Ready, Set, Design!

A move into a new space always represents fresh design challenges to tackle. For a lot of people I know it’s a drag but for me it’s kind of invigorating. I love seeing how much I can challenge myself to work within the limits of a space to make sure that all my needs for living are met.

This new apartment o’ mine is no exception. While I love the floors, and it’s beautiful natural light, there are certain things that I need to workaround until I can officially say the apartment works for me.

First of all, although the paint color is thankfully pretty tasteful and neutral, I want something a little bit cooler in the space. All of the windows in this apartment face west which means I get a lot of golden afternoon sun and now the apartment is filled with furniture and decorations and STUFF, the warm tan tones on the walls make it feel smaller and more oppressive. Something in a lighter, cooler tone will give it a fresh and relaxed feeling.

Once upon a time someone also painted the trim and the kitchen cupboards with this glossy paint in kind of a murky white. Gloss paint is great for wiping down and has great durability, but unfortunately it is also very unforgiving. In an apartment that’s seen many tenants, trim tends to get a little beaten up and one bad paint job can mean ugly trim for years to come. I want to sand everything down to get rid of all those blobs of a paint and give the cupboards and the trim a loving coat of bright, bright white in an eggshell finish. It seems like a small project now but I think once I’m done it will make all the difference.

Another project that will make the whole face seem fresh and organized is making sure that I’m making use of every storage opportunity I have. In a small apartment where the storage space is virtually zero (remember my miniscule medicine cabinet?), my challenge is to think about creative ways of storing everything I need in such a way that everything is neat, tidy and pretty to look at. I’ve got some bookshelves that I need to crazy organize and I can’t wait to tackle them and show you guys.

To add to the complicated storage situation, I also have a weird electrical outlet situation. (Note to self: check out the location of outlets when checking out apartments). For example, there are no electrical outlets in the bathroom. At all. I currently blow-dry my hair in the kitchen. Yes, it’s as annoying as it sounds.

I don’t believe in keeping too many appliances and electronics plugged it at one time (some unknowingly generate a lot of “phantom” power) and in an apartment as small as mine it would mean constantly keeping things plugged in that I don’t use all the time, like my toaster. I would however like to be able to style my hair in front of a mirror. Using my printer would be nice, too.

Besides all the above, I still have to slipcover my darn armchairs, fake an entryway, tackle the one and only closet in the apartment, devise clever window treatments and figure out a way to store not only all of my stuff, but my dogs’ stuff as well. (I’ve wanted to D.I.Y. a dog bed for, like, ever.)

What design challenges are you facing in your space right now? Comment below!

B in the City

See those two people reflected in an oh-so-creepy way in the window? That’s me and my dad, on the night before I moved into my new apartment. That was about ten weeks ago now, so I figured it was time to take you on a little tour of my new apartment. I did one last time I moved too, so I thought it would only be fair.

(Excuse the bad iPhone photos, it was late at night and the lighting in new apartment is not the greatest.)

The first thing you see when you come in the front door is the living room, featuring that great big window that looks out not onto two creepy people staring back at you, but my very own private patio. (I’ll share some pics soon.)

All the radiators are located underneath the windows in my apartment, so it will be an interesting challenge to try and figure out how to do the window treatments.

I also have chair rail three quarters of the way up the wall in the living room and in the bedroom. It’s kind of hard to tell because of the lighting in these pictures, but the wall above the chair rail and the ceiling are covered in white popcorn stuff. I spoke to a contractor friend of mine who says that the stuff is so hard to get off of the wall and it creates such a big mess, he normally just slaps drywall right over it! So I’ll just have to live with the popcorn stuff until I buy a house or something.

That’s the front door and the opposite side of the living room. Ignore the popcorn stuff. Instead, look at my gorgeous floors. They’re the original hardwood and with the exception of a few dings and stains in some spots, they’re looking pretty good.

The living room opens up into an archway which leads you into the “kitchen”. I use the term loosely because there is an actual kitchen, but also a little nook that other people refer to in the building as “the refrigerator nook”. So this is what mine looks like. Might I add that this fridge was probably the cleanest I’ve ever seen in a rental place. Thanks tenant-before-me for giving everything a good scrub before you moved out!

Oh, hi kitchen! I see you peeking out from this window in the living room. It’s nice to be able to have a layout that’s semi open concept to make this apartment feel a little bit bigger. That red bag is full of pots and pans that the former tenant left behind for me because she knew I was moving in with virtually nothing.

She also left behind this mosaic back splash which she did herself! From what I understand she was pretty artsy and when I first saw the apartment, it was so beautifully decorated that it made me fall in love with the place straight away. The back splash might not be everyone’s thing but I love the colors so it stays.

This is the bedroom. It’s off of the kitchen nook and leads to an ensuite bathroom. Some people would not be okay with that, but seeing as it’s just me and my puppies here it suits me just fine. Plus, it gives me more incentive to make my bed every day just in case people come over to use my bathroom!

