lived-in look - sets of The Vow

Last Saturday, I went out with a few of my gorgeous girlfriends to enjoy the ultimate chick flick recently released in cinemas - The Vow. I was excited, as the last movie I watched was Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows part 2... yes, it has been that long.

Just before the accident which caused Paige's memory loss. See that lorry coming their way?

Not going to spoil this movie for you all, but let me just say I enjoyed the movie despite it being chock-full of cliches and (I know, I know!) it didn't fare well with the critics. As always, I cry in soppy love stories (which amazes myself and my husband as I'm not the soppy type. We're at a loss as to how soppy movies manage to push my waterworks button).

Anyway, as always, I like to look at the home sets they use on shows I watch, and I was delightfully impressed with the kitchen of the industrial loft of where the commercially good-looking couple, Paige (Rachel McAdams) and Leo (Channing Tatum) live in.

Firstly, I noticed they used pretty aqua-blue backsplash tiles which looks great with the white cabinets and wood countertops. I also noticed they used open shelves for the upper cabinets, and a stainless steel little portable island. The little plants on the windowsill above the sink also makes the home look lived-in, showing a bit of Paige's nature-loving character.

So, it turns out that the production designer of this movie is Kalina Ivanov, who happens to have won an Emmy for her work on HBO movie, Grey Gardens. No wonder.

Here are some more photos from the set of The Vow taken from Apartment Therapy. You can read the article and view more photos of the sets in this movie there. Enjoy!

A view of the rest of the loft from the kitchen. Like the green industrial lamps above the island and the open brick wall.

Paige tries to do a timeline of her photos on the dining table. Kind of like the Facebook Timeline which is being forced upon us all. Love the huge lamp shades.

The bedroom. I've always loved the idea of having built-in bookshelves around the bed. Ain't that pretty. Cool artwork above the bed.

Paige's studio

Paige and Leo in her studio

Which reminds me (pun not intended) - Paige lost her memory of the last five years, and she seemed bewildered with the fact that (spoiler alert) she dropped out of law school and became an artist. I mean, in reality, wouldn't she be amazed upon finding this out because a passion doesn't come out of no where? If I were Paige, after losing my memory and finding out from my incredibly good-looking and sensitive stranger/husband that I was a talented artist, I would be like, "Whoa! I'm an artist?! I've always loved art! Good on me!" and do a funny but endearing little dance.

So Paige has super-rich and estranged parents, but she lost her memory so she can't wrap her head around why in the world she would not have spoken to them in the last five years. So she goes back to her parents' home and leaves poor Leo mourning alone in their stylish loft.

Here's the parents' rich and sophisticated, formal home - looking all classy but cold. I think the formal family portrait brought in that feeling.

The tastefully-decorated formal living room with dark walls and furniture and a serious-looking family portrait of Paige and her family.

More dark furniture in the dining room. Nice wallpaper there.

Finally, Paige sort of comes to her senses and moves in to a city apartment all by herself.

Paige's loft, decorated with sculpture pieces, looking similar to the loft she shared with Leo.

Have you watched The Vow yet? After watching this, I feel like going on a Rachel McAdams'-romantic-movies-marathon. Starting with...The Notebook!

Hope you enjoyed these photos. See more of the set here.

Have a great Monday!

small-space decorating - a girl's apartment

Prior to moving in to our current apartment, I scoured the internet looking for inspiration on how to decorate small apartments. Our apartment is less than 1000 square feet, but so far, we feel right at home and it doesn't feel small at all!

I found these photos of a home on Micasa, a Spanish website. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know that the home belongs to a woman by looking at these photos.

The apartment is less than 100 metre square, which is 1076 square feet (still bigger than our apartment!).

There's no doubt that white does make a small room feel and look bigger. Using lucite for the coffee table adds in extra surface without looking like its taking up space.

With a white backdrop, colours come in with the accessories - decorative pillows, patterned throws, silver lanterns, and the gold legs of those stools are absolutely cute.  Dark hardwood floors make a great contrast with white.

A simple and clean white kitchen sans handles for a small compact kitchen. Notice they added in some colour and pattern on that small part of the wall next to the window with bright floral wallpaper.

For the closet, white drawers again without handles. For visual interest, the walls are decorated with again, floral patterned wallpaper. I always think wallpaper would look nicer in smaller rooms, such as this.

And they used wallpaper in the bathroom, too. Reflective surface for the vanity helps to make the room look bigger.

I'm not a huge fan of the bedroom, but it's simple and pretty. They've kept the walls free of picture frames to keep the bed as the main visual interest of the room with all its decorative pillows and textured quilt. Also, since the room is small, it doesn't need too much accessories.

I also like the fact that they made the window look bigger by adding an extra panel of curtain to the right side of the window. The sheer curtains make a lovely backdrop to the bed.

I've always enjoyed looking at apartments decorated for women. They're usually fun and pretty - once you're married, decorating the home would need to be gender-neutral. Hope you enjoyed these photos!

Have a fabulous Friday!

A Villa in Mykonos island

There's this little island in Greece, called Mykonos, where there are lovely villas for super rich tourists to lay back and enjoy the beach.

I found these two images from this website.

I love the colour palette of blues, creams and beiges. Note the casual elegance of the room - the curtains, the trestle table, the plaster walls. Gorgeous.

Another view of the same room. I fell in love with the window seats. Beautiful. Another trestle table behind the L-shaped linen-covered sofa.

Beach decor at its best!