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10.31.2012

New Apartment

I got into the new apartment about a week late due to the previous tenant's move and cleaning, etc.  It took me about two weeks to unpack... personal record!  This is the first time in 5 years that I've been completely unpacked in my own place.

I haven't put up any artwork or pictures yet.  Also, I need to go through and organize everything and probably rearrange some of the furniture, but I wanted to post some pictures so you can at least get the general idea of the apartment.  It is in no way finished and there are a lot of things (decoration-wise) I don't like about it yet, but it's getting there.

Here are a bunch of pictures of everything in the initial stage of unpacking:
entrance.  not much to see yet.
There are a bunch of boxes of books in the living room I have plans of selling online/half price bookstore or giving them away (see corner behind the floral chair that needs to be redone).
There is a little dining room area, but I'm currently using it as a study/bedroom for the puppy until my sister returns my dining room table (December).  The desk is still unfinished, but I'm hoping to get it completed in the next week or two.

Half of kitchen the day I moved in and hadn't unpacked anything yet.  Ignore the huge mess.
I just got this kitchen shelving unit from Target.  So easy to assemble and was really affordable ($30-40 range).  I purchased it in stores and am unable to link to it online.  It is a nice alternative to a pantry
Small telephone shelf.  I want to come up with something a little cuter than this to display, but this is all I have for now. 
Old school bathroom.  Not much to see here.
The closets appear small, but they are incredibly deep so there is a lot of storage space.  There is one closet in the living room and this one in the hallway across from the bathroom.
I was originally using the closet as a dog cage
...and what it looks like now.  I still need to go through and make it a little more organized.
I finally bought a real bed instead of sleeping on a twin mattress on the floor for four years.  This is the only picture of the bedroom I'm going to show because there are clothes everywhere and it all needs to be rearranged.
I have a to-do list a mile long, but it already feels like home.  I'm pretty much in love with the place!

10.15.2012

The Heart Finds Peace II

I loved my Here the Heart Finds Peace painting so much, that I decided to make my sister one.  I used the same colors we used in her giant three part painting we did a couple weeks ago.
I started out with a plain chevron pattern similar to the underlying pattern in my inspiration fabric (fabric also from Burkina Faso, Africa).  Next, I painted this gold arrow/chevron pattern on top.  Both patterns are so easy to do and the layering effect looks great.  Finally, I used a navy color to stencil in the words. 
Here is the end result:
 And both of them next to each other:

10.02.2012

Wooden Chair

This wooden chair is one of my not-so recent finds, but it needed a little help.  As one always does when redoing furniture, I sanded and wiped down the chair.  It only took me 10 minutes and I did it while I was letting my candles dry.  It already looks better, but was a little rickety and the seat part was falling off.  I brought it to my dad and he worked his magic.
Clove watching my progress.
Five months later, I finally got around to doing something with it!  We were painting my new desk and decided to bring this out and paint it to match.  Primed, painted, added the wash, and it is a perfect match to the desk.
I'm not sure if I will use it at the desk or not, but it will be nice to have something else in the room that coordinates with the desk.

10.01.2012

Desk :: Part I

On Saturday, my mom and I went down to St. Vincent de Paul looking for a desk, and I found the perfect one.  This was $65 if we took it home that day.  Unfortunately, we were unable to fit it in her car so we paid some guy $10 to follow us with the desk to my parent's house.
 We went through my furniture pinterest board and looked for some inspiration.  Here is the vanity inspiration piece we settled on:
The next day, I ran by Home Depot and picked up a bunch of painting materials and got to work with my mom.  We used some Kilz primer (no pics of that step) and then added a coat of Behr's Aqua Spray.
We only did one coat of the paint.  I then mixed a gray wash with acrylic paint and water.  I generously painted it over the desk and my mom did all of the wiping off. 
Here are a couple detail pictures after the glaze:




We are loving the result!  The glaze really brings out the little details.  There are still a couple of things that need to be done (clear coat, buy new knobs, etc) so stay tuned for some pics of the final.

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On a side note: I'm moving to a new apartment this week.  Wood flooring, lots of windows, first floor, garage space... basically everything I was looking for.  I'm very excited about it and I will post some pictures when I get in there.
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