Category Archives: Decorating

A small apartment in Manhattan

Posted on March 16, 2013 by ladywholivesdownthelane

I love Style at Home magazine. For many years (at least 10), I have received a year’s subscription to the actual paper-and-ink magazine from DH for Christmas. One year I also received one from my sister, such is my love of SAH known throughout my friends and family. But one thing used to drive me crazy.

All the homes they showed were large. Sometimes very large. Ten-foot ceilings. Sitting rooms you could put a bowling alley in.

Recently they have completely redeemed themselves, by showing how to decorate small spaces. Their March issue is all about getting the most from the least amount of square-footage.

This article shows how you can make a small space pretty and feminine. There’s no need to stick to slick surfaces and sleek lines when what you want is lace and loveliness. The designer gave the owner of this 600 square foot Manhattan apartment a very pretty place to come home to.

Check out how the designer keeps the look light and airy while still bringing in the touches that make it soft and luxurious.

File this one under Small Spaces Rule!

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Posted in Decorating, Small House and tagged Decor, New York, Small House. Bookmark the permalink.

Living in 300 square feet

Posted on March 9, 2013 by ladywholivesdownthelane

I’m always inspired by someone who can live in a little space — and live well.

Mary Lee has planned her studio apartment to get maxium style in minimum space, using bright neutrals and mirrored surfaces to keep everything bright.

And this studio apartment is really a studio — she works there, too!

Check out the home tour at Apartment Therapy, find inspiration for your home. I found it in the brightness, and what Mary Lee says about keeping her belongings to a minimum, too.

Buy things that have a purpose in your life. If it is not functional or doesn’t evoke a valuable emotion, like inspiration or nostalgia, then it’s not necessary. Don’t clutter your space with stuff, supply it with purpose. Don’t think of it so much as decorating but more of curating a collection over time that best tells the story of you.

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Posted in Decorating, Small House and tagged Decor, tiny apartment. Bookmark the permalink.

Guest Post: Getting the Backyard Ready for a House

Posted on March 5, 2013 by morganwestcott

Hi folks,

The new hedge location.

It’s me, DD (dear daughter, of “Main House”). I’ve been enjoying reading my mom’s posts about her purging and planning and prepping. We’ve been busy at the main house too, so I thought I’d contribute a little about what’s been happening on our property as we prepare for the new structure.

We’re actually very fortunate that the majority of our backyard is a concrete parking pad. The excavator will take care of that. On the other hand, having an excavator arrive on our back doorstep will have quite an impact. We do have some yard, and it’s populated by some great plants: boxwoods, rhododendrons, heathers, a firebush, a wisteria, a fig … we have a lot of creepers.

Mapoleon in his new spot. The first question DH asked was “won’t their branches get all tangled up?” Yes. Probably. Fine.

Our first plan was to simply transplant everything to the front yard and create an amazing garden up there. We hit a couple of roadblocks. First, the city won’t let the laneway house pull water service from the back alley – so our contractors are going to have to chop up our front lawn. They'[re going to run a bobcat up there and dig, dig, dig. Second, we are planning to re-do the front of the house in the next few years (including weeping tile) so we can’t really create permanent gardens of awesomeness. Anything not touched this round will be squished during that phase of renovations.

So for now, a compromise. First we moved Mapoleon, our miniature Japanese maple, from his spot directly in the path of the new water line. Yes, we moved him under another tree, and yes, there will be some branch negotiations. It’s really the only spot that was free.

We’re going to re-home some of the boxwoods to a new sidewalk hedge (leaving a 40″ space for the bobcat), and put the rest in pots on our deck and nooks and crannies out front. The contractors are going to lay weeping tile (drain tile) along the water line trench they dig on the West and South sides of the house. (The front and East sides will be covered by a future project). And we will have to get used to moving our plants to and fro until all the projects are complete.

Easy peasy? Not exactly. The goal with the Main House is to do as much ourselves as possible. But over the last weekend we learned we’re not landscapers. Here are some challenges we experienced:

Only one person can work at a time, because we have a toddler.

Root balls are massive. And heavy. We’re strong but. Really, they’re heavy.

Stripping sod is hard work, especially as you have to haul away the heavy sod somewhere else.

A wheelbarrow will not work if the tire is flat. (Did I mention we’re not professionals? We’re not even really amateurs.)

