Well, inspiration is clearly contagious. I LOVED the little tour of your new place! The sight of your couches, which I sat set eyes (and bum) on in Kitsilano, made me very nostalgic, and your description of work space and family memories made me spring into action with my camera and find some everyday beauty around this old house of ours. Don’t you just love how creativity is its own engine? I recently watched this TED talk with my students about the idea that nothing we do creatively is original. Thanks for the idea-worth-stealing!

I don’t know about you, but I love doors.  Gates, windows, fences, but old doors especially. Our house is over a hundred years old so we have some antique bits and pieces. One thing we have a-plenty is doors. Like, when we moved in we found five doors in a stack in the basement. The ones currently in use are mostly original and a bit warped and badly painted, but I love them.  I went first to the back door, maybe because it’s the one we use the most and it opens onto our deck and studio. Who doesn’t love morning light coming through glass?

And here is the front door with the World’s Tiniest Closet beside it. This door sticks and has to be closed just so for it stay closed, but I remind myself that’s part of living in an old house. Ever since I started writing (way back in the early grades, when poems all rhymed and stories were told by animals), I’ve been fascinated by the character that old places bring to fiction. Every trip to Europe as a kid further solidified my love of old things. I ended up being a bit of a new-places-snob in my early twenties, though since then I’ve found a balance. But don’t you love the way a place imparts its history and age and flavour on the people who live in it? Maybe that’s where the urge to travel comes from for me.  Or why I very often write about places I’ve been to but don’t live in.

Next on the tour: the piano window. I have no idea why it’s called this. Someone who knew our house years ago called it that and I took it to mean they knew something I didn’t about old windows. Plus, I like the name. It’s old-sounding.

It’s the only original window glass in our house–the imperfections make the scenery outside waver charmingly. That’s part of DH’s collection of ceramics from his art school days in front.

And speaking of DH…you’ll remember how important this little room is. The Coffee Lab is hopefully going to get a facelift (and tummy tuck) over the winter, but front and centre will always be Our Lady of Coffee, the Ventrano. You might remember this little snap shot I posted recently, which I’m sure you know is not my handiwork, given that I don’t drink coffee. DH hones his latte art skills in the Coffee Lab every morning and pretty soon Little e will be entering her apprenticeship beside him…

Speaking of Little e, before she becomes the world’s shortest barista, I think she’s considering a hobby in shoe rearranging.

Finally, in my search for homegrown happiness, I came outside to the studio, where we’ve had parties and book launches and play dates and evening-tea-and-cake chats. DH is a little more fastidious about cleaning up the toys in here, but I liked the look of the happy chaos, so I just took the photo. Thanks for the continued inspiration, my friend. Let’s keep in coming!

XO

Ria