things i'm not missing about the apartment
Tuesday, April 29, 2008- The smoke filled hallways Labels: apartment living, home owning
- Potholes in our driveway
- Alarm clocks going off for hours on end
- Bebo barking at doors being slammed
- Trucks with loud music pulling in at 1:30am
- Gross, nasty carpeting
- Not being able to keep anything dusted
- Having to use the spare room as storage
- Taking Bebo down a flight of stairs every time he has to go out
- Being concerned about having our TV/music up too loud
- Having to jiggle the handle when we flush the toilet
Last night was the first time I made Josh and I supper in the new house. I can't explain how amazing it was to have so much room and counter space. And don't even get me started on the dishwasher...I do believe that deserves a post of its very own.
We are feeling so lucky right now to have been able to get this house. I kind of feel like I'm living in a dream...one of those really good ones you don't want to wake up from.
clean coffeemaker
Wednesday, March 05, 2008Labels: apartment living
Although I don't know that I will ever really have a studio, I think someday I'd like an office for Knight Light. Tonight I have a bride and groom coming over to look at my photography. The problem is that since Josh and I have both been sick, the apartment is completely trashed. After work I'm going to run home and hopefully clean, clean, clean. I just don't want future clients coming into my messy apartment!
The one thing that is clean is our brand new coffeepot. We've needed a new one for quite a few months now. The coffee wasn't so good out of our old pot and the warmer was peeling and scalded. Josh did a bunch of research (because that's how he is) and picked out a new one. I had it on my Christmas list and it even went on sale for a couple weeks. We didn't get it then and figured we wouldn't be able to find it again. Last night we stopped at Starbucks and they had our coffeepot on clearance! Josh said, "We have to get it". So we did.
Maybe I'll make the couple some coffee and they won't even notice the mess because the coffee will be so good.
update
Friday, February 15, 2008Labels: apartment living
I know you were all losing sleep over my dilemma of couch pillows. Well, I found some! I had totally resigned myself to just making my own. Jess called me last Friday because she knew I was in town picking up a few things. She said, "Hey, have you gone to Hobby Lobby? Because there are really cute gray pillows and they're half off". Josh and I drove right over, walked right to them and bought them! I didn't even debate myself over them. I just knew that I should get them. Thanks, Jess.
the light at the end of the tunnel
Tuesday, February 12, 2008The tunnel is apartment living. I see the light on the other end! Josh and I have been working towards the house thing F-O-R-E-V-E-R. We have been working our butts off paying as much as we can on student loans. The big one was a private loan we had to get to cover the rest of Josh's college expenses. Our goal was to pay that off this year and then buy a house. Basically because we've been really good at budgeting and Josh is kicking butt with the overtime thing, we are hoping to pay it off this Spring. Holy cow! July is my month now. That's our goal month for looking for a house. Uh, do you know how close July is??? I can't even tell you how excited I am. Labels: apartment living
I have a feeling I'm going to have the apartment packed up before we even have a house. I am beyond ready. As much as I enjoy the new neighbors leaving beer boxes all over the parking lot, I think it's time for us to go. Three or four more months!!
living room
Tuesday, February 05, 2008Labels: apartment living
Over the weekend Josh and I finished revamping our living room. I actually really like the room now even though it's still in our crappy apartment. I have "grown-up furniture" and things really came together. (I still need some gray couch pillows!) It's nice to not have hand-me-down furniture. Josh was so thrilled to get rid of our old entertainment center. He took it apart in record time.
I had initially hesitated getting new living room furniture because we're so close to house hunting. Now I'm so glad that we went ahead and did it. It will be nice to have real furniture to move into a living room. Plus it's really nice to have a living room that I don't mind being in!
red couch
Monday, December 17, 2007Labels: apartment living
For Christmas Josh and I decided to not buy each other gifts, to get a couch instead. His mom asked if we wanted them to chip in as our Christmas present from them. Yes, please! On Saturday we headed up to Ikea in Bolingbrook to pick it up. Luckily we were back before it really started to snow.
Right now we still have our old couch in the living room so things are kind of a mess. I'm anxious to get everything situated and get the rest of our new living room furniture. Ikea was running a special that if you bought an Ektorp couch (which we did), you got a gift card for 20% of the purchase. Josh and I are hoping to go back up in January and use that gift card!
living in someone else's building
Monday, November 19, 2007Labels: apartment living
I'm beginning to sound like a broken record when I talk about living in the apartment. It's pretty much like one thing after another though... Friday night while playing the Wii we heard a knock at the door. The new downstairs neighbor and his dad came up to tell us our water heater was flooding the hallway and was creating a mini waterfall all the way downstairs. Well isn't that just neat?
The guy's dad turned off the water for us and they called the landlord. The new neighbor even vacuumed up the water in the hallway with his shopvac. Once the landlord got there I asked what was up. Of course, he acted like it was no big deal that WE DIDN'T HAVE HOT WATER. After he left we were pretty sure that it wouldn't be fixed until after the weekend.
My dad to the rescue! He agreed that if he owned the building he would have gotten someone out there to fix it asap. He worked for two hours on that stupid water heater and pipe. Josh and my dad had to drain water in it, replace pipe, do something with a blowtorch...but they fixed it. I was so thankful for my dad and that he was willing to do that.