It rains a lot in Vancouver. So far we have timed every move to the rainiest possible moment. The bonus is the plants need moisture for successful transplantation. I guess there’s that.

We’re wet, sore, tired and we’ve barely begun. That said, it’s worth it to save our (sentimental and expensive) plants. We’d just caution other homeowners undertaking a secondary dwelling to budget for a landscaper to transplant for them … or budget a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to make it happen.

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Posted in Decorating, Housing and tagged Lane Home, Lane house, Laneway House, Neighbourhoods, Vancouver. Bookmark the permalink.

Toss it – the continuing story

Posted on March 3, 2013 by ladywholivesdownthelane

Our laneway is being built with maximum storage. Under the bed. Under the stairs. In the walls. Shelves and cupboards everywhere. But we will still have to get rid of a lot of our stuff. From one hall closet full of clothes and one linen closet full of sheets and towels we are going down to…..nothing. A few essentials stashed under the bed.

Junk must roll!

So far, in our winnowing process, I realize that I have belongings in “keep” and “toss” categories — but also in a third category — “stuff I know I should toss but just can’t bring myself to”. Because darn it, it’s the sort of thing that makes you want to end a sentence in a preposition!

I look at this as a process, a journey as it were, to a tidy small home. And that journey is made up of small steps.

Because we have to keep the place clutter-free for the viewings for potential buyers, I’m getting used to seeing my kitchen counters clear of small appliances. I had to clear out a cupboard to make room for those appliances to be stored, and that meant tossing or giving away about 8 cubic feet of “precious” belongings. They were some of the first things to go, and I can’t even remember what they were. I just thought they were important to me. But I realize that having a detritus-free counter is more important to me than those things I tossed.

We are going to live a much more minimal life. If there is one thing the design process has taught me is that there has to be a reason for everything we have — our belongings have to earn their keep.

I’ve got some on-line support from houzz.com along the way to that minimalist life.

4 Obstacles to Decluttering — and How to Beat Them

To me, the biggest obstacle to overcome is

4. “I paid a lot of money for it.”

Boy, truer words were seldom spoken. I have an Australian oilcloth raincoat hanging in my hall closet, as it has hung in various closets over the past 20 years. It’s not my style, but I paid a lot of money for it, and I just figured that someday someONE would want it. But no one ever has. I thought I should sell it, but it seems like such a hassle. And who would want it?

That coat is destined for Big Brothers.

BTW, Big Brothers and other charities are friends to the de-clutterer. Whenever they call to ask for donations say yes. You will then have a commitment to remove some stuff from your life.

So I will continue to throw things away and give things away. No more hiding things away. To quote the above article

Life, like art, is all about removing and editing to make room for what you truly want and need.

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Posted in Decorating, Housing, Laneway House and tagged Decor, Lane Home, Lane house, Laneway House. Bookmark the permalink.

Small space in the Big Apple

Posted on March 2, 2013 by ladywholivesdownthelane

Thanks to Style at Home, we can see how New York-based Canadian designer Brendan Kwinter-Schwartz re-made pilot Kerry Dempsey’s 680 square foot Manhattan loft into a sleek but comfortable home.

What’s not to love?

Especially those saucer pendant lights and the cowhide-as-area rug on hardwood. Armless slipper chairs are versatile yet take up less visual space.

But don’t plan on installing those light-as-air stairs unless you want to become BFFs with members of the board of variance. As far as I know, in Vancouver you are not allowed spaces between stairs large enough for a baby’s head to fit through (about 4″ or 10cm).

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Posted in Cities, Decorating, Small House and tagged Decor, New York, tiny apartment. Bookmark the permalink.

From the ground up — landscape

Posted on February 19, 2013 by ladywholivesdownthelane

I have been too busy to post — a feeble excuse but my own.

There’s lots to write about; a visit to our designer’s offices to see the final (95%) plans, another chat on the Home Discovery Show radio program, even our visits to our cabinet and window makers.

But I have been completely sidetracked by the lure of the garden.

DH told me last week that we should start drawing up landscaping plans. Pshaw, said I, we have lots of time (I guffawed) . Let’s just put grass everywhere and then decide where we want what to grow. They haven’t even started ripping apart the back yard, why fret about how it’s going to be put together?

