Antitote to greyness

It's been nothing but grey skies in Toronto this January.

I've been stuffing clementines in my face - for the energy, for the vitamins, for the pop of colour.

Walking by my fave thrift shop window the other day, I spotted this torquoise pedestal bowl in the window - a bowl in which my clementines are now nestling.

The bottom revealed a "Made in Japan" stamp, and a $3.99 pricetag.

I've always wanted a bowl with a pedestal, and pottery and glass pieces Made in Japan always appeal to me for some reason - I think its their simplicity of design.

Natch I bagged the bowl. I love the contrasting jolts of colour, and the way the bowl pops against the black tablecloth. It helps ease the grey feelings.

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Entry way re-do

My New Year's apartment makeover coverage continues ....

I've had this ratty old bookshelf since I was in my 20s, and I've carted it into every apartment I've ever had as it carries my overflow of books. It was a faded yellow when I first picked it up at some long ago garage sale; then I painted it a grotesque emerald green (hey I was in my 20s). It's been white for years now.

I decided to move it to my entry way area and use it as a bookshelf and accessories holder - one, to be different, and two, it made sense as I wanted something narrow in that space that I would not bump into or stub my toe on.

I threw an electric pink scarf over top as a runner (that I've also had since my 20s) and went to work.

On the lower shelves, I've stored scarves, a few vintage purses, and some boots (the latter from the thrift store - ooh I have a fabulous boot post coming soon!), along with some old books on dancing that I've hung onto since my dancing days in my 20s.

And do you see that green peacock fabric on the left-hand side of the third shelf from the bottom? Part of a skirt I've had since I was 15 - the skirt has long since fallen apart but I love the fabric so much I am going to get someone to make me a pillow.

I tried to make the top both practical and whimsical, like those "entry way makeovers" you see in the decor mags.

I love the glam little lamp I dug up at Goodwill for $4.99. I plopped a shade on it that I had around the house.

The clear glass ashtray (used here as a change holder) and paperweight were a few dollars each at thrift shops, and the brass bowl which holds my sunglasses was $3.99 at a thrift shop.

The painting, a work of folk art by well-known Nova Scotia folk artist Leo Naugler, is called "Skiing" and I love it. I bought it from a Toronto dealer for a good price.

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Magic window

My Moroccan hanging lamp (see yesterday's post) has me thinking of this pretty hanging ball I received as a gift recently.

I finally strung it up in my window the other day, substituting ugly fish wire for a bright bow another gift came wrapped in.
Looks pretty magical doesn't it?

I've tried to make this little nook cozy and magical looking at the same time.

I've tied back the Value Village curtains with a ribbon, and put the flower boxes from the balcony (dug out of the trash by my ex) on the window sill. So far the lavender is doing ok but it's so hot in this apartment I have to water diligently to ensure the other herbs don't dry up.

I hung up a blue glass ball I bought for myself on sale years ago beside the other ball.




And if you look closely you can see the tiny yellow crystal I bought a year or so ago (then stuffed in my closet and forgot about it until I unearthed it with joy the other day during a closet clean put).

You're supposed to put it in the south-western most corner of your living space to promote harmony. So that's where it is.

Hope it'll help those plants survive.

Meanwhile I've got my trusty purple water bottle - which just happens to match the sheers, go figure! - on the ready to spritz that lavender away.

I just love plants in the window like this. Not sure what I'll do when the winter comes and the windows get cold - will the plants be ok, do you think?

As you may have guessed I'm new to the plant thing.

My Hibiscus, also hauled in recently from the balcony, is turning yellow. Think it could be experiencing culture shock in this warm and non-humid space.

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70s shawl over my head

Often decor choices come to me on the fly and are inspired by moments from my past.

Growing up in the 1970s my sis and I had twin beds, side by side, with these puffed white headboards that we absolutely adored (and still talk about tho this day!).