Josh called the landlord to let him know that my dad fixed the water heater. He got his voicemail so he just left a message saying it was fixed and to expect a bill for my dad's time. I'm pretty sure that the landlord is going to be as happy as we are when we finally buy a house.
on not liking neighbors
Wednesday, November 14, 2007One of the things that I really hate about living in an apartment is that I end up disliking someone I don't even know. We have a new neighbor that moved in below us last week. I haven't actually spoken to him because he's pretty much keeping to himself. But...I already didn't like him before he moved in. Labels: apartment living
I loved not having anyone below us. (We haven't had the best luck with people living in the apartment underneath us.) With the place empty, I didn't worry about how much noise we were creating or my dog barking. I also didn't have to hear anything from below like yelling or slamming doors.
The new guy seemed to be fairly quiet so I tried to keep any open mind. Yesterday morning, however, as his alarm went off from 6:15 until 7:15 I found myself not liking him so much. He also keeps his kitchen light on continuously. I want to tap on his window when I come home and say "Save electricity. Turn your light off!". I don't. And he must leave his TV on continuously because I hear it ALL the time (even in the morning while his alarm is going off!).
Honestly we have had much, much worse neighbors so I'm thankful. I think I'm really just ready to live in my own house. And I feel guilty for not liking someone that I haven't even spoken to!
saturday ikea
Monday, October 15, 2007Labels: apartment living, retail therapy
Knight Light had taken Saturday off so Josh and I went up to Ikea. We hadn't been since April when we shopped for our bedroom. Although we weren't getting anything major, we really wanted to look at certain pieces of furniture for the living room. Everything always looks different in person so we had to check it out to plan out the room. I had a list of items and we pretty much agreed on everything.
Josh and I always have a good time shopping together because we typically like the same type of things. Our big purchase on Saturday was five picture frames. As photographers, we should really have some of our work framed! Now I just don't know how I'll decide what to put in the others.
cleaning day
Monday, August 13, 2007Labels: apartment living
Yesterday was cleaning day at the Knight apartment. I definitely have been neglecting it for the past few weeks. It's hard to want to clean the place when somethings you just can't get clean. Living in such an old place with drafty windows and doors, makes dusting nearly impossible. Add in the cruddy carpet and basically within an hour of dusting, it needs it again. Yeah, that makes it a little discouraging.
But finally yesterday I got the motivation and luckily my wonderful husband agreed to help. Josh would ask me what he could do to help and away he'd go. He even cleaned the bathroom. What a guy. I always feel so much better after everything is clean. It makes starting my week a little easier.
i want to bake
Tuesday, July 31, 2007Labels: apartment living, in the kitchen
Since the day I moved into my apartment, one thing that I hated most was my oven. It was probably over 30 years old and rather disgusting. The hardest part was that nothing cooked right. Even when making pizza, we had to rotate it halfway through because the back cooked faster than the front. Occasionally the kitchen would smell like gas because one of the pilot lights would go out. Although I informed my landlord of this over a year ago, nothing was done.
And then the most wonderful thing happened...my oven broke. Last Tuesday night I went to make some blueberry muffins. I put them in the oven and came back twenty minutes later. They looked exactly like they did when I put them in. Batter. When I opened the oven door I could feel that it was trying to heat up but obviously not doing a very good job at it.
Josh immediately called the landlord and said we needed a new oven. Much to my surprise, they showed up with one on Saturday morning. The new oven isn't anything special. It doesn't even have a light on the inside. BUT...it bakes things correctly!! I tried blueberry muffins again on Saturday night and it was like magic. Not only did they actually bake, they puffed up on top like they're supposed to. That had never happened when I made them at the apartment.
Josh and I danced around the kitchen we were so happy. Now I am so excited to bake again. It's been three years since I've really wanted to bake. The frustration of the old oven just made baking, even cooking supper not very enjoyable. This makes my crappy apartment just a little more bearable.
uh oh, decorating fever...again
Friday, June 29, 2007I suddenly feel the need to redecorate our living room. I think now that our bedroom is redone and I love it so much, I have to tackle the other rooms. Of course the living room is a little more difficult to tackle than our bedroom. Mainly because our furniture sucks in the living room, except for Josh's Poang chairs. Labels: apartment living
If we redid our living room, we would need to get a new couch, new coffeetable, side table(s), entertainment center, storage for books... Yikes! I think the couch and the entertainment center would be the big ones. I could probably do everything else for relatively cheap.
We like this idea from Blueprint for a coffee table. Although I'm not sure that our living room is big enough.
I love doing the planning for these things. Maybe if I start planning (and saving) we could redo the living room this fall. The funny thing is that I don't really feel like it's redoing because it's never actually been done!
on being fiscally responsible
Wednesday, May 16, 2007Labels: apartment living, moolah
Josh and I got a notice from one of his student loan providers last week. The notice was to inform him that he would have to begin paying back his loans next month. I logged into the website to check out what the damage was. I added the payments up and pretty much hyperventilated. Uh, the monthly amount was close to a mortgage payment. We can't afford a real mortgage, how could we afford this!? Once I started breathing again, I realized we could consolidate a few of the loans together. This lowered our monthly payment but unfortunately it's still a staggering amount.
