If you don’t know what it is, click on over! It’s where I’m hanging out when I’m not blogging or twittering. However, I’m warning you – IT IS SO ADDICTING! I didn’t believe the hype… but I should have!
oh, apartment therapy… February 4, 2010
All you interior design folks out there, don’t laugh at my honesty: I didn’t know what Apartment Therapy was until about a month ago. Sure, I’d gone to their site via some of my favorite blogs a couple times to see photos, but I had never perused it myself. Never become acquainted with the gloriousness that is AT. I mention this because I want to restrain myself, as I keep finding awesome pictures and ideas, from simply re-posting everything they put up, especially because it’s all so new to me. So please, take a gander yourselves sometime – and I promise, that’s my last promotion for them, though I can’t promise the name will never show up here again.
Today they re-posted a room they had taken a tour of a while back and gave instructions about how to make a sign that was featured in the bedroom. And WOW, I need to have a sign like this in my house:
I already know it will either have a City and Colour quote on it, or possibly this lyric by Joshua Radin and Schulyer Fisk: “Mess up my bed with me. Kick off the covers, I’m waiting.” Check out the entire post here, including the DIY instructions.
designs i like: kitchen edition February 2, 2010
Kitchens are where the heart of the family is, or so I believe. It’s where you eat obviously, but think about what that means. It’s where you start out your day with a cup of coffee and newspaper; it’s where you end up first when you come home with groceries in hand, starving and wondering what’s for dinner; it’s where you sneak in late at night for that one last cookie or scoop of ice cream before you can feel too guilty that it’s past bed time; it’s where family gathers during all the most important holidays. Others would argue that it’s the bedroom that needs more attention (and I agree whole-heartedly that most people in America pay attention to their bedroom last and that leads to… well, there could be more love in most Americans’ bedrooms, let’s just leave it at that) or that the living room is the heart of the household. And that’s why I fully promote open concept living room/dining room/kitchen houses. I think for most modern families, not having a formal dining room is a great idea because then they’re not wasting space for a room that they may use once a month or usually only twice a year – Thanksgiving and Christmas. That space could be used in such a better way – playroom for kid’s imaginations, office space for two to get work done more effectively or even as a zen reading room (don’t laugh… if you don’t have kids, it’s possible!) Anyway, I have a soft place in my heart for kitchens; below I list what I LOVE about the spaces and what I don’t care for so much.
Source: Mobalpa
Love: the orange color, especially the contrast between it and the light wood; natural branches, rug and fireplace (though a bit modern for my taste); open upper cabinets in the middle (possibly with frosted glass); low stools for casual dining; drop down hood over island
Not so much: light wood – I’m usually more of a dark wood person, but I guess the dark paint color above the cabinets kind of makes up for that; too modern with the wire chair and blocky, sharp lines; no artwork
Source: Mobalpa
Love (first picture): pop of green color in cabinets and accents (jars, bowls); dark wooden cabinets; stainless steel hood; sink faucet
Love (second picture): continuation of green on lower cabinets; wooden blinds on big, open window, that continue to the ceiling (I think?); low benches for casual seating vs. the more formal dining room chairs in the first; lighter floors with darker cabinets – something I didn’t think would really ever look that good; dark beams on the ceiling
Not so much: this one for me is more of a I don’t know that I would be brave enough to paint my cabinets a bright color like that – though, as you’ll see with the next couple pictures, it seems to be a trend with me
Source: Breathing Room
Love: again, the pop of color just makes me so cheery; love the butcher block island with the white (marble/granite/concrete?) countertop of the other cabinets; mosaic backsplash is awesome; hardware on the cabinets is modern and streamlined; window that opens up gives you fresh air and a great view of the yard while doing dishes; dark floors – this kitchen is big enough and bright enough to pull them off
Not so much: the copper hood – while I normally love copper, it’s just too much in this kitchen, as are the yellow accented appliances; possibly an example of too much color
Source: Breathing Room
Love: again, with the green, but this is a bit different – the tops of these cabinets all have frosted glass and wood surround to balance and match the floors; stainless steel countertops give it a very modern look; tile backsplash brings the two together in an awesome way – marrying them in the middle so as not to create a huge contrast and break up the space visually since it really isn’t that big of a space with that much natural light other than a door and window; not much I don’t like here except maybe an island or at least the chance to see the other side of the room and close up of the kitchen sink
i want it. and i want it now. February 1, 2010
How awesomely cute are these designs?