Sometimes early early on Saturday mornings when we were wee things (so wee this is just a flash of a memory), we would stay in our beds, tuck our pillows on the top of our headboard so they would hang over our heads like little canopies, then hang our dress-up scarves over the pillow so the scarves would fall down on either side, like a waterfall.

We'd pretend we were princesses living in our own magical enclaves.

Yesterday I was washing this 1970s shawl I picked up at the Value Village years ago. I use it for decor more than dressing up (though I bet it would look fab with that black MEXX dress I thrifted the other day), and I didn't want to stuff it back in my newly cleaned linen closet.

So I threw it over my brass bed. It instantly reminded me of playing the canopy game with my sis.

Nice to know the creativity of youth can still inspire you today ....

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Deco Nostalgia: a look back

As you can maybe guess by new new banner up top, I'm feeling nostalgic tonight for some looks I've created in the past.

I normally don't mourn what's done on the decor front; I just move on to the next look as I'm constantly craving change in my space.

But as you know, nostalgia plays a huge role in my Grunge Queen philosophy. It's only by exploring where you've been and what moors you to this earth that you can begin to express yourself and your style through your decor.

Looking back and revisiting ideas or looks isn't unimaginative; it's celebrating the essential 'you' and can lead to a more refined style.

On the subject of looking back, I'm wondering if the impulse to collect a particular item - like I collect jewellery or head vases - isn't on some level a re-living of that initial moment of love-dom.

It paints a rather compulsive picture of collecting, but there ya go: my deep thought for the eve.

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Decor & innocence

Kids love my apartment!

This is important to the Grunge Queen. One, I'm single and sans kids and always worry the little tykes will either destroy my apartment or swallow something tiny.


But more important, the fact that my tiny nieces and nephew visited my apartment yesterday and loved it - I believe my six-year old nephew called it "beautiful" - makes me rejoice in my design style and ethic.

See, Grunge Queen philosophy goes something like this: that you're happiest in your space when it's a reflection of you, your history and your tastes, and that injecting a bit of magic here and there is good for the soul.

Play is important here as a fun and self-affirming way of exploring your style is to tinker and toy around with items in your space until you come up with an arrangement that you love ... until you start playing again.

The elements of my apartment the kids were really jazzed about - the crystal ball, the swishy gold and satin pillows, the glittery purses hanging from my bureau ... basically anything shiny and shimmery - are exactly the decorative bits and bobs that attract me the most and that I seek out in thrift shops.

So what does that mean? My take? I'm a kid! The Romantic poets, particularly Wordsworth, wrote about capturing the innocence of youth that is invariably lost as one ages.



I suppose Wordsworth believed he could connect with his inner child through poetry. Just as I believe I can connect with my inner child through the creative endeavor of decorating and "playing" in my apartment.

Decor and innocence: what an amazing concept!

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Rosey poses

It was my B-day a while ago and some charming gent brought me a dozen long-stemmed roses.

I plopped them in a gorgeous crystal vase I found at the dollar store for under $20 (the same vase I bought a former friend years ago and paid way more for!).

They were nice roses, so they lasted a good week - my thrifty tip for helping them along was to change their water every day and cut them down every day as well.

When they really started to go I cut the stems off completely and plonked them into a big rose bowl.

I've had rose bowls of various sizes since my green days growing up in the 1970s. That's how florists arranged roses then - or at least that's how roses given to me as gifts were always arranged back then.


So I hold a special place in my heart for roses in roses bowls even though it may seem a little old-fashioned.

The added bonus, natch, is that they'll last even longer this way. Funny, for some reason the red ones went before the white - maybe the whites are heartier?

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Uncle Ugly

It's rather apt that the only piece of furniture my family has hung onto over the years was picked up years ago by my parents at a garage sale.

It's of no value, but somehow they've held onto it. Now I have it.

Uncle Ugly, as my folks called him, was a claw-footed table with glass on top that was out coffee table when we were younger. Here are my sisters playing around it (yes that's a turquoise Betty Crocker oven in the background).


