domicile

Low VOC Paint Comes Home

After reading Alex's recent post about Yolo paints, I had a quick spin around the Yolo Colorhouse website and discovered that we finally have a place to purchase them here in Vancouver. Back when we were doing our bathroom reno I was frustrated by the fact that we didn't have anything like Seattle's Environmental Home Center here in Vancouver but now just over half a year later it turns out we do. I stopped by Vancouver's new Greenworks Building Supply this morning and picked up two swatches of Yolo Paint (in Air 1 and Air 4) to try out as kitchen options.

While there I also had a look at some of their countertop options, though I have to say that my very vain and imagedriven self just isn't too crazy about the Paperstone colour options, though I may see if Martin can't help me cost a an end grain block "plyboo"  (machined bamboo plywood) version of a counter we had originally been planning in standard plywood.

A quick web search on green building in Vancouver this morning also turned up the new Lighthouse Sustainable Building Centre on Granville Island which might warrant a bike trip down to the island for more information. In the meantime, they've got a pretty decent blog full of inspiration and info here for those of you interested in eco-building practices and sustainable design.

I'm pretty happy with the Yolo paint swatches I brought home and in fact think we'll probably go with Air 1, if Martin agrees. My only complaint so far is that since hanging the large paper swatch 15 minutes ago on my wall is has fallen down three times.

Living in my lovely new PJs

  amy butler kimono project 
  Originally uploaded by emira.

I'm at the tail end of what I sincerely hope is a one-off Spring cold. More than a few people that I know have been struck with this and so I know I'm not alone in my wallowing, but there's something particularly unfair about a flu that hits you when the weather has finally given us all a break here on the "wet" coast and given us a few days of sunshine to enjoy the blossoms and bulbs.

Lucky for me I happened to have just finished off some lovely new lounge/pj-wear recently, including this Amy Butler Kimono pictured here. I made the kimono out of a cotton discovered in the Fabricana quilting cotton section named as a "linen-like" material. That seems to translate into the slightly raw and uneven colouring of a piece of linen without the tendency to crease and crumple each time you look at it. I had actually considered a linen for the pattern but corrected myself with the mere vision of ever needing to iron something intended for curling up on the couch in. The base of the kimono is brown with a kind of robin's egg blue trim that coincidentally matches the Jonathan Adler sheets we received at Christmas to a nearly nauseating tee. Though the nausea could just be my flu talking. Overall, the pattern comes out as another Amy Butler In Stitches quick and relatively easy winner. My only regret (aside from the one cutting error I made) is that it's a bit shorter than I would have liked, coming really to just past my bum in the back, but looking at the photo that's pretty much as it was promised. That said, if I made this again I might make it about 2 inches longer to suit my preference. All told though it was easy enough that it is something I would consider making as gifts.

I also made a new pair of flannel pj bottoms, though I eschewed the Amy Butler Wide-Legged pattern in favour of an old Butterick pattern I dug up and altered slightly. I would share a photo of those and their very adorable red ric-rac trim, as well as a better photo of the kimono for that matter, but sadly my camera died shortly after taking that photo there. It's now on its way to Canon for repair and should hopefully return before too long. I was relying on Martin's camera for photos, but in a particularly bad turn of events this week his was stolen from his work. As such, we're photo-free around these parts right now which particularly sucks given that Martin has just completed our new bedroom suite and we're finally about to start on the kitchen. Perhaps I'll just have to draw stick figures?

A More Manly Eco Bag

Like many of us these days I'm sure, we have a fairly extensive collection of reusable shopping bags around here. Whether they are ones I've made myself or picked up at conferences and tradeshows over the years we have enough shopping bags to buy groceries for a family of eight I'm sure, though I'm not sure how we would carry them all home. Regardless, all of our cloth and reusable shopping bags were brought into the relationship by me, and I'll admit that many of them run a bit to the femme-y side of eco-friendly accessorizing. From full on pink bags to ones covered in flower patterns there isn't much there for even a not-so-butch fella like my Martin to carry proudly back from market. When Renee sent me a bag she made last year, Martin became instantly attached to it as a more suitable option, no doubt due to it's tank silkscreen motif. Fortunately, my Martin is the kind of fellow who can feel like a pink tank is enough butch for his needs. A few weeks ago, Lauren interviewed Bring Your Own Bag, a local producer of gorgeous cotton and organic cotton reusable bags, as a part of our Boss Lady book project. (Before I continue, I want to make clear that we were in no way asked to write online reviews of the bags or anything, my mentioning them has everything to do with how swell both Martin and I think the bag is). The kind gals there sent us each a bag of our own choosing, and while I was initially very tempted by the swirly windmill option, I settled on the stag to add to Martin's collection. As I say, we have a lot of these kinds of things around the house, but I have to take a minute to mention just how lovely this bag is. The organic cotton is nothing short of dreamy, and the bag itself is very well constructed with nice sturdy handles that are the right size for carrying either in your hand or over your shoulder (my preferred method). If you're cloth bag supply is running low I can't recommend BYOB's bags for their quality and designs enough. These ones by b.happybags are also pretty swell looking, especially if a nice leopard or zebra print would suit your needs.

