Lego Spice Rack - repurposed

A few years ago, Bobby and I hand made a lego spice rack. We bought the wood for 1$ (seriously!) at the Home Depot scrap area and we used the spice jars that came with our old spice rack. As the years went on, we ended up buying spices that came in plastic containers... and never bothered with the pouring of new spice into existing spice jar process... which made the spice rack redundant. I didn't want to get rid of the spice rack completely, so we repurposed them into bookends :)

Well, actually, Bobby repurposed them into bookends (click here for more info on how he converted the block from spice rack to bookends).... and voila:

Close up of our new heavy duty bookends :)

Two red lego block bookends on our shelf (which Bobby also made). I know this is a mess right now - we plan on adding an extra shelf so we can have more space to store our stuff and pictures :)

One year later....

It's officially been a year since Kiwi went to hedgehog heaven... we miss her a lot!!

My little burrito

The updated desk/make up/craft area

We've been living in our current apartment for just over two and a half years now and I am finally working on updating/organizing my desk/make up/craft area. This area is a small-ish 15 square foot space on one end of the master bedroom.

When we first moved in, I only had a desk and chair. As you can see, there was a serious shortage of storage! The desk I got second hand from my work 'Craiglist' site. The desk is the Malm Dressing Table and it's perfect! It's got a glass top and one large drawer. I store all of my make up and make up bags (you know, the ones you get in the Clinique Bonuses, etc) in the drawer... which means there is no space for pens, papers, etc.

I got the chair from Winner's... but you can get similar ones from Restoration Hardware. I love the look of this chair, but it kind of annoys me how I cannot tuck my chair under my desk because of the chair arms... 

Due to a lack of storage, I bought a small filing cabinet from Best Buy. This unit is pretty functional. The bottom drawer is filing space (which only uses legal sized hanging files) and the top drawer is for pens and other junk you don't want in your face all.the.time

I also got a small shelf, also from Ikea. I bought one shelf door to hide my junk. 

This is how the wrapping paper and my craft supplies were stored. The wrapping paper was in a big purple bin (from Winner's) and my craft supplies were in boxes (from Michael's) stored in a big pink bin (from Ikea). The space was functional enough but it was not pretty to look at! Also, I was running out of space. I wanted to better organize my craft supplies, but I needed more bins.. and more space!

 So I went ahead and bought this shelf from Michael's... and two more boxes (the two blue ones).  Now all of my craft supplies are sorted... and easily accessible!

For easier access, I decided to put my pens, markers and pencil crayons in canisters. The gray tray on the left holding the scotch tape and washi tape is a utensil holder. The pink plastic box is from the dollar area at Staples many years ago. The metal canisters holding the white out, paper clips, etc was on clearance from Michaels....

These two metal canisters (and the larger green one from the previous picture) are all from Winner's. The sewing kit I made myself. I like having the pencil crayons/markers out because sometimes, I need just one or two certain colours for a certain art project. I like being able to just grab what I need instead of having to take the whole box out... 

And here is what the space looks like as of today! I am happy with how this space turned out! There's a ton of storage now with more space to grow. The bottom bin is completely empty, and the one just above that contains colouring books (which can easily find new homes).

Disclaimer: Since my desk is actually a dressing table, its pretty small. I pretty much only do my make up at this desk. I carry the art supplies that I need (which are now beautifully organized) and bring it to our dining table or coffee table when crafting :)

Next steps:

- Creating storage space for wrapping paper. The wrapping paper is currently hanging out in the spare bedroom. I want to create a space for it to be placed to the left of the craft shelf. I don't really plan on buying wrapping paper after my current stock runs out (they're pretty terrible for the environment because they are so wasteful! Gift bags, or no wrapping at all, is really the better choice) so I don't know if I want to spend time/effort/resources on this...

- Creating a better storage for the washi tape (and ribbons!)

