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[Oznell]

This blogger and thrifter, "Mama Brooke", lives in a small apartment in an old brick house in Toronto.   In fact, her space on the second floor, was originally just the three bedrooms and a bathroom for the house.  Now, it's a snug living room, kitchen, bedroom and bath.

It's like a treehouse, decorated in her own flea market, thrifted, European cottage style.

For some reason, I had trouble snatching stills from the video to show, but to watch her video tour, you can search:   Elevate Your Apartment--  on a dime design.

I grabbed a few images from her garden video too--  How to Elevate Your Garden on a Dime,  also easily searchable.   

What a nifty focal point she found for her little sitting room--  an imposing highboy, with those original amazing finials!   She painted it chalky black, for drama and to suit her style.

Right ajacent is the charming kitchen, with its old brick wall.  The tiny round table is her dining table.  The black door leads first to a small, adorable pantry, and then to her terrace.  Can't see the working side of the kitchen in this photo.

This little vintage table next to that brick wall stores some of her dishes-- she says she often uses luncheon plates to eat off of--  good diet tip!

The kitchen is little, unrenovated, but so cute, and she cooks up a storm in it.

I was so taken with her bathroom.  She said she renovated it for about $5000 a couple of years ago.   That wonderful box paneling on the wall--  that's 4 Ikea doors, "seconds", that she got for $40 odd, and now they look like vintage paneling.   I think the black ceiling and pendant light are perfect in here.   The high quality pendant was a Facebook Marketplace find.

The video is worth watching for the bathroom alone.  She wanted the bathroom to have an 'old school' feeling like the house, so chose marble floor tiles in a handsome cross hatch pattern.  Rug is pretty in here.

She showed a little of the bedroom, but says it's a work in progress.  A great idea for storage in there, was her adaptation of a glass-fronted vintage curio cabinet-- she's using one as a "sweater closet",  to tame her prized overflow sweater collection!

Good idea when storage and closets are tight.

You step out of her kitchen into this charming little wood terrace with tree-top views of the neighborhood.  I love the way she's made use of every square inch.  She's a devoted gardener, and has tucked in an iron chaise with striped cushion for relaxing too.

This is one of two iron chairs she has for entertaining up here.

Every house, whatever the size, done up economically and with cleverness, has so many ideas to offer.

Bonus, if you go to her site.  There's a video with a recipe for 'sticky toffy pudding'!   An old English dessert she made for Canadian Thanksgiving.  I might make it for our Thanksgiving, yum, since I love dates and especially, caramel sauce.

 

Don't you think that HGTV could benefit from a few shows featuring non-cookie cutter type dwellings like this?  They used to, and it was so much more interesting.

[Group 5 minus 1]

S.O.S.

[Buffalogal47]

I love it! I also have a small apartment and love to see new ways to decorate and maximize space. I also love eclectic decor. 

[stevieb]

Some cute choices. I always wanted a flat top style highboy similar to the one below in my living room as a 'statement' piece and almost landed one at an estate sale, but alas, it got away. And yes, @Oznell I absolutely agree that HGTV could benefit from both more diverse programming (less reno and rehab, more decorating)  and a less cookie cutter aesthetic.

[DSD2]

This was lovely Oznell!

The space is sublime. I also loved the highboy and her aesthetics are tasteful and everything works well together. A minor quibble regarding the zebra fabric chairs but otherwise, this was just about perfect.

I would live on that terrace, weather permitting. Exquisite plants/flowers.

Thank you so much!

[cimeranrose]

Very nice apartment; looks cozy and inviting. I agree that HGTV could use some changes. I stopped watching HGTV about 2 years ago when I discovered the British TV show "Escape to the Country." Love seeing the different style homes in Great Britain and I've learned a lot about the different counties in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Thanks for sharing the photos of this cute Toronto apartment.

[Oznell]

Hear, hear, @stevieb ,  I've dreamed of having the same in my living room as well!   There's something about those highboys--  they have such "charisma"!   It must have been so saddening to have the perfect one get away.

And it's the most decorative storage option possible!!

[cindyNC]

HGTV...........seems to be on all the TVs in the doctor offices I go to.  I guess it's probably the least offensive program suitable for the public. 

[Marsha2003]

There was a time many years ago when HGTV offered a wonderful collection of how-to decorating, craft and gardening shows.  Then, they switched to competition-type shows and personality-driven shows.  I don't know what they offer now as I gave up cable a few years ago.  For a while, I lamented the changes and hoped to see the channel move back to its roots, but I no longer care because there are so many interesting creators offering content on YouTube.  I love YouTube.  Thank you, @Oznell, for featuring creators that I haven't seen before.

[stevieb]

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@Oznell wrote:

Hear, hear, @stevieb ,  I've dreamed of having the same in my living room as well!   There's something about those highboys--  they have such "charisma"!   It must have been so saddening to have the perfect one get away.

And it's the most decorative storage option possible!!

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@Oznell  Oh I was beyond annoyed. First of all, an older gentelman was relocating and his family wanted top dollar for everything, even though very few pieces were truly valuable. His furniture was nice quality furniture store furniture with but just a few bona fide antiques thrown in. The highboy was part of a bedroom suite. Nice but not an exceptional piece of furniture. Then once we'd agreed on a price that was more than I'd wanted to pay, one of the family decided they wanted to keep it... So it goes...