After receiving this discouraging news, Josh and I started a month long experiment where we do not spend any unnecessary money. This means no trips to Old Navy, no new shoes (like these that I really, really want) and no bike stuff. We decided that we couldn't completely cut everything out so we figure that if we're near a Starbucks we'd allow a coffee or two.
Basically we just want to see where we are at money-wise. This new monthly payment seems daunting, considering that some months we don't have extra money for anything. (But we do usually allow ourselves dinner out or new clothes here or there.)
The funny thing about all of this is that Josh and I aren't crazy spenders. We don't buy ridiculously expensive items and don't spend money we don't have. Most of my clothes are purchased from Old Navy on sale, I've never bought a designer purse in my life, and our furniture is either hand-me-downs or from Ikea. Our hobbies (bicycling and photography) can be expensive but we don't go crazy with them even though we'd like to.
Honestly I'm not sure how most people do it. Sometimes I think people look at us and think that we don't spend our money wisely. Do people think, "Why can't they afford a house?". Believe me, we can't! About once a month I look at our budget to try to figure out where the extra money for a mortgage could come from. You can't save money that isn't already there, am I right?
Most days though I really like the idea of living more simply. What can I do with more stuff? Do I really need more stuff? What good will it do me? I also remind myself that not having a house has it's benefits too. Why do I even need a house right now? I'd hate to move so soon after redoing our bedroom! And really we have enough room for all of our stuff. Things that I don't have room for and don't need that often (like Christmas decorations) is in storage at my parents. If something should break (like our stove), the landlord would have to replace it. (Even if it took awhile to get a new one...)
So in Josh's words, we're trying to be "fiscally responsible". Really it can't be that difficult to not spend money... I mean, I've got an awesome husband who I could just stare at all night and we have a Wii. What more do you really need?
art wall
Monday, April 30, 2007Friday night Josh and I hung pictures up in our bedroom. I really had not wanted to do it because it's so hard for me to figure out where to put everything. This was the scene: Labels: apartment living
I cut paper the size of everything and taped it on the wall. I rearranged everything about 20 times but finally got something I was happy with. Here is the finished wall but with room for growth:
There are notes on that picture in flickr that tells what everything is. I love, love everything on that wall.
bedroom remix!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007Last week I talked about redoing our bedroom. Well Saturday...we did it. Yep, we redid the bedroom in one day. Friday night we bought the paint and new curtains. We also got new sheets to go with the comforter. We found bamboo twill sheets at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. Bamboo is a rapidly renewable resource that doesn't require pesticides to grow so we were thrilled to get them. (And even though they're only 230 thread count, they feel better than our 450 thread count sheets.) Labels: apartment living
Saturday morning after working on laundry and Josh mowed at my parents, we started to paint. I think the Menard's guy gave me special one-coat-only paint because he could tell that I HATE to paint. We were amazed to see how well it coated especially considering we didn't prime the walls. By 12:30 Saturday night we had the new curtains hung and everything back in the room. It helps that Josh and I are an awesome team. By the time we were done we were so giggly about the whole thing. I just kept thinking "uh yeah, I have an orange wall".
You can see some before and after pictures on flickr. I don't really have things hung on the walls yet. I've decided to not put anything on my orange wall. But my blue wall is just waiting for an awesome art collage that I'm planning. I'm getting some prints from Etsy and I've got some other things to hang up. I can't wait!
Here is one angle before shot:
And after:
I absolutely love how it turned out. So bright and cheery... It just makes me happy to have a room that is actually us.
the magical land of IKEA
Tuesday, April 17, 2007Be Brave, Not Beige Labels: apartment living, be green, retail therapy
Last week I randomly suggested Josh and I should make a trip to IKEA. Josh was thrilled; you would have thought that I just told him he was getting a brand new bicycle. He was so excited that he spent the next 2 hours scouring the IKEA website. We hadn't been in forever and after all this talk of redoing our bedroom...well, I decided we should go.
I'm not sure why so many people turn up their noses at IKEA furniture and such. I guess because it's cheap. I really like the style of a lot of their stuff. I don't care that it doesn't cost that much. In fact, that makes me like it even more! Come on, let's bring style to the masses. It's like Target doing the designer clothes. "Design for All"...way to go, Target.
We made it in about two hours only going about 5 minutes out of our way after missing the I-355 exit. Watch out for that construction, folks. It was nuts. We arrived so excited to get in there and started! I'm always floored by just how big that place is. And it's amazing the number of people coming in and out of it...it is so busy.
The first thing we saw when we got there was the Poang chair that Josh has wanted for 3 years. We hadn't really planned on buying it but it was added to our sheet, just in case. I had brought a list of things I wanted to make sure I looked at, like the nightstands. By the end of the trip, we ended up filling our cart and one of those trolleys.
I was so excited to get these three little vases. They were $1.99 a piece and so very Jonathan Adler, don't you think?
Got this little teapot for $4.99. So cute and much cheaper than anything I had found around here. It's perfect for heating water for our French press.
We also got three Malma mirrors for $1.99 each. I got just the naked wood ones so I can paint them white or yellow and put them in our bedroom when it's done. And a few other things I found:
We did also get our nightstands and Josh's chair (which he had put together in like 10 minutes because he was so excited about it).
