home tour

I've lived in six Brooklyn apartments (and counting!) since living in NYC and they've all been very tiny. I don't claim to be any sort of expert on small space living, but I have learned a few things along the way. Each year I've loved pouring over Apartment Therapy's Small Cool Contest entries and seeing how other people manage to live stylishly in small footprints. I've always wanted to enter myself but never felt like my place was up to the challenge....until now! After moving into our new apartment last December, Kurt and I ditched some of our crappy old furniture in exchange for nicer investment pieces and made a huge effort to pull our space together. We entered the contest and are so excited to be featured! We're up against some stiff competition, so we would love to have your vote! See our entry page HERE or follow the link on the sidebar.

Thanks so much to Kurt for taking all these amazing photographs! Sadly, we could only submit five but here are all my favorites.

The living room. I'm in love with our couch. We sat in tailgate chairs for three months waiting for it to arrive and it's been life changing. Plus, it can be arranged to fit twin or king sheets and doubles as a guest bed. I loved the gallery wall at our last apartment but decided to use picture rails here for our extensive "art" collection.

Kurt and I watch TV while we eat together and love to have friends over for dinner, so carving out some dining space in the living room was key. The table is reclaimed wood with hairpin legs and we've finally graduated to a set of matching chairs. 

I call the nook off the living room our "Map Room".

Of course our state of Ohio flag is still prominently displayed.

Some of my first DIY projects were painting the doors and kitchen cabinets black. I think it makes such a difference. We hang our bags and hats by the door on a piece of wood from Kurt's parents' front yard back in Ohio.

The bedroom. I've still got some work to do in here. Those walls are too bare :)

The plan in all its 450 SF glory.

Aubie says hi! and DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!

on the hunt: art

Kurt and I have a lot of things on our walls. In fact, we are running out of real estate. We've got posters and prints and maps and license plates and a tapestry and even a flag. But now I've zeroed in on this one wall in our bedroom that would be perfect for a big piece of art.

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9

Of course now it will be impossible to choose something! We're working on printing some personal photos (not a single one in the apartment so far!) but a huge dramatic photograph could be nice for the spot I have in mind. I've seen some great mountain scenery but I'm not sure I could stand Kurt's ski mania at a higher level than it is now. I would actually prefer something beach themed but it's hard to find a photograph that isn't cheesy (unless you can spend oodles of dollars on something from Gray Malin).

An abstract painting of blobs of color could work and there are several options on Etsy for affordable originals. I tend towards the blue/green spectrum but have also liked some accents of reds/oranges. I'm usually cheap but could see trying to DIY this being disastrous. Plus, I don't hate supporting up and coming artists.

A loosely painted landscape/seascape could also be nice but the options I've come across have been pretty blah. There's a fine line between the piece looking like it was painted by a five year old and getting too Thomas Kinkade-y, if you know what I mean.

Do you have any sources for affordable art? Any favorite pieces/artists out there?

black doors

Around the same time I decided I wanted to install a gallery wall in our apartment (i.e. before we even moved in) I decided I wanted to paint all our doors black. My inspiration: Daniel from Manhattan Nest (while you are checking out his black door project, also be in awe of this kitchen transformation he just did!). Our little neighborhood hardware store has a limited paint selection and I didn't want to use black-black, so I chose Midnight Black by Pratt and Lambert. At first I was upset that it looked too charcoal/purple but I'm really happy with the color now. I love the contrast with our white walls and moldings.

All the doors in our apartment are old and solid and have some nice panel details except the bedroom door. I didn't want it to feel left out, so I followed this tutorial on Little Green Notebook and added some cheap molding from Lowe's.

I cut all the wood pieces on a miter box with a hack saw. It felt like I was using a nail file. Keep those blades sharp! 

Then paint!

Ta da! I love our black doors!

housewarming! (+mini apartment tour)

Kurt and I recently got around to having a housewarming at our new apartment. It was a wonderful time with lovely friends. I had so much fun and like to think I was such a good hostess, I didn't take a single photo of our guests. I only got a few prep shots when Kurt and I were readying the custom label wine and variety of bruschetta.

For party food, Kurt and I decided to create a whole range of bruschetta...well, some fun toppings on bread, at least. They were a huge hit and we were able to cater the options to our vegetarian and gluten-free guests (with special GF bread). Peach: ricotta, basil, peach, honey. Lox: cream cheese, red onion,capers, smoked salmon. Veggie: herbed ricotta, zucchini from Kurt's garden plot, red peppers. Pork: Kurt's extra special balsamic pulled pork recipe. Pesto: ricotta, pesto, cherry tomato.

We asked our friends to help us stock our bar and they far outdid any of our expectations. We have the best friends! Thank you so much! We're going to have to another party for them to help us drink it all!

And since I got no photos with people IN the apartment, I thought I would take some after shots while it was still halfway presentable to guests :) Keep in mind, it's a work in progress still! Here is the entry and the kitchen. Black doors! Those babies deserve a post of their own.

