How my space went from confused to cozy *LOVE YOUR HOME even if you don't own*

There's this idea that we should treat our rentals like a temporary space, like a waiting room for our real home. And it completely ignores the very real

sciencebacked fact that our environment affects our mood. Your brain chemicals aren't like, "Dude, we don't own this space." So, like, let's not get affected by it until we do. So, let's take a

rather embarrassing look at my former apartments, and I'm going to show you how designing my rentals actually helped me find my interior design style. Okay, this was the first place I moved into on

my own. So, I pretty much bought everything new. And because I didn't know exactly what I wanted, I followed a lot of my mom's advice and opinion. And

although my mom does have good taste, we do not have the same style. The first mistake I did was get this leather couch for like two grand and I literally never

liked it. My mom suggested that I get a leather couch because they last longer.

I really wanted a cozy upholstered couch, but she said it would be hard to clean, so I got this leather one that was always too firm. And the beige

color, although neutral, leaned so yellow. So I was stuck with this couch for the next 4 years. and every time I looked at it, I was just so unsatisfied.

The curtains in my bedroom were also another recommendation from my mom, and they were fine, but like they just really weren't my style. I realized I didn't like that the pattern was so

busy, and I didn't like that they were so dark, but because I got the curtains first, I ended up basing my bedding off the curtains, and so my bed sheets also

ended up being dark. And then I brought in all the teal accents because I was like, well, what color compliments gray that will like give this space a little more life? But the thing is, I didn't

even want the gray to begin with. I realized that I should have been confident in my own taste, even though I didn't know exactly what I wanted.

Because you aren't going to get any closer to figuring out your interior design style by taking advice from someone whose style is not even representative of your own style. Like, how are you going to figure out what you

like if you don't actually get the things that you like? Looking back on my living room, the focal point was definitely this orange rug, which I did pick out myself. I really wanted

something that was like bold and vibrant and fun, but I realized that it was still too bold and saturated for me. I think it would work great in a space

that actually has a lot of color, like someone who has very eclectic style because having so much color actually creates a bit of a rhythm and your eye

can settle. But when you only have like one bold color, your eye just kind of gets drawn directly to that and it really just dominates the room and

creates an imbalance rather than harmony. Another thing I learned was to not rush to finish designing this space.

I think because it was my first space and I just really wanted to furnish it and make it feel like home. I was really rushing to get it done. So after about a year, I had the opportunity to move to

Toronto and the timing worked out perfectly because one of my brother's best friends was also looking for a place. But the vibe ended up reverting to like college dorm because you know

when you move in with someone, your place just becomes like a mish mash of things that they own and things that you own and none of it really goes together.

It usually ends up in like an unsightly

Frankenstein of a place. I did get this wood coffee table from HomeSense, which

I remember was a steal, and it was kind of the beginning of me wanting to introduce more natural materials along with those like seaggrass baskets in the

storage. You can see I was still trying to incorporate vibrant colors with this way too small painting for the wall.

Since I was living with a bro and not a boyfriend, I didn't really feel like the space was mine to shape, so I didn't really do much decorating. Another yearish later, my roommate decided to

move across the country. So, I needed to find another place and I had been living in places that were basically brand new

and I really liked that standard of renting. But I knew if I wanted to live alone, I had to sacrifice that newness so that I could actually afford rent on my own. So, I ended up finding this unit

that was above an electrical shop. It had the darkest, dingiest, creepiest hallway, but I liked the area and it was within my budget. This is the first time

I actually painted a rental cuz like I said, the other two were new and they were white, but this one had cherry red floors and like kind of beigeish walls

and just looked like a depressing basement. And this is where I learned that you can literally paint your way to joy. I know a lot of people say that

they're not allowed to paint, and I guess it just surprises me cuz I've literally never had an issue with this.

As long as it's a neutral color, my landlords have always been happy for me to paint because it just freshens up the whole place and makes it more desirable for the next tenant anyway. And if you wanted something more like

unconventional, something more bold, I think you can still do it. You just have to be willing to give up your security deposit knowing that that is the cost of

joy. Since I was back in my own space, I was back into designing and figuring out how to make it feel like my own. I was really into this boho rug I got, but I

definitely chose the navy to again offset the cherry floors. I had a little minimal eating nook. I started getting some plants. My really good friend AJ

made me this custom wood console table that I had right by the door. I think the reason I was kind of leaning to boho style was because I was craving bringing

in these more natural materials and when it came to like a design style, I didn't really know how to incorporate them. The overall vibe of the place wasn't exactly

cohesive cuz I was still using a lot of the same furniture I always had, but at least I was like learning and experimenting and overall I think it was

pretty cute. After that, I moved in with my now husband into his place. This became another mishmash of a space, but since he already had this really big,

comfy couch, I finally was able to breathe the biggest sigh of relief when

I sold the leather one that I never wanted. The walls were like this depressing purplish gray. So, of course, we painted everything, which instantly brightened up the whole place because it

was full of windows. But still, nothing here really matched. I did the best I could with blending the furniture that we had, but it was a one-bedroom, so our main focus here was functionality. We

had this nook that evolved from a console table to a desk to then a kitchen island. I did a fullon like

Marie condo decluttering and organizing to make sure that we were making the best use of the space. This was really our training ground for small space living and trying to get creative with

how we use like these little nooks of space. We weren't really spending money on design because we were intentionally saving so that we could quit our jobs to travel across Canada while living in our

4Erunner which was a whole another level of small space living. After returning from our trip and feeling very claustrophobic from living in a car, we

moved into a two-bedroom apartment.

