A long time ago, my husband and I decided that our current house was going to be our “forever home” until such time as we were ready to give up ownership entirely – likely in our 70s or beyond. Obviously, things can happen that might change that plan, but having that idea in mind has shaped the way we’ve approached our living space. I’ve come to think of our house as our “snail shell” – it changes with us as we change as people, and as a family unit. One of the biggest challenges is making the most of the available space because, unlike a snail’s shell, our house doesn’t actually get larger every year. That being said, my husband and I both believe that what we have (1,700 square feet, not including the basement) is big enough for the 4 of us, and that the key is being creative about how we use it.

I’ve said this before, but there are things about the way our house is laid out, and how the space was designed to be used, that drive me nuts. Some of it has to do with my evolving preferences. Like most people in North America with access to HGTV, I was at one point brainwashed into the idea that “open concept” is the best; when we bought our house 9 years ago, I didn’t bat an eye at the fact that our front door opens right into the living room, standing in which anyone can see my (not Instagram worthy) stove and the dirty dishes in my sink. I probably didn’t even think about dishes at the time, because I was 29, had no kids, and didn’t really eat much at home. A few things have changed in the intervening decade, including the fact that I have now seen through the “open concept” lie and long for a return to well-defined spaces equipped with walls and  – be still, my heart – doors. Doors that close and conveniently contain the mess on the other side.

This is, by the way, just a long preamble to telling you about our latest home DIY project: our front hallway.

[In case you were wondering, our living room bookcase remains 95% complete. Yep, still no doors on the bottom cabinets. That may or may not change soon. One can only hope; such is the way of DIY projects at our house. They’re inexpensive and done well, but they take years to complete. Sometimes decades. And there are usually 2-3 uncompleted projects on the go at any time, because my husband always has more enthusiasm for starting new projects than for completing old ones.]

As I mentioned, the space I am calling our “front hallway” is not really delineated in any particular way; there is a clear and unobstructed path from the front door right into the living room. The good news is that there is a bit of physical separation – about 8-10 feet. Enough to make for an actual foyer of sorts – though not a “lawyer foyer” for you McMansion Hell fans out there. All that’s missing are some walls. Or in this case, because our main floor square footage is not that big, some glass French doors.

But that’s not today’s project. Sorry if I got your hopes up; you’ll have to wait until next year (fingers crossed) for that story.

In anticipation of the French doors we will be putting in at the “entrance” to the living room, we decided to re-jig the hallway space a bit. What we started with was a small, mostly useless built-in bench and a deep closet which I liked to call our “bottomless pit”. This is what it looked like on an average (winter) day:

Real talk, yeah? Here’s a look at the closet (mostly emptied out):

The closet was large but mostly useless. It was 10 feet tall (like the rest of the main floor) and 4 foot deep, but it had only one crappy metal shelf and a single rod for hangers. Typical builder basic stuff. We shoved some organizer boxes and shoe shelving in there, but it was still just … a dark, bottomless pit of random junk that we couldn’t be bothered to organize properly. It was always overflowing with things, which drove me nuts. So what to do?

Get rid of it, of course!

It probably sounds counter-intuitive, so here was my rationale. [This was my idea, and it took some convincing before my husband signed on.] On the other side of the main floor, by the door to the garage, we have 2 other closets. Both are smaller, but previously significantly under-used. We also have a large “bump-out” space for our washer and dryer, which was also under-utilized. One of the closets was mostly full of junk and some of my husband’s coats; the smaller one was filled with cleaning products and – I kid you not – a waist-deep layer of plastic bags (which we reuse). It was time to get organized.

My husband quickly put together an extra-large shelving unit (using IKEA pieces) above the washer and dryer. This now holds all of our household products, from paper towels to cleaning supplies of all descriptions. The closet where the plastic bags and cleaning supplies used to live was quickly remodeled into a tiny but functional closet for my coats and shoes. It’s just a little less than 2 feet wide and about as deep, but we’ve added two shelves, a rod, and a small shoe rack, and it’s sufficient for my seasonal outerwear and outdoor shoes. [I rotate my summer and winter outerwear.]

I went through our big closet and ruthlessly purged anything that was not actually usable or useful anymore. What was left, I organized into bins and/or hangers, and moved into the second (larger) closet by the garage door. That would be my husband and the kids’ coats and shoes, along with related miscellany such sports equipment (we don’t have a lot), travel stuff (weekender bags, etc.) and shoe care materials. It’s a tight fit, but it’s manageable.

Next, it was time to tackle the front entrance itself.

