New Apartment Part 1: The BEFORE pics & tour

Hi loves! 

If you follow me on instagram, then you know that my apartment is no longer empty and that I'm settling in quite nicely, but I wanted to share some quick snaps of the place before I had all my things moved in, and before I painted every wall, ceiling, trim, door, etc. to give a full idea of what it looked like in the beginning. It's hard to tell in the pictures, but the walls were a light tan colour and the trim was a yellowy-cream.

^ This picture really captures all of the main things that made me fall in love with this place. The original hardwood floors (with that lovely inlay detail around the hearth), a gorgeous fireplace and mantle, picture frame mouldings, big baseboards and crown mouldings, and high ceilings. The space also has really great natural light.

 ^ Here is another view of the family room with a peek into the dining nook. Some of my furniture is sneaking its way in by this point. Here you can see the charm of the rads, and more moulding details. There is a big spot on the original wood floors, but luckily my area rug covers it now. This also gives you a better idea of the dingy wall and ceiling colour. The small kitchen is behind the wall to the right of the photo.

^You can see the front door and front closet in this picture. Off that hallway is my bedroom and the bathroom. I love the big opening that leads from the hall to the main living space! I need a solution for the ceiling fan...

^Another look at the hall with a sneak peek into the bedroom.

^The bedroom, which is surprisingly big! Sadly I had to sleep on the sofa for 5 nights until my new mattress got delivered. Well worth it to have a queen bed though!

^Good news! The closet is a great size! Not as big as the lovely walk-in at my old studio apartment, but still a huge amount of storage (there is a big shelf on the left side that you can't really see here) and nicely set up with a closet organizer.

^The remainder of the hall. 2 small storage closets on the right and a door to the washroom at the end.

^My sweet little washroom with amazing floor tile. I apologize that the toilet lid is up. I was also testing some wall colours by this point.

^The dining nook, which is a great size. It's open to the kitchen. M. was filming a cover video here that day, which explains all of the music gear. You can check it out on his youtube channel here.

^ Okay yes, my kitchen has terrible purple tile floors and backsplash..but other than that it is really great. I love the appliances, (and there is a dishwasher!!! Major bonus), there is tonnes of storage and a nice window. I'd love to replace at least the backsplash...I'd only need about 20 sq.ft. and I don't think it would be too hard. Ideally I would do the floor as well, but that seems like a big job and I'm not sure my landlord would go for it. Maybe a nice little kilim rug in here instead? Does anyone have any advice on rental kitchens?

^This is the last shot before getting to work painting (it took about 5 days to paint pretty much every paintable surface). 

Hopefully from these pics you can see what I saw when I first looked at the space: Serious Potential.
I can't wait to show you the progress I've made already! Stay Tuned.

xox

Favourite Furniture Fridays: Champagne Lifestyle on a Beer Budget

Hello Tiffany Leigh readers! I'm Hannah, hailing from Champagne Lifestyle on a Beer Budget.

I am so excited to be posting for Favourite Furniture Fridays today!  Tiffany's blog has quickly become a must-read for me, and this series is one of my favorites in the blogosphere!

My number one piece of furniture has to be my $30 Craigslist chair.  I bought the chair and re-painted and re-upholstered it with the help of many bottles of wine and a mom-of-the-year.

The left is indeed, the before picture of the chair.  A lovely cane chair with an unclassifiable velvet fabric.

A little high gloss white paint, black greek key fabric, and nailhead trim helped me transform the Craigslist grandma chair into the chair of my dreams!

It is my favorite piece of furniture because it's original, classic, and a lot of love and labor went into it. 

If you're interested in getting the tutorial, you can find it here.

Thanks again Tiffany for having me!

xoxo, 

H

You all know I'm truly envious of anyone who can pull off an upholstery job. One day I might try my hand at it! Go show Hannah some love!

 

In My Closet..

 This weekend I got busy organizing my closet. I don't know how I got so lucky to find a room with a closet this big in Toronto, but I'm so glad that I did! This is really my only storage space, so it's kind of a catch all. All it needs is a crystal chandy and a louis ghost chair and it would be my dream space!

I have three types of shoe storage. Most of my heels and fancier shoes are in the vertical hanging storage because the heels fall through the metal shelves on the shoe rack. I feel like I should have put more glamorous shoes on the shelf for this shot..but hey this is the way I live. And I mean, my dirty steel-toed work shoes are pretty sexy. My taller boots sit on the floor and are kept upright by rolling old magazines and sticking them inside!

^A look at the upper shelves. From left to right you see a peek of cleaning supplies, my sweats, silver basket holding belts, wicker basket with towels, weekend tote, rattan basket with handbags and clutches, and my hats. The rod on this side of the closet holds my outerwear jackets as well as my blazers.

The final side of my closet is definitely the least glam. My laundry hamper, mini fridge, pink drawer unit which holds my midnight snacks, and a mop. While this is my own space, I do share a kitchen with five other girls, so I like to keep some stuff in a fridge up here. This is what I mean by a multi purpose space!

All of my other clothes (tees, tanks, jean, pjs, etc.) are in my dresser located just outside of my closet door:

Just for fun (because I love you guys) I'll show you a BEFORE shot of the closet, when it was still a bit of a mess:

 You can see how desperately I needed that shoe rack.

And there you have it. It's probably the biggest closet I will ever have in my life since I plan on buying a tiny little fixer upper in Toronto one day. Gotta enjoy it while I can ladies!
xox

Favourite Furniture Fridays: The Little Black Door

Happy Friday everyone! Elizabeth from little black door here and I'm psyched that Tiffany asked me to come over today to play Favorite Furniture Friday. I try not to play favorites in my house when it comes to my furniture, but I've failed at that attempt because I most certainly do have a favorite. That would be the settee in my living room.

This sucker is like one of my children. And as much work as I put into it, I feel like I gave birth to this couch. It started out as a sad little thing in the back corner of an antique store. It smelled, had stains from I don't even want to know where, and the cushions were as thin as Victoria Beckham. 

After weeks of work I sanded, painted, stripped, unstapled, reupholstered, stapled and piped that sucker into one hot little number.

I love her so that I sometimes sit on the other side of the room just so I can admire her. She's comfy, beautiful and I'm proud to report still dog hair-free. I hope you love her too!

Thanks Tiffany for letting me brag about my baby! xoxo

Can you believe Elizabeth tackled that reupholstery on her own? The before is barely recognizable as the after, now that takes vision. Simly stunning!!! Now check out her blog!

Living Room Redesign...Almost There

For the past few months, I have been helping my parents redesign their formal living room. My parent's have very traditional tastes, so I kept that in mind when helping them to make selections. My favourite part of the room is the new floors and cushions!

But first! A peek at what the room used to look like. I had to dig back in the family archives for Christmas photos from 3 years ago! Here it is:

 And now the after... (We are still looking for the perfect coffee table and some accessories)

 My parents installed the new hardwood floors all by themselves! They turned out absolutely gorgeous!

The bird's eye view! (We have a loft that overlooks the living room).

My mom sewed the accent cushions. I love the finished product!

It's got a bit of a ways to go, but I'm thrilled with it! Wish I was a better photographer.
What do you think?
xox Tiffany Leigh