Oct 7

My Home Tour

Black white and pink office | Lark & Linen Interior Design You may have seen our home tour up on the SMP Living pages last week, but if not, I’m here to spill all of the details! Let’s dig in…

Back when I was pulling triple duty as editor for SMP, all while toiling away at this here blog and keeping my freelance interior design clients happy, I spent a wholeeeee lot of time right in that very chair. And for a design aficionado like myself, this meant that it needed to be pretty. Pretty all while adhering to a pretty strict budget. Though it would have been a dream to wallpaper the little bump out in the wall in something fabulous, our budget dictated that some simple, painted, bold stripes were in order. It was a super inexpensive weekend project that ended up making a pretty huge impact. In addition to creating some interest in a more or less typical condo, it allowed us to define the office area, which is really just a little corner in our open floor plan.

If you can believe it, my mom actually purchased my desk at Ikea when I went into kindergarten some twenty five years ago! It has been patched and repaired countless times, but it’s one of my very favourite pieces. It’s made out of solid wood, was given a coat of jet black paint a few years back, and is the most perfect scale for our relatively small condo! It’s kind of falling apart, and definitely on its last legs, but I don’t want to talk about it…

Next: our pipe bookshelf. I could wax poetic about this baby all the live long day. Before moving in with my boyfriend, I had found something similar for sale on Etsy. I had shown it to Justin, who informed me he could easily make one himself. So we cobbled this beauty up together (and by we I mean I suggested proportions and he made magic happen). It is, by far, the most talked about piece in our place. And I love that it gives our fairly girly condo a bit of a rough edge. (Also worth noting: he made all of our curtain rods out of pipe & fittings as well. Genius and dirt cheap).

Our living room has been a work in progress since the moment we moved in. When designing on a budget, it’s important to keep the large (more expensive) pieces neutral, and infuse colour through toss cushions, vases, tchotchkes and the like. Right now I’m pretty majorly into a blush and navy combination, which I’ve used sparingly throughout our space. Prior to this, we had a mustard and teal theme happening. And who knows what’ll be next! Designing in this regard gives me a ton of flexibility to play around as the mood (or season) strikes.

In addition to being able to switch out small details (that seriously make our space feel brand new when I have design ADD), it was really important for me to ensure our small space is totally usable, and beyond comfortable. Oversized floor cushions pull double duty when we have extra guests over, you’ll find candles pretty much everywhere, and a basket filled with blankets is never more than an arms length away.

My favourite piece in this room is, hands down, our vintage cart-turned-coffee-table. We found it, unfinished and missing a few boards, tucked in the back of vintage shop in Leslieville. We picked it up for a wicked steal, and my boyfriend refinished it entirely. It adds much-needed character, warmth and interest to an otherwise fairly crisp space.

Though our condo is not large by any stretch of the imagination, we have been blessed with a fairly sizeable dining “room”. We can comfortably fit eight around that table when necessary, which bodes well for dinner parties (I do love to cook!). Again, most of this room has come together very slowly over the course of the last few years. That massive unit in the corner was actually my grandmothers way back when, and holds everything from our linens and towels to our liquor to our collection of vases and bottles and then some! Like Mary Poppins’ purse! It’s kind of a godsend.

A yes, the piece de resistance as far as I’m concerned! This room has gone through three different iterations before finally landing here. And though the first two were beautiful in their own right (you may remember the last one – to note: that linen duvet is also in regular rotation), this one simply sets my heart aflutter. It’s calm, serene, and makes for the most wonderful nights sleep.

From experience when working with clients, I find it funny that one’s bedroom is the very last place to receive some love. Whereas, if you ask me, it should be the first. Your sanctuary. Your respite from the rest of the world. So that was the goal here, and I do believe said mission was accomplished.

Sadly, we retired our cobbled together $3 nightstands for these simple Ikea ones (with brand new hardware). Those nightstands were, by far, the most popular post around here, and I was sad to see them go. But in their defence, they were supposed to be a temporary solution until we found a more permanent setting. They lasted a solid three years and have moved on to greener pastures (and by greener pastures I mean Justin’s parents crawlspace. I couldn’t totally part with them yet). When it came down to it, we really just needed a bit more storage. A drawer to tuck away books, lipgloss, power cords and the like.

There you have it! Our home tour! I truly need to give a big slobbery kiss to some of my fabulous friends who helped me pull it all together. The crazy-talented ladies over at Sweet Woodruff provided the gorgeous flowers, Heidi Lau photographed every last inch, and Serena & Lily, Anthropologie, Crane & Canopy, Rebecca Atwood and Caitlin Wilson sent me a couple goodies that truly helped turn our house into a home. In all honesty, I couldn’t have done it without them.

If you have any questions at all, feel free to ask away in the comment section! There are a tonnnn more photos in the gallery over on SMP. And if you missed my Behind the Blog feature, you can check that out right here!