The Dream Piece

This is it. Can you see it? It's the size of an icon, but it's my first dream piece of the new year.

It is the Bensen Index shelf.

I need something to go against the wall, something to put under the trays, that's functional.

I can put my printer, scanner, boxes of old pictures on it....yadda, yadda, yadda.

It took me ages to find this piece. Well, not 'ages' in the phonebook, pencil and paper era, but 'ages' in the internet era, which is to say the better part of an afternoon and the early part of the evening. Along the way I did come across some interesting furniture websites. Guff online seems really reasonable, and I also liked looking at all the pieces on Nakedfurniture.ca.

But when I clapped eyes on the Bensen Index, I just knew. It's pretty bloody expensive, but in that book Apartment Therapy the Eight Week Cure, Maxwell (his last name escapes me right now) says, in italics no less, don't be cheap with your home...and he's got a point. Saving up for the shelf will take a few months (it's in the 1,200 range), but it's the one that I want.

A couple of other things on my mind: Today is, of course, April Fool's day...and it is my one year anniversary of owning my sweet little place. Happy Anniversary to me!

And, I'm going to take a couple of pictures of my ignored chairs and post it on this blog.

I'm sitting in one of my ignored chairs right now, I'm making a point of sitting in it, even though I'd rather stretch out on the couch. And in that same book I referenced earlier, Maxwell suggest sitting in a place you almost never sit in and just observe what you see. Well, I know just the corner, and it has a chair that I almost never pay attention to. I'll be sitting in it and taking notes sooner rather than later.

Decluttering and Refocusing

I finally got that big facebook monkey off my back. Was this getting in the way of my blog...I'm inclined to think so -- yes, it certainly was eating up a lot of my time.
Since I've been at my new job I've been taking advantage of the library and taking out
a slew of books on home decor and design. The interesting thing about home design books is that they very quickly become out of date. Any design book from the nineties looks positively arcane, so I limit myself to manuals and books from 2005 on.
Yesterday I got Apartment Therapy - the eight step home cure, and it reads kind of like a self help book, but it was very useful indeed.
And today after watching an episode of The Wire (I can understand approximately 65% of the show, but I still watch it obsessively) I sat down with my inspiration notebook and a copy of Elle Decor and looked for images that moved me. I found Elle Decor not to be my style, but in a way that was refreshing, it gets a little tiring just looking at magazines that showcase Flea Market style and Country Kitchens. I found a couple of images I really liked and an idea for some wall art from Blik.com

Check out my ladies!!!

It's minus thirty outside. I've just spent 2 hours on the bus, the subway and more bus.

I have one piece of mail and it's just a bank statement, but when I open the door and step inside it's warm. And when I change from work clothes to hausfrau uniform I see my Ukrainian ladies I unstacked yesterday, and that makes me forget the weather, the mundaneness of Tuesday, and leads me to here, to blog.

Thank you my ladies.

Stasis

What to do about stasis?

Number one: Don't beat yourself up...this is part of the trajectory for first-timers. Stasis is just standing still...it's not an end.

Number two: Don't buy new stuff...just move what you have around. I've just found a new home

for my arm chair and ottoman. I may move them again...but I'm just trying things out.

Number three: Remind yourself of one of your favourite poems by anonymous: Little strokes, Fell great oaks. Yes I'm still fantasizing about a sideboard, and a new desk and an immense rug, but in the meantime don't forget Julie's amazing ladybug dishtowels, because they add personality too.

And with that, I'm back.

Do you know how happy this pillowcase makes me? Do you have any idea?

I look forward to smushing my face against it when I take off for the Land of Nod.

Is it the ruffle, the butterflies...the high quality cotton? I don't know, I'm just glad that I get a genuine thrill from such things.

I love this print.

Yeah, okay. I love Rodin and all...but I especially love this photgraph.

I put it in the bathroom. I want my bathroom to be cozier than it is now...I'm not sure how to get there...especially with the little strokes approach.

In der Küche

One of the reasons I jumped at buying my new place, is the size of the kitchen. I can twirl around in it, with my arms outstretched. And not touch any countertops.

From whence I came (and I'm talking Christie Street here) I had this punishing

"galley kitchen" with a smidgeon of counter space and shelves that sagged from the weight of cans of tomatoes and sacks of sugar and flour. Still, in spite of those limitations the Zood and I had many a fine meal prepared from the confines of that teeny kitchen.

One summer, I went through something of a cake baking frenzy in that hallway kitchen. I loved the final product. But the process was an exhausting experience because I was constantly washing dishes to make space and I had to move part of the production to the living room/2nd bedroom. Wow. It feels odd to type that (living room/2nd bedroom), but that really was the scenario. I used to refer to the Christie Street abode as the flophouse and not lovingly either. No wonder I feel like I'm living in a penthouse/mansion right now.

Another thing that sold me on the kitchen: no stainless steel appliances (save for my toaster and coffee maker). I love the homey beige fridge, oven and dishwasher. Even better would have been harvest gold, straight from Sears circa 1974. It speaks to me of Helen Reddy blaring from a tinny clock radio, saloon style kitchen doors, of mother daughter talks and Sissy Spacek (oh my god, I've done it again--just when I think I'm using my unfettered imagination I end up referencing some movie -- I believe this time, it's "If These Walls Could Talk".

I digress.

I love my kitchen, I do, though, I want to do more things to it (I feel like that sentence is the downfall of every interior designer, but I'm not one, so hey).

I've got my Helga clocks, and I've got those lovely plates up there, but now the area on top of the cupboards seems so bare.

I got the latest Architectural Digest (Diane Keaton was on the cover, I couldn't not get it) and she's got this big rambling Spanish style house (which, overall, I actually didn't like) but in her library, she's stenciled a motto on the wall above her shelves. Now that I did like.
And I was thinking perhaps I should stencil a motto in my kitchen above the cupboards, or better yet, how about some great advice or a favourite motto of CHY's. Though she never said it to me, I did find this scrawled in one of her agendas "A child craves certainty. An adult is content to live with doubt." I like that, but it's a bit long. If I do end up stenciling something perhaps I'll stencil E.A.T. as an aside to the keeper of peacocks, Flannery O'Connor.

I need to walk into a clean, happy kitchen in the morning. And I need to be able to walk into it barefoot. Actually I need to be able to walk into it.

Not pass through it.

It's funny, the bedroom can be in disarray, the living room can be a mess of coats on the backs of chairs and papers, but if the kitchen is messy, it's just not welcoming. When I'm in the mood for some serious cooking, I'll post some more pictures of me doing my favourite thing, playing with my wooden spoons, rolling pin and standing mixer.