Around my house

I too will resume regular posts starting tomorrow (I didn't receive enough pet entries for today anyway). I thought since I had time this long weekend to do a bit of organizing and photography, that I would share my latest home endeavours. Nothing too serious, mostly just some rearranging to fit all the things I had purchased in Almonte last weekend. 

Once again, my kitchen shelving has been reorganized. When I was digging through the basement a few weeks ago looking for items to sell at the Ottawa Antique Show, I came across a vintage brass tea set (?) and some brass pineapples that I had thrifted and bought on Etsy several years ago. I could not let these go, so instead I tried incorporating them in my shelving display, along with my new Catherine Holm bowl I am totally stoked over (and coordinating pot I already had).

Catherine Holm bowl from Samantha Howard Vintage ~ vase from The White Monkey ~ Oaxacan vase bought in Puerto Vallarta ~ thrifted brass pineapple ~ silver egg bought in Puerto Vallarta ~ thrifted brass flower frog ~ Lumberjack candleholder by Normann Copenhagen from The Modern Shop ~ Catherine Holm pot from Etsy shop CrankHeartPony

Love that print (in my new vintage frame) by Emily McDowell purchased at Hello Yellow ~ vintage pot from Almonte ~ vase from The White Monkey

Vintage pot from Almonte ~ Oaxacan skull from Puerto Vallarta ~ candleholder by John Ward from General Fine Craft ~ thrifted Dansk candleholder ~ Hay Denmark scissors from The Modern Shop ~ air plant from Sparrow Floral Design

Saturday while running errands, my husband took us to a wood shop called KJP Select Hardwoods. *SIGH* So many glorious slabs of the most beautiful wood I have ever seen. I spotted a piece of Claro walnut that I had to have. I decided to use it on my dining table as a sort of tray for a centrepiece. 

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Around my house

There isn't anything too exciting going on around my house but I figure if I make myself share some photos every now and then it will keep me motivated to keep puttering about. :) 

First up - there is a new piece of art in my home. One of my favourite homes I have featured since starting this blog with Jo 7 years ago is Tom's apartment in the Hollywood Professional Building on Hollywood Blvd. We have kept in touch since then and the day after the Academy awards Tom sent me an email. Tom often strolls along Hollywood Blvd and takes photos of wacky people (check out his Flickr), and did so the day of the Academy Awards. Included in his email was a photo, and I insisted he send it to me in high-res so I could print it and hang it in my home. So awesome! (Thanks again Tom!)

Mr. Cool Dude Kitty is now hanging in my bathroom. 

I did a bit of rearranging of my kitchen shelves yesterday. It was my successful way of avoiding doing my taxes. :) I want to spend more time rearranging these shelves, and create different types of vignettes since it's really the only decent display area in the whole house. Right now it is a mix of vintage stainless tea pots, my beloved Catherine Hold pot, some West German, Japanese and Oaxacan pottery, a couple of Danish teak candle holders and my Tivoli radio. 

I went to Ikea Friday to get a frame for Tom's cat photo (I wanted thin black, which to my horror was nowhere to be found so I had to use a silver one), and spotted this really cool chair cover. It is supposed to be for the Esbjörn chair but it seems to be pretty close in fit to my J104 chair by Hay Denmark. I use it as a desk chair, parking my butt on it for hours on end so I was desperate for some cushioning. I think it's adorable - like a little duvet for my chair but sadly the cover only comes in a natural colour (I would have preferred grey). 

I KNEW the cats would take it over!

New art in my home

I wanted to share some new art I have hanging in my home. These pieces are alot more meaningful than all the other art in my home so I deemed them worthy of a post (hope you all agree).

My husband's birthday was Friday. His 40th was last year and due to alot of chaos at the time, we didn't do much and I didn't get him anything special. When I found out a co-worker's husband is a super talented art teacher, I immediately knew what I wanted to get Jeff as a present. When we lost our cat Cheeks in November, Jeff was absolutely devastated - moreso than I was as Cheeks was his little buddy for the past 10 years. I thought a portrait of Cheeks would be the perfect gift and a way to remember our special boy. The artist, Ranajit Sinha, chose this photo for the painting (and decided on oil/acrylic on canvas): 

When Ranajit's wife Gayatri brought the painting in to work, I balled my eyes out (I know that would happen so I made her bring it to my more private cubicle), and balled my eyes out with my husband when I gave it to him that night (and I'm fighting back tears as I write this). 

It's perfect. It's SO Cheeks. Rana could not have done a better job. Thank you Gayatri and Rana. :) (If anyone wants Rana's contact info send me an email through our contact form - he's looking for some side projects)

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A dump turned jewel

About a month ago my husband and I took on a quick project in our home that was literally life changing. I wanted to share it with you all now that I finally have photos thanks to a bit of free time over the holidays. My house is quite small as I have complained MANY times here, and has no decent storage. We eat at home alot, and despite having a fabulous new kitchen, there was still not enough storage for food after our trips to the grocery store. Another dilemma we have with this house is there is NO closet on the main floor. When you walk in the front door you are smack in the middle of the living room. This is Ottawa, so having no adequate space to dump wet snowy jackets and boots was beyond annoying. There is a room at the back of the house just beyond the kitchen. We decided to turn the space into a pantry/cold storage(LOL)/coat room. Here is a post of it when I redecorated and made it my office. I am so freaking happy with the space now. We have FOUR Ikea shelving units to store the majority of our food, some dishes, and office supplies! YESSS!!! My husband also built a storage unit to house all of our coats, boots and seasonal accoutrements. :-) A dump of a space turned out to be one of the most useful in the house, and it's pretty cute to boot! (Sorry, I took an overabundance of photos)

This room is not wired for lighting so we had to improvise and bought some cute clamp lights for the top of the shelves. We can finally see in there!

A photo by my friend Maura and my beloved South African Wonki Ware dishes from Green Light District

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New art

Jo mentioned back in this post a few weeks ago that the lovely folks over at Arte Limited offered us some prints that they carry in their online shop. I was super excited because I love art, was craving some new pieces for my home, and the artists on their roster are REALLY talented. I picked out 3 I thought would work in my home, and I adore all 3. I went with inexpensive Ikea frames because why not. One ended up in my kitchen and it makes me smile every time I pass by it. It is a giclée by Mikel Nilsson called Couch.

The other 2 happened to feature portraits of women, so the only place that seemed to make sense for them was on my living room "chick wall". 

The print to the right of the TV is Tender is the Night, a giclée by Lina Ekstrand. 

I must add a couple of things at this point. First, my husband has some cord wrangling on his TODO list. Second, see that long black rectangle under the TV? That was one of the presents I bought my husband for Christmas. It is a sound bar, and pretty amazing I must admit - a present I am enjoying immensely as well. :-) Anyway, I had a small vintage Asian cabinet as the TV stand (as seen here) but that bar was too long so my husband whipped this shelving unit up one day over the holidays. I really like it! It's alot less bulky than the last one and doesn't stick out into the room as much - a bonus since this wall is only a small space between the front door and the stairs to the second floor (beyond annoying).

The print to the right is a giclée by Florian Meacci titled Beautiful death.