- Decide if I want to upgrade my chair or not. I am thinking of getting this chair at Canadian Tire (which is actually on sale right now!)... but because I don't spend a lot of time sitting here, I am not sure if I want to spend money on a new chair. I might just get a throw pillow to make my current chair more comfortable...

Hope you enjoyed the space!

DIY mason jar sewing kit

First of all, this idea is not mine. If you scour the interwebs, you can buy these pre-made, or find instructions on how to make your own.

Note: This is very simple to put together. It took less than 15 minutes to make!

Supplies needed:

- Batting (or some kind of stuffing). *Note: I only have low batting at home that I am using for another project and this works perfectly fine. To make it look rounder, I just layered it up.

- Fabric of some sort. Michael's sells small squares of pattern (way more than you need for one jar) for $1.99

- A mason jar. Pick your own size. I decided to go with a 1L jar

- Scissors

- Glue gun

- Not mandatory: Something to watch on the Surface Pro! (Gilmore Girls :))

Step 1: Cut your batting. I made 3 circles of 3 different sizes (9 in total)

Step 2: Cut enough fabric to cover your lid and the batting. Note: don't make this too large or it will be a mess to glue/fold. Other websites suggest a diameter that is 1 inch larger than the lid

Step 3a: Place batting on mason jar (Note: I did not glue this down)

Step 3b: Put the mason jar and batting on the fabric. Make sure the batting is the part that is touching the fabric. Also, make sure the fabric is upside down. Glue the fabric onto the mason jar. 

Step 4: Put the lid back into the band... and voila! You have a mason jar sewing kit!

I know my jar is empty right now. But the idea is to stock the jar with scissors, thread and a measuring tape (things you need to sew, duh!) and the lid is meant to be the pin cushion.

This is so adorable! I can't wait to add it into my craft area (which is currently 'under construction')

The return of the giant cheese grater(s)

Okay so one of my most popular blog posts is the one when I posted about a giant cheese grater I saw at Winners! A couple of people contacted me about where they could buy this cheese grater... But they contacted me months after and the grater was already sold.

So.... I was at Winners today (the one on Cambie and West 8th in Vancouver) and saw not one, but TWO cheese graters. Get them while you can folks!  

They are 99.99$ before tax. 

The Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Soooo excited because I finally have a new laptop! Back in 2008, I bought a MacBook which lasted until it was too old for upgrades (about 5 years or so). When it was time for a new laptop, I cheaped out and bought a really crappy Acer one for 500$... which worked fine enough... minus some really annoying screen issues (eg: problems turning the screen on even though the laptop was awake).

Anyway, I toughed it out with the crappy laptop for 3 or so years.. until today!

You are looking at my newest baby, the Microsoft Surface Pro. I didn't go top of the line because I don't need a 2000$ laptop (and yes, these tablet looking screens are full laptops - take that iPad!).

So excited to use this laptop - it will surely enhance my online shopping experience ;)

Happy Sunday!

Airmiles - the dumbest loyalty card ever?!

Okay, so everyone is in a panic because your Airmiles that you have been collecting but are not using will expire after 5 years. (Eg: all of those hard earned miles from 2011 will expire this year unless you use them!)

I don't really collect Airmiles but I do have a loyalty card from back in the day. I decided to have a look to see if I had miles expiring and what I could trade them in for.

Well, today is my lucky day! Because I am an Airmiles member, I can avail of this WONDERFUL deal:

For 50 Airmiles points AND 95$, I can get a 100$ gift card to Thirfty's (and a few other stores). Um... what?! So I am paying 95$ for a 100$ gift card? What kind of lame deal is this?! You can get far better deals for giftcards using CardSwap Canada.

No bueno, Airmiles!!!

The Master Bedroom Update - pt Vb

Okay... so here is the finished look! I am loving the yellow/light grey/white combination... and I am especially loving the polka dotted duvet cover. Links below for where to get all of this awesome stuff! :)

Loving the yellow... and my hedgehog pillow cases!

