An Apartment Tour *Prologue*

You can call me a dreamer (but I’m not the only one).  But, really I love dreaming up all sorts of things!  It’s crazy how creative your mind can be if you let it (although it can definitely lead to some strange dreams…).   I have entertained myself for hours on end with just a pencil and paper.  And, I’m not talking about when I was five, this was like a month ago.

I love being a dreamer.  It’s such a wonderful feeling to have purely optimistic hope for the future and the possibilities to come.  Nevertheless…. it has its downfalls.  Number one:  I’m constantly flitting from idea to idea and find it hard to follow through on many, or even appreciate them when I do.  If I manage to complete a project I’ve dreamt up, it could be mere hours before I start daydreaming about a better way or how I would change it.

In light of this, I’ve decided to make some concerted efforts towards improvement in this area.  Essentially, I’m so busy dreaming of all the sweet reno projects Jake and I will do someday when we buy a house, that I neglect to enjoy and put my creative energy to work in the apartment we live in now.  It’s a shame really, since it’s a beautiful apartment that I’m very grateful to live in, and I really ought to appreciate it more.

As I’ve said before, I often daydream about owning a home to beautify.  But, in reality I think we are right where we are supposed to be right now 🙂  And if that means another year of apartment life, I’m happy with that!  I told Jake, there was one condition that would make me so much more at peace with it…. we need to DECLUTTER! So declutter we did.  Last weekend we slaved away and emptied all the closets and purged and organzied and gathered things to store elsewhere.  And let me tell you, it is so refreshing 🙂  I think I can finally focus again on the right now, the apartment at hand, and the decorating to be done!

So, no more hiding behind *someday*!  This is today and where our apartment is right now.  It’s a work in progress, and I’m ok with that 🙂  After all, I’m God’s work in progress so it only reflects me even more.  Don’t worry, I’ll never stop dreaming…. Here is where we call home, and the dreams (some less realistic than others) that I have for it.

Welcome to our apartment.  Above you can see our cute little entryway.  I like the steps and how they create a slight separation for the area.  To the right is our dining area and in front of the entry you can see our dumpster dive desk.  Pretty good for dumspter material if I do say so myself!

Dreams for this area:  It would be nice to have a little shoe rug that could contain the shoes that come off by the steps.  Sometimes they overrun the space… And, while the dumpster dive desk has served us well, we’ve found that we never use it.  (Should’ve known the couch is a much preferable seat to a desk!)  So, I’m thinking about trying to sell it on Craigslist, and adding a small entry cabinet or console of sorts to store the laptops and printer when not in use.  Another thing I would like for this area is some sort of coat storage.  Currently we hang all our coats on the banniser.  It’s really not the best look…  I’m not super fond of on-the-wall coat racks, but I have considered a standing antique-looking one.  I found one similar to this on craiglist last week for $15, but it seems to be gone already :/

When I was browsing Craigslist for a cabinet/console to replace the desk in our entry area, I found this piece…. The solution to both problems!!!  We could hang coats inside the tall cabinet, and store electronics in the smaller one.  Heck, we could even move our command station on top of it and designate it as the new dumping ground!

It’s listed for $70 and the descriptions says, “antique solid oak cabinet.  4 drawers and 4 shelves.”  Sometimes when I hear oak, I’m hesistant because I’m not overly fond of the more yellow tone it often has.  But, it looks rather worn (perhaps to a nice antique color), or I could always stain it different.  I just love the clean lines it has!  And that shaker style cabinet… yes please 🙂  I know I sound all gung ho, but we will see… Jake and I are still discussing it.  He thinks there may be a better option out there.

Moving on…. Welcome to the dining area:

Excuse the mess, I didn’t bother to pick up for this photo. 😉  You may notice the gigantic mirror behind our table. (That was a free craigslist score, it’s an interesting story…).  It is currently sitting exactly where we left it, one because I could never get the layers of dirt off, two because we’re scared it’s too heavy to hang, and three because I’m bad at making decisions 😉  Jake bought the table and chairs before we were married and refinished them, and they’ve served us well.

Dreams for this space:  Hopefully in the near future (read: one of the more realistic goals) I’d like to finally hang that mirror.  I’m not painting it for now, and it’s not moving, so it might as well be on our wall 🙂  Also, someday a little farther in the future (read: one of the less likely goals)  I’d like to have a different dining set.  Both Jake and I wouuld like to make one someday.  But when we do, it will probably be for a different, larger space.  So, maybe (?) we will have a different one before then.  Another option I’ve briefly considered (as in I just now thought of it) is to sew a fitted table cloth and chair skirts.  I think that could freshen up the space (and distract from the extreme contrast in wood tones 😉 )

In our living area we have a couch and loveseat that we also scored off Craigslist. ($225 for the pair!!! and they are premium fabric Lazyboys)  They are a slightly sage-khaki color.  While sometimes I feel like, what can I do with that color?  I still love the warm color they have when the morning light shines in.  I’ll admit, they may be a little big for the space, but let’s be honest, I think we’re more than ok sacrificing that aesthetic aspect for some big ole comfy couches 😉  The rug was a gift from my grandparents, they had them in their home for many years.  They are in great condition and even have some lovely patina to them.  Oh, and that mirror, I just love it for some reason.

