After being away for two weeks, it was nice to return to Vancouver and see cherry blossoms in bloom. Spring is here! Finally.

I had fun showing the Dude Buenos Aires, the city where I was born. It was especially great to be there in March when it's still summer. My relatives enjoyed meeting the Dude. As I expected, they pointed out how skinny he was and blamed it on me - every time we saw them. The best way to summarize our trip to Argentina is that we ate, and ate, and ate some more. It was a meat-fest. And a dessert-fest. Everything tastes so much better down there.

Then we went up to Massachusetts to visit the Dude's family. It was nice to be back in the US and to be among relatives who did not badger us about having kids, like, tomorrow. Anyway, I relished the opportunity to visit stores that I miss frequenting because they don't exist in Canada (e.g. Target and Trader Joe's). A highlight was seeing Brookfield, the Dude's hometown, which is a small rural community in the middle of nowhere. To say the least, it's a very different environment from the kind that I grew up in.

Most of the shopping I did on vacation consisted of stocking up on yarn (as if I don't already have enough). Seriously, if the apocalypse were to occur tomorrow and the world became a nuclear wasteland, I'd have enough yarn to keep me busy until I die...maybe. It would depend on how fast I knit.

Very little has been accomplished in the way of home decorating because things have been so hectic lately. But I did manage to make a terrarium finally. They're still all the rage it seems.

Terrariums are super easy to make, especially when using succulents. Plus, they require very little care and maintenance. For the one above I just lined the bottom with some river rocks, then placed a layer of charcoal, and topped that with some cactus soil. Lastly, I inserted a jade plant, and voilà, a terrarium! So easy, so fast. So I wonder why it took me months to get to this project.

What's been keeping me busy lately is my new volunteer gig. Last month I agreed to become the editor of my church newsletter. My first issue comes out this weekend. It's been a fun project, but I'm glad I only have to put out four issues a year because it's time-consuming work.

And time is something I'm sorely lacking these days. I'm putting in more time into running my shop. It's been encouraging to see sales steadily grow. And I hope to expand the products I offer.

But running a business, I'm learning, results in working seven days a week. I realized recently that I don't have a single day off. Since I also have a part-time job at Granville Island, I end up working on the days I could potentially have off. So it's no surprise that I had a mini-breakdown last weekend due to sheer exhaustion. Somehow I need to figure out a way to carve out time off. But my workaholic self doesn't know how to relax. The only way I can do nothing is if I'm away from home and have no choice but to relax.

Starting tomorrow I'll have two weeks off to do anything but work as we'll be traveling down to Argentina and then up to Massachusetts visiting our families. I'm going to relish every minute that I get to relax and have fun.

There's No Place Like Here: Hindsvik from Etsy on Vimeo.

I'm sure this video is making the rounds in the design blogosphere. Valeria and Daniel are the duo behind my favourite Etsy vintage shop, Hindsvik. Etsy recently produced a video tour of their Scandinavian-style home in Ontario.

I don't know if personally I can live in a space with that much white, but I do appreciate how beautifully they've decorated their home. All their vintage goodies set my heart a-flutter. And they've done some awesome DIY projects as well. Their website, which is full of inspirational home decorating ideas, is worth checking out.

This is what the home office looks like currently. Originally the office was set up in the darkest corner of the living room, but it was relocated next to the balcony window so that it gets flooded with natural light.

The glass wall shelves are from IKEA. I love how they look, especially in contrast to the DIY desk. (I don't hate all things IKEA). We did make the mistake of spacing the shelves out evenly. I learned later that height between shelves should decrease as they go up to create visual balance. That's a tip for next time.

The task lamp is one of those that clamp on to the desk. Originally I wanted a black one (I still do), but I saw this red one at a garage sale for $3 and I couldn't resist. The orange boxes are from IKEA as well. I think I should have gone with the black ones. Oh well.

The square painting on the middle shelf is the inspirational source of the colour palette I'm going for in the living room. It's a thrift store find, like a lot of stuff in our home. The little painting on the mini easel in front of it is from a fellow Canadian Etsy seller, emmarts, who is based in North Vancouver. I have a few of her works around the apartment as we often buy from each other's shops.

I wish the desk looked this clean all the time. I think having a drawer unit would help with clutter management. The other mess to deal with are all the wires below the desk. Ugh.

The office chair I'm coveting these days is the Eames Aluminum Group Management chair. If I get one, it would have to be a knock-off because there's no way we're spending over a $1,000 on a chair again.

So sexy beautiful. If I want Eames anything it would have to be a knock-off.

Remember the sad empty wall I was crying about?

Allow me to remind you:

The Dude and I finally got around to putting up the troublesome wall shelves. And voila!

Initially, we put up three vertical rails, but decided to take the middle one out. It was unnecessary. Plus, because the wall is not even, the shelves were not flush against the wall, and taking out the middle rail solved that problem. It's weird how walls can be uneven because they look deceptively straight to the naked eye. The cedar boards are just resting on the brackets. Don't want to bother attaching them together. Crossing my fingers that it won't be a problem.

If I had all the space my heart desired, this is not how I would curate the stuff on the shelves. But the shelves were mounted so that I'd have more space to store all the thrifted objects that I'm selling in the shop, and they don't necessarily mesh very well colour- and style-wise. Anyway, the items on display will be in constant rotation as things come and go so I'm not going to worry too much about it all looking pretty and shit. 

The shelves are holding a few personal items as well, one of which is the cat picture, a recent thrift shop find. It's a print from the "Sam" the cat series that Andy Warhol did, and I love it. The Dude thinks it looks weird, but I don't care.