Reducing Plastic in the Kitchen

  glass cookie jar 
  Originally uploaded by emira.

Ever since my mom, who is a Clinical Nurse Educator, moved to the cancer ward I've had a nagging notion in the back of my noggin that we ought to be paying even closer attention to our plastic consumption around the domicile. While we're definitely not big disposable/prepackaged products folks around here, I do make ample use of my generous stash of yogurt containers and the like for storing leftovers and extra foodstuffs in the kitchen. In fact, one glance into my freezer reveals a veritable city of stacked round plastic containers labelled with their frozen soup-y contents just waiting to be defrosted for a midweek evening when I can't face cooking. But a few months ago, out a desire to make and stash some extra lasagnes in the freezer I took advantage of a sale on pyrex storage dishes that were on sale (like these  ones here which admittedly have plastic lids, though the food doesn't "sit" in the plastic) to stock up on some non-plastic storage options.

Beyond the lasagne, I began using the smallest dish as a container to bring food to work in. I was a bit nervous about how the pyrex would work for freezer to oven usage after a particularly upsetting episode I had years ago on Thanksgiving trying to roast some squash in a pryex pan that exploded in my kitchen, but so far so good. I take the lasagne out of the freezer in the morning, let it thaw, leave it ontop of the oven to adjust to the heat, and then place it in a warmed oven. Easy peasy. I've since picked up a few more larger pyrex dishes for freezer and fridge storage, but unless you get those suckers on sale at a big box kind of store (places I rarely find myself in) they're darned pricey. So I've been supplementing with glass containers found at thrift stores and making good use of my store of larger canning jars. I have always used canning jars for storing many food things, everything from soup to nuts in fact, but am now supplementing my stash to allow for even more food storage options. On a recent trip to Ikea I saw their 365+ day series of glass containers and picked up a few of those as well (like the one you see pictured here in use as a cookie jar). They claim to not be any good in the oven, but safe for freezer, fridge and microwave (we don't have a micro in our kitchen). They're great for storing left overs in the fridge and come in a number of different sizes, all of which are square making them very space efficient in my constantly overcrowded fridge.

We're certainly a long way from being plastic free here, but it's nice to be growing our store of these solid, reusable (glass won't stain or hold odours) containers. I'm also finding that I really appreciate the clear storage as I try to make sense of what exactly resides in my cluttered fridge.

if you're interested in watching the progress of someone far more dedicated to a plastic free life, check out this girl's blog documenting a year's attempt at plastic free living.

domicile in Texas

Finally a stolen Sunday to sit down, breath, drink a coffee and collect my thoughts. My thoughts, however, are not being collected in their usual west coast location but in the much more humid environment of SXSW. Lauren and I came down  here to do a panel, which happened yesterday evening. The panel was a tonne of fun for us as panelists and moderator, if I may speak for us all. Hopefully the many awesome questions and pieces of feedback we got afterwards from audience members indicate a success for participants as well.

We are staying in a stellar hotel, of which photos and a review for all those planning to make it to Austin one day, will follow when we return. Most of all our trip so far has been fulled to the minute with meeting and connecting with truly amazing folks down here. Alex's hospitality has gone far and beyond the call of world's greatest BFF and host, and we have been able to spend some fabulous time getting to know Jenny Hart and Vickie Howell, who together with Alex completed our panel line up. If these three are any indication then Austin is teeming with business gals so smart they'll knock your boots off. All that to say nothing of the fiesty good looks. Plus, who knew I'd find myself spending an evening in a candle lit courtyard, a champagne cocktail in hand at a table nearly half filled with vegetarians. In Texas! Awesome.

