snippets of Rimi & Jean's lovely home

I loved seeing the changes in Rimi and Jean's home since I visited last (many years ago). Just browsing through their shelves, I learn so much about what they have been up to. Their home is filled with objects from friends and family who know them well, and from interests, hobbies, and passions they both share. Some members of Jean's family are quite talented illustrators and they have some personal illustrations to them scattered around their home. I love that they are so proud of where they come from as they have decor from England, France and India proudly displayed on their walls and shelves.

I have always loved their individual style and it goes so well together in their home. They aren't afraid of colour, which is so refreshing. I mentioned in my previous post that they are starting up their own architecture firm this year called Trellik Design Studio, there isn't much on the site yet but you must understand that architecture moves at a much slower pace! Currently they are working on some really exciting projects (restaurants, custom homes and a boutique hotel). I am super excited to see the results!

behind the walls are hidden gems

Even though I am not doing any of the fixing up around the house, I am exhausted by the activity going on. I was never fond of living through any kind of renovation and I am even less fond of it during pregnancy. At least all the really dusty things are completed now (demolition and sanding of plaster) and things are only looking better from here.

We did find some really interesting things in the walls during this process. Jin found this newspaper neatly glued inside our walls when channels were cut to do some electrical work. It is dated June 28, 1918 and the headline is about World War I!

Also, this beautiful wallpaper was found when a layer of plaster was peeled back in the room that is to become the nursery! It is a shame we won't be able to keep it, our contractor said it crumbles too easily. I asked him to save a piece for me so that I could remember what was there.

In the meantime, I am just hiding in the one room that we try to keep dust free and patiently wait until I can settle back into the rest of the house!

not so bare anymore.

What a difference it makes to have sentiments hanging on your walls. It completes a room. We finally got around to hanging some things up in our study.

An ORK poster of our Toronto town. I love how they crammed all our many tiny (and distinctive) neighbourhoods into this map. According to them, we live in the neighbourhood of Little Portugal.

I found these vintage Ontario pennant flags with Rosalyn at the Textile Museum yardage sale! My favourite is the little Charlottetown flag (for the capital city of our smallest province in Canada).

We finally framed some of our wedding photos! Our beautiful wedding photos were taken by Gabe, and my brother snapped the photo at the top of Jin and I at our wedding.

A golden wing, just because it is beautiful (approved by Mea).

And, the galaxy.

There are still a lot of unpainted walls in our house. I am planning to paint them in the fall/winter. I am already collecting a pile of things to complete those walls.

bringing it home

We brought a box full of lavender home from our outing to the lavender farm. I took out my pile of scrap fabric to make small lavender pouches. I put the stems of the lavender in the pouch too, because the nice woman at the farm told me that the stems have a soft aroma as well.

I put a pouch under each of our pillows to help us have sweet dreams at night. I scattered the rest of the lavender pouches in our linen boxes, our dresser drawers, our closets, and my box of fabric, to keep any unwanted bugs away. And this way, our linens and clothes will always smell good!

this photo made me so happy today. Have a lovely weekend!

the basin

Our basin is pretty wide, 27” wide. We chose it because we were thought the extra space would be good for when we start a family. I think 2 adults, and a child could share this space, right?

But if we were being really honest, we would tell you that we chose the wider basin for Mr. Mojo. You see, he likes to sit on the basin ledge when we are washing our hands. He likes to wait for the water to warm up, and then he will stick his head in and demand for water. Sometimes from the tap, but usually he wants us to feed him from our hands.

The water has to be slightly hotter than lukewarm. He is so specific.

our bathroom : part 2

Thank you everyone for your really kind comments on our bathroom! It is the only space in our house that was completely gutted and redone. The rest of the house is pretty much the same. The bathroom will look a lot cozier with some pictures and art hanging on the walls, towels, and plants (great idea Aron!). As you can see, we still need to figure out what to do for storage, but we have time to figure that out later.

For now, look at these beautiful bathroom accessories.

This hamper for your dirty laundry
This perfect drying rack.
A place to hang my hand towel.

These are some of my favourite details I wanted to show you. It shows how much in love I am with these fixtures!

+ Labeled porcelain pulls.

+ The beautiful shape of the shower head

+ The cast iron air vent, original to the bathroom. We need to scrape, and paint it, and it will be even more beautiful.

+ The overflow drain has Mr. Addison’s name on it. So we never forget where it came from.

+ The one thing we brought back from Addison’s Inc. that was used/antique, were these beautiful wall sconces with milk glass shades. These are my favourite.

I never took baths before we got this bathroom, but now, it is one of my favourite things to do. A bath with lavender Epsom salt before bed makes me sleep so well at night.

our bathroom : part 1

Before





After

The bathroom that came with the house was a little cramped. I couldn’t even take a photo to show you where the mini sink was (it was right of the toilet, practically touching the it), or maybe I just didn’t want to step inside...(hopefully, that will be the ugliest photo I post on this space).

We enlarged the bathroom to make it more spacious, and also included an area for laundry which was not there before. The bathroom looks pretty bare right now; there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, but I thought I would show you the progress we made.

Picking bathroom fixtures was my favourite part. It was pretty simple. It started with my desire to have a claw foot tub. I researched our options of getting an old one re-glazed versus a brand new one, and all my research made us lean towards a new tub. I found that the cost of getting an old tub, plus reglazing it costs about the same as a new one, and I was told that a reglazing is never as good as the original porcelain finish (correct me if I am wrong). Plus, older tubs tend to have rust spots on its bottom, and around the drain, I felt like I wanted a tub that will last a very long time. So a new tub it was! After we chose our tub, it was easy sailing from there. We just picked a toilet and basin to match.

I thought we would be getting our fixtures from different sources, but once we found Addison’s Inc., we were set. I fell in love with his store when we first walked in, I felt like a kid in the mother of all candy stores! Plus, Mr. Addison is such a charming man. Jin always brings him coffee. He likes his coffee with cream, no sugar (just in case you were wondering).

If you are in Toronto, you should visit his amazing store. You will be in for a treat.

I posted a little about it
here.

....

Handwashing my favourite scarves and handkerchiefs in our new basin.

All, but one, are from Portobello Rd, except for the second one in from the left. I got that one from Jinny's mom. We have a matching set.

Our bathroom is mostly finished. I promise to show you how it turned out, soon.

snacking

This is my eating schedule when I work around the house.

I get out of bed and eat a BIG bowl of cereal with vanilla soy milk.

I work the whole day without another meal, but I grab a snack when I feel hungry. Sometimes big, sometimes small. Instant noodles with an egg makes a great ‘snack’!

At the end of the day, I reward Jin and myself with a big, hearty dinner.

Jin and I started painting/priming some rooms this weekend, and we will continue to do so for a couple of weekends to come. We have a lot of surface to cover, I enjoy painting so far!

Jinny is not too fond of this new eating schedule I have made for myself. He misses lunch :(

cat bath

this is our other cat.

Mea

She is the beautiful one, so she may be embarassed if she knew that I am showing you photos of her after her bath. If you meet her, don't mention this post to her!

Of course, she hated the bath, and we needed 4 hands to keep her from jumping out of the tub! Living through renovations, both Mea and Mojo became so dusty and dirty, I almost didn't want to pet them (but how could I not, right?). Renovations are still going on, but I thought it was time for a cleaning.

Through all that 'torture', I think she does like how clean she is afterwards.

oh Mea, our little princess! We love you.