More wall shelves are slated for the future, which means another trip to Home Depot(s). The plan is to fill the red wall with similar shelving. The landlord is sure going to have a lot of fun spackling all the holes we've drilled into the walls once we move out.

I am totally captivated by a song called "Take Care of Yourself" by Teddy Thompson. It's lush, haunting, and oh so sad. I'm trying very hard not to listen to it too much so that it never gets old. You can listen to it on his facebook page (it's track #9). It has that old-school, Roy Orbison-esque sound that I love. Can't wait to get the whole album, which comes out tomorrow.

Anyway, we had another successful craigslist weekend. More purging, yay! We sold the IKEA bookcases (remnants from the Dude's bachelorhood) to make room for the new storage chest we got. We'll soon be putting up more wall shelves to replace the bookcases.

And the Dude's big-ass ergonomic chair also sold - miraculously. We thought it would never sell because we were asking a lot for it since we paid a lot for it.  Getting rid of it allowed us to re-position the IKEA Expedit bookcase/room divider in the living room so that it lies horizontally. When it was standing vertically its proportions didn't fit the rest of the room. Its new horizontal position seems to create better "flow" in the living room.

It's amazing how much we purge weekly from our little apartment. Whenever I think we're done purging I still manage to find things for the outbox. The fact that I volunteer at a thrift shop probably has something to do with it. It encourages me to find things to donate on a regularly basis. The less stuff we live with, the better I say.

(via apartment therapy)

We have a loud neighbour problem. He blasts his music at random times during the day, like 5 a.m., 3:30 p.m., 2 a.m. It's been like that since we moved in more than a year ago. We've complained to the building manager, who's given him numerous warnings, but he doesn't seem to give a shit.

Now that he's acquired a girlfriend, who seems to have moved in with him, we're subject to her vocal theatrics when they have sex. And in the last couple days they've taken up the habit of having loud sex at 4:30 a.m. That's right. 4:30 A.M. Really, is that really necessary? You can't let the ol' cock just lie until at least sunrise?

I'm a light sleeper and being woken up by loud sex noise, which is coming from his bedroom that is separated from our bedroom by at least his living room and kitchen, sucks (yeah, she's really loud). Once I wake up, I can't go back to sleep. Needless to say, I've been very sleep deprived and feeling like a zombie during the day.

We're hoping he gets evicted real soon. Meanwhile, I'm debating if I should post a note similar to the one above.

I have a love-hate relationship with craigslist. I suppose most people who use it do. Trying to sell stuff on craigslist is usually a pain because of flaky shoppers. And trying to buy stuff is a pain because of flaky sellers. Nevertheless, I have to admit that it's a great internet tool for buying and selling crap. Well, this past week I had two consecutive good experiences selling and buying on craigslist. It was as if all the stars were aligned or something.

First, I bought an awesome, old storage chest for $50. It's got the right dimensions and even the loud turquoise colour works for the colour palette I'm going for. I've been hoping for months to find a wooden chest that would function as storage/coffee table/extra seating for the living room. And I can't believe I found one that fits the bill perfectly. We just need to slap some casters on this baby and it's golden. The best thing about it: not IKEA.

Second, we finally sold a black armchair that I've been trying to get rid of for months. After taking a hiatus, I re-posted it and it sold within days - huzzah. Now the living room feels a bit more spacious. The armchair had the wrong proportions that made it look odd with the rest of the furniture. I bought it last summer at an estate sale and it turned out to be one of my "early mistakes."

Now we only have three more pieces of furniture to purge: the Dude's big-ass ergonomic chair and two bookcases that are standing in the place where the new storage chest/bench/coffee table is going to go.

As you can see, I'm up to no good again. I'm thinking of re-painting our bedroom.  It was the Dude who proposed it. For once it wasn't me who came up with a home decor idea. After having attended a design competition where we saw six beautifully decorated condo suites, I whined to the Dude that our bedroom had too many colours going on. Currently we have blue, brown, white, red and gray going on in the bedroom. There's really no main colour.

So the Dude gave the most brilliant suggestion: paint three of the walls white and one wall black (the one behind the bed). He said the blue walls weren't really helping our colour scheme. Oh my goodness, I have trained him well. LOL! He's heard me coo at sexy black walls enough times to suggest it. I'm très excited about the possibilities newly painted walls present.

The photo above shows all the paint options I'm considering. They're all Behr paint chips from Home Depot (I'm quite happy with their paints based on previous experience). I'm probably going to go for Ultra Premium White (it's the whitest white paint), but I'm afraid that it may feel too sterile and clinical. When I see pictures of spaces painted in this colour I adore it, but I'm not sure how it would feel actually living with this colour. Anyway, I'm going to paint a sample swatch of it before I commit to it.

Now it's a matter of finding time to paint. Too much going on for the next four weeks. Maybe early March? I'm going to start with the white walls. Then choose the black paint. Yay, yay, yay, I finally get to have a black wall.

I'm learning how to use a sewing machine. Actually, I'm re-learning. I first learned in middle school home ec class, and then shortly thereafter lost all my sewing skills. Looking back I can't believe I made all those projects when I was a little teeny-bopper, like cushions, bags, and shorts! I made a pair of shorts! They were constructed out of flannel fabric because grungy fashion was all the rage back then. I have no idea how to make shorts now...very sad.

Well, I recently made a garland as my first sewing project. I cut a gazillion little felt circles (by hand) and then sewed them together very badly (who knew that sewing straight is very hard?). I put them up as decoration for our New Year's Day open house that we just hosted. Fortunately, they were hanging high up enough so that you couldn't really see all the mistakes.

Maybe one day when I've practiced enough I'll be able to sew up some shorts again.