Tegan & Dan’s Renewed East Vancouver Gem

Name: Dan, resident engineer at Vancouver’s The Space Studios; Tegan, co-creator of Treasures and Travels
Location: Mount Pleasant; Vancouver, British Columbia
Size: 800 square feet
Years lived in: 2 years; Rented

Located in the heart of Mount Pleasant, Tegan and Dan stumbled upon this tucked away corner unit in one of Vancouver’s finest heritage buildings. With creative eyes, some DIY home renos and a bit of elbow grease, these two were able to bring life back into this character apartment and truly make it a home.

It wasn’t long after getting the keys to this apartment that these two had their hands dirty replacing the kitchen floor, tiling the countertop and giving the whole apartment a fresh coat of paint. Tegan, who is a co-creator of the blog Treasures & Travels, lives to fix up old things which gives their apartment a vintage charm, while Dan’s carpentry skills and use of repurposed materials adds an original handmade element to the space. These two have the motivation to really refine a space to fit their lifestyle, a characteristic that will be helpful with a little one on the way. With more than a little commitment and time, these two have made their mark on a cozy East Vancouver gem.

My Style: I love simple & clean with pops of colour, I am always drawn towards 60’s inspired pieces, anything a bit quirky and fun! Our apartment is filled with hand me downs and thrifted pieces, I love to have a mix of made over vintage pieces filled in with touches of newer modern décor.

Inspiration: First would be other people’s homes. I get majorly inspired by scrolling through beautiful spaces on Pinterest or peaking into extremely unique homes in books like ‘The Selby is in your Place.’

Favorite Element: Our house is super cozy and for a small city apartment it feels a lot bigger than it is with the rooms being separated. I love that. Dan and I can both have friends over and have more than one space to work or hang out.

Biggest Challenge: Oh definitely keeping it clean—dishes pile up all too quickly, and with minimal counter space you can’t leave those for more than a day or two! Also, closet space, we never seem to have quite enough room or hangers for our clothes.

What Friends Say: It’s homey, cozy and perfect for movie nights.

Biggest Embarrassment: We hate our bathroom floors, they’re old and feel yucky. It’s the one thing I want to change, but because we’re renting, it’s just not worth it!

Proudest DIY: Dan built the long cabinet that sits under our TV, which I’m SO proud of! He built it out of repurposed cedar housing we collected from a junkyard, that’s my favourite DIY for sure.

Biggest Indulgence: Before we moved in we gave our apartment a huge makeover, we wanted it to be comfortable and knew we wouldn’t get around to doing everything once we were settled in! So all in a few days we tiled the kitchen counter that was previously covered in nasty vinyl, put laminate flooring in the kitchen, painted everything white, painted the pipes, installed new baseboards, and re-did the bathroom walls. I’m so glad we spent the extra time and money on doing that, because it made this feel like our space, and a place that we were proud of and happy to stay in for a long time.

Best Advice: If you don’t love it, don’t keep it! We went through a few couches and key pieces of furniture before we finally settled on pieces that fit the space to our liking. I went a bit crazy at first picking up things on craigslist only to relist it a few days later because it just didn’t fit. I thrift a lot and we have found so many of our favourite pieces doing that. Our apartment is full of pieces from every type of store. Don’t limit yourself to one style or theme. If you love it, that’s all that matters!

Dream Sources: I would be more than ok with all of my furniture being from West Elm, and I love Restoration Hardware.

Resources of Note:

LIVING ROOM

• Couch – Ikea
• Smaller couch and Chair – Thrifted
• 3 tall candle holders – Pottery Barn
• Cabinet and Side tables – DIY
• Lamp – Home Goods
• Frames – Ikea
• Shelves – Ikea
• Wooden Deer – Home Goods
• Coffee Table Trunk – Vintage
• Curtains – Ikea

KITCHEN

• Small Shelf – Urban Outfitters
• Long Shelf – DIY
• Print – Rifle Paper Co.
• Frame – Ikea
• Storage Tins – Vintage
• Table – Vintage (belonged to my great-grandmother)
• Chairs – Thrifted and reupholstered
• Cutting Board – West Elm Market
• Curtains – Ikea

BEDROOM

• Bedframe – Ikea
• Bedding – West Elm
• Dressers – Thrifted
• Clothing Rack – Ikea
• Telephone Chair – Vintage
• Side Table – Ikea
• Lamp – Vintage
• Mirror – Home Sense
• Sheepskin – Ikea

Thanks, Dan and Tegan!

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