We got our bed frame from the Urban Barn outlet! We got it for 1499$ (regular price is 2099)... and there was nothing wrong with it! I think it's the floor model from the regular store.. Super happy with this bed. It comes with 4 drawers (2 on each side of the bed). We are using two drawers for our snowboard clothes and the other two for linens (bed sheets and towels)

The mattress is from Endy. Endy is like Casper but it's Canadian, so you save some money and you get your mattress right away. This mattress is amazing! It's soft so it "hugs" you... but firm so you aren't sinking. It cost less than $1000... and we got it within a couple weeks or so after ordering! I have to say, I am liking these new-agey mattress companies! We were not forced to buy a box spring (those are so 1990s) and it came in compact packaging. 

As previously mentioned, the duvet cover is from Crate and Barrel. I know 160$ for a duvet cover is insane... but I love it!

The hedgehog pillow cases are from The Bay. They are adorable but not worth the price (I got them for 26$ for two pillowcases which is so overpriced!).

Everything else is from Winners! Even the duvet. I found a Sealy duvet similar to the one I got from The Bay for $79.99!!! So obviously, the one I got from $152 on sale went back!! The bedsheets and the yellow pillow cases are a brand called 'Habitat'.. and these sheets are sooooo soft! They are 100% organic cotton, 500 thread count sheets and they are the best sheets I've had! The standard pillow cases were $9.99 a pair (I got two pairs), and the king sized sheet set (with one fitted sheet, one flat sheet and two king sized pillow cases) were $59.99 per set! I will be buying a second sheet set soon because the sheets/price are amazing!

The Master Bedroom Update - pt V

Next up on the list: new bed sheets, duvet and mattress cover!

Okay, but first, can I complain about how expensive duvet covers are? Seriously, I cannot understand why they are $200+. Is that not insane? You can get bed sheet SETS (fitted sheet, flat sheet, 2x pillow cases) for way less than that!

I'm giving myself a budget of 550 (with tax!) to buy all of this stuff. Hopefully, I can stick to this budget because bed linens are so pricey! Keep in mind, I live in Canada where the prices/tax are high :(

Here's my shopping list
- Duvet
- Duvet cover
- Two sheet sets
- Mattress cover
- 4 Pillow cases

Ideally, I am going for a yellow, light grey, white/cream theme. Our new bed is a dark brown and I think yellow would be a nice contrast... and yellow and grey/white/cream look so nice together :)

First item purchased: A new duvet. I ended up purchasing the Sealy 'My Temperature Regulating Duvet' from The Bay yesterday during their one day sale! The king sized duvet was on sale for 152$ from 380$. Score! Unfortunately, I didn't realize mattress covers were also part of the one day sale yesterday... and I missed out. Alas, I will wait for another sale or hit up Winners/HomeSense!

Side note: The Bay is the strangest store for online shopping ever! They don't have a 'pick up in store' option... and they primarily ship with Canada Post... and Canada Post is incredibly frustrating and they might go on strike. Anyway, this duvet ships from a store (not their warehouse) and I know they have two king sized duvets at the store closest to my house... so one would assume that they would take one of the duvets at The Bay Coquitlam and ship it to me (it would be the cheapest and most efficient way to do this right?). However, The Bay decided to ship me one from Toronto.. using Canada Post... so we'll see if I end up getting this by end of July/early August.

Second item purchased: New duvet cover. I have been eyeing this duvet cover for a while, but for 260$ on sale, no thank you. Instead, I picked this up from Crate and Barrel. This set is actually the duvet I put on our wedding registry over a year ago... so it's good to know that I still like it one year later ;)

Photo Credit: Crate and Barrel

The only irritating thing is that this duvet cover doesn't come with pillow cases/shams as most duvet covers do. I guess this is good because we don't actually have king sized pillows (yet?)... but I feel cheated and think that 160$ just for a duvet cover is ridiculous! I actually stopped by Winners on my way back to work from Crate and Barrel to have a quick peak at their duvet covers.. but they didn't have anything that caught my eye... so I'll hold on to the one I bought for now and continue to look for better deals.

