August 3, 2011

As Good as it Got : final touches in the old apartment

Yeah, I know it's such old news now.  But for those of you who followed some of our improvements to our old apartment, I thought I'd show you a few photos of a couple projects we actually finished. Also, just wanted to get some documentation up of what the rest of our first NYC apartment was like.
Green plants on top of the bookshelves - they brought a nice softening to the room.
Awesome round mirror (super cheap at IKEA)
And the crowning jewel was our family photo wall.
It took us almost a year to conceptualize, gather materials, paint and hang.
I love how it brings some family history into our living space.
We can look up and see a number of big events and fun times in our lives.
I'm very happy with the way the living room turned out.
The purple hallway was always a conversation starter.
In this photo, the front door is just off to the left and the kitchen is just to the right.
I like this photo because it gives you a good idea of just what a small space we had.  When you go around the corner in the hallway, you see this doorway.  From the doorway you can see our dresser, our bed, and a wardrobe crammed at the foot.  You can also see the wall to Ellie's little closet/room.  We really crammed a lot into this room - and it felt like a sailor's quarters.
Not much to say about the bedroom.  Our decorating didn't get this far in 1 year.
Ellie's room wasn't really decorated, but we hung our old Halloween costumes and her birthday pom-poms to give it some color.
Also, what you see is what you get in this photo - her room was about 5'x6.5'
Super tiny!
Ellie wanted to make sure you got a good look at the diaper genie, as it was her favorite feature in the room.
And here is the adorable art piece that hung above it - made by my awesome friend, Holly.
We loved our little apartment in the time we lived there.  And I love that everywhere we go, no matter how long we plan on staying, we try to improve it and make it feel like home.  I really miss our old kitchen with it's brand new appliances and I miss the natural sunlight of B-52 (not to mention, how cool was it to live in the love shack?), but there are SO MANY dreamy things about our new apartment.  

I'm sure in time we'll have it spiffed up and looking like home sweet home.  Can't wait to get started!

7 comments:

  1. I LOVE the photo wall!! Seriously, it looks awesome. I want to do something like it when I grow up and have a family. I also love your photographs of your apt in general. My favs are probably the chair with the round mirror and the close-up of the coat hook. Can't wait to see what you do with the new place!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I loved your place. You did such a great job! Can't wait to see the new place.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm just totally in LOVE.... and I'm sad that you don't live there and I can't even picture where you live. I wish I could move into your old apartment. Whoever got it was LUCKY! You. are. bril.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You are amazing! Want to come to NC and give me some pointers?I especially love the animal coat hooks, and the photo wall (I like the coordinating by relaxed look that you get with the frames matching but not all the same.
    Also, what type of plants are those on the bookshelf?
    Seriously, come be my designer in our new place. I can't pay you but I will feed you!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Awww, thanks everyone. You all know I live for validation (why else have a blog) and your comments mean a lot to me.

    Katie, I am totally planning on visiting you in NC. I would love to help you design your new place - it would be so fun. The plants are fake (I'm scared of getting bugs if I get real ones) little guys from IKEA.

    Can YOU give ME some suggestions on good looking, easy houseplants? I don't have tons of sunlight in this apartment - what can I grow that likes the shade?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, your rooms are very modern looking and I'd love to do the same. But I'm not as creative as you though. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yey for visits!

    By far the easiest plant out there is a philodendron. There are a couple different varieties of leaf patterns but they are all super easy. They pretty much can't be killed. They are a crawler, but if you trim them they can be contained. For a bushier plant I have had luck with rosemary in darkish apartments. You can get them at whole foods-like stores. They are small and woody, smell amazing, can be trained to make shapes, and I loved using mine in cooking.
    Ivy is good in the shade too and can be shaped using a bent coat hanger in the pot. I really like those in little apartments. They are a bit more particular about the right amount of water, but not bad.

    Sorry if that was over-kill. Love ya, love your blog!

    ReplyDelete