Anyway, with our session out of the way it's time to cram in a few sessions ourselves, check out more of the local scene and try not to drain my bank account at Anthropologie... Pretty things indeed.

Crafty Tomes

I've been slowly building a list of craft-themed book titles that I'm lusting after. I made a little promise to myself that if I actually made good on my intentions to sew a number of items in the Amy Butler book, I would treat myself to a new one but now I'm not sure which I would pick. This weekend I finished off the Amy Butler Kimono (photos and a review to follow later this week) and I'm feeling like I may have reached my own imaginary threshold to allow for another crafty-book purchase. Here are the titles currently on my list, I haven't actually seen any of these in person so haven't been able to thumb through them. If anyone has reviews or opinions please feel free to sway me in one direction or the other.

• Simple Sewing with a French Twist: An Illustrated Guide to Sewing Clothes and Home Accessories with Style. I first saw this one over at Alex's delightful Hygge House blog a few months ago.
• Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing: Patterns and How-To for 24 Fresh and Easy Projects. This one appeals to my Scano-lust in a big way and would help me reconcile my lack of any Lotta loveliness.
• Wendy Mullin's Sew U: The Built by Wendy Guide to Making Your Own Wardrobe seems like it might be good inspiration for wardrobe sewing, which is always fun at a change of seasons. I seem to be most inspired to sew at a season change.
• Tricia Guild's Pattern looks like it very well may lead to some friction between my "femme-tastic" decorating leanings and Martin's preference for a more minimalist approach. But it sure does look like a fun time.
• And Amy Karol's book is available for pre-order already.

I'm sorely tempted to just jump off the deep end and get them all, but my Visa balance and the knowledge that having them all would leave me less time to savour hold me back.

The Wrong Crowd

  Mr. Pluto 
  Originally uploaded by emira.

Mr. Pluto is a lover. A lover of people and a lover of other cats. Sure he has been known to have some trouble getting across his overwhelming desire to snuggle the heck out of a few cats over the years and sometimes this has developed into some cat fights, which have left him injured or with a shaved tail. And while I'm sure a territorial instinct plays some roll in his past cat brawling, I'm convinced it is mostly about his staggering lack of boundaries when it comes to spreading his cuddle love. Spend 5 minutes in a room with him and you will know what I mean. Beyond his love of pure snuggling, he has always been one for acquiring new cat friends and bringing them home to hang out. As a teenage cat he even had a steady girlcat friend who he could regularly be found laying about in the sun with outside or who he would occasionally bring home for some solid couch lazing. Having had such a social cat for going on 12 years, it has never surprised me to come home and find an extra feline friend making itself comfortable on my furniture. And, until now, we've been saved from the nasty things that visiting cats sometimes do. Things like arriving home to the welcoming odour of cat spray in your house. Until now.

Yesterday, after a particularly prolonged virgin voyage in the new car (yes we got a new car! finally!), which was complicated by an accident on the freeway (not ours but one that caused a truly staggering traffic jam) that made our two hour trip into a five hour car bonanza, we arrived home to the smell of cat spray. And, as those of you who have had the pleasure will know, the smell was all over our lovely home. Pluto, for the record, was asleep on his blanket on the couch seemingly unfazed. We were not impressed.

There has been a kind of scrappy looking white cat hanging around lately and the other night we discovered it raising a ruckus in the basement until we closed the cat door for the night. After locking the cat door, and cleaning the kitchen and workshop, which seemed to be the loci of the nasty odour, we set about making dinner. Over the course of the evening we could hear cat wailing coming from the backyard and a few times the sound of a cat ramming into the cat door in hopes of breaking it open. Each time Martin went to investigate he got there just in time to see the white cat dart off into the alley, unfortunately missing an opportunity to dump a pail of water on him in hopes of deterring him from coming back. We're assuming this neighbourhood kitty is in heat -- thus the wailing -- and are hoping it passes quickly. It being only a few days into the month I'm concerned that someone has moved out recently and left this guy behind and now he is homeless and in search of a place to mark as his own. In the meantime, Pluto has been requested to make some new friends and has sadly had his loose in/out cat door privileges suspended until we can figure out a way to keep his malodorous friend away or until Spring fever passes.