One thing I was very excited about is IKEA's new "Bag the Plastic Bag" program. For 59 cents you can buy a flippin' huge reusable bag instead of using plastic bags. The bag filled up the bottom of the cart...it was that big! IKEA is starting to charge five cents for every plastic bag you use. Instead we just bought one of the reusable bags. For the first year of the blue bag program, they are going to donate all proceeds to American Forests. I think I'm going to start taking that bag to Meijer with us and just have them put our groceries or whatever in that. I'm a big fan of IKEA's position on environmental issues.
It was such a good day and we felt like we really got some cool stuff. I really am a big fan of IKEA. (Few more photos on Flickr.)
improving this place
Monday, April 16, 2007Since Josh and I are talking about staying in this crummy apartment for longer than we expected, I've been looking at a ton of home decor websites. I think maybe if we just paint some of the rooms we'd feel better about this place. (And now that my husband has a full time job we can afford paint!) I wish there was hard wood under the terrible carpeting (I'd just rip it out) but unfortunately it's just the dust that used to be the carpeting padding. Labels: apartment living
So I'm thinking first I'll start with the bedroom. It needs the least amount of work since we have real furniture in there. Yes, it's actual wood furniture that was not bought on a garage sale or owned by an old lady who liked orange velvet. We do have one piece of furniture, a chair, that was bought on a moving sale but it's actually not too bad.
I decided that I'm going to redecorate our bedroom completely based on this comforter from Anthropologie. No seriously, totally based on that duvet... I just love it and Josh likes it too. After looking at loads of comforters we finally just decided to order this one. It should be here in 5 to 7 business days!
On to paint...yep, we're going to be rebels again. These are the colors we're thinking. Blue on three walls and then an orange on the fourth wall. The yellow would be an accent color for pillows, decorations and such. Pretty gutsy, huh?
All of this talk about redoing our room made us decide to take a trip to IKEA this past weekend. I got two tall skinny nightstands for our bedroom redo among other things. (More on IKEA tomorrow...)
I am loving the wall colors we picked out. Now we just need to buy the paint and do it. Too bad I absolutely loath painting. I'm so excited about doing yellow and white as accent colors. It's weird because just on Friday there were two posts about yellow on decor8. [color of the month: yellow and yellow interior inspiration on decor8] How's that for timing? Here are some other things that are serving as inspiration for the room.
Magazine Tote - Crate & Barrel
Hemnes Bedside Table - Ikea
Sphere Pendant Lamp - West Elm
Dekad Alarm Clock - Ikea
Fly Wall Decals (white) - Blik
Zinc Letters - Anthropologie
I'm not sure what to do about art and such for the walls. I really love this picture with the large yellow canvas. (from Domino) That would be super easy to do.
To Get List for Bedroom:
- paint
- duvet from Anthropologie - ordered!
- throw pillows that coordinate - we did get two bright yellow pillows from IKEA but I might need to find a few more.
- material to slipcover chair and find amazing seamstress
- nightstand(s) - check!
- lighting for nightstands (maybe wall lamps?)
- new curtains - white?
You can bet I will definitely be documenting the process. I think our room is going to look completely different and I am SO excited.
live simply
Wednesday, March 28, 2007"If you have two coats, give one away," he said. "Do the same with your food." -Luke 3:11 (The Message) Labels: apartment living, deep thoughts, moolah
I recently came across this photoset on Flickr. This young couple and their daughter sold their affordable house to move into an apartment. They went from 1667 square feet to 382, simply to pay off their student loans. It made me think that maybe Josh and I could stay in our apartment for a little longer to try to pay off our student loans more quickly. It's hard because I'm so ready to have a place of our own but I love the idea of having the loans paid off.
I've just been thinking a lot about our spending habits. I think we do pretty well. I mean, we don't spend money we don't have (usually) and we don't go on huge shopping sprees. I do know that we could save more than we do. Sometimes I feel like we just spend money on stupid things. It's especially hard because we're trying to figure out how to swing buying a Nikon D200 which would be a good investment for Knight Light. What's considered a good investment for Knight Light can be hard on the checkbook for Josh and Kimberly... It's really hard to find a balance and it's even more difficult when you're starting a business and need a lot of things in the beginning.
Josh and I are having a garage sale in May at my parent's. I really am excited about purging and maybe making a little bit of cash. We've been through our closets a few times but I'm definitely going to go through them again. Sometimes I feel like we have so much STUFF. Things that we don't really need but we keep "just in case". Maybe it's time to go through things, live simply, figure out how to pay off our student loans sooner...change.
Friday is Random
Friday, March 16, 2007Labels: apartment living, randomness
Do you ever have a funny story to tell someone but when you type it out or finish telling them you realize it wasn't that funny? Josh and I always have these really random conversations that make us sound hilarious. However, when I go to repeat them or write them on here...well, they're not that funny.
from What the Duck
Josh and I are shooting a wedding on Saturday. The weather is supposed to be beautiful although slightly cooler than earlier this week. I'm looking forward to the wedding because the couple seems like they're pretty easygoing. It should be fun to take them outside and get some pictures.