Here’s the ensuite bathroom which I have to mention, again, was totally spic and span. (Thanks lady!) It’s got an interesting cork-like tile on the floor instead of the hardwood that runs throughout the rest of the space. (The kitchen’s got the same kind of cork-like thing going on too.) This bathroom is a pretty good size but the medicine cabinet and the cupboard under the sink are both pretty small so it’s going to be a challenge to make sure I have enough storage space for all my lady stuff. The bathtub needs to be re-caulked in some places as well so I’ll have to brush up on my caulking skills. Sounds like there’s a post a-brewing.

This is the first time that I’ve lived on my own before, without any roommates or housemates so it’s definitely been an adjustment rattling around in my own space all the time. But for the first time in my life, I can finally make decorating decisions about my whole apartment that are truly mine. I’m planning to stay here a few years until I can save my pennies enough to buy a home to call my own, but until then I can’t wait to put my mark on this apartment to make a space beautiful, and cozy, and just the way I want it.

We want to see you apartment too! Send your pics at thetwentiesproject@gmail.com and we could feature your space in an upcoming post!

 

 

are you planning to redecorate your kitchen, like S?

the butterflies in question

Anyone who knows me knows I can never stick to a design plan or scheme for too long before feeling an intense urge to change it up. There is something extremely monotonous about waking up every single day to the same thing, usually it starts with moving around the furniture, maybe sliding a potted plant to the other side of the window sill before I’m resolved to stripping the paint off the walls at three am. This is pretty much how I am feeling about my kitchen. I like to thing the kitchen is one of the most important rooms in the entire house – or in my case apartment. The room is where the food lives and considering I’ve become a ravenous pig in my advanced age, I have been spending a lot more time in there.

When E and I initially moved in we came up with a design plan which included a mustard-yellow accented with brushed silver butterflies. We live within walking distance of the beach and have the luxury of feeling the cool breeze off the water during the summer (and winter, but we were not so amped about that fact) we wanted to make the kitchen as natural feelings as possible. So, ergo, choosing light summery colours for the kitchen.

It was great … for about seven months and now I want to rip each butterfly off the wall and stomp on them.

Living in a rental is a tricky business because you find yourself contending with the previous tenants poor design taste during decorating. The previous tenant in our unit had painted the kitchen a hideous shade of orange – not just the walls but everything else as well, including the cupboards – so, as you can imagine, every once and a while orange pops up to say, ‘hello!’. Orange and I have never really had a great relationship, in fact I hate her guts; she makes my skin appear death-white and turns my kitchen into Anita Bryant’s wet-dream.

So, this time, we are going all out. I figured the cabinets are going to need a new coat of paint and I’ve chosen a bright stark white for them, the same shade as the white IKEA floating shelves. I think this will give the kitchen a nice freshness it’s been lacking, painters white yellows after a few months if not updated. The yellow will be replaced by a deep teal which will not only look fantastic against the white but will serve as a beautiful backdrop to our cooking books, food jars and appliances.

I’m also working on getting E to allow me to buy a beautiful white antique birdcage to hang in the corner by the window, I think it will look great, she doesn’t understand the need for one if we do not even have a bird. She clearly has never gone antiquing before (and – to be honest – I’ve never done it properly) and fell in love with some object you have never needed. Then we will be hanging fabric swatches in matted frames to create a sort of focal point for the walls and to bring some art into the kitchen, something muted which won’t be as ‘in your face’ as the butterflies.

Damn those butterflies.

isn’t teal beautiful?

The most important part about any redecorating challenge is budget for it and really think about what you want to say about the room, this will help you avoid racking up unnecessary charges. It also cannot be something you do on a whim – which is actually a good thing – it will allow you more time properly flesh out exactly what you want to see. I think too many times you think about a redesign in parts and jump on the bandwagon long before you’ve secured wheels to it, suddenly your sitting in a rectangular box with a purple striped wall and no idea where you were going with it.

Do not forget to also pick out what accessories you want to see in the space and properly budget for them as well, this is not just about the paint and the brushes. And finally use the redecoration as an excuse to sit down with your roommate and discuss what you want to keep within the kitchen (coffeemaker, toaster and microwave) and what you can afford to lose (butterflies, lead painted fruit tray and any remnants of orange)

When E and I complete the kitchen redesign I will be uploading some photos to our facebook page and a video for our YouTube page, so look forward to those. And because I’m a masochist by design I will also be posting my budget for all to see, and judge.

Are any of you planning a redecoration? Do you have some great ideas that you are brimming to share? Email us at thetwentiesproject@gmail.com 

Pssst! Wanna see how S’s redecoration plans are coming along? Click here to read more.

reorganizing before redecorating: kitchen

There has always been a very fine line between being insanely productive and procrastinating on tasks you swore to have done by days end, on any given day of the week. Stop. Stop trying deny it’s not true. For example, I spent my saturday reconfiguring the contents of my kitchen cabinets while re-watching the first season of the Vampire Diaries, on my macbook.

I know, best day ever. Nothing conveys a saturday better than standing in your kitchen debating whether the bags of pasta should go in the cabinet above the stove or the one above the fridge. Am I the most boring person alive? Jury is still out on that one, basically it’s between me and some woman, in Omaha, who collects antique mason jars.