Vintage Decor Tips From Grandma

Last week we stayed at my grandma's place for the whole week (hence why I hadn't blogged for what feels like ages!). There is a fine line between a beautiful vintage vibe, and a dated, obsolete, grandma-y one, and my grandma's home (interestingly enough!) falls into the former category. So naturally I asked her to share some of her insight with me.

I have always been a big fan of everything vintage, but alas, I had never been brave enough to try it in my own home for fear of looking old-fashioned. But here are the keys to add some vintage elements into your home and still have it look modern and fashionable:

1. Vintage trays and mirrors 
Little trays and mirrors add personality to a space (like a bathroom) but are also simple enough not to make too big a statement. Place little glass bottles on top, adding a pop of color to counteract its effect.

2. Add fresh elements next to old ones
In order to counteract the old feel of a space, add some new, fresh elements into the mix. For example, here she placed a clean vase with some white flowers next to old-looking vintage clock and books, which makes them look more updated.

3. Halls and corridors can use some vintage-loving too
If you have a hall, entryway or corridor that looks too plain, add two or three statement pieces that set the tone for that space. Plus, these pictured containers double as genius storage!

4. Focus on an opaque pastel color palette
A soft color palette can instantly add a vintage character to any room. If blush hues feel too grandma-y for you, however, then you can still play around with some trendier yet still vintage color palettes, such as rose gold.


These little tips are simple enough, and don't necessarily require a big budget. They are perfect if you want to give your house a much-needed makeover, with minimum fuss and expense but major effect.

Please do share, what are your best tips to give a room (or a whole home!) a vintage/romantic vibe?

Home Accents

Fully decorating a home can be challenging for so many reasons: budget, lack of skills, or in my case for example, the fact that we move so often that we find it incredibly overwhelming to fully decorate it every time.

My tip in this case is to have some key accents around your home that make it cozy and inviting, and can multitask (thus not requiring much else). Some of my home accents include:

1. A gorgeous iron tree that we recently got as a wedding present doubles as a bed header and wall decor, giving our bedroom a lot of character. Just one statement-making piece makes all the difference in a room.

2. Scented candles. Scented candles everywhere! I have an (unhealthy) obsession with them: for me there are few pleasures like that of entering a lovely-smelling room. Spread them around your house and they will make sure it looks great too. 

3. Kids art: Kids make cute little works of art all the time, like this pretty tea light holder my 3-year-old made. Showing off their work in your home will also make them feel really proud.

4. Create some fun/ festive/ cute designs on little items around the house, such as napkin holders and coasters. They will brighten up the space. (This particular napkin holder was made by my mom using Christmas napkins, I am not nearly as talented!).

5.  For the kitchen, choose a couple of items to stand out, which will give it that chick and modern look. For mine, I chose the toaster and kettle and they really pop in my kitchen.

I have always believed that there is no need to splurge in thousands of items to make a home your own. Perhaps when I settle in one place for good (around 2015) I will, but for now all those little details really make a difference in the feel of our house.

Chevron Home Decor

I have shared my love of Chevron prints on several occasions already, like here and here; but I thought I would dedicate one entire post to it. If I could, I would decorate my entire house in Chevron print. I might at some point, probably when we find a house we want to settle in (read: in New Zealand).

I know, the world is currently invaded by Chevron print. Some call it a "Chevron Madness", but in my opinion it is totally justified. I don't think it will go away any time soon. My favorite thing about this print is that you can incorporate it into all sorts of little details around your house: bedding, rugs, wall art, even mugs. It is practically fool-proof (perfect for me, as my decorating skills are, let's say, somewhat limited). With a few of these items around and not much else, your home will still look beautifully decorated.

Here are some items I found and love. They add quite a bit of life to these homes, don't ya' think?:

There are literally thousands of options out there to decorate your home with: Chevron prints come in every color there is, in almost every single style, so don't be afraid to play around a little with some fun, unexpected objects like the switch cover on the last picture. It will give your home a much more relaxed, youthful vibe. If your home is in need of an update, or a little makeover, Chevron prints will achieve it with just a few, key elements, making it a stylish, yet inexpensive option! So really, what is there not to love!?

Sources:
1. Home Goods
2. The House of Smiths
3. Freshome
4. Etsy
5. Overstock.com
6. Houzz
7. Etsy
8. Etsy

Gray - Yellow Home Decor

I have a somewhat unhealthy obsession with pink. If it was up to me, everything I own would be pink (except clothes, I do like to play with different colors when it comes to my outfit). But my room, for example, would probably resemble something like this:

This is SprinkleOfGlitter's bedroom, one of my favorite bloggers. This was love at first sight for me.

