Home Decor: It's Finally Here!

 On Friday, mine and Aaron's mattress set was delivered! We love it so much. It's probably double the height the old set was, and soft yet firm with memory foam. We've slept on it twice now and my back has never felt better. I don't feel like a 60-year-old anymore! Ignore the unmade bed and the clothing on the floor in the photo. lol

(New office / studio space & more room to live after the jump!)

Home Decor: Mattress Fit for a Queen, Part 2

 This week, Aaron and I have still been stuck on the mattress subject. Payday was on Friday, which means I finally ordered our new mattress set tonight! It's a queen size super pillow top mattress with memory foam and a normal box spring, and they should arrive this coming Friday. They're also going to take away our old mattress and box spring for free, thank goodness! I'm so excited.

 Like I've said before, Aaron is still wanting to replace our entertainment center for one with more shelving for movies and video games. We've run out of space! I'd still like to build the honey comb shelves, but that'll have to wait. Also since Aaron and I have agreed to live in this apartment for at least one more lease after this one, I might start asking him about painting again. I would love to see my teal walls again instead of the brown they are now!

In the meantime, here's to a new bed! :)

Bed - Sears

Home Decor: A Mattress Fit for a Queen

 So still no progress this week other than mattress shopping. I've been looking into prices and such and figure that I'll only spend maybe $1000 tops on a nice mattress & box spring set. No need for anything more expensive! All I want is a plush, pillow top queen mattress that will last me many years. Simple enough, right?

 Aside from that, Aaron and I decided that we're going to stay in our current apartment for at least one more lease after this one. I love our apartment, so why not? Space was an issue before, because Aaron ended up buying big furniture, but we've managed to fit everything in without making things crowded. We'll buy a new entertainment center soon after buying our mattress, but only to replace our current one. I still want to build my own shelf set to put over the couch, but our lack of power tools makes that difficult. Does anyone know if any hardware stores will cut the lumber to exact measurements for you? My art wall is beginning to grow as well! I've just finished a piece last week that I plan on putting up with the rest of my collection, I'm quite proud of it. So many plans, now I just need to do them!

Home Decor: No Progress!

 Sorry for disappearing last week, I got a little busy. Unfortunately, I was busy with everything except apartment stuff! Absolutely nothing got done, not even buying anything. I'm hoping that'll change next week, but we'll see how things are financially, then. Bills come first! I don't want to leave you empty-handed though, so I'll tell you my plans for the next couple of weeks! Aaron and I are hoping to buy our new mattress in a couple of weeks. Thank goodness too, because I'm sick of our flattened hand-me-down mattress! After that, I'm hoping to either build the shelf set I mentioned in the last post or do something with our balcony. 

Let's hope I can get this stuff done! :)

Home Decor: Honey Comb?

 So I haven't done anything this week except talk to Aaron about shelving ideas for above the couch. After a little brainstorming, we chose an idea. Honey comb shelves!

I found this DIY on A Beautiful Mess not too long ago and fell in love with it. The shape is interesting and really catches your eye. We'll need to borrow a power tool or two, but I think we can make it!


 Now it's that time again, let's see what got accomplished this month!

July's To-Do List:

• Buy Aaron's desk.
• Buy entertainment center.
• Buy more photo frames for art wall!
• Actually start hanging the art!
• Fix shelving problem.

August's To-Do List:

• Buy entertainment center.
• Buy new mattress!
• Build new shelf?
• Do something with the balcony.

So much got done, this past month! I'm hoping I have the same luck in August. :)

Honey Comb Shelf - A Beautiful Mess

Home Decor: Office Space

 So this week, Aaron and I decided to partially turn our dining room into his office. The desk was cramped in our bedroom and we weren't actually using our dining room to eat in (we have a bad habit of eating on the couch), so we thought it would be best. We moved the dining table to one of the walls, moved the desk to the other wall, and used the fourth dining chair as a chair for my drafting table. There's so much more space in the bedroom now, and the "new office" looks good! Plus, it's easier to vacuum the rug in the middle of that room without the dining set in the way. Here's some photos! Sorry for the darkness, I had to keep the lighting low while Aaron was sleeping.

(Photos of the "new office" and shelving ideas after the jump!)

Home Decor: Massive Desks and Art

 I feel like we made some progress, this past week! On Wednesday, Aaron bought a vintage office desk from an antique store near the tattoo shop I was at. On Friday, they delivered it and I was able to see what it really looked like. It's very nice, in my opinion. Medium / dark wood, 60's style office desk with drawers on either side. It was much bigger than I thought, but we made it fit! We both agreed though, we need a second bedroom for an office / studio in our next place. lol

(The start of an art wall & moving the bulletin board 

out of the living room after the jump!)