Over the years Uncle Ugly degenerated to the point of having his glass broken and before that having coke slop onto the glass and seep underneath to form an icky-sticky layer that made neat patterns under the glass (my memory of that is so vivid I must have been the culprit!).

That's yours truly sulking over Uncle Ugly in her polyester pink pantsuit ....

By my teen years Uncle Ugly had graduated to life as a plant table in the upstairs hallway and eventually, to the cold storage room in my parents' new house, where I rescued him four years ago when I moved to Toronto.

Since then Uncle Ugly's come a long way. I spray painted him silver to give him a bit of glam, then fitted a thrifted mirror over the top where the glass used to go.

I change things up often when it comes to what I put on top of Uncle Ugly. My most recent living room manifesto resulted in some major book-piling on top. I like the look for now.

I've loved this table for four years now, though I took it for granted over the years growing up. I can remember making a Barbie house under it when I was wee, with my twin sis.


I love the shape, the curves, the bow embellishments you see on the side - and yes - even those claws.

I hope Mom and Dad never ever ask for him back!!

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Emotional decorating, part deux

I truly believe we shop and buy largely for emotional reasons - when we're stressed, sad - even happy. Grunge-queen is no exception, except I revel in decorating my home and even injecting a bit of nostalgia in my wardrobe with items that conjure up happy times from my past ... all found at the thrift shop, natch.

On my way home tonight I took a quick peep in my fave local thrift shop, Stretch Thrift. I saw a glass or crystal bell on display that was pretty garish, but I thought how lovely it would be to have a little tinkle sound to announce, say, dinner or maybe even drinks.

Lo and behold my eye zoomed on on this darling brass number made in India - a dinner bell JUST like the one Mom and Dad had while growing up (except the one from childhood HAD no bell and I always missed it)!

Price? Two bucks.

Now I'll have to have a dinner party. Or maybe I could use it for the cats in the morning? Not that they need a bell to remind them, ferociously hungry felines that they are ....

Meanwhile I grew up with a clock EXACTLY like this, an Ingraham of Toronto clock in this exact green hue that Mom and Dad hung in their retro 1950s kitchen, in the decorative wood yoke above the sink.

I found it in a junk shop for $15 (bartered to $13 as that's all I had) and was so pleased to find it worked.

Crazy that I can be emotional about a clock, but hey, I used to dash down our killer steep 13-step stairs when getting ready for school as a teenager and would glance at that thing umpteen times to ensure I'd catch the school bus on time (we lived in a rural area so yes, the school bus was a necessity even for an 18-year old).

Now I have this positioned so that I can see the time when I leave and come into my apartment.

And this painting, which I've posted elsewhere, I bought at Stretch Thrift for $39.99 'cos it reminded me of how I saw Heaven as a child- as a desert wasteland of sand and sun where people slept on the rooves of houses like the one depicted here ....

I love having these emotional reference points surrounding me in my little nook of a pad - they reinforce where I've been and who I am and give my soul a sense of home.

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New mirror, new room

An area rug for $5, then a gilt mirror picked up for $3.99 on the way home from work Friday - it was all just too much for the grunge queen.

Yup, I had to do another makeover this weekend. The carpet and the mirror - they were just too special. I had to go for a glam-y Baroque-y look.

What do you think? Don't you just looove the mirror? $3.99!

It's super heavy. I think it merited being a focal point above my couch, so I pared down a lot of the art on my walls and ended up with this look.

Here's a wider shot.

I thought the orange rug really needed the blue to balance it, and the lamps placed about the same height balanced the couch and the paintings on either side of it.


Here's a night shot - love the lighting.

I'm not normally this symmetrical, but I find the order and balance comforting.

I also never thought I'd end up accenting in orange, a colour I've never worn or decorated with. The pillows and rug just add that dash of brightness to the room. Even the new work or art that you see in the corner - which I will show you more of soon - has orange in it.


Guess it's never too late for a grungy decor gal to change her colours ....

By the way don't you love the way mirrors reflect other parts of the room, like the black and white photos seen here?

They literally add new dimensions to rooms.

