Another painting day completed

Way back in February when we moved in to this place we picked out the colors.  This past weekend it was time to finally check painting the bedrooms off the list.  Lucky for Dan his brother decided to make the trip to Chicago for the weekend and was up for helping.  The extra set of hands was a huge help and they worked almost all day on Saturday.

The baby room is painted in Dolphin Fin and our bedroom is Irish Mist with one wall in Dolphin Fin.  Mike asked me why I picked one wall to do the Dolphin Fin... basically I have no explanation other than because I liked the idea.  The Irish Mist completely improved the bedroom - it is amazing what a slight variation in tint can do for a place.

Next up on Dan's list is painting the baby dresser and on my list is finding an alternative to the hideous brown shades in the living room. Slowly but surely this place is becoming home.

October Flowers

In our little backyard I planted seeds for cosmos and morning glories... in attempt to add a little bit of pretty to a not so charming space.  Well, one of the handful of times that the landlords had the backyard mowed they mowed off the seedling flowers.  So I gave up.

But in the late summer the cosmos and one morning glory showed signs of life... we ended up with some October flowers.

I really like having little bud vases of flowers around the house - it is extra nice when you grow them yourself.  The cosmos were still going strong first of November.

Stuff on the Walls

When we moved into this apartment we decided it was time to change up the stuff we have for hanging on the walls.  The odd collection of frames from college and those years just after were not really fitting in with our current style.  I had some new prints I had slowly collected and those made their way up but the wall we planned for 'gallery wall' was still blank.  So after a couple of months of trying to decide on photos followed by a couple of months of framed photos sitting the corner they finally found their way onto the wall.

We decided on a collection of pictures from our travels and everyday stuff.  And Dan did a good job hanging them. (Although I should have switched the 5x7s and the 4x6s for a better balance - next apt we will get it right.)

Now the coffee table needs to be changed out... and that olive green chair... 

living room nooks and peonies

There is a little bit of both of us in this nook of the living room.

she: milk glass, peonies, brioche pan, the sun print

he: speakers, huge television, spiky plant

us: kick ass credenza, collection of vacation albums

Apartment Nooks & Ranunculus

Several years ago I had this great idea that I would randomly take pictures of little spots in our apartment to put on the blog.  The trigger of this idea was from a conversation where I tried to describe one of our apartments that we had just moved into to my brother... it is a fact that many of our family members rarely (if ever sometimes) see our apartments before we move.  Then as I thought about it, I don't think that we even have pictures of what all of apartments have looked like... which makes me kind of regret not taking photos as it would be fun to look back.  The studio that had only two plates in the cupboard, an ikea futon, a table for four and a 13" tv... to the Colorado apartment where the living room was as wide as our sofa and all the stuff we didn't have room for went in boxes under that table for four... to the falling apartment charming vintage flat where it is amazing that the radiator didn't fall through the floor (good times)... to the super sunny enormous but bland new-ish midrise condo.  That isn't even to mention the change in decor.

So I can't do anything about not having photos about the places we lived or how we decorated them in the past.  But I can start to do a better job of documenting that now.  As I am quite certain that we won't live in our current place forever. And our nesting style is certain to evolve too.

So with all that lead up, I am only going to share one photo today.  I really love having fresh flowers in the house and ranunculus are among my favorite.  It is unusual that they end up in the bookcase... but they seem kind of natural there among the Anne of Green Gables books.

This is a terrible photo.  It needed to be a smaller aperature and lower ISO but sunlight is limited these days and I am too lazy to get out the tripod.  These bookshelves have been with us for a while and I think their days in our home are likely to be coming to a close in the not-so-far future. 

More random pics from nooks and crannies in our home to come. 

Spontaneous Painting Day

"Honey I think I started a project..."

Saturday afternoon I was working in the office while Dan was patching up a little spot on the kitchen wall... and somehow Dan ended up painting the front entry hallway (not on the agenda/to do list).  He called in to me saying "Honey you are suppose to stop me from starting such a big project..."

Really, this was a procrastination tactic from stat's studying.  It is so much brighter in there and looks so much improved. Now I am kind of embarrassed that we had people over while it looked so dingy.

Since we decided to stay in this place for another year we have been doing little changes to make the place more comfortable.  Fresh paint for the dingy hallway, getting new towels, a little bit more organization in the office, a shelf for the dining room, frames for the remaining bare wall, a new roller blind to replace the towel window treatment in the office (ummm yeah)... We might even buy a dresser- we are getting so grown up!

If we are going to stay here we might as well be comfortable and enjoy the space!

Trimming the Nest

We did a lot more holiday decorating this year than we have in the past.  It is still pretty small scale stuff but we added a little touch of the holidays to our home with our zero budget and small space...

In the past couple of years the short number of hours with daylight as we approach the winter solstice has started to drive me crazy.  The extra strings of lights framing the windows helps add a bit of cheer.

 

We did an advent calendar for the first time this year.  It has been fun and kept us moving through all of the small stuff that we wanted to do to get ready for and enjoy the holidays.