Tuesday, February 8, 2011

My New Home

When I first moved to NYC, my biggest issue besides a lack of human contact was the fact that I had no "real" home. I was subletting from various people and living out of 2 (very) large suitcases. There's nothing more upsetting than going to work and coming back to nothing.

That is why I was so incredibly excited to move into my new place. Not only would I have friends to talk to, but I could design and decorate my apartment to my hearts content. It took a lot time and effort, but Julie, Rianna, and I truly made it happen. Our apartment is on one of the main streets of Brooklyn, and although it's noisy and dingy at times, it's what I call home now.

Here's a virtual tour!

This is our "dining room." Our front door is just to the right. The three posters are from Obama's campaign on UNC's campus. The table is incredibly old-- Julie and I found this gem at the local Salvation Army where we got it for only $100 and four chairs included! I checked the tags attached to the bottom of the table, and it was made in 1929! The red orange chairs we painted by yours truly. Our landlord threw them in as a bonus (SCORE!)-- it's surprising how much a pint of paint can do!


 
Probably my favorite room in any house, the kitchen. I really like the cluttered look so I took off all the cabinet doors so you can see our dishes and millions of snacks (brought to you by Trader Joe's).
("JAR" = all our initials FYI... some people don't get it.) Look! There's another painted chair! 
 I wanted to mix all sorts of colors whether it's in the furniture or the plates and bowls. I think I've always been attracted to this look because of how Monica arranged her kitchen on Friends (Surprise!): 

via frommoontomoon.blogspot.com

This stove is probably just as old as our table. But it works and it has a griddle! How adorable. The thing about NYC apartments is that you have to get pretty creative with small spaces so our pots and pans are hanging on my former closet door with S hooks! Our cooking oils, etc. sit in chic tangerine boxes. 

 

That dresser in the picture on the left was found on the street! We have zero counter space so it comes in handy-- as does the butcher's block on the right. Limited counter space means limited storage space, so our utensils hang out above the butcher's block. Note Betty Bop and PandApple chilling with the silverware.

 This, of course, is my bedroom. It's seriously tiny (notice how I couldn't really take decently wide picture) and I was afraid a bed wouldn't even fit, but it worked out really nicely! I went with a pretty specific color scheme... It took me a while to arrange the frames on my wall and I think I've gotten over my irrational fear of my guitar falling off the wall. The paper lanterns are from Chinatown and work will because we have such high ceilings in our apartment.

Curtains brought to you by Ikea! I love their fabric so I finished the edges and hung it in the window... this causes me to have less of a view of the street, but during the winter, I rarely want to look outside at how miserable it is...


Here's my vanity area... having one bathroom among three girls can get hectic, so I do my make up here. It's nothing more than a shelf on brackets, mirrors, and halogen lights from Ikea on each side! It makes makeup application so much easier and it doesn't look too bad either.
This is one of the strangest bedrooms I've ever lived it because there is seriously no closet space. The bookshelf on the left is for my shoes while I converted the "closet" on the right into more shelves. It's really shallow depth wise, so I added shelves (like the one for my vanity) and bought some nice boxes to put accessories, socks, etc... It's better used for that than clothes, because, let's face it, my bedroom could be my closet with the amount of clothes I have... outside my room I have a large wardrobe that is in danger of collapsing from the weight of my retail therapy-- but hey, it works... for now.



This is our living room! I love painting rooms and choosing colors, but the thought of having to repaint if I were to move again (god forbid), makes me want to hurl. I've always really liked how complicated/organic the shape of a tree is and so, on one of my many trips to Goodwill, I got the idea to use yarn and tacks instead of paint. I suppose I got my inspiration from the window displays at Anthropologie-- taking unlikely everyday objects like plastic water bottles or newspaper and making it into art.

My installation took a good 8-10 hours to complete and I've been adding (or growing rather) ever since. (The small lanterns are from Chinese New Year, by the way) I went into this project not really knowing how it would end up, but I really love it. It really pulls the room together (although a rug may have been better! BIG LEWBOWSKI REFERENCE! NICE!) by giving it character and a real sense of comfort.

All in all, I am incredibly happy with my new home. I never really understand how people can just leave their walls bare-- it's so important to make the space you call home your own and no one else's. Hope you liked the pictures and maybe you can stop by for an actual tour some time :)

1 comments:

Anish said...

You've really turned your apartment into a stylish and efficient place. I support the positive moves, specifically the tree!
I look forward to seeing it in person.

PS: JAR is also my favorite green day song.

Post a Comment

 

Words into a Paper Cup © 2008. Chaotic Soul :: Converted by Randomness