The "what should I do?!" Spaces

A year and a half ago, Ryan and I lived in a small apartment in Burnaby. I couldn't emotionally attatch myself to the apartment because at the time we got married, 8 of our family members were cramped inside the three bedroom apartment - the family's renovation/home construction schedule some how overlapped each others...

It wasn't chaotic as it may sound; I actually enjoyed spending time with all the family members. However, as they left one by one, Ryan and I felt like that to live in a 1300sqft apartment paying for the strata fee seemed wasteful.  The strata cost was about $500-600/month which is close to monthly payment for $150,000.00 mortgage. As soon as we sold the place, we chose to move to a single family home where we don't have to worry about strata fees and possible future babies.

As the house we are living right now is our first ever home, I am in love with each and every space of it. Although I am not an expert home staging person, I try my best to decorate our home with love and care. When I finally figured out what to do with the two ambiguous spaces with a few articles, I have grown affection towards our home.

A space under our staircase wasn't an easy one; nothing looked good. I tried plants, chairs, and even indoor fountains but none of them satisfied me.

I finally found this unique side table from Craigslist for $110. The lady who sold this attatched metal legs to an old suitcase and coloured it in white. The height of it was a little low, so I got another suitcase and stacked it on top. 

I also got a round rug from Ikea for $10.

A picture of the Eiffel tower and a lamp was added to create a chic, warm look. 

And of course these cute little figures I bought in South Korea a long time 

This wall was also very difficult figuring out what to do because of its diagonal angle. The wall is too wide to leave it blank but also looked too crowded for a console table. I found a newly painted sturdy wooden ottoman from a shabby chic store for $70 and brought it home. I used little lights from Urbanoutfitters.com ($12), a dinosaur figure my mom got in Bali, and our wedding invitation to decorate it. Oh, and also small plants and Cath Kidston tea towel to "cutify" the whole area. For a total of $90, it isn't bad, eh? 

The ugly duckling space transformed into a swan! I think the reason I love these spaces more is because of the fact that I put a lot of thought and effort in decorating. 

What do you think?

xoxo

Vivian