Just after my cesarean with Summer, knowing how disappointed I was with how things had turned out, my midwife looked me in the eyes and said “next time you’ll get the birth you wanted”. From that moment on, I had HBAC (home birth after cesarean) on my mind, and this past September, I finally got there! It was one of the most exciting, redemptive moments of my entire life, and changed my perspective on my first birth in ways I never could have expected, but most of all it gave me peace. Here’s how it all happened: I wasn’t sure I’d ever have a second baby; in fact, for the first couple of years ..read more

I am over the moon (or… sun?) to be sharing the newest finished room at #pastelsunriseplace – our sunny bathroom! When I first saw this space, I was amazed at how much we’d lucked out on the basics: nice neutral tiling and countertops, plain white cabinets… it was basically a blank canvas BEGGING for a renter redo! The existing mirror and light fixture were my main concerns, but overall I saw so much potential in this little bathroom without having to take on a massive amount of costly work. But before I got to the practical bits like paint, lighting and hardware, I started with sunny inspirat ..read more

I’ve put a lot of thought into what I might want my wedding to look like over the years, and now that it’s really happening, the reality of making all my dreams come to life is a LOT. A lot of the decisions have been quick and easy, like photographer and venue, but others I have agonized over, and a big one is what to do with my hair! Anyone who has been following along here awhile knows that my hair is a massive part of my identity (and for awhile, it was my claim to fame!) I always envisioned getting married with pink hair, my “natural” colour, but as the date gets closer, I find myself tota ..read more

If you follow me on Instagram at all, you’ve probably noticed I have a pretty massive obsession. No, I’m not talking about horses – I’m talking about my garden! I’ve always had a penchant for growing and caring for things – even when I lived in tiny apartments in Toronto, my little balcony was always covered in as many planters as I could fit, brimming with potted tomato plants and kale. It wasn’t until I moved into our current home nearly two years ago now that my passion truly took hold. The first year here we moved in halfway through the planting season, so we bought some seedlings for the ..read more

I’m usually quite quick when it comes to developing a vision for a space, and most of the rooms in this new apartment were a piece of cake – except for the living room. Since moving in last year, the living and dining area of our apartment have been constantly in-flux. Maybe it’s because I’ve never really designed such a large, open space, or because we wanted to make the furniture we already had work vs. buying all new everything, but no matter how many times I shuffled items around, it just didn’t feel “finished” or “right”. Fast forward to a whole year of living here, and Jonnie suggested m ..read more

As previously mentioned, decorating kid’s room is by far my favourite type of styling (like, can this be my full time job down the line please?) In this line of work, and as a mom in general, it’s easy to get sucked into buying all new everything all the time, especially after a move, but I’ve really enjoyed challenging myself to make each of Summer’s spaces so far feel different, without breaking the bank on a whole new set of furniture. There wasn’t much I could do as far as customization in Summer’s old room because we were in a brand new condo, so when I relocated to our current older home ..read more

One of my favourite spaces in this apartment from the first walk through was the kitchen: with tons of space, simple white cabinets, peach-tinted floor tile, a woodblock island and cream countertops, it had all the makings of perfect pastel room, without the need for a big renovation like I did in my rental #heaveninhighpark. It only took a few simple, renter-friendly swaps to totally transform this room. First, we took four of the cabinet doors off to create a bit of open shelving, and painted the inside with an accent colour. I started out using some old blush paint I had leftover from a fur ..read more

I lived in Toronto for almost 12 years, which means I likely know it better than I know my own hometown of Vancouver! I’ve been planning to get back for a visit as soon as it felt safe to do so since I made the decision to relocate back to the West Coast in March 2020, and after what felt like forever, we finally made it happen this last month. I went into this visit with a list of my old standby favourites to revisit, but what I didn’t expect was how many awesome new businesses have popped up all around the neighbourhoods I once called home. Plus, I had the new perspective of seeing The Big S ..read more