However, I have a fiancé that would never in a million lifetimes let me do that. Shame. However, I was lucky enough to find a trend that fits both our styles perfectly: the contrast of gray and yellow is delicate and subtle, without being too feminine. It gives a very modern look to the home, but makes it feel romantic and cozy at the same time. We are both minimalist when it comes to decorating, which this trend matches perfectly, as a few, simple details bring any room to life. In short, I think this is the one for us.

Here are some examples of yellow-gray home decor:

WALL DECOR

1. Flowers and Chevron; available  here
2. Even more Chevron; available here  (Probably the most likely to be approved by fiancé)
3. A more delicate print; available here
4. Cute quote and design, also perfect for a nursery; available here

HOME ACCESSORIES

1. Collection of pillows, from Zinc Door
2. Gray and Yellow bedding, from West Elm
3. Floral contemporary rug; available here
4. Chevron coffee mug, available here

I think it is a lovely combination of colors, don't you?

My (Pretty Much Nonexistent) Cooking Skills

With my approaching wedding, one of the things that keeps me calm is knowing that me and my fiancé know each other's facets like the back of our hands. He has seen me at my very worst, and my most excited; I have been there when he has been overwhelmed, and when he has been as calm as a clam (try to say that fast!). Most importantly, we know and accept each other's strong and weak points, and try to grow together.

One of my weakest points, which he found out about very early into our relationship, was my cooking skills. The very first time I stayed over, he made for me this incredible breakfast with poached eggs, sausages, toast, the works. The first time he stayed over? toast and... jam perhaps? Poor thing. But I just can't pretend to know how to cook. I am so useless. To give you an idea, last year while we were staying with my mother in law, I tried to help her out with dinner (big mistake!), and offered to boil some potatoes. How hard can that be? Who on Earth could mess that up? Me, that's who! Turns out I overcooked the damn things and we ended up eating mashed potatoes. Polite as she is, she smiled and said it was okay, "we love mashed potatoes anyway"... but the damage was done. I will always be the girl who can't boil potatoes!

On the other hand, I am lucky to be marrying a guy who is a cooking star. It appears that way to me, anyway; I suspect Wolfgang Puck would say I'm exaggerating. But he truly is: he improvises with whatever we have at home and makes fantastic, complete meals. He is the one to call me when I'm at the supermarket and instruct me on exactly what meat I should get, what ingredients, etc. For a short while he even made gourmet pizzas to sell, which were a great hit with family and friends. There never was any question as to who did what in our household: he cooks, I clean the dishes. No potatoes get overcooked, no one gets poisoned, no one burns the house down. It works like a charm.

When he cooks he is free and happy, and truly enjoys the experience. When I cook,  I spend half an hour staring blankly at all the ingredients, not really knowing where to start. In a very traditional country like mine, this is seen with shock horror, as the cooking is a "woman's role". And while I do agree that I need to expand my cooking portfolio further than noodles and sandwiches, the cooking role will always remain his and I guess we will just have to be a "modern couple" like that.

The only thing I have ever made that was acceptable: this Teriyaki Chicken and rice for my fiancé! I was (am) so proud of it, I snapped a photo with my iPhone (forgive the quality) and sent it to almost everyone I know. How sad.

Stationery Luuuuve

Before I write anything, I just want to put a disclaimer out there, to say that I am not associated in any way with the brand mentioned, I just became obsessed with their products when I first headed over to their website. It was love at first sight.

Bills aren't going to pay themselves, so having a job is (for most people anyway) a necessary, important part of life, if only because of the life lessons and relationships that come with it. However, any job can easily become boring and spiral into a never-ending routine, if you don't make it  a fun and enjoyable experience.

First, you must know that I am completely obsessed with stationery and cute office supplies. Ever since I first started consciously knowing what it was, I would marvel at different-colored notebooks, sparkly pens and markers, bright erasers and rulers, and mountains of stickers. It is an obsession that instead of ending, has grown with time and now I am the proud owner of about a hundred different notepads and notebooks that I use for anything and everything, and I have also been known to use my toddler's colored pencils more than him...  (*looks around in shame*)

When I first heard of Poppin through one of my favorite blogs, http://www.bubbyandbean.com/, I had to check it out. Next thing I know, I had spent three hours browsing their website and our dinner had burned (kind of...). I immediately decided which items I wanted for my workplace, just to add a little more life to it. So here are all my favorites:

Some goodies for the professional gal...