Again, we painted the place to freshen it up. And this was the first place that

I really started designing with intention. The first space I finished was my office den because I knew I'd be spending a lot of time in there. I got a bunch of rugs for every room. I got

curtains. I got fake plants to bring more life to the space. And I finally got the right sized art. I kept experimenting. And this was the first time I tried Wayne Scotting. And wow,

this was the first time I really truly felt just how much joy you can feel from design. It's >> tight. That's tight.

>> I was obsessed with it. Like every time

I walked past that space, it would literally just make me smile. It just made me feel so at ease because the molding itself is the art on the wall.

It created this texture and depth that just made that little dining nook so classy. And we actually ended up using that space as a backdrop for some wedding photos. There were still some

things I didn't love. Like we had these dining chairs I got from Struck Tube because a friend had given me a gift card and it was just a piece of furniture that we functionally needed.

So I kind of just got the most suitable option of what was available. The couch and the media unit were sponsorship from

Cozy and I did really like them, but the couch was not the style that I initially wanted. The one I wanted was out of stock, so I went with this one instead.

but it wasn't actually what I was going for. I think I still kind of rushed with furnishing this space because the bigger it is, the more empty it feels when it's

unfernished. So, the more patience you need to take your time and because we wanted to have a small wedding reception in our apartment, I kind of rushed to finish it because I wanted it to be

welcoming for guests. What I never really got around to was the bedroom.

The landlord left the curtains there and they were kind of hideous, but they were like this awkward length. So, I didn't want to spend money getting custom ones because I had a feeling we weren't going

to be there for too long, and we weren't. A year and a half later, we moved to BC because we always wanted to try living somewhere new. It was another really new apartment, so honestly,

nothing really needed to be done here.

And we actually split the cost of getting it painted with the landlord so that it would be done before we moved in. And like all of the times it was so worth it because it was like a gray

color before. We pretty much just like picked up and moved in all the same furniture and it fit the space really well. I did do the wall paneling again, this time in the bedroom and in a

different style and it was so nice. I was so happy with the result and so happy that I did it. I also finally started and finished this nightstand project that I had thought about 2 years

ago but never got around to. I loved how it turned out and it really showed me that it was worth it to put in the time to make things beautiful. And aside from those changes, I didn't really need to

do much else. And luckily, I didn't because several months later, we realized we were Toronto people and we planned to move back. We were back in

Toronto and we moved into our current one-bedroom apartment. Aside from the madness of decluttering our two-bedroom lifestyle down to a one-bedroom, I was actually really excited for this place.

Because of a lot of our big furniture wouldn't fit anyway, we had to sell it, which meant that I was able to start with a blank canvas. And when you live in a small space, designing is no longer

that overwhelming. You make changes little by little, and you can actually see the end in sight. So, I was really looking forward to approaching this space differently based on everything I

learned. I realized with my previous rentals, I never had a design plan.

Like, I would literally just pick things

I liked here and there, but I never thought about, is this going to actually be cohesive? What is my color palette?

And I didn't really know where to start.

The biggest mistake I was making with those spaces was just going based off of what I found aesthetically pleasing. But the thing is, I like a lot of things.

Like, a lot of things are beautiful. How

I learned my interior design style actually came from how I learned my personal fashion style. Amy Smolavic is the founder and CEO of a clothing company called Tibby. And she says that

personal style is when you finally have alignment between who you are, how you feel, and what you wear. It's a feeling, not an aesthetic. It's why we often buy

clothes that we think look nice but never end up wearing because it doesn't satisfy a feeling that represents who we are. It's why you see me wearing the

same zip up in every video because being sporty and chill is just part of who I am. It's how I feel. Sometimes I want to feel classy and sophisticated and my

outfit will change based on my feelings changing. But for me to feel like myself, my clothes still always need to feel fun, chill, and practical. So with

interior design, it doesn't start with an aesthetic. It starts with asking yourself, how do I want to feel in this space? All that color I used to bring in was a representation of me. But I

realized that I like vibrant colors in my clothes and not my home. Because wearing bold colors gives me that fun and vibrant energy that I feels representative of my personality, but

seeing vibrant colors in my space doesn't give me the calm and serene feeling I want in my home. I think this concept is really something to noodle on if you haven't ever thought about it in

this way. Like after I figured this out,

I feel like everything really clicked for me. It made me better understand why

I made certain design choices in the past and why they never really satisfied me because they weren't giving me the feeling I wanted. So with this space, I

know that I wanted to feel calm and relaxed. And it was starting with this feeling that really informed my paint style, my color palette, and my material

choices. And every time I'm trying to make a decision on something, I always go back to this question of how do I want to feel in the space and which one is going to better represent that. I

finished most of the rooms here, so you can check out those videos to see that process, but I've also learned that your space and style is always evolving. I still love wall paneling and I actually

really like some of the traditional style, some of the more ornate details, but I'm still figuring out how to include those in a way that feels

harmonious and not random. I know that practicing on all my rentals is what helped me experiment and figure out what

I actually like and what's worth investing time and money in, like painting and wall paneling. Even though this is one of the smaller apartments

I've lived in, the design style feels the most cohesive. And it's the first time that my home, yes, my rental that is my home, feels the most like me. So

don't wait until you own a home. Start designing now. It is all practice for your future home. Anyway, if you enjoyed the video, give it a like, subscribe for more, and I'll see you in the next one.

Bye.