One of my friends is going to be moving into a small studio apartment in August and being one who absolutely loves to decorate and find design solutions I decided to make a post surrounding this idea.

Some main tips to remember when decorating a small area:

1. Design from head to toe
Or in other words use vertical space as well as horizontal space. Don’t be afraid to put shelves up, hooks and hang things all around. Not only is it practical it’s a nice way to dress up your walls.

Some examples of hanging things around the kitchen:

Walls are great to hang  jewelry, clothes, random knick knacks, papers, magazines & letters.

2. Ditch the big bulky furniture
Last thing you want is that one giant couch or bed hogging up your entire space. Fact is if you’re going to live small you will also need to have smaller pieces.

3. Utilize all your space
Don’t be afraid to use middle space, not everything has to be up against a wall and just because you’re packing it in does not mean that it will be cluttered. Just keep it clean and organized at all times.

4. Don’t forget the nooks & crannies or that closet!
Sometimes closets make good offices or places to put your bed.

5. Mirrors are your best-friend.
Mirrors are great at making a small space look larger.

Hopefully she will find some inspiration from this for her new home!

I keep telling myself I need to start sketching more, drawing more, creating more, etc. Last weekend I went out to one of my favourite stores Deserres, (I always feel like a kid in a candy shop in there) and dropped $80 on sketchbooks and some watercolours. I’m not very experienced with a paintbrush and watercolours are especially tricky to work with but hopefully with some practice I’ll able to nail the technique.

Here’s a little drawing I did, I’m aware it looks like it’s been done by a child haha.

Maybe I’ll post more when they start getting better.

I’m really excited to be making this post because I get the chance to showcase one of my good friends and her amazing talents. Angelina Corona in my eyes is pure creative genius. She has the ability to put clothes and things together that you would never have thought could go together and manages to make it look amazing. From styling for fashion shoots to prop styling there hasn’t been a moment when I haven’t been wowed by what’s she’s created.

It’s hard to choose my favourites because there are so many that I love but here are a few showing her variety of abilities:

All images courtesy of Angelina Corona

I know one day she will make it big and I stand behind her 100% and am one of her biggest fans.

Check out her website: www.angelinacorona.ca
& her blog to get a look at where she gets her inspiration.

I think the funnest part about moving into a new place is decorating and finding little gems that tie everything together and give character to a room. It’s not an easy thing to do and I usually find that my method ends up being a bunch of random items that I like thrown together. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, oh well!

Here are a few of my favourite spots and knickknacks in my house:

‘Welcome Aboard’ Buoy

Bought this in Prince Edward Island last summer, it was previously hanging on our front door at our old place and I haven’t found a permanent home for it yet so for now it is hanging from my linen closet. I kinda like how it brings out the chipped paint/wood in the door.

China Buffet with porcelain tea cups

A lot of blood, sweat & tears went into this buffet. It was originally dark green and it took 4 coats of paint to finally cover it up. And with my father’s expert help with wallpaper, we used the leftovers for the background. All of these tea cups & plates were handed down from my mother. Some of them belonged to my grandmother, some were my great-grandmother’s (the teapot was one of her wedding gifts).

Breakfast Bar

One thing about having a big kitchen is being able to have a breakfast bar. I love sitting on one of these stools in the morning with my cup of tea staring out the window to see the north shore mountains of Vancouver. It is such a treat after being in a dark basement suite for 3 years with barely any windows!

Porcelain lamb pot holder

My mother gave me this today! My parents spent the long weekend in Seattle and I dog-sat our family pug Calvin and she brought me back this cute little thing! She found it at an antique store and said that it looked like something I’d like. She knows me well. I’m not sure what I’m going to put in it yet, maybe some herbs and he can sit on my windowsill.

Random windowsill items

I think I just realized that 85% of my things are either from an antique store or handed down to me from my mother (who used to be an antique junky). Above she gave me that little sugar pot, I think it’s the most adorable thing ever. I’m not sure where it came from but I know it’s been in our household as long as I’ve been alive. Next is an old bottle of Watkins vanilla. I love the label & the bottle shape, once I get around to it, I’ll put a little flower or plant in there as well as in the pot next to it which is from Ikea (wow something new!) Beside it is a cookbook from the 1950s. Some of the recipes in there are practically medieval, I wanted to try some of the recipes but they all sound very bland and odd.

Collection of old German books

This is in my boyfriend’s office/studio, it’s the epitome of a man’s room. Above is a ship we bought in PEI and his collection of old German books and we are both not sure what that thing is on the end but it was really cool looking when we found it at a thrift store, it looks kind of nautical so it’s fitting.

Map of shipwrecks and pioneer cemeteries in PEI

Found this in PEI obviously, it shows every shipwreck along with the name of the ship and the date. Some of the earliest wrecks date back to the 1600s. It is a really interesting and beautiful looking map.

Portrait of my boyfriend’s grandfather and a child that was cut out from a 1950’s christmas box.

Bookshelf of trinkets

Old typewriters, projectors, gas masks, military hats and books on photography and design. The box on the bottom right was given to me by my grandmother from her last trip back to the Ukraine, it is hand carved and actually has the name and address of the person who made it on the bottom.

My “vanity”

Our bedroom is nowhere near being done but above is a few things I’ve collected to complete my vanity atop my dresser (since I don’t have a real vanity…one day). Most of these boxes were thrifted, for the exception of the art nouveau tin that was a gift from my friend Kyla from somewhere in Europe. The rose jewelry boxes were my grandmothers.

My office

My creative little spot, which also houses all my creepy dolls and cutesy things that couldn’t go anywhere else in the house. I have yet to hang up pictures and bring in a few plants to liven up the area.

Living room

I’ve been trying to make this a regular habit because there’s nothing like a vase of fresh cut flowers to liven up a room. It’s a good thing tulips are in season and are quite cheap and the florist gave me a good trick of sticking a few pennies at the bottom of the vase to extend the lifespan of your tulips. I bought those tulips on Wednesday and they still haven’t opened up yet so I guess it works! And above are some antlers I found in an antique store in Chilliwack, I’m just waiting for the perfect lounge/parlour chair to put directly under it. Still hunting!

There’s much more work to do on my house before I can start taking complete pictures, as you can see none of my pictures are hung, I don’t have curtains yet (MUST FIND CURTAINS) and I want/need more, more plants. I just need to learn how to not kill them all the time.

For some reason growing up I loved to draw but I never thought I was a particularly good at it. I thought to be a good artist your drawings had to look life-like and you had to be able to draw from memory and not by looking at something for reference. I always thought my cartoonish drawings were a sign of bad talent and when I’d draw something from reference it was ‘cheating’.

Well here’s proof that cartoonish drawings are art and do represent a whole lot of talent. I just LOVE Gemma Correll’s style and obviously she loves pugs, so she’s A+ in my books.

So while looking through her illustrations I stumbled upon this drawing which immediately stopped me in my steps. WAS SHE READING MY MIND??? Um! I WANT A PUG & I WANT TO NAME IT PICKLES!!! SOOO uncanny it’s creepy.

(All images courtesy of Gemma Correll)

Gemma you are awesome, that is all.