My husband hated the faux bench, which was basically used by the kids as a depository for random junk. He tore it out and installed a custom-built storage unit, along with a heavy-duty row of hooks above. He even added a marble countertop to the storage unit because he can’t help himself. We use the hooks to hold up the outerwear we use daily, including the kids’ snowsuits. It gets bulky, but at least it keeps stuff  off the floor and easily accessible. The storage unit currently holds baskets filled with the kids ephemera – gloves, hats, scarves, etc. Again, easily accessible but out of sight.

Lastly, we get to the closet. My plan was to turn it into a seating nook, with the idea that this would create a sense of a separate identity for the hallway; it would be its own space, rather than a part of the living room. Here are some of my inspo photos:

After a LOT of back-and-forth – as I mentioned, my husband was not immediately sold on this idea – we ended up deciding on a simple approach. To make it seem less like a closet conversion (which is what it is), my husband knocked back the wall a bit to add some height and architectural detail. Luckily, the hardwood flooring had been run by the builder all the way to the back wall, so we didn’t need to worry about any floor transitions; we just had to fill the small holes left by the door tracks. We took down the shelf, patched the walls and … that was pretty much it. This process took a long time for various reasons (the last 3 months have been a rollercoaster in our family) but the work itself was straight-forward when compared with some of our other projects. Or so I am told.

The best part, of course, was the styling. We ended up choosing a small loveseat from Structube which was on sale as it was a floor model, and the last piece of its kind in stock; it’s a nice, neutral seating option that fits in with the décor of our living room. We added a couple of inexpensive floating shelves (under $40), and I styled them using thrifted pieces I already had at home (plus 3 pictures I thrifted specifically for this space).

Here’s the end result:

I love this so, so much. I think it’s going to “make sense” even more once the French doors are put in, but I love how cozy it is. My only regret is that it couldn’t easily be wired for light; I would use it as a reading nook in a heartbeat. We may end up adding some LED lighting in the future, and we will be changing the hallway light fixture as well, which may also help improve the lighting.

One thing I have added was a storage box ($15 at IKEA) under the loveseat. It has handles on the front, so it can be pulled out, and there is a zipper on the top. I plan to use it for storing out of season coats, etc.

In the interests of full disclosure, here is a less staged photo of the new space:

It looks like this more often than I’d like, but “training” the kids to put their things away neatly is a work in progress. I still think it’s an improvement over what this used to look like, so I’m happy. Small steps.

Dragonfly Chic

You guys know it’s a rare day when I purchase an item of clothing at a retail store, so I will leave you to imagine how quickly and deeply I fell in love with this BlankNYC (faux) leather moto jacket at Nordstrom Rack. I saw and marched it straight to the check-out in less than 5 minutes. When you know, you know. There are tiny metal dragonfly studs all over it; it would have been even better if they’d been bees, but I don’t want to sound ungrateful because I love this jacket so damn much.

I’ve been waiting for a few weeks (which felt like months) to wear it, and a spell of warm weather last weekend finally made it possible. I feel like this is the kind of jacket I could wear with pretty much anything, but my first try was a very “Adina 2019” outfit. Black, layers, studded boots. Lots of texture. I added some colour with this recently thrifted Line cashmere sweater. The cropped length worked well with the longer Eileen Fisher tunic.

Transitional Layers

Another casual outfit? Yep. I’ve been repeating older pieces at work for my “Florals in March” theme, but I don’t want to bore you with repeats here. Instead, please take in my homage to Joan Watson. Now, I adore Joan (as I mentioned in my last post) but her style does not really align with mine; for one thing, she wears a ton of short skirts, and I am more of a midi fan. Sometimes, though, stepping outside one’s comfort zone is a nice change of pace. I layered a newly thrifted Robert Rodriguez silk jacket over a silk Pringle mini sack dress (paired with ankle boots – a very Joan touch), and added a wool blazer as outerwear. In all fairness, that’s more of a Sherlock thing. Oh well. Moving on the finishing touch, Joan favours fairly classic, neutral coloured bags and I debated using one of my old Marc Jacobs purses; in the end, I decided to go for a slight hint of whimsy with this Anthro fabric and leather bag. The print is a nice contrast to the dress fabric, and the teal strap adds a sliver of colour.

Ruffles Encore

Ruffles are tricky when Twee is your style enemy, but paired with interesting lines and angles, they can be just the ticket. Because this Gap skirt is quite high-waisted, it’s a great match for this cropped Sleeping on Snow coatigan. The boiled wool material of the coatigan gives it a nice, tailored shape and really lets those ruffles take the (architectural) spotlight.

Speaking of architectural, how amazing are these earrings from Warren Steven Scott? They are my favourite new accessory, and are such a gorgeous statement piece – wearable art, really. I love discovering new home-grown talent like Scott, and I can’t wait to see what he creates next.

I took 6 books with me on vacation, and managed to get them all read … with minutes to spare. Literally. I finished my last book a few hours before our plane landed back in Edmonton. I also managed to squeeze in a bit of Netflix in the evenings, so you can see that this was a very good vacation.