Third items purchased: New pillow cases! We don't have king sized pillows right now... and I needed new pillow cases because all of the ones we own are old... and the sheet sets I will buying will only contain king sized pillow cases #firstworldproblems. So.. I hit up the winners by my house and picked up standard pillow cases (2 for 9.99$!). I picked up a yellow pair and a white pair. I'm still thinking about whether I want to keep the white pair... I wish they had two yellow pairs available! :P

Fourth and Fifth items purchased: After struggling carrying the duvet cover home on the train on Thursday (who knew a duvet cover is so heavy!!!! Or am I just weak?), I drove to work on Friday so I could hit up the Winners by my work to get a mattress cover. I spotted one Thursday... but because I had already bought the duvet cover made of lead, there was no way I was going to carry both items on the train ride home! Since I drove, I was able to buy a mattress cover and I found a set of sheets in light grey (the perfect grey colour!!):)

Okay, so the breakdown:
- $170.24 for the duvet
- $162.11 for the duvet cover
- $22.38 for the pillow cases
- $67.19 for the mattress pad
- $67.19 for one sheet set

For a total of: $489.11.... which means I only have 61$ for the second sheet set :P I can make this happen (especially if I return the white pillow cases I am still not 100% wanting to keep ;)). In any case, we have enough sheets to get by for now (since we have the one my mom gave us) so I am in no rush to buy a second sheet set.

For now the bed is awesome. I washed all of the sheets, the mattress cover, etc and they are so soft!! Can't wait for the duvet to arrive so I can put everything together! :)

The Master Bedroom Update, pt IV

Okay... the mattress has been purchased/ordered and delivered!!! We get to sleep on this tonight:

We ended up going with Endy. It's less than 1000$ for a king sized mattress, it's getting great reviews... and we have 100 days to test it out (if we don't like it, we can get our money back!)

To increase the epic-ness of the sleep we will be getting tonight, we also picked up new pillows yesterday... and the pillows are awesome! So excited to be moving back in the master bedroom! :)

Next up, getting new sheets, a new duvet etc... is it Bay Days anytime soon?!?!? My mom accidentally bought a king sized fitted sheet earlier this year (she's got a queen sized bed) so she donated this to us.. but I want to go all out on the new sheets. We've had crappy sheets for so long but I was too cheap to buy new ones because I knew we were getting a new/bigger bed.

Also next up: getting awesome side tables (or custom making our own - I'm scouring the interwebs for designs that Bobby and I will both like)

Bobby's 30th Birthday!

Yesterday, Bobby turned 30!

We actually celebrated Bobby's birthday a couple of weeks ago at the Central City on Beatty Cask Fest... as mentioned many times in this blog, Bobby loves beer! So we rounded up the best of his friends and met up at the bar to drink and be merry :)

This past weekend, I decorated the apartment with 46$ worth of balloons. Yes 46$. Spending that much money at a dollar store is CRIMINAL and I almost passed out when the cashier told me how much the balloons and helium cost... but alas, you only turn 30 once... and these balloons are awesome! And there are so many of them that the entire house is decorated with balloons... even Bobby's bathroom! Haha... when you live in a 3 bedroom apartment, it's not hard to decorate all rooms with balloons :)

My aunt and uncle from the Philippines are in town. We had a welcome dinner for them on Saturday... and I brought an ice cream cake to celebrate Bobby's birthday. My cousin and his wife also ended up buying Bobby an ice cream cake... so lucky Bobby got TWO ice cream birthday cakes :)

By the way, Rocky Point Ice Cream is the only place I will buy ice cream cake from now on. We got the espresso flake cake and it was so good! Everyone loved it!

Happy 30th Birthday Bob-bob! I love you!

The Master Bedroom Update, pt IIIb

No changes to report, but thought I would include before and after photos of the empty closet

Before: We had the standard one shelf wire hanger things

After: A lot more shelves and a lot more places to hang clothes... and built in drawers!

