Sheets...

I think I'm in love.

That is, if it is possible to be in love with a textile. From Pottery Barn.

I'm crazy about whimsical, Scandinavian-style prints, so when I saw these sheets on Apartment Therapy, I just about flipped.



It's cuuuute right?
My sheets have been driving me crazy. It's not their fault - they're beautiful old Pierre Frey sheets that I've had for about a million years. I'm very fond of them. And they've aged well. But they've got that French country, shabby chic look that, while lovely, does not really go with my decor. It's been hard for me to find cute, inexpensive sheets that aren't so cheap that I fear nightly rashes. It's amazingly difficult to find sophisticated linens for twin beds.

I thought it would be a good time to post about my sheet saga (lots of sagas around here!) since it's bedroom week for the AT Cure...while I don't have a bedroom, per se, and my sheets are stored in a bin in the closet during the day, I still would like to sleep with pretty sheets as consolation for the fact that I don't have a real bed.

For months, I've obsessed over these sheets from Dwell. Of course, I waited too long to jump on them. They even went on sale, but I was broke and didn't want to pay $69.99 - I just kept telling myself I would buy them next week...until one day I went on the website and they were gooone. Out of stock. Forever. (They still make them in queen/king/full though).



I gave up on them, until a few days ago when I magically came across them again in the strangest of places.... However, the price had jumped back up to $99...still affordable for most, but not me.

Luckily, ebay came to my rescue. I found this buttery trellis print, also from Dwell, and decided to jump on it ... for a grand total of $25.50.



The duvet set only comes with one pillow sham, so I was thinking ... with a Swedish House sham my dreams would be very sweet indeed.

Hung Up, or, the coat rack saga you never knew you were missing

My apartment's pretty starved for space, in case you haven't picked up on that already. I love how cosy it is, but sometimes I wish it were a little more roomy. It has forced me to become pretty creative, however, when seeking solutions.

One recent AT Cure task was to create a landing strip. For most people, this meant dressing up their hallway a bit - moving in a coat rack, cleaning off their console table and creating a space to throw their keys and stash their mail on said console. Something like this spread from Blueprint ... all right, and this photo from another article:



I have pined for a console table ever since seeing it.

Unfortunately, I don't have a hallway. You open my front door and wham! my whole apartment is laid out before you. Pretty anticlimactic, but at least there are no surprises. The console table is just a pipe dream - you could maybe fit a narrow end table in the space between my bookshelf and the door, but I'd rather not squeeze things into spaces simply because they're there. The idea is open and airy, not cluttered and closed.

So...I drop my keys and the junk mail on the vintage hors d'oeuvres tray on my coffee table and dump my fifty-ton bag on the floor when I come in at the end of the day. It works OK - when the tray starts to tip to one side I know it's time to begin shredding.

Winter is approaching, however. And while my coats are still hanging out at my parent's house, I have a feeling they're going to be useful soon (this is Chicago, after all) and I really need someplace to hang them. I've been looking for the perfect coat hook rack for weeks now - something attractive, reasonably inexpensive ($20 and under, hopefully), as well as utilitarian. My idea was to find an overdoor model - I'd rather hang art on my dwindling wall space - but it seems that cute overdoor coat racks are few and far between. I'll spare you the trouble but let's just say they vary from ugly to uglier to ugliest.

I finally came across this Umbra model.



I loved the sleek design and hated the stainless steel - it's so cold looking. I'm one of those annoying people who ponder a purchase for weeks at a time - weeks that I could have spent enjoying it if I had just made up my mind - the bonus being that I almost never regret a purchase. So I vacillated back and forth over it, some days thinking I could just spray paint it red and it would be perfect, other days wondering why I should go through the effort and risk an ugly paint job.

Luckily, the problem seems to have solved itself. I had pretty much given up on my hunt for the perfect overdoor rack when I found (stumbled over, rather) this cool customer by Spectrum. It's exactly what I was looking for. It has interesting details: I love the wooden balls at the end that remind me of the iconic Eames coat rack. It's minimal yet fun. And, with shipping, the total is just over $22. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

IKEA, how I love and loathe thee...