The living room complete with two couches (ready for football season!) and a sizable dining table (and Aubie in the window). That couch by the window is begging, no, pleading, to be recovered. In due time, sweet couch!

View from the living room towards the entry. You can catch a glimpse of our gallery wall and the item that makes me the coolest girlfriend ever. Yep, that's right. I got Kurt a 4'x6' Ohio flag for our anniversary. Sometime's it's visible from the sidewalk and we've gotten a few Ohio hoots already :)

The bedroom. It's the room giving me the biggest panic attack currently. It needs some work and will hopefully receive the TLC it needs in the coming months.

In addition to the copious amounts of liquor we received at the party, Kurt's friend Runit and his family gifted us this gorgeous wall hanging. It's from India! How exotic! :) It is currently the only thing on the walls in there and I'm okay with letting it guide the rest of the space. You've got to start somewhere!

And finally, the bathroom. Small spaces are hard to capture but it's a far improvement from the starting point (if you want to remind yourself). It needs more color and things on the wall and more storage and organization but it works! 

Thanks for taking the tour! I hope to have more polished,explanatory pictures in the future.

happy house warming weekend!

Kurt and I are finally getting around to having people over to our new(ish) apartment this weekend for a housewarming party. Our place is nowhere near "done" (don't think it ever will be) but is leaning towards the direction of presentable once I give it a good straightening (i.e. shoving clutter in closets).

I put the invitation and guest list together through Paperless Post (so many cute options!). We're shamelessly asking our friends to help us stock our fledgling bar with booze and mixers. I'm excited to learn how to make lots of cocktails! Please send me recipes of your favorite concoctions.

For the party, we're planning on serving beer, wine, and an assortment of bruschetta which I'm pretty excited about putting together. I hope we have space to house all these people (remember? it's pretty small)! Overflow will be the building lobby and the front stoop. Great way to meet our new neighbors, right?!

I hope you all have a weekend filled with friends and fun as well! Send some good party vibes our way!

living room gallery wall!

Now this is living, people!  I am feeling 1000% better about our apartment now that we finally have some art on the walls. Our ceilings are decently high, so I knew I wanted to load one wall up with frames before we even moved in. Once Kurt heroically hung my TV on the wall (this required some intense cursing and trips to three different hardware stores) I started the planning process of hanging the art. 

I've seen some great tutorials around the internet about how to plan and hang a gallery wall, but I decided to make it very complicated in my own nerdy way. I photographed all our framed pieces, cropped them down in Photoshop, and then arranged them in AutoCAD (see above). Yes, it was a lot of prep work, but having an idea mapped out ahead of time made the installation process fly. I only strayed from the original layout slightly when I came across some extra items to hang or changed my mind about the placement of some things. 

The process! (Click if it's not moving.) Our TV isn't perfectly straight, so I didn't bother measuring much or using a level. Maybe that's why it went so quickly!

I'm one of those mean girlfriends that is making Kurt save all of this football paraphernalia for his future "man room", so most of the stuff I hung is mine. I hope it doesn't seem too girly. Although I have a feeling what I hung on one of the other living room walls makes me a super cool girlfriend in the end. I'll share that soon!

I seriously love how the wall turned out. Now I'm inspired to get moving on the rest of the place! (Any tips on concealing TV wires?!)

I hope everyone has a lovely 4th of July! Woo hoo America!

apartment plan(s)

Our apartment! Here is the plan in all it's less-than-500-square-feet glory! We've been living there for a little over a month and a half, and I can honestly say I love it. The space is small, and we are still trying to get everything organized and put away, but it's really a great apartment. The location is incredible, and our neighbors are so nice (Aubie already got some gifts from the cats on the second floor!). 

However, I am amazed at how slowly things are coming together...which is partially why I have been hesitant to share anything. When I've lived on my own, I would just get it done as quickly as possible, even if that required some late nights, multiple trips to every store imaginable, and entering into intense DIY mode. But now I think the process of combining our stuff and trying to make decisions together has slowed the pace a bit. At first it drove me crazy, but now I am trying to look at it as investment in the space (of time and money). This apartment doesn't feel as transient as the former ones, so I want to get it right. I'm trying to make decisions that can work well for us in the long run and saving up to purchase some pieces we'll really love. Sadly, this means there won't be a rapid fire succession of before/after posts that I love. I'm hoping to get all the things we already own up on the walls or put away in closets and then slowly acquire the rest along the way. No rush...or so I try to tell myself!

What I do have are PLANS! Ideas! Dreams! Aspirations! Over the next couple weeks I will share our progress and where I would like each room to head in the coming months. Summer has the tendency to be crazy busy, but I'm hoping to fit in a little bit of work/shopping when I can. Send good vibes and organizational ideas my way. Real photos to come soon! (Remind yourself of the empty apartment before we moved in here.)

goodbye, old friend

I'm alive! Packing, moving, running, and all other life activities have proven to be all consuming lately, hence the blog silence. The move was a success, and Kurt and I are slowly digging ourselves out from under a million boxes. (I will fill you in on all the dirty moving details later, but I am shocked at how much stuff I have!) We just got the internet set up yesterday, so I hope to be back on the blogging bandwagon soon. Until then, here is a photo of my old studio just before I started packing and then once everything was cleared out. I had some good times in my "big girl in the city apartment" and it is kind of sad to say farewell to that period of independence, but I am very excited to be skipping down this path of new experiences with Kurt. Bear with me until everything settles down and I will have lots of updates to share!

i'm gonna write you a letter...

