Wow! You've done an amazing job! I love how you've made different colors and prints fit together so nicely.

You apartment is marvelous, even more so considering where you are. It's just beautiful.

I can't help but ask, how often do you get mail?

Wow, what an amazing place! I haven't been to Iqaluit (yet), but I have been to Tuk which has similar isolation issues. The resourcefulness of you northerners in acquiring the creature comforts of the south awes me. One woman in Tuk ordered her flooring box by box from different companies, exploiting their free or cheap shipping policies until they wised up.

I love the wallpaper in your living room!

Where are those couches from?

Great job Sarah! Really gorgeous space.

Just heard that you have to give-up the iconic polar bear shaped license plates (this is the little Nunavut news we get down in Ottawa). Hope you get something cooler instead :)

Are those Bemz slipcovers for the Ikea sofas? Everything looks great, and your living situation sounds like quite an adventure.

Ooh, I just noticed the shadowbox on the wall & would love to see it close-up. House Tour?

Thanks everyone. The mail is my lifeline here-it takes a little bit longer than the rest of Canada but shipping from the United States and Europe can get here in as little as 2 weeks and can be reasonable. The yellow bar cart I got from an etsy seller only cost $25 in USPS shipping. We really do exploit the cheap shipping. The couches are ikea, the covers are bemz and the wallpaper is from Walmart.

Terrific living room! Love the mix of prints and the wallpaper.

I'm fascinated by your remote location. What are the 2 stores? Do retailers ship to Iqaluit? What do you do for a living?

Ahhh! Another northerner :)! I'm your neighbour in the NWT. I really hope we don't have to give up our license plates? I love the polar bears! Do you guys have the same ones?

Life is tricky being a northerner when you love interior design! We need to make a list of design related stores that offer free shipping to us haha :).

Great job Sarah! Wow - very impressive. My place isn't this cool and I live in Toronto where I can find anything so what's my excuse? LOL. House Tour!

CallDoctorBison:

I know your comments were directed at brownie but I can offer a little insight. Retailers will basically always ship stuff up north but most of the time you have to pay really hefty shipping charges. Most of the people who live up north work for the government but not all of them. Lots of industry related careers as well (mining etc.). I work for the government. I actually live in a town that does have road access (a dirt road though), the nearest town is 3 hours away and it is incredibly small too. The nearest city is a 20 hour drive (Edmonton).

Sarah, your home is fabulous! I can't believe the wall paper is from Walmart! very chic ... having lived on the edge of Hudson Bay (Abitibi Canyon) with no roads in or out only trains; I know how difficult it can be to get things into a community such as Iqaluit...

I want to see a house tour! I love this place.

Lovely!

I've only ever seen the slipcovers as samples on their site, nice to see how great they look. Goodbye cat scratched covers for me!

Really beautiful place! I have a question about your floors. Where they existing Or did you have them installed? I'm looking for that same color wood for my floors. I was just wondering if you know what type of wood it is. Walnut?

Sometimes that kind of lifestyle and community attract me in a daydream sort of way, but it would take time to adapt to the lack of shopping! I have to second the question. What are the two stores? I'm guessing one is for gasoline and the other is for food? You have a beautiful home. A house tour would be great.

I'm fascinated by the fact that you live where you do. I just GoogleEarth'ed your town-- are all those colored buildings houses? They look like Monopoly buildings :) Is the color just for looks, or does it serve a purpose, like in case the town gets buried in snow you all can be found?

Oh, and your house is adorable. I really like the wallpaper/ sofa pattern combo.

What a FABULOUS mix of patterns. Wow!

Hi. This is Brownie's BF. I just wanted to answer the question about the flooring: Brownie and I had laminate flooring shipped up by boat this summer and we laid all of that down. We had to rip up this miserable old lino (and its subflooring) in order to do it. The stuff we had was Kaindl - not sure about the name of the color.

We also laid Fibrefloor over the same disgusting lino in the mud room and in the upstairs bathroom. The best part about that stuff is you don't need to glue it (at least for small rooms) and quarter round hides small mistakes at the edges.

The two MAIN stores are general stores that sell a bit of everything from milk to furniture. There are other smaller stores-gas stations, gift shops, hardware stores etc. There are a surprising amount to places that ship here-the cheapest shipping is from outside Canada. Crate & Barrel, CB2, Pottery Barn and Overstock all have reasonable prices for small to medium items. For large stuff it's better to wait to ship it on the yearly sealift.

Is Tarkett FiberFloor sheet vinyl?

I lived in Iqaluit about 15 years ago, up in the 6 story. Do they still have 'interesting' things at Arctic Vultures, er Ventures? Used to find the oddest things in there . . . Is there anything on the Road to Nowhere now?

Gorgeous. I love it but it does have a lot of black and white or grey for a lace that has lots of winter. Do you have a garage? Is it heated.
The tree wallpaper which I have seen on many posts of AT is quite popular. It looks amazing with that couch.