So I did make it to IKEA this weekend. I left with a headache, plus a lot of random little goodies, including but not limited to this $4 (yes, $4) fleece throw with sweet laser-cut trim with which I am cuddled up right now.



I also spotted this Patricia fabric which is beautiful in person. It would make gorgeous curtains or a wall hanging. The colors are so perfect for fall! It almost (almost) makes me wish I had chosen more somber tones for my own color scheme...but not quite.



I returned the evil filing cabinet which had caused the migraine of all design migraines. I was sad to part with it - or rather, sad to part with the idea of a small and convenient office storage solution, but not with the hassle of trying to put something together whose holes do not match up and whose directions were written for denizens of another planet. I ended up exchanging it for a cheap stopgap that I will simply have to be content with until I can afford something better.

I bought two of these green boxes for files plus the Fira box for sundry office supplies. I'm going to clear out a cubby in my bookshelf for the Fira box (it just fits), and the files will go under the breakfast bar. It's not the perfect solution but it will have to do for now.

Apartment Therapy Cure: Week Five, and the most exciting post ever

Here, finally, is the long-promised post on my AT Cure activities. Are you sure you're ready for this? A sampling of what I've been up to since the weekend awaits...

First, I went through piles of papers. And mail. And magazines. And random junk like pretty boxes from Saks that held even prettier Missoni gloves received as a Christmas present two years ago that I left in a cab ONE year ago, so why did I even still have them? Well, I don't know, so they've been re-embraced by Mother Nature. Anyways, this pile doesn't look like much, but trust me - it helped.



I also cleaned off the tops of my kitchen cabinets, which were coated with a prehistoric, rock hard layer of grease and grime and dust and who knows what else. In short, they were absolutely FOUL. I did not understand the true meaning of "elbow grease" until I got to work on them. To illustrate:



It looked much, much worse in real life. I promise.

I've been avoiding the yuckiness since I discovered it (by swiping my hand atop a cabinet door and coming away with swamp slime) upon moving in this June, so I'm very proud that they are now clean and storage-worthy.

What prompted my decision to attack the evil cabinet-tops was my very great need to store magazines. I've been keeping them in the big basket above my fridge, but I'm starting to get sick of looking at it, and it's not very useful for long-term storage.

I have a memory like a sieve so I can't remember my source, but somewhere I saw a photo of bookshelves, or a credenza, or something, that had very neatly aligned stacks of magazines with the white spines facing outwards. It didn't look cluttered at all. It looked very minimalist and almost cool. Then I remembered seeing someone's kitchen on Apartment Therapy (during last year's Smallest Coolest contest?) - that had stacks of books above the kitchen cabinets. So I decided to combine the two. This is just the tip of the iceberg - I still have tons of magazines at my parent's house that need to be retrieved. I've been bringing a few home, bit by bit, but magazines are ridiculously heavy so I'm taking my time with it.



I also decided to do something with my vast collection of museum postcards and other random unnecessary bits of paper by collaging my fridge. Impermanently, with architectural magnets I picked up at the Whitney years ago. They've been waiting patiently for just such a purpose.*

I've been chewing over the results ever since. I'm torn between loving the color and eclecticism and hating the cluttered-ness. I want it to look fun and unstudied, but not messy and amateur. Does that make sense? I'd really appreciate some additional opinions. Love it? Hate it? Let me know!





Finally, last night I got rid of more random crap (namely, dry cleaning detrius and leftover shopping bags)...



I also removed my coins from the ugly vase thing that was sitting atop my fridge (threw it away, too) and put them in my new piggy bank! I think it's just about the cutest thing ever. Yellow, and smiley, this little owl does me in every time.



Babushkas may be the new forest creatures (and God help me I do think they are precious) - but who am I to blindly follow trends? I just love this little guy and I hope he'll be with me for a long time. He's small, though, so I separated the coins and put the pennies in a separate container. Quarters go straight to the laundry change purse. Let's see how long that system will last...