[I'm gonna write you a book...I want to see your reaction...I want to see how it looks...name that song!]

With the impending move right around the corner, get ready for lots of new apartment posts! So let's talk mail. Besides the painful process of changing your information with the post office, updating credit cards, and switching utilities, I'm actually looking forward to a new address. 

the paperwink // 1 // 2 // 3 // 4

This will be my fifth New York City apartment, in case anyone is keeping track. When I first moved here, I was really good at sending snail mail. I was partly motivated by these cute return address stamps (#2 was my go to). I got one for the first couple apartments I lived in, but then I became a serial mover and gave up the sort of expensive habit. I don't know how long Kurt and I will be in this new place but I am super excited to commit to a new stamp! There are lots of cute ones floating around on etsy. I'm leaning towards something that mixes handwritten script with print. Here are a few I am considering...

madison shop and new art

While Kurt and Justin were watching the Ohio State vs. Wisconsin game, Brett and I did some shopping along State Street, the main pedestrian strip running through downtown Madison. We came across a cute shop called Anthology, and I could have spent all day in there! I got some great Christmas presents (sadly I can't show you but know they are amazing!) and quite a few things for myself. Lots of new art for my walls!

climbing the (crazy) ladder

When you live your entire life at home in two rooms (practically 1-1/2), you spend more time decorating odd spaces, like say, a bathroom, than any sane, normal individual ever does...or should.

That's what led to my recent obsession with having a ladder in my bathroom. I've been seeing them all over the blog world and Pinterest and thought it would be handy as a towel rod, magazine rack, and tp holder in one. I really wanted a vintage one but they were kind of pricey on Etsy and I knew they would be ridiculous at any NYC flea markets. That's when I decided I could build one myself.

Here is the "before" situation. There isn't a good place for a wall mounted toilet paper holder because of all the bathroom tile, and I inherited this freestanding one from the former tenant.

After quickly patching and painting the holes from my previous, single purpose towel rod, I ran to Lowe's for supplies. I decided to use 2x2 furring strips for the verticals and 3/4" dowels for the rungs. Luckily, a helpful Lowe's worker was able to cut down the 8' furring strips to my desired length but he wasn't allowed to cut the dowels on the big saw. It was a little annoying that they can cut down huge pieces of wood but couldn't manage to make a few cuts of my puny twigs.

So now I am the proud owner of a little hacksaw so I could cut them at home :)

I planned on attaching the rungs to the verticals with conduit clamps but after getting the 3/4" ones home, I decided they were too big. They didn't hold the horizontal pieces tight enough and the ladder immediately fell apart. Plan B required another trip to Lowe's (luckily I live 2 blocks away) for extra long screws.

They worked much better! The ladder is pretty sturdy but I left one row with conduit clamps so the rod can be easily removed when replacing rolls of toilet paper.

Now I just need to stain it. I'm leaning towards Early American from Minwax but may go with something darker due to the low quality of the wood. While I consider myself a pretty experienced painter, I have never actually stained anything. It should be an interesting experience! I guess I can always use my painting skills if the stain turns into a big fail. Wish me luck!

foray into painting: part i

I'm such a tease with all these broken up posts, right? Sorry! Part ii hasn't happened yet. It's hopefully in the fuuuuuture.

I think my purpose in life is to cover my walls with things. I'm always on the hunt for something interesting to display. Lately I was inspired by this wall mural and thought I could recreate something like it on a smaller scale. I probably could have picked up supplies somewhere more convenient to my home or office, but I will always look for an excuse to go to Michaels (and Home Goods) waaaay on the Upper West Side. I grabbed an economy pack of canvases and some craft paint (on sale!) while unsuccessfully trying to brainstorm other craft projects.

Once I had a couple hours blocked out for painting, I spread out on my amazing new table and planned the size and angle of my chevron stripes and sketched them out in pencil. My completely unhelpful assistant was there to supervise.

The palette. The colors look completely crazy onscreen but you get the idea: burnt orange, deep magenta, mustard yellow, gold, and aqua.

Then I began the tedious process of applying color by color. I wanted a hand crafted look so I didn't want to tape the edges but tried to stay within the pencil lines with my brush strokes.

Looking back I wished I had been more loose with the design like my inspiration (and her inspiration). I was pretty rigid with the color arrangement and could also vary the width of the stripes. It didnt turn out as miraculously as I had hoped. C'est la vie! Good thing I bought a multi pack of canvases! There's always part ii!

I actually like the closeup best. Maybe I will chop it up into tiny pieces. What do you think?