Pink iCushion

Lime Green Clipboard

Pink Mouse Pad

Pink Pebble Eraser

And of course there's a notebook in this list...

Racecar One Subject Notebook

I left the best for the end: A color-changing lamp in the shape of a teardrop! How absolutely perfect is this!? It is cute, bright and cheerful. Whenever you are having a particularly hard day at work, I'm sure looking over at this pretty lamp will be enough to make you forget your troubles, at least for a few minutes. Just maybe don't place directly in front of you, as it can get a little distracting...

Color Changing Teardrop Light

Aren't all these supplies absolutely adorable? How much easier would it be to get out of bed on a cold monday morning when you know these are all sitting neatly on your desk, waiting for you to arrive and begging to be used?

If you are anything like me, checking out their website can be dangerous... it will make you waste a good amount of hours, but I know you won't resist the urge, so I'll let you go now. Enjoy the rest of your day taking mental notes for your next stationery haul!

Thoughts on Happiness

Source

This is going to be a bit of a different post, since this is mostly a beauty and lifestyle in general blog, but I love writing about what comes to mind and about things I believe are worth sharing, which is why today I am going to share with you some experiences in my life that have taught me a little about happiness. I am by no means an expert on the subject, I am simply sharing what I learned recently. Don't worry, I won't be writing these kind of posts frequently, I know they can get pretty boring pretty quickly.

So, anyway, I was browsing Pinterest for a few (coughs *four*) hours, you know, as you do, and stumbled upon this pin.

The first thing that captured my eye was how beautiful the image itself is: the pink, the flowers, the gold typography, the jewelry... I love it all. I love how just a few, simple details work together to create a bright, beautiful space. This image definitely goes on the list of my future home office inspiration.

However, I decided to pin it when I read the words. Be Happy. Be Bright. Be You. Such small words conveying such a powerful message! For me, the last two are the path to achieve the first. Only when you are truly being yourself, and you are determined to keep shining no matter what life has in store for you, can you be truly happy. By no means is this an easy task to achieve. I should know.

No matter how many times I try to convince myself otherwise, I was a pretty negative person. I had an unconscious habit of complaining about little things all the time. If my coffee got cold, I complained. If I had to pay a little more than I expected for my car service, I complained. If another car was being a complete asshat on the road, I complained. And I wasn't being happy. I mean, I had happy moments of course, and I wasn't miserable or anything, but I most definitely didn't feel content and happy with my life as it was.

Then last year came the trip to New Zealand, which forced me to change every single preconceived idea about myself and life in general. I thought I would move, get a job straight away and live happily ever after with my son and fiance, and go on with our lives there. As it turns out, the "job straight away" didn't happen, which decreased my self-esteem and sense of self-worth. It also meant we were close to being completely broke when a job opportunity turned up back in Colombia. In a very small, very hot, very unknown-to-me city. And I had to let go of the very rigid plan I had made for us, and start all over again. In a less than ideal place. This change shook me to the core: the circumstances were forcing me to move to a city where I definitely didn't want to live, and it made me really really unhappy.

In retrospect, I can definitely say that this has been my "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times" moment. I was so miserable the first few months after moving back, and I don't think I had ever been so negative. And then I hit rock bottom and realized something HAD to change, and fast. I realized that my whole life, my happiness had been dependent on external things: the city where I lived, the friends I had, the amount of clothes I owned, my grades at university, you name it. My happiness had never come from within me, and it became crystal clear why I had never truly felt happy: the things I couldn't control were the ones responsible for my happiness.

Now, I can fully appreciate this little pin with its few, little words. Being happy is about learning to shine and remain bright when circumstances change, or when you are in a less than ideal position. It is the knowledge, deep within you, that your life is working out exactly as it has to, and that there is a reason for everything (no matter how cliché that sounds). And it is also about learning who you are, and staying true to that. If you pretend to be someone you are not, or if you are being the person other people want you to be, there is no way you can achieve happiness. For me, the answer was blogging, because it forced me to write about things I was feeling, things that inspire me, things I like, and this is teaching me who I really am.

I encourage you to start this journey of learning who you really are, and then finding a way that works for you to stay true to that. It is not easy. But it is so totally worth it, because when you are truly being yourself, your light will be shining brighter than ever, and I can assure you that you will be able to feel happy. I was incredibly surprised when I changed my mindset, as little things weren't affecting me nearly as much as they were before, and much to my pleasure, I am happier now than ever before. Yes, even living in this tiny little hot town in Colombia.

Weddings and Gifts

I got engaged to a wonderful man, Sean, in January 2011. Finally, after moving countries last year and then moving back again, we are getting married on December 21st.