Loving these design blogs: desire to inspire and decor8. I'm planning how I want to decorate the house that someday we're going to buy. After having the county sheriff stop by our apartment building three times in the past week, I'm even more anxious to move out. That and the embarrassing, enormous pile of junk that has formed out back...well, it's pushed me over the edge. So ready to get out of this junk-hole...
movies in bed
Monday, February 12, 2007Josh and I had a goal for the weekend. Watch a movie on our new computer while laying in bed. Sounds silly, I know, but we were really excited about it. We've never had a TV in our room but now that our monitor is just slightly smaller than our TV...we figured it would be perfect. Saturday night about midnight we put in Little Miss Sunshine. We laughed because we were so excited to get situated in bed for the movie! About halfway through the movie Josh pauses it (because our computer came with a remote) and said he was hungry. I thought about it for a minute and said that we had never eaten in bed before so we ran out to the kitchen for a snack. As we climbed back in bed with our cookies and started the movie I told Josh that we had a whole new world opened up to us. Lucky for us, we get excited about the little things. Labels: all you need is love, apartment living, nerd alert
decorating for Christmas
Tuesday, November 28, 2006While scouring through the Pottery Barn magazine, my Real Simple and another magazine, I tore out every Christmas decoration I liked. One of the images I kept coming back to was this one from Pottery Barn: Labels: apartment living, christmas cheer
To do a scaled down version for the top of my entertainment center, it would have cost me approximately $193 for the candle holders plus $128 for the candles. Holy crap, $321? That's not even including all of those shown or the glass vase in the middle or the stockings or garland.
So the day after Thanksgiving Josh and I headed into town to do a little shopping. We decided to hit Hobby Lobby to see about their Christmas decorations. Jackpot. No joke, everything I bought there was half off.
Here is my version of the Pottery Barn mantle. Total cost: $56.25 ($36.25 for the candle holders, $10 for the candles, and $10 for the berry garland)
I absolutely love how it came out. Josh decided that we needed a theme for our decorations so I told him I was thinking red and white. We bought some red and silver classic ball ornaments (half off at Hobby Lobby) to decorate our little Charlie Brown Christmas tree. By the way, A Charlie Brown Christmas is on TV tonight.
I saw this idea in a magazine too (maybe Real Simple) and thought it would be perfect for the window above my kitchen sink. My version:
This little tree (also half off at Hobby Lobby) came prelit. I used a set of ornaments I received from an Aunt last Christmas (thanks, Suzi). The ornament set is called a bride's tree collection. According to an old German tradtion, a couple's Christmas tree should include these twelve ornaments to ensure their happiness. For example, a house for protection, a rabbit for hope, a fish for Christ's blessing, a teapot for hospitality... The ornaments were a perfect fit for this little tree.
I really love the apartment this Christmas. I feel like everything came together so well and it all looks so homey. For once it's not just thrown together leftovers, it's my own decorations that I planned out. I feel kind of like a grown-up. And if you're not going to make it to my apartment sometime during the month of December, you can see more of my decorations on Flickr. (Including Josh's painting he did for me, Post Modern Candy Canes.)
apartment = clean
Wednesday, November 22, 2006So last night I worked my butt off cleaning the apartment. The spare room was out of control and it was driving me crazy. I know I'm going to want to decorate for Christmas this weekend so I had to have everything cleaned up. (It's funny that last year I did the same thing before Christmas.) It's just so frustrating to try to keep things organized in an apartment. I don't have any storage! You've really got to be creative with storing everything. Labels: apartment living, christmas cheer
I was able to get rid of some stuff. I did four trips to the dumpster and took some stuff to store over at my parents. I was wiped out by the time I was done. I didn't even get to the dusting or vacuuming! Oh well, that seems pretty minor after what I did last night.
fall decor
Monday, October 16, 2006Labels: apartment living
A few weeks ago I wrote about needing to do some decorating. After looking through the Pottery Barn catalog I was determined to get the apartment decorated for fall but only for cheaper. Lucky for me Hobby Lobby was having a half price sale on fall decorations. Between what I already had and what I got, I only spent around $40! And now our apartment looks ready for fall.
Bad news for me though...Saturday I got the Christmas decorations Pottery Barn catalog.
decorating
Thursday, September 28, 2006The other day I got the newest Pottery Barn catalog and spent an hour pouring over it and then ripping out all the pages I loved. Looking through Pottery Barn makes me want to decorate especially my living room. My living room needs a lot of work. Let me tell you about the furniture that I have. Labels: apartment living, moolah
- Weird speckled couch, covered by a khaki couch cover - $0, hand-me-down from my folks
- Faux wood Entertainment Center - $15, garage sale
- Coffee table, painted numerous times by Josh who is now trying to strip it so we can repaint it again - $5, yard sale
- Old beige recliner - $0, passed down from Josh's folks
- Velvet-y orange armchair - $0, passed down from Josh's grandma (I think)
- Faux wood bookcases - $15 a piece from Walmart
Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for finding stuff for free or at garage sales. (I don't really shop at Pottery Barn I just use them for ideas.) The problem with all of this stuff is that it doesn't really match...at all. I'm sure it doesn't help that it's all sitting on burnt orange carpeting.
