Curing the bathroom

I've been doing an informal Apartment therapy Fall Cure these last few weeks and finished the bathroom yesterday. There's nothing like trashing expired stuff, unused hand cream that smell like aunt Lorraine and unfortunate perfume choices to feel all refreshed. And girly. Using vintage jars and tins to hide the ugly stuff is my trick to keep things looking swell. The clean look of products that are put away according to package colour is just an added bonus.

Click on pick to see notes galore!

Places I'll never shop at: Part 3

Hi, I'm Creepy.
Hi, I'm Creepy too.
Hi, I'm also Creepy.

Colourful doors

Mary of Shelterrific posted a blog about painting one of her doors a beautiful shade of turquoise. I'm a big advocate for painted doors and think they are the best way to add some cheer to a room without much efforts and risk, especially if you live in an open concept condo or a loft, like I do.






Of course, since I chose red and yellow for my doors, the effortless part was not part fo the equation in my case. Both doors needed 5-6 coats to be perfect. Good thing it only took 10 minutes to apply each of these coats!

beeeep beeeep beeeeep!

Remember when I talked about the alarm getting tested at my place in my last blog? Well, I'm all for safety in my home, but this situation was enough to drive anyone crazy. Imagine this: 182 units had to be tested. That meant that every 2 minutes or so, as the people in charge tested another loft, the very loud alarm beeped in every unit and in the hall for 30 seconds.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

I was trying to work, but it was impossible to concentrate. Then, I had a flash of genius and installed this noise-stopping apparatus on the alarm "speaker" to lower the volume until it was my turn to get the check-up:

I don't think I've ever seen an alarm technician laugh this hard.

Give Mies a chance

My friends are awesome.

After spending the morning working from home because I had to welcome the people who are taking care of the inspection of our fire alarm system (BEEEEP! BEEEEEP! BEEEEP!), I came back to work with this little gift from Jessica and Jeremy waiting for me on my desk: a cute button that says "Give Mies a Chance". Jess said that she had no choice but to buy it for me as soon as they saw it. That makes her a very, very wise woman. And officialy Awesome.

Aww!

Places I'll never shop at - Part Two

But I'll admit the free fried chicken is tempting.



I love how they will give you credit even if you are newlyweds, bankrupt or on social security. Because those three things are all bad. The first one is totally a reason why you usualy don't get credit. Yeah...

Other scenarios that are A-ok for credit in this store's world, but usualy no-go anywhere else:
- having them shifty eyes
- being a stamp aficionado
- not being able to cook
- having no sense of smell
- being a horse

I need plants

This is the only potted plant I own:



It hasn't grown in months. I'm getting worried. Hee.

Well, I do have a geranium that bloomed twice last summer, even if it stayed indoors. And I do buy fresh flowers pretty much every week. But I need plants, real ones - the ones that freshen the air and make the room feel alive. The problem is that I need really sturdy ones, or my cat will trash them. And my bedroom and kitchen are in the back of the loft and get no sunlight, so that's another factor. I need help!

It's been so long since I had any potted greenery that I don't even know what I like anymore. I know I don't like cactus (or is it "cacti"?), that plant that looks like it's growing miniature green bananas, and those that need watering every day.

I do like plants that get flowers. And plants that are tree-like. Flowers are nice. Trees are fun.

The search goes on...

Pimp my Closet

A few weeks ago, I finally got around to organizing my closet better. I added plain Ikea towel bars on the wall to hang my necklaces and scarfs from, and painted the frame of an old mirror yellow to match the vintage "Crissy Velvet" toy suitcase I already had hung in there (it holds my earrings). Already, I've been wearing my necklaces a lot more just because, well, you tend to use what you have right in front of your eyes.



On the top shelf, I used decorative boxes to store summer clothes and bags. The tiny apple is my favorite. It's a miniature evening purse that you slip on your wrist. It barely holds anything : it's perfect to hold a lipstick, ID card and cabfare.

Places I'll Never Shop At - Part One

Tasty treats

I picked up a few danishes on my way home form a stroll at Couleurs last Saturday. And by Danishes I mean Danish furniture. And by furniture I mean these two pieces of awesomeness:





How sweet is that?

I keep switching around the knick-nacks I have on the second one, but I'm in love with the built-in lamps. I love to turn them on and off by pushing the little button.

It goes "sklic, sklouc. Sklic, sklouc."

Save the squirrels!

Here in the Province of Quebec, there is a village called Saint-Jean-Port-Joli that is reknowned for its wood sculptures. Some are very innovative, but most are your typical rustic scenes: "fisherman holding a pipe", "Lady knitting in a chair" and "Peasants in the field" come to mind. I don't really like the style, but hey, who am I to judge.

They also come in souvenir-size animal shapes. The squirrels are my favourites. I see them often in flea markets and thrift stores, abandonned and lonely, a patina of dust slowly building on their pine fur. But there is hope yet for these citizens of the wood ménagerie! To save the squirrels and turn them into cute décor, all you need is a coat of spray paint.

Before



During



After

So let's all save the squirrels, on fresh coat of paint at a time!

This week's flowers

This corner of my house is like that hot spot on the beaches of the French Riviera, where all the babes gather to get some sun and drink panachés. This week, it welcomed a few bathing beauties in white bathing suits. I think they're waiting for that cute swimming instructor to call and invite them to the ice cream social.



They even have a cute little dress picked out.

To start with, a quick note.

I love plastic furniture. I love brick walls. I love my home - maybe because it has a brick wall and lots of vintage plastic stuff. I've been blogging about it, in French, for a few years. I wanted to try the same formula in English. Lately, I've made a lot of friends on many amazing blogs, but most speak only English. 

So there you go, pals of the world: welcome to my home.

It's okay, you can keep your shoes on.