Sarah J. Blige

The new place I moved into this April was something of a fixer-upper. First of all, it smelled – really bad. The landlord pretended he had no idea what we were talking about when we mentioned the smell in the apartment, but he was obviously lying, as his ol’factory workers would’ve had to have been on strike for him to not smell that putrid odour. I think the source of the stench was our rancid carpets, which obviously had not been vacuumed in a number of years…if at all. (We remedied that situation by purchasing a powerful new vacuum and going over the carpets several times over. The smell is finally gone.) The light fixtures were decrepit and appeared to be rotting, as characterized by that lovely brownish-yellow colour that often accompanies plastic fixtures from the 70s that have never been cleaned. The shelves were caked with about a centimetre of dust, the kitchen faucet was (and actually still is) on the brink of popping right off, and the walls were all painted a nondescript, boring off-white. That being said, the place was a (relative) steal, since we’re only two blocks from my favourite street in Vancouver in a cute lil’ hood, but it was apparent that it would require quite a bit of work to make it into a comfortable little pad.

We painted the entire apartment – a project that took three full days and one half-day – which in and of itself transformed the space. The kitchen and bathroom are a sunny yellow, the dining room a rich, seductive dark burgundy (or wine, or plum…I can’t decide), the living room a soft peachy-brown, the hallways a calm, light mint/green tea, and the bedroom an earthy chocolate milk brown. (The bedroom required a last minute trip to home depot after a near Pepto-abysmal pink emergency. Flint and I looked at each other after applying a few strokes of this awful, deceiving colour to the bedroom walls, and said, “Eww. No.”)

The pink (right side) was FAR worse in person.

The place gradually came together, and after about a month, became one of my favourite places to ever have stepped foot in. We decorated with a combination of Flint’s and my personal pieces, as well as a few new additions, my favourite of which being my new 60s Underwood Typewriter. Another one of my favourite pieces is the old green filing cabinet drawer that we’ve modified into an interesting stand for our tiny black-and-white TV and oldschool Super Nintendo System. 

Working on my next great novel

We’ve kept the tones earthy and natural and have included a few bright pieces (the fuschia, orange and green Mexican-inspired couch runner, for example) to keep it fresh and vibrant. We also stained the oak table a dark walnut colour to match Flint’s gorgeous chairs from a local antique shop, as well as to keep with the other dark wood pieces throughout the apartment. We installed three shelves – one big one on the right side of the living room and two smaller shelves on the left – to tie the place together and give it some depth and dimension, as well as to add some much needed book-shelvery. A lovely purple plant (named Louise) hangs in the far right corner of the living room and a handsome, curly plant (named Paul) hangs in the left corner, while the funky copper bell has found a permanent home above the full-length mirror in the space between living and dining rooms. 

Enjoying my living space

I forgot how nice it was to have a fo-real dining room in which to eat, rather than perching on the arm of the couch or sitting on the floor at the coffee table to eat my dinner. And I love the way the sultry deep red of the dining room meets the happy yellow of the kitchen, as if to say: “Well hello, you perky, cheerful little thing! I’d love to compliment you with my soulful mystique. Look how hot we are together.” (Sassy little room.)

The colour isn't quite as vibrant here as it is in person, but you get the idea.

Most people spend a significant amount of time in their home, so it only make sense to actually enjoy being there. I’ve been at home more than normal lately, and I need to have a comfortable, relaxing, upbeat place to call home. The song in the youtube video below is called “To Build a Home” (which I borrowed the name from for the title of this post), and is a hauntingly beautiful piece by The Cinematic Orchestra with vocals by one of my favourite artists, Patrick Watson.