Of course we don't have the money to go buy all new furniture. Plus it doesn't really make sense because hopefully in a year we'll be in a house! I'm working on patience (as usual). Instead of redecorating, I'm hoping to at least decorate for fall and soon, Christmas. Hopefully that will tide me over.
rebellious painters
Tuesday, September 12, 2006When you think of rebellious, I'm sure most of you instantly think of me. Yes, I am such a rebel. This past weekend Josh and I did something so rebellious... We painted our apartment bathroom blue. Labels: apartment living
I moved into this apartment almost three years ago. One of the first things I asked was if I could paint. They said no and I accepted it. Now almost three years have passed and the landlord has not done a single thing around the building. Josh actually mows our section of the lawn because Bebo was getting lost in the grass. I finally reached the point of not caring when I asked them to replace my stove or at least look at it. It looks to be from the early 60's and often makes the apartment smell like gas. Safe, right? They didn't even stop by so that was that. I said screw it and we painted.
I picked a subtle color because chances are they won't even notice this way. I love the blue. The bathroom even looks cleaner. The picture on the left was when I first moved in.
Here's another shot of this picture, now updated!
And because Josh and I are such rebels...we're even thinking about painting the living room.
cookie sheets
Thursday, August 10, 2006Last night I was a busy bee. I had told my sister-in-law, Missy, that I would make them supper for tonight. So last night I whipped up chicken tetrazzini so it would be all ready today. I also "whipped up" almost 6 dozen chocolate chip cookies. My little momma, bless her heart, brought over her huge cookies sheets and helped scoop the cookies. I realized that I only have one decent size cookie sheet and one little tiny one. How is that possible? I mean, I just got married. I should have 10 in a every size. Labels: apartment living, family matters
I guess it's a good thing that I don't because I just don't have the room to store them. I am becoming increasingly frustrated with apartment living and lack of storage. In the kitchen I have basically one cupboard to hold my strainer(s), Pyrex containers, cake pans, muffin tins... It's completely out of control and bothers me to the point of not wanting to even open that cupboard door. I think this is why for the first time in my life I don't want to cook/bake very much.
Josh and I have decided to start researching the house thing. It really doesn't make sense for us to just sit on our butts and wish for a house. I would rather know that I have looked into everything even if we can't buy a house until next year.
My mom always says that I'm a "chip off the old block" in regards to my Dad. I know that one of the traits I did get from him is his inability to just let things pan out. He's one of those people that researches things, figures something out, investigates until he knows the answer. If he gets a bill that doesn't make sense, he's on the phone immediately. Why waste time thinking about it when you can just call, figure it out and be done with it? Yeah, I'm like that too. So it just makes sense to me that you would look into your options even if nothing works out.
I'm okay with living in our apartment a while longer but we might as well see if there's a way for us to afford a house. Honestly I would really like to get a few more cookie sheets someday.
house...someday
Wednesday, August 09, 2006The closer Josh and I get to December and his graduation, the more anxious I get about buying a house. I can tell you about probably every house that is for sale here and how much they're listed at. There is even an open house on Saturday if you'd like to go. Labels: apartment living, moolah
I think that the most absolutely frustrating thing is that after budgeting and budgeting, I figured out that if I could pay off my car...we could buy a house. I am $4,000 away from paying off my car. All I keep thinking about is how I could come up with that kind of money. Don't even think about asking me what I came up with...selling a kidney is a viable option.
It kind of sucks having figured out, no car payment = house. Having our own house is so darn close. I can see the light but just can't quite get to it. Argh. Let's be honest, I'm not the most patient person in the world.
The one thing I do know about all this waiting is that I will appreciate it more. As with everything else in my life that I have not so patiently waited for (ex. Josh), I truly appreciate them more.
Edited (11:31am): Apparently it's talk about buying a house day. Josh's dad encouraged Josh this morning for us to look into buying a house. Josh didn't even know that I spent an hour looking at those realtor websites. I guess there are options out there for people that don't make any money, like us. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that maybe something will pan out. I hope!
it's ginormous
Wednesday, August 02, 2006Some friends of ours offered us a large bean bag that no longer had a place in their house. I instantly agreed before even thinking about how big it really is. May I remind you that I live in an apartment? Our living room is actually a decent size but I seriously have never seen a bean bag this big. Labels: apartment living
Let me say that it is awesome. Josh and I spent my whole lunch hour laying on it and watching The Cosby Show. The cool thing is that it's not really a bean bag. The insides are soft not the beans so you don't have that annoying noise. It's like laying on a pillow. You really can't quite tell how big it is from this picture but it gives you an idea.
lately
Wednesday, June 14, 2006The truth of the matter is that I've had a rough couple of weeks. I can't tell you the reason because I don't really know it myself. I just feel down, upset...tired all the time. I've been grouchy to Josh and I hate it when I'm like that. He just puts up with it like always and tries to make me laugh. Labels: apartment living
This morning sucked and again for no specific reason. But over lunch though Josh and I started talking about buying a house and I got excited. I had a decent afternoon because I felt like I had something to start looking forward to. In just a few months Josh'll be done with school and (cross your fingers) he'll have a "real" job. We'll be in the market for a house...finally. There are so many houses for sale in the area that we started talking about maybe looking at a few of them. It seems silly to pass up that opportunity and what may be a great house for us, just because we should wait two more months. I was feeling like things could be working out for us and maybe we wouldn't be stuck in this crappy apartment for another year.