Dreams for this space:  For once, I’m not too sure… I like the mirror, and the blank white wall next to it.  Maybe some pillow changes are in order (I’m thinking solid colors because the rug and couches both have patterns).  Other than that this may be my favorite little space in our house.  Usually I like to sit on our other couch and admire it 😉

Next to the desk, and on the other wall of the living area you can see our other lazyboy (those pillows might be due for some fluffing..), our gallery shelf (still very much a work in progress), a beautiful cherry table Jake made (stuffed over in the corner), a sad $10 walmart lamp, clutter in the corner, and a little glimpse of the coffee table Jake made as well. (Yay, I win the award for longest runon sentence!)

Dreams for this space:  As I said earlier, I would like to complete the gallery wall.  There are two things holding me back… One, I’m picky and can never find the perfect frame (for under $3 😉 ), Two, I have a hard time knowing what to fill the frames with.  Most that I’ve done have been pictures of our wedding, but how ridiculous would that look to do a picture gallery of ourselves??  But… I have recently made some progress moving forward in this project (half the battle is mental!) and have ordered four spoonflower wallpaper samples that I plan on framing.  Here are three that I got, the last is a surprise…. I’m pretty excited about it 🙂

 The idea is to have a gallery full of layered pictures.  I want them to all be neutral tones so they blend together well.  (Although I’m toying with incoorperating one color… 😉 )  Another dream for that space is to do something about that corner….  In our deep clean last weekend, we didn’t really touch it much.  The guest log from our wedding sits back there and while I don’t really want to put it in storage (aka my parents house), it needs a different home.  That lamp… well I’m hoping to get rid of it, maybe get a table lamp for the corner?

The space is coming together, but it still needs a little something 🙂  Although I just love those pillows, I’m thinking solid is the way to go in the near future.  See…. this is all good for me, getting excited about where we are and taking action!

Here is the last corner in our little living area.  (Love seat and gold mirror to the left, couch and gallery wall to the right)  This space looks worlds better than it did a week ago.  Before we decluttered, the dvd player was elevated by one of those college cube crates to the left of the TV with all of the dvds underneath and cords sprawled everywhere.  Jake managed to hide the dvd player underneath the nightstand (and it still functions there, surprisingly!) and tuck all the cords and dvds away.  Ahhhh…. open space is so refreshing!

Did you notice the new throw over our repurposed chair?  Jake gave it to me for Christmas, and I love it 🙂  If you haven’t figured it out already, I love stripes… especially of the black and white variety!

Dreams for this space:  Well to be honest, I’d like to leave the wall blank (not sure what I would put there, and I am a fan of open space).  Someday we may upgrade to a tv from this century… 😉  but until then I’m happy to let it rest on the the extra nightstand from our bedroom set.

Welcome to the bedroom (living in a one bedroom apartment is tight at times, but it works well for just the two of us 🙂 ).  You can see our Esperanza Anthropologie bedding.  I love the bright colors and how the white contrasts so nicely with the wood.  And that’s about all you can see… I honestly don’t know what I want to put above the bed as decor.  Any ideas? 🙂

Above is a quick littel overview of our bedroom.  You can see more pics of the bedroom here, and here for the gold leaf bird art.  While I’m not going to go into detail with this space, I do have some general goals/dreams…

I think to pull the whole room together, I need to incorporate pops of color on the dressers, end table, and book case.  I love the milk glass, but I think the bedspread is flying solo right now and pullin full color duty.  So, add color.  I’d like to add a lamp for the nightstand, probably find some more colorful artwork (as much as I love the gold birdies, it’s time for them to fly away… or get a brighter frame (see this stuff is just coming to me!))

There are two rooms I’ve left out… mostly because I forgot to photograph them the other day when I had good light.  The kitchen is one area that I find hard to decorate.  It’s a very functional and nice space so hopefully I’ll be able to explore the options there eventually.  Also, I did not take any bathroom pictures.  Half because I didn’t want to clean it 😉  And half because it is just about finished!!!  Yes, there is a room in our apartment that I am almost all the way happy with 🙂  (Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE our apartment, but usually there is always room for improvement 😉 )

There you have it, our little home in a nutshell.  In-progress as it may be, we enjoy life in it everyday, and that alone makes it a masterpiece 🙂  Stay tuned for a bathroom tour post, updates on the photo wall progress, and the new color I’m incorporating.  Thanks for reading all my craziness!  😉  (And thank Jake who puts up with this crazy girl daily!)