Why fret? Because the city wants us to.

Turns out that the city wants to see a plan of what we want to grow where before we even get the permits to start building. Laurel the Designer gave us a site plan, and we are to provide, to be specific

So it was time to plumb the Pinterest page I’ve set up for my dream garden to draw up a plan.

I’ve never been much of a gardener. I don’t like dirt under my fingernails, and I have something of a grey thumb. Also — hello — bugs. But drawing up the plan I could see why people enjoy this part of it most of all. It was hard work, but it was also fun.

Here’s some of what we’re thinking:

We have to put in a tree, so how about a nice plum? (Prunus domestica Stanley)

We’ll have an arbour to the Main House yard, so let’s put in the wisteria they already own and must replant.

Along the fence, an herb garden in pots.

Beside the front door, a beautyberry (aka mulberry).

And crowning everything, our live roof.

There’s oodles more, of course, ornamental grasses in pots, tulips and daffodils in the live roof; and on the side of the laneway that faces west, in a narrow space between our wall and the neighbour’s fence, a bed of river rock flanked by ferns, bleeding hearts, and oregon grape.

Lookit me! I’m a gardener! And who knows — it’s such a tiny space to garden in, we may be able to pull this off.

Keep those green-thumbs crossed!

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Posted in Decorating, Laneway House and tagged Lane Home, Lane house, Laneway House, Vancouver. Bookmark the permalink.

Where will you put everything?

Posted on February 1, 2013 by ladywholivesdownthelane

When I show people the plans for our place (which I am apt to do at the drop of the proverbial hat) one of the first things they ask is “Where will your stuff go?” And I say “Mostly the Salvation Army.” Because, of course, we have to get rid of SO MUCH.

We have already begin this winnowing process, and it’s like getting rid of a huge weight ounce by ounce as things disappear from our cupboards and our closets. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but this is more than a change of address, it’s a change of lifestyle for us. Buy fewer, better things. Throw stuff out. Keep just what you need, not what you think you might need next year, or what you needed two or three years ago. Come on, I know I’m not the only person who hangs onto winter coats long after they should have been passed on to some deserving soul at the IODE shop.

How many of us have closets for the clothes we wear now, and closets stuffed with clothes we used to wear and might again if we can lose 15 pounds or if shoulder pads come back?

But we will still need to put things away– or more accurately we need to HIDE things away. Dishes, books, cat food. And that means built-ins.

Built-ins are the go-to choice for small-home decorating.

Super built-in apartment, with storage under the bed loft and in the stairs. That other room you can glimpse down the hall is the kitchen — completely built in, of course.

Storage under a built-in bed. Good idea for a very small bedroom. We’ll have storage under our bed, who could ignore that great storage area? But we won’t have room to pull out drawers on the side (bed fits snugly with just a foot of space on either side), so we’ll have a lift-up hydrolic arrangement that will give us access to the space beneath.

Here’s a nice wall of built-ins from Apartment Therapy. See that blank space between the windows with just the small green cut-out? That entire panel flips down and rests on the little green cabinet you see on the right to make a large dining table.

Have you seen any great built-ins? What do you think? Keep them the same colour as the walls, or make them stand out?

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Posted in Decorating, Laneway House and tagged Lane Home, Lane house, Laneway House, style, tiny apartment. Bookmark the permalink.

Good bye to all that…..

Posted on January 30, 2013 by ladywholivesdownthelane

One of the reasons we are looking forward to the laneway living experience, is because we have to rid ourselves of extraneous “stuff”. That is a good thing. As Wordsworth says

THE world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:

Others have gone before us, and show us the way.

Sherry Willis of the Half-Pint Homestead blog writes about it on the Tiny House Blog. Like her, we must begin

the complicated process of extricating ourselves from our possessions.

And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? When we hold on to “things”, no matter how precious they seem to us at the time, we are owned BY them.

But most advice I get on how to de-clutter seems to be geared to clearing the mess that we can see — hiding away the untidyness and detritus of our lives. But we want to get rid of it. Forever. Banish it from our lives, so we can live so much more simply.

That’s why I like what Laura Norcross has to say about winnowing her wardrobe at Tiny House Talk. It’s a process. Do it once, twice, how many times you need to say good-bye to things that you don’t need any more.

Good advice for our new lives, not just our new living space.