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a clean start

The same weekend I cleaned out and reorganized my closet I tacked my bedroom as well. It is a wonderfully spacious, if odd room to have. There are lots of windows but also three regular doorways and then the glass double doors leading to the living room which I have to contend with. There aren't a lot of different ways I can lay out the space so I just stuck with a general cleaning.

Along with cleaning the floors and lots of dusting (the dust bunnies here grow so very swiftly) I flipped the mattress, put freshly washed sheets on the bed and switched out my dark blue duvet cover for a new fresh white one. I also added some more plants because I seem to be unable to say no every time I walk by Cole Hardware, and I had the movie theater seats that were originally in the living room that I moved in here to the foot of my bed. I use my computer monitor as a tv and it's surprisingly fun to watch movies in actual theater seats! Now if only they had a cupholder...

I decided a while ago that I didn't need the door to the right of my bed to actually function (I figure two exits from my room is enough) so I blocked it off with the nightstand and an old chair I am currently using as a plant stand. On the wall is my ever growing collection of photobooth pictures which I have corralled in some white Ikea frames. Above my headboard is the pinata and where the wild things are banner that I combined a while ago. They continue to make me smile so I've kept them both there.

Just some little snipets from my bedside table. The spray painted tray holds my collection of pocket dictionaries (English, French and Italian currently) with a vintage elephant pincushion as well as my lotion and perfume. I have a small dish for jewelery and whatever pins I extract from my hair when I get into bed, as well as my alarmclock and some white jars which hold spare change until I feel up to counting and rolling it all up, as well as quarters for laundry.

On the other side of the room is my desk and a 2x4 expedit which holds books as well as bins full of fabric, ribbons and trims and all of my media ( movies and music). My dress form moves around the room but is currently living next to the window. Since my desk is long enough I've chosen to have my sewing machine live in the far corner permanently (preferable to having to lug it out of a box every time I need to use it) which is a much enjoyed luxury. I am currently looking for a better desk chair (right now I am using an old wooden kitchen chair with a cushion and it is very uncomfortable after working all day) but it is incredibly hard to find something that is both comfortable and good looking so for now, the search continues.

To the left of my desk is my craft paper wall. I used mini binder clips to attach pictures and a few notes I needed to remember as well.I store all my wrapping and decorative papers in a metal trash bin I found at the container store. I would of course prefer to have an entirely separate room for my studio work space, and I know it is bad feng shui to have your work and sleep spaces together, but I have tried to take advantage of the size and length of the room so that I could carve out two distinct and separate spaces to try to negate that as much as possible. Overall it has been working for me very well (and honestly I've been in much (MUCH) smaller spaces that this before where I both slept and worked so I feel that this is a vast improvement. It also means I am much more motivated to keep the desk and in fact the whole space clean and uncluttered and I have found that I have been extra productive here so it seems to be working out well.

on safari

It was a busy and productive weekend, but until I get the last finishing touches put on some projects so that I can share, here's a little peak at what was wandering across my desk the last few days.

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Two new plants. One is very tall and the other short. I feel like I could make this into a nursery rhyme....

A reorganizing of the closet

It wasn't an impossible mess but after six months and change in my apartment I was noticing that my closet was NOT staying clean. This is the first time in my life I've ever had this much space and my reaction seemed to be to just shove everything in there. It started with the best intentions and I definitely had some good systems but it all needed to be reassessed and it's a new years so time for a (very brutally honest) closet purge as well. This is what the closet looked like before I got started, not crazy but I did like to throw things on the floor/bench as I got dressed and undressed in stead of putting them where they belonged.

Luckily the January Cure was reading my mind and had last weekends project as a bedroom and closet clean out and reorganize (more on the bedroom later) so I figured I may as well go for it. My closet is a relatively big walk in space with one door to the hallway and a curtain separating it from the bedroom. There is a clothes rod along one wall with two long shelves above it and a window. I added a bench, a small table and a makeshift "dresser" of some sorts, with bins to hold socks and such when I moved in. I didn't want to buy anything else, just use what I had. I also use this space to store my suitcases, boxes for my sewing machine and computer, and most of my art supplies, fabric and portfolios so despite it's size, there is a lot of stuff that has to live here, and I have to both be able to access it easily, but also not have it get in the way of the space functioning as a beautiful walk in closet! 