But now just a couple hours later, I feel like it was stupid of us to get our hopes up. That we can't afford a house right now and we'd be dumb to even start looking... What if we found a house we liked...how would we pay for it until January? And what if Josh wouldn't find a job right away? Houses are always on the market and it's dumb to rush into it.
Except I feel depressed again and I see everything wrong with my apartment. I think I need to build a fort or squeeze under the bed.
beige walls
Monday, May 01, 2006Labels: apartment living
Two and a half years I've lived in this apartment. I finally hung a picture in the bathroom this weekend. I guess I never really knew what I wanted to do with it. The thing with living in an apartment is that all the walls are beige. Boring! And then if you add orange carpeting to the mix, it's pretty difficult to "decorate". Seriously the minute we buy a house I'm going to get paint to do every room a different color. NO MORE BEIGE.
We bought a cheap picture frame from Meijer this weekend. Josh took this picture of mine and photoshopped. I really like how it turned out. It makes me want to go out, buy more frames and hang our photography up everywhere!
apartment living
Tuesday, March 28, 2006You may remember when I called 911 for my neighbor or when this happened. Last week Josh and I were watching some TV when a cop decided to bang on our door. He asked if we knew Mr. So and So. I was like, "Uh, I don't know his last name. Tyler*?" He (very gruffly I might add) said, "Yeah, your downstairs neighbor". Labels: apartment living
Josh was busy trying to wrangle our dog. (Bebo was growling his poor little head off. I guess he didn't care for the two cops.) So I had to try to answer their questions! The cops wanted to know if we had seen Tyler and if not, what his car looked like. I decided to take the dog and let Josh describe Tyler's car for the cops because I suddenly couldn't remember. So the cops left...I'm assuming to go look for Tyler. Although I did hear him come in later that night...
In a possibly completely unrelated incident, Josh realized his book bag was gone from his car yesterday. It had a philosophy book and some old headphones in it but that's about it. At first I thought that one of his school friends had taken it as a joke because well, who would want a philosophy book!? Today Josh was taking the garbage out to the dumpster and saw something on the ground. It was a crocheted iPod case that I had made for him. He looked in the dumpster and there was his bag! Headphones are missing but the book is still there. Luckily the headphones weren't attached to his iPod.
So it seems we have to be even MORE careful about locking ALL of our doors. I'm also wishing to win the lottery so I don't have to live in this building anymore. Although you do have to play to win...
*Names have been changed to protect the innocent...hmmm...or maybe the guilty.
our new vacuum
Tuesday, March 21, 2006The other night Josh and I were watching TV and a commercial for a Eureka vacuum came on. We both kind of stopped what we were doing and watched intently. After the commercial was over, I commented how we really needed a new vacuum. (I've been using a hand-me-down from my parents that basically doesn't work.) So Josh decides we should buy this vacuum. I figured it would be a couple hundred dollars but we found out you could buy it for around $60! After a little research we settled on the Optima. Labels: apartment living
I spent a good 45 minutes vacuuming the apartment on Sunday. It was so great to actually use something that worked! I even vacuumed the baseboards which will make my mom very happy. For such a little vacuum it really has some suction power. Bebo was just as scared of it as the old one but I'm lovin' it. It's small, it works and it's sparkly green. I mean, really...what more can you ask for?
We are so darn excited about getting a vacuum though. Last night Josh and I were hanging out and in the middle of a conversation he looks at me and says, "I think I'm going to vacuum tomorrow". It's the little things...
Fast forward
Tuesday, January 17, 2006Sometimes my desire to fast forward life gets the best of me. Yesterday I was really down. The kind of down that makes it hard to smile or even talk. I just felt so frustrated about not being able to afford a house right now. Josh and I are destined to live in our apartment for another year. After figuring numbers all afternoon I came to the realization that we'd able to afford a small house...HOWEVER, it probably wouldn't be the house that we'd really want to live in and we wouldn't be spending money on anything else. So now, I'm accepting it. We're going to wait it out in our crappy little apartment because really, a year isn't THAT long. Labels: apartment living, moolah
I just get so impatient sometimes. Like even though I know I have to wait for something, I just don't want to. A house, a baby... But then the next day I'm okay. And today...I'm okay.
In Order
Wednesday, December 28, 2005I love Christmas time but when it's over, I'm ready for the decorations to come down. Monday, the day after Christmas, I took all of my decorations down including the tree. Some people leave their tree up past New Years but I just can't do it. It felt so great to get the apartment back in order. Josh was such a trooper. He helped me pack up everything and took all of our boxes to my parents for storage. I just love when things are back in order. I feel like I can face the day and any problems that arise better when things are organized and picked up. I know, that's a little nutty. Labels: apartment living, christmas cheer
So the apartment has been deChristmasfied...
Cleaning out the clutter
Tuesday, November 29, 2005Last night I cleaned out my closet. Huge sigh. It's been bothering me for a couple months now but I just haven't taken the time to do it. My goal for the long weekend was to do just that. Hmm....somehow that didn't get done. So last night after cleaning up the kitchen and picking up around the apartment I figured there was no better time. I basically pulled everything out of my closet and started over. Now my t-shirts are stacked together, long sleeve button down shirts are hung together, sweaters all with each other... Maybe it sounds silly but it just makes me feel SO much better. I feel relieved. Labels: apartment living
Clearing out clutter is such a good thing. Did you know that clutter can make you feel tired? I know that when things get really messy in my apartment I start to feel bad. Cleaning almost always makes me feel better. I think when Josh and I started dating he would figure out I was mad if I was a cleaning frenzy.
