Let There Be Light! (Or Just a Light Wall)

Occasionally, you get a fun idea, and it only works because you live in a studio-style apartment. 

For the wedding, we bought two LED light curtains, and we kind of fell in love with them. They give off the perfect amount of light. 

One found it's permanent home as a jelly fish lamp over my reading chair.

The other....

Well, it started out like this:

Two ikea bookshelves, and some emt made the basic frame (and the couch had to lose it's cushions for a while) and then it was just a matter of stringing the strands over the top bar. 

And voila!

The light curtain is now a faux wall between the bedroom and living room areas of our home. And I couldn't be happier with it!

A Smattering of Little Things

Earl broke the shower. Two weeks ago, Earl pulled the shower head from the wall, and the whole fixture broke off at the plastic connector ring. I have my suspicions, since he’s been talking about replacing the six year old thing for a while now, but he won’t fess to the crime. So for a brief week we had the gross little head that was there when we moved in. And then, because I’m a softie, and he’s always wanted a GIGUNDUS rain-type shower head, that’s what we got.

Because it’s that time of year again, my dehydrator is getting a workout. We’ve done mangoes, bananas, strawberries and kiwis so far. I’m thinking a full batch of apple chips is on the agenda.

I always start looking for coats about the time stepping outside here makes your blood boil, I stumbled upon an amazing pink, vegan leather jacket on sale at Macy’s and I pounced. It has a bit of a Michael Jackson-esque vibe to it, but I still love it. Along with the coat, I grabbed a lace racerback tank top, a beautiful blue v-neck tee, and a jimjam tank. Before that I grabbed an awesome pair of jimjam pants and a matching tee at Target. Love the plaid (No, that’s not my tartan. hehe)

Sorting my Small Space: Desk Area (After)

As an after, the desk area is not drastically different from the “during” photos.

I’ve stowed the crafting supplies, and cleaned up the desk top. The filing cabinet is in decent shape and ( so long as you get past the revision pile to the left of my chair, I think it’s in order.

Now, I’ve removed all of my post it notes for the last novel I was plotting out…. But the desktop does tend to end up COVERED in post it notes when I do that, so that’s why the plain white is great for me.

What I really need though, is a desk lamp. There is no light in the hall-way like space, so at night my eyes definitely feel the strain.

Sorting my Small Space: Desk Area (Before/During)

Let's be honest, in downsizing, I lost my office. It's a little sad, but it's definitely not the end of the world.

This is what it looked like the week we moved in (in fact, I think this was after it'd been cleaned off and wound up getting messy again).

It was an utter wreck. But as the rest of the hose got put together, so did the desk, save for the inspiration space above the computer... and about ten other things.

And then I got the inspiration wall up - its kinda a ladder this time.

There are still some things that need doing - mostly cleaning and sorting, But I should have that taken care of by next week.

Sorting my Small Space: The Kitchen (After)

What it looked like Before, And here's what the kitchen looks like now! 

I've put those shelves to good use. The fridge is holding all the small appliances that have no place on the limited counter space.

I'm reserving the top of the cabinets for things that are rarely used (the cookie jar box, used when moving only. The tea items drying rack, used only after tea parties. A painting - it's not going anywhere. And Earl's grandfather's commemorative Apollo Shuttle glasses are the only things up there now.)

 

 The counter space is very limited real estate.  So it has the things we use most often, and then the stand mixer - which doesn't really fit anywhere else. (Also, any guesses where I'm sitting when I take the below pic?)

If you guessed on my green "kitchen" couch, you're right. It's come in so handy I cannot even tell you how much I want a couch in any kitchen from now on.

There is a piece of furniture that's been ridiculously versatile. Two apartments ago, it was a shelf above the refrigerator. Last apartment, it was the end table to the chaise portion of the sofa. This apartment, it resides next to the green couch and, with the help of two very sturdy magazine caddies from IKEA, it holds my recipe books/print outs.