I'm still very obsessed with our closet... and we are still figuring out how we want our clothes stored, etc... It's crazy having all of this space and not knowing how to fill it all... without going crazy and buying more clothes :)

PS: Happy Father's Day to all of you wonderful fathers out there! :) We celebrated father's day last week so Bobby and I are just chilling...

The Master Bedroom Update, pt III

Okay, so the closet install is complete! California Closets came by last Tuesday afternoon... and three hours later, voila:

Side note: it's very hard to take a pic of the closet because it's quiet small

We went with a light grey base with dark brown accents (on the drawer). We opted out of the "finished look" (eg: when they complete the closet all the way to the floor and add baseboards). Neither of us liked that look (our closet is small, so completing the look would have made it look smaller). Also, completing the look inflates the price!

First view when you walk in: Bobby's stuff. At first, Bobby had top/bottom hanging system, but then we threw in some extra shelves to see which he would prefer. Turns out he prefers to have things folded.

Right next to Bobby's side, we had two double hooks added. I hung Bobby's one tie and belt on one hook, and two of my most used non every day purses

Back corner and more shelves/drawers. I love the large wire mesh shelf  of with the rest my unused bags

Side of the closet with my jeans/skirts/most used t shirts/blouses for work

As soon as the lady who installed the closet left, I unpacked all of our clothes like a maniac! We seriously only were without a master bedroom closet for 48 hours but that was too long! 

First impression: I am so happy with this closet. There is so much space!!!! It seriously quadrupled the amount of stuff that we could hold in this closet. Admittedly, we both purged our closets and got rid of things we never wear... but we have so much space now :)

I highly recommend California Closets. Our designer and installer were both awesome! And they are really affordable for the magic they are able to do. 

The Master Bedroom Changes, pt II

Okay, so carrying on from the previous weekend's shenanigans, the time finally came to empty out our very messy master bedroom closet. Bobby was home this weekend so I had someone to tag team with for this process.

I was up first and I packed up/relocated everything that was in the closet. I used our luggage to store most of our clothes. I then moved 3 days worth of clothes and all of my dresses into our spare bedroom's closet... and I also used up all of the drawers on our new bed frame. All in all, this didn't take too long.... 

After emptying the closet, Bobby stepped in for:

1. Current Shelf Removal

2. Spackling of holes in the wall/Sanding of spackle on the wall

Fresh coat of paint!!! Bobby ended up re-painting the entire closet because the paint the previous owners left us didn't match 100%... probably because the closet walls were dirty?

And now we are left with this mess until tomorrow evening when the new closet will finally be a reality. I am beyond excited to unpack all of our clothes! I am also beyond excited to start doing laundry again (our hamper is pretty full - after all, one way to start emptying a closet is to stop doing laundry right?!?!)

Stuff, stuff everywhere!

I am so glad we have a spare bedroom right now!! Things would've been so much crazier without the extra space!

After the master bedroom closet is done, my next project will be to clean out the spare bedroom closet. I never spent too much time in the spare bedroom before (it used to be Kiwi's room, then it was Marco's room, then it was Kiwi's room again... and most recently, it became a dumping ground for things Bobby was too lazy to bring to the storage).

Stay tuned for the big closet reveal sometime this week :)

The Master Bedroom Changes

Okay, so last year we spent all of our money on the wedding and our honeymoon... so this year, we are finally investing on some much needed upgrades in our home. Other than the dining table, we haven't really bought any furniture for our place...

We needed to make two very necessary upgrades
1. Get a new bed
2. Make the master bedroom closet more functional

Now these two things seem easy enough. However, we struggled with the order of which we should purchase these things.. because both items would cost a lot of money. Naturally, it would make most sense to buy the bed first right? It's more useful - our current bed is small... and it's quite old (the mattress is almost 10 years old) however, in order to get a bigger bed, we would need to sell the wardrobe Bobby currently uses as a closet... and to get rid of the wardrobe, we would need to get upgrade our closet so that Bobby can fit his stuff inside... Ugh

So.. the 'make the master bedroom closet more functional' is the logical first choice. We decided to go with California Closets and last Saturday, a lovely gentleman came by to custom make a closet design based on our closet space and our needs. We paid our deposit and made an appointment on June 7th for them to come install the closet... with plans to buy the bed sometime at the end of summer.

