DINING ROOM INSPIRATION
image // style by emily henderson
James and I have been in our place since we got married in August 2012. I absolutely love our place. It did take a little while to find though, as all good gems seem to do. Before we got married, I lived in a basement suite with my sister for two years. It was a super cute place and affordable but I hated how we had hardly any natural lighting. After that, I vowed not to only live in a basement suite with ideal lighting (those places do not exist!)
In the final stages of wedding planning, James and I started looking for places. I searched and searched and searched. We went to a few places, nothing really stood out. Everything seemed overpriced and lacked character. I was getting a wee-bit (ok, majorly) stressed out but had to trust that God would provide. And He did. I found an ad that said "Cook St. Village, 1 bdrm, South facing, d/w, balcony." There were no pictures, just a name and phone number. I called, got through and the next day, we saw our future suite.
We live in the top floor of a character apartment building in Cook St. Village. Starbucks is literally a 1 minute walk away and we can see Beacon Hill Park from the balcony off our bedroom! I'm able to run along Dallas Road as much as I want. The suite is quite large for a 1 bedroom and includes a large dining room/ studio space for James....dream. And the natural light...ahhhh, it's south facing, so as long as there's light outside, at least one room is lit in our house. I'm in love and am not planning to move until we buy a house...one day...
Like all renters, we're faced with the dilemma to either paint the space and make it look amazing or do as minimally as possible and save up for a down payment. I'd like to think that we've met in the middle. Obviously I'm not going to live in a house where we don't make any effort. I like to have people over, so I want them to feel comfortable. But we've only painted one wall (our chalkboard dream wall behind our bed) and don't plan on painting anymore.
I've tackled quite a few rooms but I'm at a standstill for our dining room. It used to house a small round table and my desk but we sold the table (because hello, i'd like to have the option of having more than 3 people over for dinner!) and moved my office space into the living room. The room now remains bare with a table (James found it for $30 at a garage sale) and two chairs.
As you can see, the lighting is great! But when it's not light outside, our only light fixture that's in the centre of the room (on the other side of the room is James' studio so the light fixture is between the studio and dining room, not ideally above the table) doesn't add much light at all. Because we don't want to install a new fixture, I'm on the hunt for lights or a lamp that will add a warm glow. I want to make the space cozy but not too cluttered. I'd also love to add some plants, a rug under the table, mismatched chairs (maybe tie in a matching colour), a dining bench, and some wall art!
image // apartment 34
So I'm on the hunt to jazz up my dining space. We're hitting ikea up at the end of the month, so hopefully I'll find some treasures there! If you have any suggestions to make my space look pretty, please let me know!
xo,
s.s.♥.
COACHELLA 2014
The 2014 Coachella line-up was announced yesterday. I'm head over heels in love with the headliners. I can just imagine the dance party during Outkast, HEEEEEYAAAAAAAA-HEEEEYAAAAAAA. I've seen Muse and they're awesome live. Don't even get me started on my favourite band, Arcade Fire. I saw them front row at Pacific Colosseum in 2010 and again at Coachella in 2011, where they ended Saturday night with an incredible set.
Can't say I'm as stoked on the "smaller" bands as I was last year. We did see Chromeo in 2011 and they were the bomb (honestly, the greatest dance party I've ever been in!!!), so they'll be awesome. I'd also love to see Ellie Goulding, Lorde, Lana Del Rey, Kate Nash & Sleigh Bells.
Even though this year's headliners are insane, it doesn't look like we'll be rocking Coachella this year (mainly because we're hopefully going to EURRRROPPPEEE!!!!)
Here are a few pics from last year's...
oh the beautiful coachella valley. mountains and palm trees everywhere.
sunny and hot weather is usually a guarantee!
of monsters & men, safari tent & alt-j.
the beloved h&m tent.
front row at beach house. one of my absolute favourite moments ever.
So what about you? Would you consider a road trip down south to this year's Coachella?
xo,
s.s.♥.
ONE WORD 2014
Well, we're 8 days into 2014. Some of you may be right on track with your New Years Resolutions (proud of you dad for quitting smoking!!) and some of you may have thrown in the towel. No judgement from here if you're part of the latter.
As you know, I don't really set New Year resolutions. I'm a big fan of dreams and goal setting on a regular basis, NOT just the beginning of the year. BUT what I do like to do at the beginning of the year is pick one word for the year. This will be my third year doing this one word thang and I'm pretty pumped. (2012- here & here. 2013 here & here.)
God dropped my word for 2014 into my heart on December 27th. I was praying for my husband and writing in my prayer journal and found myself writing out 1 Corinthians 13.
"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." -1 Corinthians 13:4-7
As I wrote out those verses and read them aloud I realized how much I sucked at loving. I recognized how I can be incredibly selfish a lot of the time and in result, avoid loving people. In that moment, I knew my one word for 2014 was going to be love and the kind of love that God was calling me to was in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. And he wasn't just calling me to love my husband with this kind of love, he was calling me to love EVERYONE.
Loving this way is going to take a lot of stretching. It's going to take a lot of me stepping out of my safe bubble. It's going to take a lot of me getting over myself.
On January 1st, I wrote out this prayer "This year I'm ready to love deeper and wider and higher and greater than ever before. Help me Lord, to love like you love. To believe the best in others. To be selfless and not selfish. To love you Lord and love all those around me."
It may seem simple, but this my friends, is going to be the hardest one yet. But I'm ready (at least I'm telling myself that) to love.
Do you have a word for 2014? If so, I want to hear it (let me know in the comments)! And if you don't, I encourage you to seek one out! (Check out the original one word website for inspiration)
xoxo,
s.s.♥.
WARDROBE // 2
Welcome to the second post in my wardrobe series. This is a series that I LOVE doing, mainly because it's one that James has agreed to do with me. I am very thankful I married a man who a) is in support of my dreams b) loves fashion. Because of those two things, he doesn't mind coming to take pictures even though it's freeeezzzing cold outside.
him- jacket/nudie, shirt/club monaco, button up/minimum, jeans/apc, boots/shoe the bear
her- jacket/, t-shirt/club monaco, skirt/vintage, wedges/forever 21, watch/kate spade
happy monday :)
xo,
s.s.♥
p.s. Thank you all for the love and encouragement in launching this new site :) You guys have been so supportive of my dream and I am so thankful! If you haven't entered the new site giveaway yet, you can do so here!
NEW YEAR NEW LOOK
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Oh hey there! Well friends, I gone and done it. I created a big girl blog all by myself (ok, with some help from James and google too). So welcome to my new blog! It was about time for a serious update. I'm stoked on how it turned out and how it wasn't too incredibly hard (thank you google).
So to celebrate the new site and the new year I thought I'd give away some sparkling gold on gold goodies.
Fun hey? I'm in love with that gold polka dot Kate Spade notepad (perfect for making New Year's Resolutions). Well it's easy to enter, all you have to do is click below! Thank you for entering and supporting this journey. I am SO excited for what's to come of ssheart this year!
stay gold as always,
s.s.♥.