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My Amazing Sister

Happy Easter! I spent a lovely day with family, then friends and new friends - and am so happy to be reminded of such fab people in my life. I'm dedicating this post to my amazing twin sis (fraternal, not identical), who not only designed the "grunge queen" logo exactly as I wanted, but who also, over the years, has given me many wonderful works of art by her own very talented hand.

To the left, "Red Cup, Green Tea" (with yours truly as the model), and to the right and slightly cut off, a man on the beach - can't remember exact name as she sold the original - ... and like any twin sis made me a another one as I loved it so ....

The vases are made of newspaper and I will post their information once I find it.

www.gadzala.com

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Nostalgic, emotional decorating

When I was a little girl I used to root through my older sister's drawers (sorry sis) just because I loved all her baubles and what not.

I don't think I've ever told her this (probably 'cos then I'd have to admit to the rooting), but I was intrigued by the way she arranged all her jewellery boxes and trinkets in her top drawer. They were just thrown together like you see here, but I found the contained clutter charming.

Now I always dedicate one top drawer to my precious baubles - an old faux pearl choker I bought for my grade 12 grad party; a black bead bracelet I bought at the Bancroft Gem Festival in the same year, on a lovely family trip; antique pins given to me by my mom and aunt; an old cameo dug up at a garage sale in my teens.

Another treasured decor-related tradition I took from family, this time from my mom: lining my drawers with whimsical wrapping paper.

I've saved this wrapping paper from the 1970s that my mom folded into one of my drawers when I was a little girl. It's crumbling in parts but I simply can't let it go.

Now whenever I find wrapping paper I love I pick up a sheet and line my drawers with it. I do the same with old roles of pretty wall paper I'm pretty sure have lost their stick.

GRUNGE-QUEEN PHILOSOPHY

You can incorporate the things and ideas you love from your past into your decor, even if they're hidden. There's no reason why your home has to be sanitized of emotional references.

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Blue Room, Green Room

Yesterday I showed you how I moved part of the living room into the dining room by creating a cozy little sitting and reading nook where I used to have the dining room table.

Today I realized that room, with all its lush blue pieces, is "The Blue Room" - the exact name my family and I used to call the sitting room in the house we grew up in because it had a fabulous blue Persian rug on the floor.
The other room in my grow-up house, funnily enough, was called "The Green Room" because it had all green furniture in it. After my room makeover the other day, all I had left in my living room area was mainly green velvet furniture! It is now "The Green Room."

I moved the dining table into the living room area, in front of the window. I like that it's somewhat functional as it holds my decorating books. I also like that it's not as obtrusive and clunky as it was before - again the table isn't something I use often so all I need to do is move the white armchair and pull it out when I have guests.

While I took advantage of a small space with "The Blue Room" by mushing a lot of items together, I wanted to create a feeling of airiness in the main living area as I had to combine a sitting and TV area with a desk/working area AND a dining area. I like the simplicity of having one lone painting over the loveseat. I deliberately tried to make the colours more Spring and Summer-like; the palette of green and white with a dash of orange really works, I think, as do the pared-down accessories.

The black table (from the trash) on the right and the black lamp and lacquer mirror on the left add some weight and ground the floaty vignette.

I kept the work area across from the loveseat the same, except I added the dark mirror that used to be in the dining room to create a bit more contrast, and I cut down even more on the clutter on the desk. I like keeping some areas more crisp and clean for the warmer months. I love the pop of colour in the orange made in Canada vase picked up at the thrift shop for $10.

The chair is from the trash and the lamps are thrift store and garage sale relics. The desk was on old table from Sally Ann that I Mac Tac'd.


I also love the fact that the big painting over the couch (a thrift store find for $39.99) is still a focal point when reflected in the mirror propped on the desk.Speaking of mirrors, it may be hard to tell but I hid the cords under the desk and created an illusion of light and depth by lining the wall under the desk with panes of mirrors dug out of the trash, intact.

See? Even Dinky loves it ....

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