Living Room "In Progress"

More pictures, aren't you excited!  This is how the apartment looks right now.  Well, almost right now.  It is definitely a good feeling to be getting to the point where I feel that I can live in and enjoy my home, and where I would not be embarrassed if someone were to come by to visit!

The living room was one of the reasons that I rented this apartment.  Nick and I really loved the French doors and the exposed brick.  Now, however, it looks less like the second hand shop that we first saw, and more like me.  The furniture is a mixture of family pieces, craigslist finds, and hand me downs.  I am liking the vibe in the space, although there are a few things that I would like to change at some point.

This is the leather chair that I purchased on craigslist.  The pillow, lamp, and stool are from Ikea, although the stool has since moved on.  I think that I'm just going to skip a table because the space is a little tight.  I also have since placed some additional art on the wall with the arch.  Going forward, I would really like to replace the lamp with an arched reading lamp, which would add an interesting architectural element and also take up less visual space on the wall.

These bookshelves came from Nick's grandparents.  The rug is one of my favorite pieces.  It was a splurge purchase from CB2 for the condo that moved to Kansas City with me to hide from the cats.  The coffee table came from Nick's aunt.  I was not initially certain that it would be something that I wanted to keep long term in the apartment, but when it arrived it just worked.  

The couch is the original pullout from our condo.  The pillow on the left was the one that I recovered with the green patterned fabric, but I have not had a chance to take new pictures yet (I mean really, my house hasn't been clean enough!.  The poster above the couch may move on shortly.  I like it (it's an old nineties Aaron Chang print) but it doesn't seem to fit and I think I need something with some color.

I had to hang the curtains from the ceiling because of the crazy plaster walls.  I finally got a television that has taken its place of honor on the media stand.  The speakers are from Nick's uncle, and although they may seem old, they have a fantastic sound and I love the look.

Projects Remaining:

• Art on the arch wall Tweak art on the arch wall (I'm considering embroidering it!) .
• Replace art above the sofa
• Build a table for behind the sofa
• Recover the pillow for the sofa 
• New lamp for behind the chair
• Buy pouf ottoman
• Paper the back of the book

I think that over all it's going really well, but I'm still excited to see how it may start to develop in the future!

Kitchen "In Progress"

This past Thursday was Thanksgiving, and I was lucky enough to have my husband in town for the holiday.  After realizing that we did not need a full turkey, we decided to change the meat.  Then, one thing led to another, and we ultimately decided on an Italian theme: of Sausage and White Bean Soup, Chicken Saltimbocca, Garlic Green Beans, Italian spiced Spaghetti Squash, and Lemon Thyme Roasted Mushroom.  We went down to the Plaza for the lighting ceremony, and then came back to the house to have tiramisu for dessert.  It was a great meal!

Cooking itself was a bit of a challenge in my tiny kitchen.  Strangely, it made me feel quite excited, as though I was cooking in the Smitten Kitchen.  As an aside, I LOVE that website.  Nick and I have both been following it for years, and the new cookbook is fantastic!  As we dodged each other and struggled to get all of the dishes done on time, I definitely felt proud that we were able to turn out such a lovely meal.

Anyway, since Nick and I spent the day dancing around in my tiny kitchen, I thought perhaps it is time to share pictures of my kitchen.  The kitchen is definitely in its "good enough for now" stage.  I still have some things that I'd love to do, but they aren't going to happen immediately.  Mostly, there isn't much space, so there isn't much that you can do to it!

The rugs were cut down from a 5'x7' rug that Nick and I purchased for another space and never really liked.  The posters are from the Beijing conferences (one is Beijing at 5, and the other Beijing at 15).  I used to display them at my office at DePaul, and they work fine to bring some color into the kitchen for now.

I put the knife rack up when I first moved in, and I don't love it.  Primarily because I have so few "real" knives here, and the steak knives are just messy.  I might change it up with some magnetic spice containers (I  think that I would also like to put some on the fridge).

Remaining Projects for the Kitchen:

• Paint rugs
• Fix knife rack
• Perhaps cafe curtains of some type for the windows
• Find a way to get the awful tile applique off the wall!

Bathroom

Well, one room in the apartment is "done."  Of course, that is because I really didn't do a darned thing to it!  The rest of the place still isn't fit for viewing.  Nope, not at all.

So, without further ado, the bathroom!

For the most part, I dug out my old towels, which were pink, yellow, and orange.  Most of them date from my first "real" apartment, which has been a while.  These sucker have been everywhere, I just add  few new ones as I need too.  Of course, I thought that I had more of the yellow striped towels, so I picked up a yellow bathmat at Ikea.  Turns out I only seem to have one of those towels.  Oh well.  

The shower curtain is plastic.  I picked it up at Target because it had the colors of the towels, as well as some turquoise (which is in all of the other rooms, not that you'd know that).  It turns out to be a map of the London underground.  I mean, I knew it was *some* subway, but didn't figure out what was what for a while.

And a close up of my little "station."  Steen, you will note that this is the tub thingie that you got me two or three years ago.  It is now my ultimate lifesaver!  Good news is that the landlord put in that double towel rack, and that the shower curtain keeps them dry!

So my friends, that is the bathroom.  Thoughts?