Home Decor: Asian Living

 This past week has focused a lot on actual decor instead of furniture. Earlier in the week, Aaron surprised me by spontaneously decorating one of our bedroom walls and the tops of his dressers. He displayed a lot of his old Japanese things that his grandparents gave him that they got around WWII. Neat, right? He was feeling so handy, he even finished hanging the shelves that I planned to do, along with his sword rack! Our bedroom is looking more and more Asian each time we do something to it, I like it. Luckily, he kept my dress form shelf in that area though. I was afraid there wouldn't be any room for it! It's been changed once or twice since I took these pictures, but here's how the bedroom looked after he was done.

 Later in the week, I found a few pieces to add to my camera collection (but more about that tomorrow) to display as well! Those finds have inspired an idea or two for the main wall in my living room (the ugly brown one with the random bulletin board above the couch). I'm hoping to move the bulletin board to over my drafting table and adding some shelves above the couch for my camera collection! Maybe I should paint the bulletin board as well? It blends in with the wall too much anyways, may as well make it pop!


 I haven't picked up the photo frames that I need for my art wall yet, like I planned to for this week, but I'll definitely get them while I'm out during this next week. I know I keep saying that, but I really mean it this time!

I'm happy about all of this productivity, now I just need to keep it going! :)

All photos by myself.

Home Decor: No More Swap Meet!

 Sorry for a late post, my work night has been crazy and I'm finally getting some time to blog!


 So this past week has been quite productive. Aaron bought some teal lamp shades for the new lamps and they match perfectly! He also bought his dresser set and it was delivered on Friday, so our room doesn't look like a yard sale anymore. Thank goodness! Here's a photo of the lamps with shades (camera doesn't show teal). I'll have to update with a photo of the dressers, later tomorrow. Edit: Also, here's a photo of the dresser set!

 I tried to put some shelves up, only actually getting one up, but a screw to hang one of the other shelves came loose and the shelf fell. We'll have to fill the hole and try to hang slightly above it. I'm hoping to get this done in the next few weeks! Painting hasn't happened either, since we're still contemplating a few things. So for now, painting the walls will be put on the back burner.

(The end of June's To-Do List and the start of July's after the jump!)

Home Decor: Summer Cleaning!

 Not much has been done this past week, decor-wise. Instead, this week was dedicated to mass-cleaning the apartment! Since it's only Aaron, the 2 cats, and I, I only have to do real cleaning once each month. In between cleanings, I wipe counters and vacuum though. For 3 hours, I wiped counters, scrubbed sinks, scrubbed the stove, mopped, and cleaned the toilet. Luckily for me, Aaron did the vacuuming when he got home from work. lol The apartment looks so nice now! It was definitely a productive week.


 As for my home-decor to-do list, the only thing I did was put a shelf up, though we might be moving it soon. I'm hoping to find lamp shades by next week, and I've been trying to coax Aaron into finding a cheaper dresser so the bedroom won't look like a yard sale anymore. lol As far as painting goes, I still really want to paint the ugly brown walls, but Aaron is hesitant about it again. Let's hope color wins!

Home Decor: Bring in Some Color!

 Sorry for the late post! Due to scheduling difficulties, I'm moving my Home Decor posts from Wednesdays to Saturdays. :)


 On Thursday morning, Aaron and I went to Target for a few things. For the kitchen, I picked up some canisters (for sugar, flour, and such) and the cutest turquoise tea kettle! The kitchen is starting to look much more colorful, I love it.

(Lamps, art wall progress, and future plans after the jump!)

Home Decor: Curtain Call!

 Sorry for the lack of a Home post, last week. I had a lazy week then so I didn't have anything to write about.


 Good news! I unpacked my last box finally! Yay! So now we are (nearly) cardboard box-free. I say nearly because there's a few that we use to store extra things (Christmas junk, childhood momentos) in our balcony closet, but we're going to get some plastic storage boxes for those soon to keep our things safe. On the plus side, we aren't using the area under our sofa tables as storage anymore, since we've minimized a few things. Also, Aaron bought some red curtains for the dining room windows, so the room has more personality. Since they're all the color the dining room needs, we won't paint it. Oh how much difference some curtains make!

(The end of May's To-Do List and the start of June's after the jump!)

Home Decor: Pieces Falling into Place

 This past week has been about more unpacking, a little rearranging, and hanging things up. I just have one more box and the unpacking part will be done! I can't wait to get it over with, because that last box has been completely in the way. Aaron and I have moved some furniture in the living room and the cat stuff in the dining room, as well as flipping the glass in the dining table for a different color. I'm really liking how they're set up right now! There's more seating, while still leaving space to walk around without maneuvering around a bunch of stuff (the living room isn't as cluttered as the photo suggests). Now if only I could find a teal chair and ottoman cover for the single brown set I have in my black-white-teal living room! lol There was also a little rearranging done on the balcony, but we have much more to do out there.

