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On lacking a picture

January 20th, 2010 | Ask the audience, Home

For the first time in a long time, I’m answerless.

See, at some point in the next 11 days, we’ll be moving into our new! bigger! brighter! apartment. With the stuff from our old! small! dark! apartment. And I’ve been given permission to paint and make relatively minor changes in the new place – as long as I return the suite to the condition I got it in when we move out.

Basically, to someone like me – regardless of budget – I was just handled the holy grain and told to stab shit like crazy.

But, for the first time in a long time, I’m looking at a space and I don’t have “I should….”

In fact, I come up totally blank. Can’t even wrap my brain around where to put the damn television or futon.

So, I ask you, WWYD? Get all DIY on me. Be inventive. Tell me what I want, what I really really want and don’t spare a  damn zigazigahh.

Pretend that I have money and that I: need a place to work and a dining area; storage for at least 250 books (I haven’t counted, but you might want to  consider that a conservative guess), 50 VHS, 200 CDs and over 100 DVDs; sleep on the futon, folded out, in the living room; own a plethora of cleaning enhancers; and think words are the bomb-diggidy.

The room where things will go to get cooked good.

This view’s from the cut-out that looks into the living room. To the left of it and directly opposite the fridge (4′ from the open fridge door, in fact) is a wall approximately 30″ wide (without an outlet). Under the cutout is a whole buncha usable space, too (also without an outlet).

Where I sleep, work, eat, teach, read, occasionally fornicate and plan to earn awesome abs doing the 30-Day Shred

This view’s from the kitchen side of the aforementioned cut-out. Did I mention that we have track lights in the ceiling? I haven’t had lights in a living room in years. All of those functions up there? I wasn’t kidding. I need room to do them all. Except for the Shred bit. I’m full of shit about that one.

Here’s another view, from the hallway/apartment door.

The place where Zoë does the same stuff as I do in the living room. Except fornicate. She’s not allowed to do that until she’s 12. (If you need me to tell you I’m kidding, you’re reading the wrong blog)

This where a preschooler short enough to still fit in a toddler bed with ample growing room will also house toys, a desktop computer and an easel. Also, she likes pink. Noteworthy is that the room will be painted pink over my dead fucking body. The opposite view:

Give ‘er.

Please.

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  • redfoodcolouring
    i love new spaces to decorate!

    I would keep the kitchen a neutral colour if you even decide to paint it because anything really bold will make the small place seem even smaller. On the biggest wall in there you could put some colourful artwork or a large calendar type thing to keep everything organized. i'm thinking even a dry erase board and a corkboard to keep things handy.

    in the living room i would do an accent wall but i wouldn't do the wall with the window since most of the wall is already taken by the window. i would do one of the other walls, whichever one you put your tv against, that way you look at it more. you can get some really cool wall stickers from blik, which i think home hardware carries or online of course.

    while your looking at the blik maybe find something in pink for Zoes room because they are pretty inexpensive and leave no residue on the walls so in 8 months when shes too cool for pink you can do something else without having to repaint.

    also - PLANTS. they make a house feel like a home. bamboo is crazy easy to keep, just stick it in a vase filled with water and you can forget about it until every few months when you notice the water is getting low.

    hope that helps!!! good luck and keep us posted :)
  • LOVE Blik. And yes, we plan to get seriously growey around here. We're going to try some hanging ivy and flowers, and a mini-herb garden on the living room window ledge. Best thing about that is that it'll be a science experiment, sort of, for Zoë and she's super excited!
  • I love the red cabinet pulls SO MUCH. I love white/cream kitchens with red accents.

    Are you allowed to paint? I would do Z's room in a lime-ish and then accent with pink things as she sees fit. I love pink/lime/teal together. See also: chocolate brown. Have you seen that chalkboard paint? You could do a square of that in her bedroom. Though I think chalk dust is horrible, so I dunno.

    I like buying very cheap (less than $3) 8 by 10 frames and installing S's art in them. He thinks it's cool to have "real art on the walls." Could be a fun for Z's room.

    I ditched almost all my CD and DVD cases and plan to ditch more. Cause really, what am I going to do, resell them? For S, I got a square box that has a small file rack inside and holds like 100 DVDs. For our grownup movies we just put them in a regular DVD notebook type thing. Major space saver.

    On the wall lip OVER the window, I'd install some of those ultra thin shelves (Ikea) that you can put picture frames on, leaning them into the wall. (Does that make sense?)

    For your room/main room, I'm a hopeless fan of buttery, sunny yellow. I love the way it warms in the light. Futon = YES. Do you use a laptop? I love adjustable laptop tables and using a small rolling shelf/cabinet for work-related shenanigans.