 I approached putting together this shelving system with a color coding plan in mind, and that's how it ended up. I'm really pleased with it, and it happens to be super handy

And that's what the kitchen looks like right now.... We'll see if that changes. :D



And in case you were wondering, the painting hanging above the shelves is an in progress version of an album cover from Earl's favorite band. He's done it all himself :)

Sorting My Smal Space: The Kitchen (Before)

Before moving in, I made the mistake of thinking (and saying) the kitchen in this new apartment was the same size as the one in the last apartment. There is the same amount of counter space/cabinets etc.The layout is even the same. But there is one big difference. There isn't a GIANT PILLAR in the middle of the space. And, there's an abundance of extraneous shelves.

Sorry for the Bluzzage.

 And this is what it looked like the day we moved in. Half the stuff on those carts doesn't even go in the kitchen.

One quirk of the new smaller apartment.. we have a couch in our kitchen. I'll show you the after next week... Assuming I get it perf before then ;)

Sorting My Small Space: The Bathroom (In Progress)

So, We've got the bathroom settled and moved into - we ought to have, since we've been here for almost a month. Here's what it looks like. All that's left - really - is hanging up the art and finding a shelf that will work perfectly over the commode.

 

Please note the DVD cabinet that has worked as Towel Storage for us for the last 3 years. It is MARVELOUS.

 

See the Before back over here.

Sorting My Small Space: The Bathroom (Before)

This is what I have to work with:


Hi, from the mirror. It's shiny in here.



The cabinets have a decent amount of space, and the counter top is very nice, space-wise compared to some of the things you'll find in apartments.... However, ever time I touche it I'm totally grossed out. Someone (a previous tenant? Maintenance? Idk) decided to paint it and the tile back splash - I guess to mimic granite. It looks more like a laminate than I think the original stuff did.

The shower is the same as the last two I've had, so it will not be an issue with figuring out how to set that up - since it's just a redo of what I've done before. I can't decide if I prefer this checker tile or the concrete from the last apartment. Ether way, it works with my bathroom accoutrement so It's not a big deal.

The actual footprint of the bathroom is really big. About the size of the two bathrooms from the last apartment combine... but the door opens right through the middle of it, so it's pretty unusable space. Not that I know what I'd do with it if I could simply toss something in there. Oh!, but do you see the towel rack there by the bathtub? That's the only place availible to hand a hand towel. A good four steps away from the sink.

And this is what hides behind the door across from the sink.

The space is not ideal - but really what is in an apartment setup? I've got some ideas percolating, but we'll see if they pull together just the way I'm hoping. Give me two weeks.

The Cyclical Nature of Apartment Dwelling

So we’re moving again. I’ve postulated that my own personal brand of Wanderlust results from some masochistic binge purge cycle – this is based on the fact that one of my favorite things about moving is getting rid of things.  This is especially facilitated this time, by the fact we’re downsizing.

Luckily, we're moving within the building again, so we're not going to need any help, it'll just be me, Earl, some carts and hand trucks, and maybe one friend to help move the TV stand.

Before I go any further, let me just say I love this apartment. It is FANTASTIC. But it’s too big. And I’m too jumpy. There will be times where I don’t know where Earl is, and if I’m not paying enough attention, he’ll start talking and I’ll do the whole cartoon jump-out-of-my-skin thing… because I didn’t know he was in the room. And to be completely honest, we do not need the space we have now. So we’re going to drop some square feet (and the rent that goes along with it) and I’m super happy about that.

 

So we’re surrounded by Boxes! We spent yesterday Painting and getting most of the stuff staged and ready to go. We get the keys on Friday and start moving that night (Though we both have to work, I did manage to get the morning as a half day.)

So I’ll have a lot to talk about with the new smaller space once we get moved in!

Goals: Bathroom Inspiration

So I started a bathroom inspiration board... it's kinda pathetic at the moment... but I'm sure it'll get there.