So I rolled up my sleeves, sent out a message to a friend to come rescue me if I didn't emerge in 24 hours, put on some music and got to work.

When the dust cleared it looked more like this. 

Obviously a huge part of this was picking everything up off the floor and putting it back in drawers or on hangers. I was able to eliminate about two trash bags full of stuff now bound for the Goodwill and I fixed an alarming mending pile as well. Then I sorted the hanging clothes by type, (jackets, dresses, skirts, sweaters, blouses) and hung each garment type in color order. All of the bins were purged as well, pants and jeans were folded, some of the bulkier sweaters went away and the rest were reorganized and folded as well. I moved all my shoes around so that the most worn are all out and some of the pretty but less worn styles are displayed under the bench. 

I like to hang a favorite item on the door as decoration. As it is still January I picked this 1920's rabbit fur coat I was gifted, and also I like to pet it when I walk by! The white storage boxes above the hanging clothes have fabric (which was carefully sorted and folded and relabeled) as well as various party supplies and book projects. I made new hot pink labels for all the boxes to replace the old mismatched ones. I have a long mirror which fit right next to the window which I hung when I moved in, but I switched out the art above it and rearranged my hats which hang above the molding above the door and along that wall. There's also an old gold and black tassel garland from a previous apartment that I hung to the side of the doorway.

I would say in general that most of the decoration in this room was in the vein of "because I like it." That's how I picked the pepto pink paint color, gold accents, the antlers, fur and fake birds that adorn the walls. And finally in the corner by the door is my jewelry, accessories and basically just an indulgently pretty vignette for me to look at in the morning. The old foam wig form (which has been glittered previously from a black swan mask project) holds whichever vintage hat I'm feeling like at the time as well as sporting my father's pink polka dot wedding bow tie. The antlers got a floral update (I was feeling very springy) and the necklaces and earrings hanging on cup hooks below the shelf got straightened up as well. The table below was made by my mother and hold my collection of vintage beaded bags as well as a basket of printed silk scarves. And that's everything. Now is it weird that I sort of want to sit in here just to relax?

Living room revamp

One of the first big chores of the January Cure (I've been playing along with Apartment Therapy) was to clean all the floors in your house. I did this a few weekends ago and it really helped to jump start my desire for a generally cleaned up and reorganized apartment (I also had to appreciate the Cinderella moment while I was scrubbing the linoleum and the air was full of bubbles, despite a stunning lack of cute friendly animals to sing and keep me company). While the floors were drying I sat in my window seat and thought about the living room and what I may want to do with it.


































I decided to switch out some furniture, just to try it out, and so I moved the theater seats in to my bedroom and the blue slip-covered love seat back into the living room. I also switched out a few accessories to add a bit more blue to the space and I took the paper chains from the holidays and made a curtain of sorts over the mirror which both blocks me from seeing my reflection each time I walk out of my bedroom, and makes a neat textured art installation as well.

I moved the bar around a little bit (mostly a matter of packing away all of the holiday napkins, glassware and straws) and added this vase I picked up at Anthropologie during a holiday sale and then promptly forgot, which was perfect for holding my set of vintage glass cocktail stir sticks and brought a touch of blue to the corner. the chalkboard got an updated message as well.

There was some pillow rearranging, and I added a blue quilt to the ottoman. I also brought in this plant from the kitchen. I am considering repainting both the top and stand of this side table but I haven't yet made a decision. I was thinking maybe a black top and orange legs? All gold? Since I am still waffling about I figured I'd continue living with it as is for now.

The record table also got a plant (which conveniently enough is in an orange pot) and one of my small herd of white dinosaurs had been hiding beneath it for a while. Overall the space feels refreshed after the chaos of the holidays, and bright, which is always nice to come home to in January when it's dark out before I even leave the office. I am still thinking on a better way to store the games under the record table (right now they languish in an unattractive pile) and it may soon be time to switch out art, but for now, it is clean and I'm ready to take a nap on the window seat.

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