What We Do On The Weekends

"Leave me to do my dark bidding on the internet", What We Do In The Shadows.

I’m very pro-buying-secondhand and for the most part it’s all I tend to buy. I’d even go out on a limb and say close to 80% of the design pieces I own are thrifted or nearly new. But this week Robert and I bought a very big not so secondhand piece.

It’s something we’ve been thinking about getting for a long time. We sat and thought about it for a few months, weighed up the pro’s and con’s and carefully considered our options. I even put it in a Google SketchUp model. And last night we finally bit the bullet and ordered the thing! I can’t wait to share more once it arrives in a few weeks*, so for now all I will say is it is beautiful and I can’t wait to see it IRL. And what better excuse than to put one of my favourite What We Do In The Shadows quotes on our letter board.

Shop this look!

CIL Classic Burgundy
CIL Classic Burgundy
What We Do In The Shadows
What We Do In The Shadows
$10.99
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
$8.99
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
$14.99
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
$24
April & The Bear Letter Board
April & The Bear Letter Board
€60
CIL Classic Burgundy
CIL Classic Burgundy
What We Do In The Shadows
What We Do In The Shadows
$10.99
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
$8.99
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
$14.99
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
$24
April & The Bear Letter Board
April & The Bear Letter Board
€60
CIL Classic Burgundy
CIL Classic Burgundy
What We Do In The Shadows
What We Do In The Shadows
$10.99
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
$8.99
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
$14.99
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
$24
April & The Bear Letter Board
April & The Bear Letter Board
€60

*My vagueness is down to me being worried that us finally buying the thing is now jinxing its arrival. I don’t understand my brain either sometimes. I’ve also missed writing short little casual blog posts, so here’s a little pointless one to start.

Secondhand Kijiji chandelier

Our Lower Town apartment is full of track lighting. The living room, hallway, dining room, Cora’s bedroom and the kitchen all have track lighting. I’m not shaming track lighting entirely; it does have a place but I don’t think its place is the main light source of any room. As you can see in the picture below, this was what the main lighting in our living room was up until this week. A giant strip of track lighting that was haphazardly aimed at the TV, the door to our front porch, and three random areas on the floor. It wasn’t great and depending on where you sat, you’d either get a face full of light or it would be so dark at night that you couldn’t see what you were doing.

I know I could just reposition the lights to suit specific areas, but overall as a room, having track lighting in this way was not working. So I took to Kijiji to find a new [to us] light.

I searched for “chandeliers” for a few weeks [you’d be amazed at what some people’s definition of a chandelier is] and finally came across this beauty. I know it’s not everybody’s cup of tea but the combination of gold finish, size, fancy shape and warm acrylic ‘crystals’ were exactly what I was looking for! It was advertised as $70 which sounds like a lot of money, but when you consider modern looking pendant lights I found elsewhere online were going for upwards of $120 on sale, for us, this was a total bargain. It was full of character and just what I was looking for. It also came with all the original light bulbs [two of which I’ve removed because we just don’t need 6 light bulbs. I’m hoping to get more energy efficient bulbs soon].

I took all the crystals off, washed and dried them and Handyman Dave came over last week to hang it and do all the electrical gobbledegook [something I’m terrified of and won’t do].

I patched over the holes and repainted along where the track was [it was this colour underneath] and the room immediately felt so much more welcoming. The living room feels cosy at night and with the dimmer switch, the chandelier looks about four different levels of fancy.

I could have bought a new chandelier but I knew that if I waited long enough, a perfect light would come along on Kijiji and not only at a better price, but secondhand too. Yes, I will be buying some new lights for certain rooms in our apartment but I knew a modern light wouldn’t look as good in our living room.

Secondhand French provincial sofa and armchair

Despite it being a Monday, I’m very excited to share photos of our new secondhand French provincial style sofa and armchair that we got our hands on last weekend through Kijiji! And I am so in love with them.

I had been searching Kijiji for vintage and vintage-style sofas for a while and every time was met with either beautiful sofas that were way outside of our budget (a months rent minimum) or the polar opposite of threadbare couches with disproportionate price tags. Then one afternoon while Cora was napping, I logged onto Kijiji to see if there was anything new (or, I should say, ‘new’) and there on the first page was a peach coloured French provincial sofa and armchair …


The seller was looking to have the set gone by the weekend, so she marked them as free. F R E E. You can imagine the sounds I made when I saw those four letters, so I sent a message, made a few phone calls later and the next day the sofa and armchair were being delivered to our apartment.

There are a few stains on the fabric and the foam cushions have seen better days (which is understandable, I mean, it’s a 30 year old set), but it’s otherwise in incredible condition. Both the sofa and armchair are very firm and comfortable and are just what I’ve been needing for my hip problems (yay, ongoing post-pregnancy issues). The wooden frame of both the sofa and armchair are incredibly sturdy and the springs in each are perfect. But I do have big plans for this set. I’m planning on having them reupholstered in a dark gray velvet and have the back of both pieces tufted. Not too unlike this beauty …

I’ll be getting a few reupholstering quotes in the coming weeks and I’m hoping the cost of reupholstering both pieces will be exorbitantly cheaper than buying a brand new sofa (which I’m not totally against, but the past few months have been very expensive so I’m trying to keep costs down. I might splurge on a new footstool).

In the mean time, I’m happy to keep a peachy sofa set in our living room. And so is Juniper, in case you were wondering.

Image four credit.

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