  • I think the landlord's planning on switching out the red knobs. It's hard to tell in the picture, but they were pretty shoddy-looking. The consensus seems to be (for Z's room) periwinkle/lavender paint, with teal/turquoise and pink accents. And bright white trim. Chalkboard paint scares me - I might not be able to paint over it - but she has an art easel from Ikea that has a chalkboard on one side of it!

    I love the art display idea. It just made me think of an old idea I had to have a wire span a wall's-width, and attach art to it with curtain clips.

    Can you direct me towards S's DVD holder? That seems like an ideal solution. Right now, we have half of ours in a zippered book and half in cases, but I'd like something more... stylish, so the filing box sounds pretty awesome. And yup, I use a laptop like a mofo, 99% of the time at the dining table - but I love the idea of a rolling cabinet!

    Thanks. :)
  • I got ours at Target, but these are similar:

    http://www.amazon.com/Printfil...

    http://www.amazon.com/INNOVERA...

    I want to do the wire thing too but haven't been able to find the right hardware. We've been taping stuff up and it looks trashycool. haha.

    We have that Ikea easel too. I love it.
  • Thank you! I totally could/couldn't visualize it. As for the wire thing, the simple curtain hanging wire (with the rotating arms) at Ikea should do 'er, with the curtain clips. Then you can anchor it however far up the wall you'd like, or even from the ceiling.
  • JoVE
    Looks like a great space. One Zoe's room, there is a distinct possibility that she will decide she doesn't like pink sometime in the not too distant future. I'd keep the walls that neutral colour and use curtains, duvet cover/blankets, cushions, etc. to do the colour of the moment. IKEA often has nice little girl stuff. Though trawling thrift shops could also turn up good stuff.

    Kitchen also probably fine though are those wooden cupboard doors? if so you could paint. Or changing the hardware might add some zing. But light colours are often good in a kitchen.

    With the big windows in the living/sleeping room you could get away with some really strong colours on the walls (or on one wall) if you like that kind of thing. But get curtains first. Easier to match paint colour to fabric than to find fabric that matches paint colour.

    And have fun. It looks like a nice space.
  • Awesome suggestion, to get fabric first. Thank you! I would have jumped right into paint, thinking of the curtains later.
  • I am of the mind that as many bookshelves that you can afford and find space for pretty much solve any and all storage problems.
  • We are totally like minded. :)
  • How about some of those wall stickers, they do some fabulous ones now *not sounding gay at all* and if you have to leave the place as you found, I believe they are easy to remove *again, not gay at all, not in the slightest*.
  • Yup, we have some already. Girly stuff, for Zoë's room - princesses and flowers and butterflies and such.
  • coralcrawford
    Oooh I LOVE home organization!! K... if this were me, this is how I would arrange. Put the tv on an angle in one of the corners by the window, and the futon on the wall opposite from it, as close to the window as you can (so youre pushing the living room itself to make more teaching/dining space). then you can put a coffee table and maybe even a chair there too. Then I would put the table and chairs closer to the cut out by the kitchen (you guys can do school work and such at the table as well). I would put a desk (if you have one for your computer) on the wall space left open between the kitchen/table area and the living room area. Also, for 30 day shred, move your coffee table closer to the couch/futon to allow more space for Jillian Michaels induced shredding.
    Since its a rental Im guessing you may not be able to paint..? Buy new knobs for the kitchen cabinets and it will make the room look brand new. Me thinks anyways. Oh, for books? get bookshelves short enough to go under the kitchen cut out and line them up under there. cds/movies could be stored on similar shelves by the tv (as that wall in my head had ample empty space left).... I need a floor plane Terra.
  • Ha. I knew I liked you for a reason! This is almost exactly how's it's coming together in my head.

    Except I am allowed to paint!
  • I've never been able to do anything like a murphy bed or fold-out ANYTHING just because clutter takes over any space I live in.

    But maybe something like this would be good for the "eating" part:
    http://lifehacker.com/5444434/...
  • I have that bookmarked already! Love Lifehacker.
  • I'm the last person to help with decorating. I had to be stopped from putting in blue kitchen countertops. I'm not kidding.

    So, about the 12 yo fornicating comment. Just curious. I don't remember reading about that one. I wanna know more.
  • heh. Know more, eh?

    Truth is, I'm incredibly open to the concept that Zoë'll probably have sex way younger than I'd plan for her to. My job's to make sure she's doing it for the 'right' reasons, safely, and that she knows all of the effects that sex can have. Her father wants to kill me for making comments like that - or that I would prefer she's doing it young, in my house, than sneaking around, unsafe to do it.

    But you know, I was just being facetious. :)
  • Nice laminate flooring - well, I assume they're laminate. They should be easy enough to keep clean, as opposed to carpet. I know these are big considerations when you've got a toddler.

    Overall, looks great!
  • Yes, the wood flooring in the West End is a definite plus! Made potty training a BREEZE.
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