And that's about it for now.

So am I right or what? Wasn't that the most exciting post ever?
Just ignore my sarcasm. This stuff might be deathly boring (except for the fridge-arranging, that was fun to do...and my new ceramic-feathered friend) but it does make a big difference in how I feel about my home. A lot of these things have been nagging me for months, and while I still have a lot of projects to slog through, I really feel like I am making progress. And that's the important part.

* So impermanent, in fact, that I just crashed into my frigo (I'm perpetually clumsy) and knocked half of the thing to the ground. Good thing I documented it with pictures or I'd really be gritting my teeth right now...

The hardware from hell...

OK, that title is not precisely accurate, but I went to install the pretty pretty hardware for my bathroom cabinets and, despite having checked the measurements twice, the little screw holes were just 1/8" off on either side and will have to be returned. I had been waiting in anticipation all weekend! I even considered drilling new holes in my cabinets for about 10 seconds, but I don't think the landlord would be pleased. So it's back to the drawing board...



At least the rest of the bathroom is sort of shaping up - I put a mum in the measuring tube, isn't it sweet?

Fall Cure, Week 2

I've been pretty busy with real-life things - I'm starting my first German class tonight, wish me luck! - but that doesn't stop me from thinking constantly about my apartment. I haven't been there in a few days, as I've been hanging out at my parents' house since the weekend, going to my brother's regatta and various doctor's appointments. Well, I can't wait to get back home and start this week's Cure assignments:

1) deep clean kitchen
2) start cooking in said kitchen (this, I think, will be the hardest part for me - let's just say, I looove my microwave)

Decorating-wise, I'm still pondering the decals. I really need to get my kitchen rug. And I'm still thinking about hardware, both for the kitchen and the bathroom. My budget has really been taking a beating, lately, so I can't splurge as I'd like.

I was browsing around on Anthropologie's website, my favorite wallet-emptier, and I saw some lovely drawer pulls on sale that just might work for my bathroom. They've since been taken off, but I may get lucky and find them in-store. They are gold, and they look like chain links. Very elegant, and I think they would warm up the space a bit. I'm just wondering - my faucet, etc. is silver - is it silly to worry about how matchy-matchy I should be?

The Hammered Handles are still available, and the same price as the others. I love the texture, and think they could be beautiful in my bathroom.



Still...I would need three, and I don't know if I want to drop $24 on non-vital decor elements just now. I'll have to think about it.

The same goes for the kitchen hardware - an even more daunting prospect as I need so many more handles. I love this yellow milk glass pull from Look in the Attic (thanks, ImaVunDerBrah for the link!) but I shudder to think how much it would cost to outfit the whole kitchen...remember, I'm a recent graduate with a very part-time job.



IKEA also has a decent selection... I like these and these but I haven't seen any colorful ones. Perhaps spray paint could work...

Sticker Shock

I try to avoid the more rabid trends in decorating. With a ten foot pole. Unless I adore them at first sight.

The truth is, I don't want to be able to date my apartment (to the season) years from now. Seeing wall decals in a home, I could say, "a-ha! spring 2007!"

I saw some lovely ones, particularly over at French site Ugly Home (which has a beautiful selection of wallpaper as well) - but I wasn't tempted because they still seemed too faddish to me, though I understood the appeal.

Why, then, am I contemplating putting them in my apartment?

This is why:



My tiny kitchen is dead boring. I'm planning on warming up the floor with a 2' x 3' rug, but the cabinets and tiles are like a never ending expanse of white. It's neither sleek nor modern - it just looks dull. I'm a renter, so I'm pretty much stuck with the kitchen. Bemoaning this fact over on Flickr, I was surprised when fellow apartment therapy cure-ers on the Chicago group suggested decals. At first I shuddered, but then I thought - why not?

They're affordable, removable, and customizable.

Even chic!

