Front room.
We have the TV and the piano in this room, so everything
is pretty dark and heavy. I hung a curtain to separate the
rooms a little bit more and keep the extra light out, since
I spend most of time at my desk or reading and Kyle
spends most of his time watching movies or playing Xbox.
Front room.
As you can see, this room is woefully under-decorated.
We bought a rug for it, but haven't put it down yet. We still
need another chair (perhaps a recliner?) and a coffee table.
I'll probably hang a mirror in here, but I'm not sure where.
That sloped ceiling makes it so hard to know how to decorate!
And don't even get me started on window treatments...
The kitchen.
This is the view of the kitchen from the dining room.
I love how much space there is, but I am a little annoyed that
the washer and dryer are so prominent.
Any ideas on how to hide them?
We also definitely need some sort of art to hang on that big
blank wall...
Dining room.
Here's a better look at that metal storage cabinet I painted
a few days ago. It's holding our wedding china, which is nice because
we like to use it often, but I also wanted it to be safe so it doesn't
get too chipped. There's a large bowl that goes on top of that long platter.
Dining room.
The other side of the dining room. I put two bookcases on their
sides to create a place for our bar and cookbooks. I'm hoping
to find a couple more vintage clocks to hang near that yellow one.
I also need to figure out what kind of treatment to do on this window.
Dining room.
You can see that we brought in four cabinets. I needed the space for
the kitchen gadgets I didn't want to leave out all the time (waffle maker,
magic bullet, kitchen-aid, steamer, grill, etc.). I'm going to paint the doors
of the cabinets, I think, but I'm debating the color at the moment. I think
I might put a magnetic primer on them and then use chalkboard
paint, but I don't know if that would make them too busy with the games up
top like that...
Second living room.
I created a reading nook on the other side of that curtain. The chair
is a garage sale find ($40) and it's very comfortable. I was thinking
about recovering it, since the vintage velvet is getting a bit worn, but
it's such a nice sunny color. I really want to get this Parent Trap print
to go above those two white chairs, but I can't find it for less than $70.
Anyone know a good source for that kind of thing?
Guest bedroom.
This is one of the more frustrating parts of the apartment. I repainted this
bedroom set (it used to be black with gold handles), but when we moved
everything in, it was a really tight fit. The bed nearly goes from one end of the room
to the other. We don't want to get rid of it, though, because the set belonged
to Kyle's grandma and the bed is really comfortable.
Guest bedroom.
In the end, we just made do and stuck the dresser into the closet to make
room for the treadmill. It's not the most aesthetically pleasing thing
ever, but we use the treadmill every day and there wasn't anywhere
else that we could really put it. I'm hoping it will look/feel better when we take
those closet doors all the way off and put them into storage.
In the end, we just made do and stuck the dresser into the closet to make
room for the treadmill. It's not the most aesthetically pleasing thing
ever, but we use the treadmill every day and there wasn't anywhere
else that we could really put it. I'm hoping it will look/feel better when we take
those closet doors all the way off and put them into storage.
So, that's the update. We'll see how the guest bedroom arrangement works out with Jed here this week. I'm actually pretty happy with the state of things, since we only have a couple more pieces of furniture and some art to buy before I feel like the apartment is in a good place. Of course, I have tons of unpacking left and our bedroom is a disaster (notice that it's not on the tour), but we're doing good for having only lived here for three weeks.
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12 comments:
maybe if you put some shelving over the washer/dryer they'll stick out less? Though that might make the room feel more closed in.... Something on the wall will definitely help, maybe a big triptych or some other large scale piece.
I wouldn't paint the kitchen gadget a dark color, if you do paint it, it might close in the space too much.... But I love the mid century vibe your kitchen has!
What Violarulz said about the shelving over the washer/dryer is kinda what my fiance said of a way you could try to hide them, but he said first sell them and buy just a front loading washer and then maybe hang your clothes up to dry (which is kinda english style, it's what his mom has over in England, but in an apartment I understand it may be too hard).. or if you can find a front loading dryer as well, maybe both a little smaller? then you could try maybe a counter or shelving unit over top. My fiance said it'd be hard to hide the washer/dryer because of all the knobs/buttons where they are.
I however thought, maybe you could find a way to hang a sheet or curtain from the wall and wrap it around the washer/dryer, then still easy access for when you got to do your laundry, but you can still kinda hide it/pretend its not there when you're not using them.
Or if maybe you can move them into a different room of the apartment? Do they HAVE to be in the kitchen?
I love your dining room table and your reading nook! Awesome! I would suggest selling your washer and dryer so you can get the stackable kind, so much easier to stash. Then, I would consider putting the cookbooks and stuff over there so the washer/dryer can go in the corner. Also, if you could get the treadmill out of the guest room, it would look really cute!! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks for the suggestions! Unfortunately, the washer and dryer have to go in that particular spot because that's where the W/D hookups are. I'm also not keen to sell them because they were a wedding present, so they're brand new with all the bells and whistles.
I like the shelving idea, though! Maybe I'll shop around a bit and see what I can come up with...
A few things:
(1) Recliners are ugly! There are better options that are still comfortable!
(2) I would paint the cabinets yellow. Or 2 yellow and 2 the blue of the small metal cabinet. Or, a pattern with both of the colors spanning across all four. Geometric, not free hand. I agree that chalkboard paint on this much area would be busy, and messy-looking.
(3) I would do real or fake 40s/50s kitchen curtains in a pattern. Some ideas on Retro Renovation... http://retrorenovation.com/2009/08/14/10-ideas-for-cheery-40s-or-50s-kitchen-curtains/
Or, if you don't want to go total retro with the space, some bright but more worldmarkety curtains would also work...http://www.worldmarket.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3865470
One more idea... something like this over the washer/dryer... and paint it to match the other cabinets.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/176-3389316-9512467?a=B0028RVTU8
Not the kitchen cabinets, the dining room ones I mean. There's no way you would want it to blend in with the kitchen cabinets...
Wow, you're place looks a lot more homey than my place and we've lived there for almost 9 months. Good job!!!
I'm sorry to hear about Jed's grandmother. It sucks that that's his reason for visiting, but at least you guys will get to spend some time together. :)
I really like the improvements that you've made. Just looking at all the games, makes me want to come over and play right now! lol
Since you have a sort of a retro vibe in your kitchen (which I love), I'd paint the large cabinets that robin's egg blue color that you used to paint the china display. Or maybe go for a bright yellow and do a robin's egg blue window treatment there?
Also, why don't you make giant W/D slip covers? Like the kind that they have for the sofas. You could find some cool pattern and have it match the rest of the kitchen somehow. You could even add a table top/board to them so they could be a stand-up eating area when they're not in use?
Carly, sorry for the barrage of comments! I am just really excited for all your decorating possibilities. Maybe I need to get a new apartment so I can redecorate! Check out this as a possibility (or inspiration) for over the W/D...
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S99854919... It comes in this gorgeous yellow glossy finish. (Rubrik Applad Yellow). Also, it would be an easy DIY hack if you could get your hands on a simple wall mounted cabinet at, say, the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
Alright, I promise to stop dominating the Comment section of this post! Good luck!
The link doesn't work! I just get an IKEA error message. You need to keep commenting, since you aren't flying out to work on it yourself. I'm stuck!
Hmmm... works for me... I'll try to enter it again.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S99854919
It's the Akurum Wall Cabinet with 2 doors. The default color is black, but there are alot of options.
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