Lost with Luis: Home Decor Tour & Getting Ready for Fall

I acknowledge that my home is located on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

Anybody else pick up a few COVID-19 hobbies? Just me? One of my most popular blog posts to date was about my move during COVID-19 and decorating my new home. Many of you have asked me for a home tour, so I know a bunch of you are also interested in home décor and DIY projects!

As I get ready for the fall, I want to give you a tour of my Toronto apartment plus a sneak peek at some of my favourite finds from the last year.

My style is somewhat eclectic and a mix of a few different styles. I take inspiration from a “classic gentleman’s parlor” that you would find in the UK mixed with a cozy cottage and a few bohemian touches here and there. I don’t follow any particular rules and I just do what feels right to me. That’s the fun of decorating a home: it’s all about making it feel nice and cozy for YOU!

I really wanted my home to feel like a cottage tucked away in the woods. After being in lockdown for over a year, that was super important to me! If you’ve seen the TV show “Friends,” I'm kind of like Phoebe in the Pottery Barn episode. I love bargains and antiques that have history, character, and feel like they've seen life. Nothing in my house is expensive. Most of my decor and furniture, with the exception of my couch, were bargain finds from antique shops in small towns in Ontario.

I hope this post provides some inspiration for your own home! Here are some of my favourite things:  

1. Fireplace
Starting off with one of my favourite features—the fireplace. It’s pretty rare to have a working fireplace in an apartment in Toronto, so I feel lucky to have this in the apartment!

As the weather cools moving into fall, I love cozying up in front of a crackling fire with a good book or movie. I use this fireplace from fall all the way until spring and love its utility and aesthetic in my apartment.

2. Plants, plants and more plants
To me, plants make a home. Growing up, my mother had lots of plants and so I’ve followed in her footsteps and have lots of greenery in my own apartment. It helps add warmth, life, and beauty to the environment. I can never have too many! 

Can’t get enough plants! I love the variety they come in. The plant stand is from an antique shop in a small town that I got for just $15! Such a steal.

My fig plant has doubled in size in this apartment!

I have a few hanging plants throughout the apartment.

3. Adding a touch of fall
I love when the seasons change and you can play around with some of your home décor. I especially love the antique jar with cottonwood seeds, as it reminds of me of fireflies in a jar and feels so nostalgic. I find it fits so nicely with the beads, pumpkin and candle.

I purchased a few other antique jars (can you tell I love them?) as décor. The first one holding wheat represents fall and harvest time, and I like the vertical height it gives the mantle. The jar beside it is full of feathers and I absolutely love the look of this! So classic. The books underneath are also antiques and give that perfect pop of colour to the display.

The floor can sometimes be an under-utilized space, but I’ve made the most of it. These velvet pumpkins are perfect and I absolutely love them for the fall. The basket with blankets is just a must when having friends over to watch a movie and get cozy and warm!

It’s all in the details! I love these pieces of fall décor. Antique jars and books were purchased at a local antique shop; the basket (with blankets) was purchased on sale for $29.95 at Simons; the velvet pumpkins are from HomeSense).

4. Bar Cart
The fall season is great for trying out some new drinks—like a pumpkin old fashioned! My new favourite drink with one of my favourite pieces in the house: the bar cart. This antique is special to me as it was gifted to us by my partner’s mother.

I love the mustard colour against the green wall, and it ties in nicely with some of the other details (and plants!) surrounding it. 

5. Washroom
Who doesn’t want a bit of the tropics in Toronto? We did! So, we added this banana leaf wallpaper in the washroom to compliment the nice rich blue colour and add a bit of fun! It brings my Dominican roots right back to my home, especially as the days get shorter. The wallpaper was purchased on Etsy. I’ll be honest, it was a beast to install and Rikki and I nearly separated (haha). Ok, that might be a tad dramatic but definitely be in the right headspace and have full stomachs before attempting wallpaper with your partner!

6. Bedroom
The bedroom isn’t often seen by guests like the rest of the house… it’s just for you, so make it your own! Since I love getting outdoors to explore, we added the birch wallpaper to bring a bit of the outdoors inside. 

The carpet under the bed provides nice warmth to the room, especially on the hardwood floors. The night lights are Edison Bulbs, and I think they give a really cool, antique-y vibe to the room. Finally, the bedding—I just love it! It’s from Simons and is a chenille set. So comfortable, simple, and cozy.

7. My Office
My home office is a really important spot in the apartment. I spend a lot of time here and need to be able to focus and concentrate, so I took special care into decorating and setting it up. 

Decorating doesn’t have to be expensive! I got the vintage banker’s lamp on the desk from Kijiji and the filing cabinet from a prior tenant of my old apartment. 

The two frames on the wall are really special to me. I work at The Globe and Mail, so old newspapers and stories hold a lot of interest. These are two original newspapers from 1945 and 1977 that I won at a charity auction! One of them has the headline, “War is Over” after World War Two ended, and the other is about Pierre and Margaret Trudeau splitting, with a young Justin Trudeau. It’s so cool to have these pieces of history up on my walls.

8. The Kitchen
The kitchen and living room area is joined by a large island that is perfect for hosting. I picked up this antique basket and placed some small gourds and pumpkins for a nice fall touch and a pop of colour. The hanging plant baskets are from IKEA and I purchased the pig wall decal (which I absolutely love) from Simons.

9. Our Patio
We live in a Toronto apartment, which means the patio is pretty small. It’s also shared with our neighbours, so we had to get creative! We wanted to create an intimate nook on the patio, so we planted some cedar trees for privacy. The planter was custom-built by my partner’s step dad and doubles as storage for fire wood.I love it when function meets practicality.

To make it extra cozy, we added some string lights for nighttime plus chairs, cushions, a carpet and some plants to make it comfy and useable. We also added a straw bale and a few pumpkins for the fall.

Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed that tour around my apartment. It felt so good to have a project to work on during COVID-19 and really create a special and unique space in this new home. Just as I tried to bring a lot of my personality into my home, do the same for yours! It’s such a great way to express your creativity. Happy house decorating!