living room progress

I've started the slow process of finding things to decorate my living room, now that I have a presentable looking couch. It's always fun to find something that 1. looks alright and 2. has some sort of "meaning". I'm a fisherman's daughter who spent evenings in high school doing laundry after-hours at a lobster processing plant, and I spent a month down on the floor weighing lobsters for extra cash after my first year of college (worst job ever, if you were wondering). So, you know, I "earned" the right to have this weird ugly lobster hanging on my wall. And it happens to match my couch perfectly.

Those pillows though... don't match at ALL. They're leftovers from my old futon. I'm toying with the idea of an orange/brown/turquoise colour scheme. I've had my eye on pillows like these



And I want to give a similar treatment to this... thing.



It's probably the most versatile piece of furniture I own. It works as a thing to set my laptop on when I watch 1 Girl 5 Gays, or extra seating, or a table or a foot stool or a cat perch... anything you can think of. But that fabric is NOT my style, and it's all stained because I also used to use is as a nail painting station. Button tufted turquoise velvet would look alright, right? With a skirt for added foofiness? I'm into it. And I promise not to paint my nails on it...

point form

thrifted button down, scarf, scarf clip and braided belt, joe fresh jeans, old navy flats, gifted hat

1. This weird inbetweeny spring weather is the WORST and makes it hard to put together blogworthy outfits.
2. My ankles are freezing today
3. I also haven't worn outfits worth documenting lately because I really need to do laundy. So bad. Behind that door is an EXPLOSION of clothing, it's awful.
4. I feel like I'm bombarded with articles and quips about COLOURED DENIM and all about how COLOURED DENIM is in style and you should really go out and buy COLOURED DENIM and as nice as COLOURED DENIM is I'm kinda sick of hearing about it. I got this COLOURED DENIM last year on clearance for like $10 bucks at Joe Fresh and that should satisfy my need for COLOURED DENIM for the rest of my life.
5. I got my couch! Isn't it great? There's a sticker under the cushions that dates it back to 1968. SIXTY DOLLARS!!! Here it is again, I'm smitten

K is for Kristin

thrifted bow-neck blouse, mint skirt, K cardigan, and grey belt, old navy flats

Even if I didn't love this cardigan I wouldn't have been able to leave it behind in the Repeats costume room. WHAT ARE THE ODDS??

My Kijiji addiction has paid off in the form of this amazing mid-century sofa and chair.



SIXTY DOLLARS for the set! Amazing. I'm picking it up next Saturday! Anyone want to take my old stained lumpy futon? eh??

something new

A few things changed around since the last time I posted pictures of my made-over bedroom.

candy apple

Remember the Kijiji chairs I posted about? these ones?


I love them but I don't love the rusty old metal legs. So...







Much better, huh? I only did one since it was starting to rain. And it turns out spraypaint fumes don't make you feel too hot when you have a hangover. Who knew?

november time

Nice hiatus IDIOT! Not a whole lot to post about in the past few weeks but I did do a couple half-interesting things. Like, I dyed my hair! red! INTENSE red!





A few months ago I found this beautiful fabric at Value Village. I handed it off to my personal seamstress (my mom) and it turned out to be the perfect size to turn into a set of curtains for my living room window and closet.




I'm not too pleased about my futon though. I realize the custom slipcover makes it like, the Cadillac of futons, but it's been sat on and slept on and cat-haired on for so long I think it needs to be retired. Besides, as hard as you try, there's just no way to make a futon look chic or sophisticated. I've been cruising Kijiji constantly but can't find anything perfect. In PEI, at least. I have a destructive habit of searching "retro" in cities I don't live in just to see what I'm missing out on.


what do you mean people aren't just giving these away on the side of the road???

All that searching had it's perks though, since I refresh the Kijiji iPhone app CONSTANTLY through the day I managed to stake my claim on these Eames-style molded chairs almost as soon as they popped up!


please note: the kitty

a little trick

the thing about my apartment is that it's very, very narrow. exactly 6'11'' wide. at no point does it get any thinner or any wider. i've been willing to let this annoying detail slide because of the other things i love about this place (cheap rent, great location, hardwood floors, good light, etc) but i'm making an effort this year to get the most out of this little space and use it to my advantage. my first example is the bedroom.

before:


i figured that getting my bed on a 90 degree would free up a lot of space. unfortunately that headboard made it about 2 inches too long to fit, and it's a loadbearing headboard. with some help from my mom we managed to take the headboard off, and put blocks under that side of the bed, and turn it around without crushing any fingers.

my second idea for making the space look bigger is one i'm quite proud of. if i put two long curtains on either side of my window, i could create the look of a larger window, which in turn creates the look of a larger room. it's a simple trick with big results.



of course i took this opportunity to do as much i could to redecorate the whole space. i got new new bedding (the floral i had before would have looked so horrible with the curtains) and a new dresser.





(ps thank you to everyone who commented on my last entry/started following my blog/etc. this blog is going to continue to be about diy projects, thrifting, fun stuff like that. all the support inspires me!)