I guess setting aside an evening to clean isn't so bad when I feel so good afterwards!
Charlie Brown tree
Tuesday, November 22, 2005Labels: apartment living, christmas cheer
Josh and I put up our Christmas Tree last night! It's a total Charlie Brown tree. Every year I think, "This is never going to look nice" but every year it does. I ended up putting some evergreen garland in the middle of the tree to help fill it out. I think it looks pretty cute.
After Josh and I finished decorating, we played Mario on Nintendo 64 F-O-R-E-V-E-R. We were totally sucked in and determined to win another level. It's nice when you have someone to spend all your time with, even while playing Nintendo.
Sidenote: I decided to put out my Christmas design on the blog. I had planned on waiting until after Thanksgiving but I just can't anymore.
Joys of Apartment Living, Part 2
Friday, November 11, 2005You may remember the other day I wrote about the couple downstairs. Last night, things got hardcore. My husband and I had just laid down in bed to go to sleep. We were having our nightly bedtime conversation where we catch up on the day. Downstairs was a "commotion". At first I thought maybe they were playing around but soon I heard doors slamming and some serious yelling. I crept out to the living room to see if I could hear better (yes, I was being nosy). Labels: apartment living
All of the sudden they both go out the front door. I sneak to the window and can see them. The girl, I'll call her Marla, is screaming from the front stoop about calling the cops. The guy, I'll call him Tyler, is out in the yard wearing boxers, no shoes (in 30 degree weather) and yelling that he hopes someone does call the cops. Marla informs him that he'd get taken to jail but he said he'd never go back over a woman and he already spent 3 1/2 years there. Oh nice, Tyler is a jailbird.
I run back to tell Josh all this because now I'm a little freaked out. They seriously look like they could hit each other. Josh and I go back out to the living room and OH.MY.GOSH...Tyler is NAKED. That's right, folks, I have a naked man on my front lawn. He had pulled off his shorts and was standing there in his birthday suit. I'm sure he was trying to prove a point but he pretty much just looked stupid. I mean, it was really cold! There was more yelling where they used some words I could NEVER repeat. Eventually Tyler put his shorts back on, got in his car and drove off.
Whoa, that was some serious action at the old apartment building. Once Josh and I finally went back to bed, I think we were both thankful that we would never act like that towards each other. I for one, am thankful that I never have to worry my husband is going to stand naked in the front yard and call me a lying, cheating [beep].
The Joys of Apartment Living
Tuesday, November 08, 2005Josh and I live in a building that has 4 apartments. It's a pretty ghetto place but I can't complain because the rent is fairly cheap and it's two bedrooms. The carpeting is orange and the counters are green. There is very little maintenance done on the place so it's falling apart. It took two years to get a light bulb in the hallway changed. It also is interesting because we share the building with some interesting people. Labels: apartment living
The guy across the hall is probably one of the scariest looking guys in town. Bebo HATES him and Bebo doesn't hate anybody. Henry, that's scary guy, will come outside and Bebo crouches down, growls, barks... Good grief. Luckily Henry pretty much stays to himself. One guy just moved out. Although similarly colorful as Henry, he was a genuinely nice guy. He even let my dad know when he thought one of my tires was low on my car.
The last apartment is occupied by a younger guy and his girlfriend. They just moved in a couple months ago. After a couple times of knocking on their door because their music was too loud, we haven't heard from them much. A week or so ago, they got into a pretty big fight which we couldn't help but overhear because they were outside and our windows were open. Well, yesterday afternoon the guy came up to our apartment when Josh got home from class. He asked if they'd been loud at all and Josh told him no. Then he proceeds to inform Josh that in the evening him and his girlfriend were "going their separate ways" so it might get loud. If in fact they were too loud, Josh and I were supposed to just stomp on the floor. "He just told you he's going to dump his girlfriend tonight!"
There was definitely a fight last night. The walls of the building are paper thin... This went on for a couple hours and then OUT OF NO WHERE, their music is blaring. The song My Humps by Black Eyed Peas is thumping through the apartment building. I mean, my coffee table was practically moving! So weird. Maybe that song brought them together and they didn't break up after all.
I know someday Josh and I will look back at our apartment living with fond memories but most days I just want to buy a house.
I didn't know what to do
Tuesday, February 01, 2005So I've been having problems with the toliet in my apartment since the day I moved in. The past couple weeks have been bad where it won't stop running or it doesn't seem to flush very well. Labels: apartment living
Sunday night I went to flush the toliet and instead of going down the water came coming up. Suddenly it was spilling over the edge! I yelled for Josh. "Josh, we have a problem." No answer. "Josh, we have a problem." He comes in to find me standing there watching the water gush over the side all over the floor. He grabs the plunger and yells: "We've got to plunge!" He pushed me out of the way because I was still just standing there watching the water. He plunged away.
Thank goodness he's good with a plunger. Major crisis averted...left with a minor one of water all over the floor.
