COHESIVE RANDOMNESS: Apartment Living

Showing posts with label Apartment Living. Show all posts

Living Room Tales

It's been a while since I've shown any real shots of the living room. The last time I mentioned it, I was asking you guys what you though about my art options. But, if you follow me on Instagram, you'd know that I not only made a decision, but I, also, ruined the first installation of it. I managed to get a new photo printed and the hubs helped me install it, only for it to be crooked and wrinkled. It was at that point when I decided to let well enough alone.

You've seen my DIY fabric and reupholstered chairs, glimpses of my gallery wall and other little vignettes around the room, but I thought it was high time to give you guys a few more details. So, without further adieu...

One day, I will be able to send these vintage chairs to an upholster. I'd love to see them shine as bright as they did in their glory days. The dingy magenta velvet does them no justice.

This photograph, inspite of it's flaws, is one of my favorite projects to date. It's a photo of me from my wedding day that I edited in PicMonkey and had blown up at FedEx Office. The total cost of the enlargement was about $120, and if you add the cost of the frame, which was about $50 (on sale at a deep discount at I.O. Metro), this wasn't the cheapest DIY I'd ever done. But, considering other pieces of artwork this size, it really isn't that bad.

This room is a loooooong way from finished. I need to address the corner to the right of the sofa (see above). It's a total junk corner right now. I'd like to switch out the current rug for something different, like a Moroccan shag. The empty space above my fireplace needs to be addressed. I'm thinking a DIY African JuJu hat may be in my near future. And things like new drapes and pillows wouldn't hurt.

So, that's where we are for now. Be sure to stick with me as this place evolves.

Credenza Rescue

First of all, Happy MLK Day! I'm at work, but had to show you guys a little change to the Hamilton Living Room!

You may recall it looking like this.

Well, it's gotten quite the upgrade. Do you remember this piece?

My very first vintage furniture purchase and my prized possession.

Here it is in my very first apartment almost 5 years ago.

And here it is in our home in Missouri.

Well, when we moved to Memphis (and lost any real dining space), it was sort of tossed into the hub's man room and was left there to die. Here it is buried under every electronic known to mankind.

Another week in there and she would've been destroyed by the water rings from his beer bottles. So, she has been rescued! She's now safe and sound and the star of the living room.

She needs some new styling, but isn't she great!?! It took me a few hours to get used to seeing her in our living space, but I'm so totally in love with it now. Plus, I no longer have to worry about her demise by beer bottle water ring any more.

Now I feel the urge to completely restyle the entire space! Pillows, art, rug, accessories...I'm on the lookout for it all!

So, what do you guys think? Is this not the perfect place for my prized possession? Well, at this point, I don't think anyone could tell me any different. (c;

Organization: A Not-So-Quick Closet Makeover

This past weekend, I took the liberty of reorganizing our master closet. Of course, it would take me until today to get a post up about it. Before, it was crammed, cluttered and getting on my F-ing nerves!!!!!!

We just weren't utilizing the space properly. Someone could NEVER put his shoes back in their boxes or put things on their proper hangers or in its proper space. I, on the other hand, had my own set of problems. Besides the fact that a lot of my shoes didn't have boxes and, therefore, had to be stacked on top of each other at the bottom of the closet, I had too much $#!+ and I couldn't decide if I wanted to organize my side by outfit or item or color, so I did all three!

So, I cleared everything out to start over with a clean slate...and broken supports.

This side used to belong to the hubs, but I realized that there was more space above the shelf than on the other side...great for my millions of shoe boxes. However, it was in desperate need of a lower hanging level, so I had to get creative...your girl had a budget of $10 for this redo.

We already had an extra shower tension rod lying around and I grabbed 4 scrap pieces of wood left over from my DIY coffee table. Now, all I needed was some type of plank that extended from the wall to attach the rod to. So I went to Home Depot and picked up one of these melamine shelves from their closet organizing section for $8 (This one has an 10" depth, and it works just fine. But, I wish I had gotten one with a 12" depth, just for aesthetic reasons). While there, I also grabbed a set of plastic rod supports for $2. A whole $10 blown!

First, I glued and screwed the wood pieces to both sides of the melamine shelf. Then, after making sure my plank was perfectly vertical, I drilled screws through the wood planks and into the wall (for a total 16 screws...this thing isn't going anywhere). All there was left to do, then, was screw on the rod supports and hang the rod (I ended up needing only half of the rod).

Before bringing everything back in, I knew I had some purging to do.

(I got rid of 13 pair of shoes and a garbage bag filled with clothes. So proud of myself!)

It was at this point that I got everything back into the closet and was pretty proud of what I had accomplished. I had even posted this photo on IG as a preview to today's post.

But, after staring at this picture, I knew that I had to up the design factor in this space. It was in need of a huge dose of color. After some thinking, I remembered that I had a full quart of Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in Aubusson Blue left over from my dresser makeover.

I got it up on the wall and was immediately in love!

The color seems so much richer up on the wall than on the dresser. So much so, that it made me think of this pin that I wrote about a few weeks ago.

It's one of those colors that just makes everything around it look good...even my shoe boxes.

It's the perfect partner to my DIY brass-painted pollen ball that I made for no reason last week. At that point, I had no idea where I would use it, but it is soooo at home in our closet.