I was never the type that started picturing her wedding dress at the age of five. I mean, I thought of my dream man, yes, and getting married and living happily, but never about the wedding itself. I have always been a little bit (or quite strongly, actually) against traditions and doing the same everybody is doing. Take my exchange, for example. In 2009 I decided to go on an exchange to another country. Everyone was going to countries such as Australia, France, Uk... and I said, "no way", I need to go somewhere much more exotic and uncommon. So I chose New Zealand, and upon getting there I met Sean. Four years and a toddler later, we are getting married.

As fate would have it, Sean is big on tradition. He wanted the whole deal. The big wedding, with me walking in a stunning white gown down the aisle, speeches, a full bridal party, nice champagne, the whole lot. I wanted something a lot more relaxed: 50 people tops, barefoot at the beach, at sunset. Something intimate and beautiful, that followed only OUR rules, and speaks to who we are as individuals and a couple. To me it was always, ALWAYS, about what comes after that one day. I guess I am on the other end of the spectrum to bridezillas.

After much debating, discussions, and even a little argument, we are finally preparing a ceremony that we will both love and that means something to both of us. It took us a very long time, but we got there, and ended up with just over three months to plan it. The first thing I wanted to do was the gift registry. I might as well start with the most fun part, right? So I went last week, and spent a whole day choosing what I would like to have in my home. We already have pretty much all the essentials, but I find our home way too cold and empty, so I mostly went for decorations.

Some of the things I chose are:

1. A beautiful, huge, vintage clock. It will give any room so much character and color. I fell in love with it the second I saw it.

2. Beautiful wall art with different messages. There were many, but I chose five that really speak to me and have simple but powerful messages that I want to be reminded of every day: Breathe; Free Yourself; Connect to the energy of love; Trust the Universe; and finally, Dont Give Up, pictured below.

3. Bright-colored China. Our dinnerware at the moment is pretty dull, just plain old white. So when we saw these beautiful, bright, cheerful plates from United Colors of Benetton we just had to add them to our list. They are sure to make meals a little happier.

Image is from http://www.falabella.com.co/, where we made our registry. They didn't allow me to photograph it. Also, not all of the plates we chose are hot pink. We also chose bright green and blue  ;)

4. Aside from some more home decor items, the last thing we picked was this one "big item": the Fujifilm FinePix S1600 Semi-professional Digital Camera. Our camera is getting pretty old now, and I have wanted a semi-pro for quite a while now, and especially since starting this blog. This one in particular is pretty awesome: it has a 15x zoom lens, 12 megapixels and a 3" LCD screen.

I'm curious now: if you are married, what made in onto your gift registry? Also, what type of wedding do you lean more towards: very traditional? more rustic and relaxed? a destination wedding perhaps?

We All Need a Haven

First of all, welcome to my blog!

The first blog I tried to write came at quite a negative stage in my life. I created it to help me understand that small things in every day are what make us happy, and that it pays off to focus on them rather than on those little bits that we'd rather not experience. However, I no longer relate to that blog. It sort of lost my essence a little bit. I am much happier now, and no longer feel that I need to write there in order to make myself feel better.

So that is how The Happy Life Of A City Girl came about. I am happy. (Please note: my life is far from perfect, but I am now, finally, perfectly happy with it). I am also most definitely a city girl. And there is nothing I want more than to write about everything and anything, share thoughts, and document little wonderful snippets of this world we live in. If I am completely honest, I also want a platform where I can truly be myself, and fully learn who Veronica really is.

I don't want to bore you too much with the whole story of my life, so I'm just going to describe myself in five words, and then throughout the posts you will get to know me a little better as I hope I do you too. I am a daydreamer, an over-thinker, a product junkie, a pink lover, and a shower-singer. Hmm, that was a little more than five words (eight actually) but I hope you'll forgive me for that.

This blog is going to be a hobby for the most part, but I hope someday I can make it my job. For that reason, I see fit that the very first post is about my dream office space. I have resorted to Pinterest because it just never fails to inspire me, and sure enough, there I found these little spaces that are totally me and that I definitely want to have in my house someday:

Image from Cupcakes and Cashmere

Image from Little Bits of Lovely

As you can see, I love little vintage items, chevron prints, flowers and of course a subtle touch of pink or pastels when it comes to decorating. Also, I tend to lean towards crisp and clean details, sort of a minimalist style works more for me.

Now I want to know: do you have a little space in your home that is your own personal haven? Do you have a totally pinterest-worthy office? And also, if you'd like, describe yourself in five words so that we can start knowing each other a lot better, shall we?