Love your space! Great contrast of patterns and colors. It's unlike anything I have ever seen before.

Love!! Beautiful job.. I'm such a fan of black & white prints, especially with pops of color mixed in. I have a lot more stores than you but can feel your pain. On Maui, we can easily get the basics like flooring, etc. and can get furniture but not modern, its traditional or resort (so if you like a lot of brown and/or rattan with floral print, it's all good) for the most part. It is NOT cheap to get things shipped here and many place won't even do it. CB2 will but its costly. DWR will but they're kinda pricey to begin with. West Elm will ship desks, chairs for reasonable but won't ship beds or couches even if you are willing to pay the shipping.

Tour?! I can't live with a House Call alone! : )
Lovely, lovely, love!

Snoopy I know - but as a "city" Canadian...what sort of work do you do in Iqaluit? I lived in Inuvik for a summer and found it too isolated for my liking (what can I say - I like to visit a movie theatre every now and then!)

And - I love your GLOBE! Where did you get it?

Great place, Sarah! I always love to see creative uses of patterns in black/gray/white - your bookcase is fabulous!

I can relate to your isolated living situation - I lived for a year in the township of Alyangula on Groote Eylandt, in the Northern Territory of Australia. Everything big had to come in by barge, and local shopping options were, shall we say, limited. Still, it was a great experience, and I've carried the lessons I learned about frugality, making do, and planning ahead back to my urban life in Sydney.

I adore the green paint! Could you source that, please?

Your home is beautiful! And what's more impressive is that you were able to do this with limited shopping resources. I lived in Fairbanks, AK for 3 years, and I thought THAT was remote : )

I second the other posters who would love to see a full house tour. Well done!!

Thanks again all. The paint is Pitsburgh Manor Hall in Hearty Hosta. Sadly we have no heated garage- just have to warm up the car for while in -50. Maynelander-of course Arctic Ventures is still here and still selling the strangest stuff. Road to Nowhere is actually where we live. There are several new developments now- I'm sure you'd be surprised. The globe is from ebay. We also have a small movie theatre here that shows new releases-The Astro-run by the cities first mayor. I work for the film development agency/film commission.

Gorgeous! Especially love the green & red contrasts counterbalancing the bright grey/silver/black/white patterns.

Sarah,
I am so impressed! I can imagine how hard it is get stuff at/to such a remote location. I really love your apartment. I am only surprised that you picked a wallpaper that imitates bare trees - I would have thought that at a place where winter lasts a lot longer then e.g. here in s-w Ontario, one would pick something more "leafy" or "summery". (Don't get me wrong - I like the wallpaper very much and I cannot believe it is from Wallmart - just what crossed my mind when I read your post.
Great job!!

House tour...but please, with some outside shots! I'd love some perspective on this great place! Well done!!

Another vote for a house tour! Your apartment looks wonderful. Would you share where you got the coffee table in the first picture?

you're inspiring :) love it!

Love your place. I want to include some indoor trees and can't decide between vinyl decal, stencil and then saw this wallpaper. Advice and the source of the wallpaper would be appreciated.

Absolutely gorgeous! House tour, please!! (Now I feel like a total loser complaining about the lack of home furnishing stores in St. Augustine Beach, Florida!)

Regarding the wallpaper.....I couldn't find it on WalMart's US website. It IS on WalMart's Canadian website and seems to be available only in stores in Canada.

Thank you for the head's up.....I've been looking for affordable "birch" wallpaper for a long time. I'll be heading over the border tomorrow to pick some up at the local WalMart in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Brownie and BF-- Well. Done. And wahoo for using Pittsburgh Paints!

Beautiful. Looks professionally designed. You have a great sence of color and design! Bravo!

great. black'n'white in combination with strong colours: my favourite! :)

Oh, FiberFloor is vinyl tiles, not sheet vinyl.

FiberFloor is not tiles. It's like what's commonly referred to as linoleum (really 'vinyl flooring') and it comes in rolls. Where it differs is that is has a thick (like 1/8") backing and unrolls flat. In larger spaces it *should* be glued down, but in the small rooms we were doing, just measuring well, cutting to size and dropping in will work also. I am never using vinyl flooring again!

Thanks for the information. I like the idea of flooring that doesn't have to be glued down because I hate to commit to furnishings.

Nice, Nice, Nice...to many patterns for me first thing in the morning....but the more I look at it...I really like it!

Lovely! And wonderful to see a fellow Canadian! I love the bright colours, and love how you've made it so amazing with all the constraints of living in the North.

Hi Sarah (and other far-northerners!)

My name is Kassandra and I work for a public radio show called "Here & Now," (hereandnow.org) sorry to spam the comment section, but we're interested in speaking to people who live in the far north about how they prepare for winter (I'm sure Boston's woes have nothing on you guys!)

Anyone who's interested can email me at ksundt@bu.edu.

Thanks,
Kassandra