What I read:

• Serpents in Eden, Continental Crimes, and Bodies in the Library. All three are collections of mystery short stories. I like taking short stories with me on trips, because it’s easy to breeze through each one even if you only have, say, half an hour at a time. [I read very fast also, which generally helps but is a hindrance on vacation – I have to take a lot of reading material with me to keep occupied.] Of the three, I felt that Serpents in Eden (short stories by British mystery writers organized around the theme of “murders set in the countryside”) was the weakest. Continental Crimes (murders set in Europe) was probably the best, with Bodies in the Library (previously unpublished or lesser known works from popular mystery writers) close behind. All three collections are from the first part of the 20th century, which is probably my favourite era for mystery; I love contemporary writers like PD James, Ruth Rendell, Robert Galbraith, Tana French, etc. but I feel a strong nostalgic pull for the Golden Era of mystery writing – especially English mysteries.

• The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter. This was another collection of short stories, this time of the fantasy genre. The author was recommended to me by a reader on the blog, and I was intrigued by the collection because it is inspired by popular fairy tales. I liked it a lot – the subject matter is similar to the Tanith Lee collection I recently read, but the writing is different – more lyrical, perhaps? The Amazon blurb for the book said that Angela Carter inspired writers like Neil Gaiman, and I can definitely see that; as I adore Gaiman’s short stories, it is not surprising that I enjoyed these ones as well.

• My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Mossfegh. After loving Eileen, I was really excited to read this. It was a bit of a letdown. The writing is really good but whereas Eileen was a tour-de-force character portrait, I didn’t feel that I truly connected with the narrator of this novel … or wanted to. For a book in which not much happens – literally, it’s all about the narrator’s quest to sleep for an entire year – there is surprisingly little in the way of psychological insight into the protagonist which I would have expected to be used to fill the narrative “gap” so to speak. She talks a lot about what she is doing, but not the “why” (beyond a very superficial level). The ending was also abrupt; the story is set in the year immediately preceding 9/11 which feels like a Chekhov’s Gun of sorts – if you’re going to bring 9/11 into it, then it had better have some impact on your story – except it never goes off. I don’t know, maybe I missed something; I read this book over a couple of afternoons lying in the sun, and possibly did some inadvertent snoozing of my own.

• Frida, Hayden ****. This was, hands down, my favourite book to read on this trip, largely because of the synergy between the subject matter and my location. It’s a very exhaustive biography of Frida Kahlo, liberally sprinkled with excerpts from her own papers (diary entries, letters to friends and family, etc.), and it does a great job of bringing the artist alive on the page. Reading it, I felt Frida’s exuberance and joie de vivre, and it reignited my own creative drive. It also made me want to read more about Mexican history, so the first thing I did when I returned home was order Fire & Blood: A History of Mexico by T.R. Fehrenbach. I am excited to get it, and if you guys have any other recommendations in that direction, let me know.

What I watched:

• Fyre – I’m late to the Fyre Festival documentary party, but I’m glad I finally watched this. People like Billy McFarland always fascinate me because they represent the opposite of impostor syndrome; I would love to know what it’s like to be inside their heads.

• American Meme – along the same lines, this was a fascinating look at some “internet celebrities” (most of them unknown to me prior to this) and their microcosm. I’m old enough to remember when Paris Hilton first came to prominence, and it does bogle my mind a bit that she basically kicked off an entire sub-culture of “influencers” (using that term loosely).

• Elementary – I wanted to start watching Schitt’s Creek but suddenly couldn’t find it. Instead, I randomly came across this show … and proceeded to fall down a deep rabbit hole. I have not watched a primetime procedural show in years, and maybe my tastes have gotten worse with age, but I freaking love Elementary. Joan Watson is #GOALZ, as I say that unironically as an almost-39 year old. I also love the Watson-Holmes dynamic and the fact that it’s complex but platonic in a non-angsty way. (If that changes over the course of the series, please don’t tell me.) Side note: once I came back to Canada, I realized that the show suddenly disappeared from my “Continue Watching” list and had a near meltdown. Thankfully, I found the first 4 seasons on Prime TV, so I can continue my binge. But this made me realize that Netflix will apparently tailor your viewing options based on location, irrespective of where your account is based/registered. Anyway, I expect a separate post on Elementary might be forthcoming, so I’ll stop here for now.

• ContraPoints video on Jordan Peterson. I actually watched this last week, but I am including it here because it’s brilliant and I think it’s a must-watch. Natalie perfectly encapsulates why I had somewhat mixed feelings about 12 Rules for Living (but which I struggled to articulate myself); some of what Peterson is saying is actually reasonable enough, but it only serves as a kind of front for a position that is deeply problematic.