Since moving out of home eight years ago, I’ve
lived in three places; the unit I bought with my husband (though we weren’t
married back then), an apartment in Southbank, Melbourne and now our apartment
in Toronto.
The big difference about moving to the
apartment here in Toronto versus the other two, is that we were starting from
scratch. We literally moved here with two suitcases each, which were mostly
filled with clothes (and in my case books and makeup). So we had the
opportunity to deck the apartment out the way we wanted to within the confines
of our budget.
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| The Melbourne Clock |
We’ve already had a few lots of family come
to visit and the common comment on our apartment is that it feels so loved and
homey. I take that as a great compliment since we ended up with quite a bit of
IKEA furniture since we needed to make the money stretch as far as possible.
So I thought I would share with you a few
of my favourite things about the way we’ve turned our apartment into a cosy,
loved and lived-in home.
The Melbourne
Clock
We have only one clock in the house and it’s
not set to local time, oddly enough. This clock always shows what time it is
back home so we know if it’s okay to call, text or Skype with our family and
friends.
My
Coffee Station
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| Robot coffee machine |
I have this gorgeous red Nespresso machine
(which I think kind of looks like a robot – do you agree?), a nice silver
frothing jug, a ceramic pot with all the coffee pods and these lovely blue mugs
which are the perfect cappuccino size. While I’m also a big tea drinker (and I
have a shelf dedicated to all my tea-related things) my morning coffee is a
ritual I’ll never give up. It helps me start my day on a positive note.
My ‘all
good things’ shrine
There’s a spot atop the bookshelf next to
my writing desk which holds all the things that make me happy. There’s a
stuffed llama (one of three now in my house!), a hunk of amethyst that I bought
at my first visit to the Royal Ontario Museum, a picture of my grandmother, a
motivation tin, the succulent my husband bought me when I signed with Harlequin
Blaze, two little stones with the words ‘trust’ and ‘success’ on them that were
a gift from my mother and a tiny gold unicorn that was a gift from my sister. Whenever
I’m feeling lost, or homesick, or like my writing is terrible; I go to this
area. It’s filled with love from the most important people in my life and no
matter how stressed I am, this is my happy place.
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| Our lovely tranquil bedroom canvas |
Pretty
pictures
Bare walls make me sad. And while money is
not flush enough for me to afford anything expensive, we’ve taken every effort
to fill our walls with things that have meaning to us. There’s a huge map where
we mark off all the places we travel to, some cute and inexpensive prints from
cities around the world, a set of photographs from my favourite places in
Melbourne (which were also a gift from a dear friend) and this beautiful canvas
in our bedroom. It’s the odd one out, style-wise but the second I saw it I knew
it would be the perfect thing to make our bedroom feel tranquil and beautiful.
I love that our house is dotted with funny
things that remind us of the people we love and the places we’ve been. There’s a
Lego statue of Liberty, a Starbucks mug from Washington with the Whitehouse on
it, a strange arty print I picked up in Montreal and of course, just for kicks,
we have three blue T-Rex candle holders. Our place is quirky, cosy and totally
us.
What are your favourite mementos or things
around your house?