My favorite is the third one: I have always known it was you. For a personal reason it’s my favorite (of course), but I would LOVE to have it on a shirt, in cute script, for Valentine’s day. Or I could see myself in a red t-shirt with the “i love you because: __________” and fill it in with something cute with a sharpie for V-Day in NYC next weekend. Sigh. If only I’d seen these sooner. Check out the company’s entire collection here, and I’ll just keep dreaming about next year!
closets
How lame is this blog really going to be, you may be asking yourself… well, if you don’t like talking about closet space and organization, this may not be the blog for you. These things get me excited, no lie, and I find them beyond interesting. Let me tell you a bit about the house I’m moving into before we get into why I would need to talk about closets.
The house I’m looking into isn’t really a house. Well, it is, but I won’t be living in the house part of it. It’s a cute, small stone house in the Georgetown area of Washington, D.C. (hence the name of the blog…) with a studio apartment in the basement. Luckily, the entrance is through a sunroom with tons of sliding glass doors, and the apartment has been designed to let all that light in, so it’s actually quite bright and not as dingy as some basements can be. When you enter the apartment, you’re immediately in the kitchen that houses the dishwasher, sink and only lower cabinets; I’m giving you the good and the bad, so you don’t think I’ll be living in paradise by any means. To the left is the bedroom, big enough for a queen, maybe king bed, with plenty of room for a dresser and end tables, but with no closet. If you keep going through the kitchen, you’re in the living room, the biggest room in the entire place. To the right is the washer/dryer, then the refrigerator (I told you there were some low points) and then the closest along that wall. The living space is quite large, and with some good design, it could easily house an office, good living space and a small kitchen table. The bathroom is in the left corner, across from the washer/dryer, and just has a sink, shower and toilet. There are stairs leading upstairs, but those are permanently closed off because the lady who lives upstairs, and owns the house, wants to give those living downstairs their privacy.
So that’s a brief tour of the place. As I continue to post on what I like, and especially when I finally move in – date is tentative, between April-June – I will certainly be posting on what exactly I’m doing to spruce the space up. Back to the title of this post though – closets. The main (only) closet is in the living room, and I know it’s not big enough. Not for storage of things, much less all the clothes I have. So I was relieved to see that this was an option:
I never would have thought of this option, but in this picture, having an open closet doesn’t seem half bad. I would probably limit it to pants and dress shirts, keeping things like slinky cardigans and out-on-the-town tops and dresses safe from outside dangers. But in the winter, it would be nice to have all of your coats out and ready to grab and they wouldn’t take up as much room in the closet since they couldn’t go in a dresser. Good to know the option’s out there and can be done tastefully – especially if you really have no other option.
pillows January 31, 2010
I know, how boring can a post title be? But interior design/decorating in a HUGE passion of mine, so I figure I have to start somewhere. Plus, I’m going to be moving into my own place soon(ish) and want to start getting an idea of what I like and share it with all of you.
Instead of throwing all these ideas and thoughts onto a page, I decided to start simply by opening up my “starred items” in my Google Reader and creating a blog entry on each item I have starred. Therefore, there may be some repeat themes (such as a couple entries simply on rooms I like) but for starters, we’ll go with pillows. They are by far one of the easiest ways to change the look of a room from one season to the next, and who doesn’t love to curl up on the couch with comfy pillows underneath for those late (early?) afternoon naps on a Saturday? The ones here are perfect for late fall/early winter, and there are tons of different colors available here. Price in Euros ($$).
Georgetown Gem 