Gabriel Ross Photo Contest - Part 2

As you may recall from a previous blog post, back in June I entered into a photo contest at a local modern furniture store here in Victoria BC called Gabriel Ross. Well the results were that my photo won first place and I received a credit at the store! (Yahoo!)


As a side note, I have had a lousy cold this weekend and have basically barricaded myself into my apartment for several days trying to recover. Yesterday when I could take no more cabin fever, I set out up the street to go peruse their selection and see if anything sparked my interest. My haul? I purchased a bright red glass Chat-Board for my kitchen. 

The Chat-Board is a Danish product and is essentially a super sexy magnetic whiteboard (for writing on with dry erase markers). I was tired of writing down reminders and grocery lists on pads of paper on the fridge and I wanted something simpler and better looking. I'm sure that in the future as friends and family trickle in and out of our home the board will receive many artistic contributions and will be a source of interactive entertainment.

Here's a photo from the Chat-Board website of a wall of  different Chat-Boards. 

These pieces are fab because they come in so many sizes and colors! One could even purchase several of the largest size boards and tile the walls of a room giving it a contemporary and glossy look as well as a new practical function. How amazing would that be for a creative environment such as a play room for children or an artist's studio?

Jackie

Open Concept - Who Needs Walls?

The place I call home is an apartment in a hundred year old brick heritage building in down town Victoria BC in the Design District. I loved this space from the moment I laid eyes on it and was over the moon when my husband called me at work one day to tell me that our landlord had accepted our application as tenants. We've lived here for the past three and a half years and during this time I've had a blast making the space our own, one piece at a time.

One interesting feature in the main living space of our apartment, is that is has a built in folding wall on hinges, which creates the option of having an additional room with privacy or an entirely open space. For the past three and a half year we've lived here with our bedroom tucked away in the optional room, walls folded out. We always wanted to try folding the wall back and opening the room up to join our sleeping, living and dining areas but it took us a long time to get around to it because we enjoyed the cosiness and privacy of our bedroom and we knew that making the change was going to be a lot of work. 

Recently when feeling the need for a change and somewhat ambitious, we decided to go for it! And now I can't believe we didn't do it sooner! As we predicted, the improvement was amazing. The space is so much bigger now, and easier to live in; it's easier to move around in and to clean too. It's also a real treat to be able to lie in bed and see the whole apartment and the windows, and talk to the other person from bed if they're in the kitchen or the living or dining spaces.

I've also come to the conclusion that walls and bedroom privacy are not as important to me as I thought they were. After all we live alone and although we do have the occasional house guest who will sleep on our sofa or the fold out bed in the office, they're few and far between and usually they're close friends or family :)

I'm glad to say this rearrangement has given me one more reason to enjoy our space, and one more thing to share on the Government Street Blog! I only wish we'd done this a long time ago, but perhaps there's a lesson there. So here's to positive change, and to actually doing the things that we say we're going to do!

I was a bit concerned that the folding wall was going to look out of place in the room when folded flat, but with the bed pushed up against it and the big blue painting (by the very talented Seattle artist Elena Korakianitou Pors) hanging above it's actually not that bad! It almost feels like it's a headboard.

Yes, Potato knows she matches, and she knows she looks good...

 Our smaller television, which was previously mounted in our bedroom closet (we had to open the closet doors to watch it) now hangs on the wall in the photo above and sits at a much more comfortable watching distance from bed. Life is good!

Here's another angle of the open space. Pants Boy's on the table looking suave (as per usual) and Pelle is throwing up the dubs. I love you Pelle.

One more shot of the new, bigger, brighter and better space!

Gabriel Ross Photo Contest

Well - I entered into a photo contest on Facebook put on by a fabulous modern furniture store here in Victoria, Gabriel Ross. Here's hoping I win! The finalists will be determined by which picture has the most Facebook "likes" and then the designers at the store will decide amongst themselves which of the most popular photos receives first, second and third place prizes (which are all gift certificates to the store). There is also a "Cuteness Factor Prize" which they've just added to the list of prizes as there were so many submissions with people's children and pets present! 


Photos were to feature products purchased at Gabriel Ross in customer's homes - so I took this photo of our Artemide Tizio desk lamp in it's place in our own living room next to our two kitties, Buddy and Lulu (otherwise known as Pants Boy and Potato). The contest which has been running for weeks now, is over tomorrow and my photo is in the lead, so hopefully I'll get one of those gift certificates and get to buy myself a new modern something for my place!


If you are in Victoria, and love modern furniture, I highly recommend you check this store out - it's definitely one of my favourites!


Cheers,
Jackie