to me it was a small thrill.  

As I have mentioned before my favourite store in the world (think of the way Holly Golightly feels for Tiffany&Co.) is the Yaletown home decor mecca, The Cross. When I walk in the doors and the 5000 square feet envelopes me, I weirdly feel like nothing bad can happen to me. To be surrounded by so much beauty is a heady thing. I often feel transported to an entirely different place~ a gentler, English-speaking Paris perhaps? No matter~ I adore everything about it. My consistent wanderings through over the past five years has gotten me on a hello, chit chat basis with the staff while there. I experienced role reversal a few evenings ago when Peter, one of the store's amazing designers, stopped by my work and we exchanged genuine greetings of the "nice to see you" variety. A solid friendship it is not, but a little random connection in this city is a funny, lovely thing. 

At any rate, the exchange reminded me of Peter's gorgeous home, featured in the August 2008 issue of Canadian House & Home. He lives in a 625 square foot apartment in the downtown core and though the physical space is small, as it is apt to be in the centre of a city, it is broad with impact and style. Besides, as many of his furnishings are from The Cross, it was inevitable I would absolutely love it! The juicy hits of colour and wall of books makes me swoon! 

(Photos via The Cross from Canadian House and Home)

Ought Apartment

This past, rainy Labour Day long weekend in Vancouver I took advantage of the grey skies and opted to take in the latest Dutch Masters exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Having studied the content from this exact offering last semester I was looking forward to seeing the works in person~ and in my own back yard, so to speak (no Rijksmuseum for me this year). However, once inside the beautiful historical building I was instead immediately taken with a very different exhibit on display. Having not read or even heard anything about it previously I was curious as we made our way, physically, through Reece Terris' installation, Ought Apartment. 

The installation features six life sized apartments stacked on top of one another in the gallery's central rotunda, starting in the 1950s and traveling through each decade until the present day 2000s. Each "apartment" features a living room, kitchen and bathroom furnished and styled from the appropriate decade and while some you can move through and touch, others you can only look at from strategic viewpoints on the side of the rotunda. The piece instantly gripped me, for here was a physical rendering of the history of the home, from the time of my grandparents (just starting out, with my Dad as a wee babe) through to my parents (and my own childhood) up to the present day. 

It's hard to describe how profoundly this piece moved me, because half of these representations I myself never lived in (50s, 60s, 70s). However, I still felt like I was in an amazing time warp as I was being taken through the spaces and personal lives of people I felt I knew, trying to understand the lives they led and the intricacies of their home life. I found myself in a mystery~ who were these people? what did they do? did they have children? was this a normal home or were they more affluent? were they happy here? what will the typical home look like in another decade? 

If you live in Vancouver I strongly urge you to visit the VAG in the next (eek) 12 days before the installation ends September 20th to experience Terris' incredible work yourself. Also, besides Ought Apartment and the Dutch Masters, the gallery also has several fantastic photography exhibits on now as well. This was my favourite. Don't wait for rain; visit today.  

(Photo 1 via The Georgia Straight, Photo 2 via Vancouver Art Gallery)

Room Inspiration~ Time to Paint

I love the heritage features of my apartment but for the last six months I've ignored the decorating process, unsure of how to highlight the very best of my home without ruining its period charm. Do I lay an area rug over the beautiful and incredibly well maintained hardwood just so I can watch movies on the floor, as I like to do? Do I take down the floating ledges that came installed in the apartment, which are charming but taking up wall space that could be better used? Most importantly, do I paint? 

I love colour and the walls in my apartment are of the typical not-white, not-cream, not-beige neutral variety. They're not horrible but they are also not to my taste (my last place was a pretty ice blue). So in came my furniture, up went pictures but the walls stayed the same, mostly because of the amazing original molding that adorns them. What to do? As of right now the walls and molding are painted the same blah colour but I fell in love with the photos of this room. I adore how the soothing pale grey wall colour serves as the perfect subtle background for the crisp, white molding to pop in contrast. I also love her hits of juicy red in such an otherwise soothing space. This makes me want to grab my paintbrush.... although I swore I'd never paint a room myself again!

(Photos via A Cup of Jo)

Home

Last night while having drinks with Leah at West we rolled onto talking about the little project I've been working on and the happiness list she gave to me for this blog. My favourite pick of hers was #5~ the feeling of home, whether it be someone or somewhere. The physical idea of home has been rather transient for Leah over the past few years, as she has bounced between her birthplace in Regina, Saskatchewan and here in Vancouver several times. But I understood her words immediately, for just as Leah's idea of home is to be anywhere as long as it is with Greg, so we now feel about our friendship as well. 

Home is more than just a couch, a bed, a shower. It is where one feels safe and more themselves than any other place in the world. I have never felt particularly attached to any location I have lived. We moved a lot when I was a kid and the house we stayed the longest in I didn't particularly like. But a place is just a place. My home is now me and Lulu. But more than packing my animal in her carrier bag and wandering the city from apartment to apartment, my feeling of home is most complete when I'm with the people who understand me most in the world, specifically Leah and Greg. They are more than friends, they are my family. People I can turn to and go to no matter what I need, at any time and vice versa. They let me be me, encourage me to be me, crazy and all. I have never known friendship in this capacity and it inspires me everyday. 

I know nothing ever quite stays the same but I also know my feeling of home will always be with these two people and that nothing can ever change that, not even location. 

What or who makes you feel at home? What couldn't you live without? Where do you want to live more than anywhere else?