I liked the overall selection at Modern Wall Graphics. The prices, in particular, are just up my alley. $36 to spruce up my kitchen cabinets seems like a pretty good deal to me. I know Blik's graphics are popular but the prices are a little too high for me.



A lot of the motifs that appealed to me (well, all of them) are organic and leafy: bamboo, ferns, and flowers. I'm afraid of being too repetitive, especially because my apartment is so small, and the main wall in my apartment is covered with a riot of green leaves. I'm going to do yellow decals, so hopefully that will detract from it.

I would love to do the lattice print, but it doesn't come in the color I want (sunshine).

I have time to think this through, so I'm going to be patient and not rush a decision. Though said patience is beginning to run dry on my dresser hunt!

Progress is the best motivator...

I know I've been neglecting the blog, but I have piles of grad school application thingys, a new job (a research assistantship involving a VERY cool project related to the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention and artists) and some super exciting apartment developments...can you blame a girl for getting distracted?

To be more to the point,

I finally put my curtains and mirror up and assembled/painted my coffee table (uh, thanks, Dad!). Ecstatic is one word to describe the way I'm feeling right now...the curtains are even more Josef Frank-like than I had hoped and the table, which until a few days ago existed only in my imagination, is even better than I ... you guessed it, had hoped!

The photo looks a little faded on Blogger, the colors are more vibrant than this. Click here for more pictures and explanations from me.



Thoughts?

Apartment Therapy Fall Cure

Posting my shame for all to see...

Yes, my Flickr photos for the Apartment Therapy Fall Cure are up! So far, I've posted my before photos and my style tray for inspiration. I tried not to tidy up the place for the sake of truthfulness - the closet, especially, is a wreck. Though I'm rather proud of some parts.



I decided to do the Cure last week after putting that to-do list together, and it seems to have been the right choice. Although it only began officially today, I was so revved up over the weekend that I got a lot done. My curtains are now up, my mirror is hung, and my coffee table is finally put together! I got a battery for the cuckoo clock, too. Photos of the new developments will be up sometime later in the week.

Now, if only I could be so assiduous about my graduate school applications my life would be in great shape!

Operation Apartment

Three months post-move, I still have to ...

1) go to the hardware store and get bamboo curtain rods cut

2) hang curtains

3) put together my coffee table, find the perfect yellow paint for it, sand, prime and paint the tabletop

4) enlist my dad in helping me to fix my poor new ikea file cabinet which I misguidedly tried to put together on my own. actually, enlist dad in helping me with all of the above. except help with paint color, which is mom's area of expertise. (am i 22 or 12? sometimes it's hard to tell)

5) create a little "office nook" with said filing cabinet underneath the breakfast bar...get a little wall pouch to put my mail in (my current method of throwing it on the nearest surface until I can remember to deal with it is not working

6) get battery for my cuckoo clock (d-oh : it's been sitting pretty on my wall for weeks now and still not performing its intended function)

7) cut mats for my two vintage prints at work

8) frame above prints

9) get a few more pieces for the little wall by my door

10) frame those too

11) get something green (i heard it's really easy to grow grass .... I am not even kidding - I think I killed my eggling)

12) prettify the blah white kitchen - i'm thinking of lining the cabinets with pretty paper, getting a bright rug, etc.

13) do something about the boring bathroom (new rug?)

14) get my Polish poster, and frame it

15) find the perfect dresser/credenza:
midcentury, with clean lines and vintage charm
less than 56" long
less than $500 (hopefully way less)
in short, a fantasy on tapered legs

16) hang my mirror above the dresser. finally.

My goal is to accomplish at least five of these tasks by Monday ... I will report back and let you know how that goes! Hopefully the list will be totally complete by Thanksgiving ... I have lots of other ideas of things I want to do with the apartment, but these are the most pressing.

OK, I'm adding one more item to the list:

17) get a new USB cord for my camera so I can take some pictures and show you all what I've done so far (I happen to be really, really proud of the salon-style wall I put together a few weekends ago, though it won't complete until I get #7 and #8 done)