(More photos, pin-up walls, dress form shelves, and lots of other things after the jump!)

Home Decor: After Week 1

 It's been a week and two days since Aaron and I moved into our new apartment and we couldn't be happier. We've unpacked about 80% of our stuff, I just need to finish unpacking my bedroom boxes and that part will be done. While we've been unpacking, we've also put up a lot of our wall decor. Here are a bunch of photos of what we've accomplished so far!

(Tons of photos of my apartment so far & May's to-do list, after the jump!)

Small Apartment Sneak Peek

 Due to the holidays, we haven't made much progress with the apartment except for what I'm about to show you. But the holidays are done so we can finally finish making our apartment a home! As for now, we finally framed my pin up prints and hung those and the teal cube shelves up on the wall in the living room! It make the room look more personal now, in my opinion.

(A little sneak peek after the jump.)

Roman Numerals and Tea Pots

 This week, the only things Aaron and I picked up for our apartment, besides Christmas decorations, were a couple of clocks for our common areas. Before, we had no idea what time it was whenever we would hang out in our living room, so we thought now was as good a time as any to buy them! The pun wasn't intended until I realized...


 Anyways, for our living room, we picked out this huge cut out clock to compete with Aaron's painting of Anima from FFX, on the same wall. It might sound weird to have two big pieces on the same smaller wall, but it actually looks pretty good, in my opinion.

(Time for tea after the jump.)

Apartment Sneak Peeks: The Sequel

 First of all, sorry about the slight disappearance! I just wasn't in the blogging zone for a little bit. But tonight, I present you another sneak peek into my living room and dining room! Mind you, nothing is completely finished yet, as I have too many more projects to do and pieces to buy, but it's looking pretty good for being half-done.

 Last Friday, I was busy painting these cube shelves with some of my leftover teal paint from when we painted our accent wall. It took all night to get done (Latex paint takes forever to dry, luckily I had video games to preoccupy my time!), but after technically 9 sides to paint per shelf and 1-2 coats of paint each, I finally got it done at 6am! These aren't hung up yet, but I'm hoping to get everything hung up by this weekend.

(More photos of my updated living room and dining room after the jump.)

Apartment Sneak Peeks

 I thought I would give you a sneak peek of the work Aaron and I have done in our apartment. There's so much color, it's turning into a cheery home!

 1) A pyramid of tiny jars filled with jam and honey that a client gave me and my nesting doll measuring cups. 2) We moved the microwave off of the shelf to underneath it, then used the shelf as a display bar. 3) Our red pot holders and mitt along with the matching nesting doll measuring spoons. 4) We decided to move our jars since we needed their previous spot for a new appliance Aaron's mom got us, and put my cat salt and pepper shakers in front of them. His mom also got us some holiday pot holders and I can't wait to use them! 5) Our Asian display wall above our dining table, Aaron put it together. The fans are actually from Japan around WWII!

(Sneak peeks of my living room after the jump.)

Moving Day and Paint!

 Friday was the big day, and we were busy all day. Aaron and I slept the night before and woke up at 8am so that we could start loading up the truck before my sister and her boyfriend picked up their new apartment keys. We had about six people moving things from one side of the complex to the other (close move!) and ended up getting their apartment moved in in 4 and a half hours! It didn't help that the carpet cleaners for my apartment showed up an hour early, made us rush to get everything out faster, and my sister was already getting complaints from her new neighbors about her dog barking while we were moving, but it got done pretty quickly. By the evening, we were left with decently cleaned carpets and more space.

We ended the day with putting up painters' tape and hooking up our internet before Aaron had to go to work and I spent my night off cleaning up the place.

(More about painting the apartment after the jump.)

Nesting Dolls, Checklist Mats, and Lots of Red!

I've gotten a lot of stuff the past week or so! Some things were exactly what I wanted and some were kind of second choice, but it's all cute. Here's what I got!


First of all, Aaron and I bought our paint and primer for the living room and kitchen! They are the same colors I showed you from my last apartment post, Behr Premium Plus in an eggshell finish, and Kilz Latex Interior/Exterior Primer. The primer is to cover the ugly light brown color in the living room, but we're also going to use it on a bulletin board we have that will be going in that room. It will all make sense when I eventually do a big reveal!

(More things we got to remind us before we leave the apartment and to spice up the kitchen after the jump.)