The Corners of Our Homes Vol. 3 - Vivian McCormick

Vivian McCormick and her husband David have happily called themselves East Vancouver residents since fall of 2016. They hadn't planned on moving when their Mount Pleasant townhouse came on the market, but one curiosity-driven walk through during an open house sealed the deal. They take their Boston Beagle Terrier, Daisy, to play at Dude Chilling Park and enjoy all the shops and restaurants on Main Street. Here's a look into their favourite corners...

Living Room

 One big draw of this house is the super high ceilings on the ground floor, so it feels bigger than the square footage would suggest. This tall and narrow bookshelf from West Elm was ideal for making the best use of the space. I'm a bit of a cookbook collector (perhaps hoarder) and ironically most of the recipes I use come from the internet. But I use this cool website called Eat Your Books, where you can create a virtual index of all the recipes in your physical cookbooks - a much easier way to know what's in them without having to flip through each one when you're looking for a specific dish to cook. Who doesn't love to look through a beautiful cookbook, though? 

A lot of the pictures we have on our walls were taken during our travels. The one of the Star Ferry in Victoria Harbour is a favourite because my mom grew up in Hong Kong and loved taking the ferry. There is a shop right at the ferry pier that she took me to - they sell the best egg tarts I have ever had (and I've eaten my share). When David and I visited Hong Kong, I insisted we get those to eat on the ferry and I can almost taste them whenever I look at that picture. 

One downside to having high ceilings is the room can be a bit of an echo chamber. David solved that problem by turning our wall hangings into aesthetically-pleasing sound dampening panels. We printed our most loved pictures on canvas using Canvas Pop, and then David attached studio sound absorbing foam (the stuff that looks like sheets of foam egg cartons) behind each one. 

Kitchen

An open kitchen is a top priority in our living space, because it's not an exaggeration to say our lives revolve around food. My parents used to host huge parties when I was a kid and everyone hung out in the kitchen and grazed on big platters of delicious home cooked food. That's exactly how we entertain big groups now, or we love smaller dinners where we can deep dive into conversations with our friends and family. 

A very recent, but exciting addition to our kitchen is the custom millwork and metalwork done by Wood Shop Workers Co-Op. This space off to the side of our kitchen has been under utilized since we moved in. Chris and the team from Wood Shop brought our vision to life using ethically sourced reclaimed wood and we love it so much. There is one part left to be installed, the wine rack (so the most important) and then it will be complete. The bed that we feature regularly on Flax Sleep's social media is also a Wood Shop creation, as they make beautiful furniture too. 

Of course, I have to mention sourdough because I think it is one of the initial things that brought Oana, Anna and I together. I don't think we would have ever started Flax Sleep if it wasn't for our mutual love of making sourdough bread. Starting and running a business sometimes feels like a whirlwind, but slowing down to the speed of fermenting sourdough is a great way to change gears!

 Sleepy Times

Let's be clear, it's always sleepy times now that we have Flax Sleep linen bedding. But when we moved in, we upgraded to a king size bed and thankfully so because that is exactly where Daisy usually tries to plant herself every night. We get a lot of feedback from our customers that their pets can't get enough of their new linen bedding. Hey, I get it!