Well if only things were that easy! Last weekend was a long weekend. Naturally, we were out enjoying the day. For whatever reason, I told Bobby we should hit up the Urban Barn Outlet (even though I also mentioned that we shouldn't because we would probably find something that we wanted... and we just spent thousands of dollars on the closet). So we were at the Urban Barn Outlet and they had one king sized bed frame in stock... and it was the one we had been eyeing at their regular store. Ughhh... so of course we had to buy the bed frame too since deals like this don't remain unsold at outlet stores... and so there goes another couple thousand dollars!!!

To be honest, we do have the cash, but summer months are not the best time to spend because
1. Property taxes are due in July
2. Our car/home insurance is also due for renewal in July
3. It's Bobby's birthday in July.. and this year is his 30th so we need to go all out

So at the end of the day, we just need to scale back on our summer plans...

Anyway, so while all of this is happening, we are currently camping out in our spare bedroom.

It's a strange feeling sleeping in our future kid's room... 

Today, I sold Bobby's wardrobe and the new bed came in... and we haven't bought a new mattress yet. Right now, there is no rush to buy a mattress - I don't want to rush buying one or end up buying a cheap one because these things need to last for years to come.

Here are a few pics of the master bedroom before:

Bobby's wardrobe that I just sold. This is a 'Hemnes' wardrobe from Ikea that we bought years ago during their moonlight madness deal...

More ikea stuff!! Make shift end tables. We really have put no money into the master bedroom furniture

My little desk/make up area

Walk in closet before... with just my stuff

Walk in closet after with some of Bobby's stuff (other less used clothes are in the spare bedroom closet for now)

Okay so that's all of the before stuff... this is a huge work in progress of course!!

For now, here is one 'after' photo of the new bed frame:

To be continued...

Sephora VIB haulage

Happy April!!! Now, April is my birth month... and my birthday is usually overshadowed by this thing called income tax season... however, the Sephora VIB sale helps brighten the month :)

Now, I'm not hugely into makeup, but I did have a few things I needed to pick up:

The first thing on the list is Clinique's Clarifying Lotion. I've been using this for about 15 years now and I love it!  

The second thing on my list is Clinique's Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel. To be honest, this moisturizer is only okay. Recently (within the last year or so), Clinique decided to screw with their moisturizer formular. Back in the day, Clinique had products for 5 different skin types: very oily, oily, normal, dry, very dry. Recently, they had three products: very oily/oily, normal, dry/very dry. Now they only sell products for people with very oily/oily skin and very dry/dry skin. Unfortunately, I don't really fit in either of these categories... I bought their Age Defense face cream last winter and I told the sales person that I had "normal" skin... and for whatever reason, they sold me the "very dry/dry" cream... which made my skin oily and I started to break out. I was so pissed off, but Clinique refunded me my money... and long story short, I now purchase the very oily/oily option. It's not the best, but it keeps my face moisturized. I'm still looking into buying a new moisturizer, but this one doesn't make my skin break out... so I'll keep using it until I find something better.

I also bought the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Full Coverage Foundation. I love this foundation. I first picked it up at last year's sale and I've been using it ever since! It's pretty light weight for a full coverage foundation... and it agrees with my skin :)

Lastly, I picked up the Marc Jacobs lip stick for my birthday present (the other option was a soy face cleaner). To be honest, I have so many of these birthday gifts/points gifts from Sephora that I never use... I don't know, I'm just so sensitive to products that I'm often scared to try new things (don't want to have a reaction or beak out)...

Anyway, that's my Sephora haulage :)