christmas eve check-in

I hope you enjoyed my 12 Days of DIY December posts and maybe were tried a few projects! I'm now back at the family homestead and was thrilled to see that my mom made a lovely card garland inspired by my post.

Since a lot of my posts were of the theoretical nature, I just wanted to take some time this merry Christmas Eve to share a little bit of what I actually did for the holidays at my apartment!

The secret to an awesome Christmas: lots of lights! As you can see, I embroidered and hung some stockings over the built-in, but never quite got around to glitter-spraying my magazine trees (it's been snowing like the Dickens around here, but I'm sure I'll find some use for glittery spray paint...). I tried something a little different for my card display this year, using a giant bow and hanging the cards on a Christmas ribbon underneath with the most adorable tiny red and green clothespins. I have a batch of homemade Kahlua infusing atop the fridge, which should be ready for gifting on New Year's - better late than never! I also made an ornament wreath, though I don't have a good picture of it hanging. It wasn't my most successful experience (I should have gotten more ornaments), but I like it anyway! And, of course, I did some intense cross-stitching, but I can't show you that! (It's sitting under the tree, shhhhh.)

Not too shabby a showing for this holiday season, I think. I hope you have a safe and happy holiday filled with great people, good food, and even better times. Merry Christmas!

home improvement: writing nook

This weekend, I added another room to our apartment. It didn't take any construction permits (and trust me, you don't want to see me handling power tools) or even good ol' fashioned magic - just some simple rearranging! I even did it all by myself to surprise my lovely roomie when she came home from work. The cat mostly got in the way.

 

From the first time we saw our apartment, I was brainstorming how we could set up the slightly odd living room. The illustration below will show you what I mean! The previous tenants had their TV blocking the front nook with the couch against the back wall, leaving the entire nook empty and useless (I think they put a litter box back there? Whatever.)

Man, how long has it been since I did an MS Paint illustration of something? ...not long enough, you say?

 

Look at all that wasted space in question mark land! I wasn't about to let a perfectly good nook go to waste. My plan was to put the TV on the back wall and stagger the couch in the middle, leaving enough room to access the nook. I put my desk back there as a kind of console table. Which was cute, but not really functional. So the wheels in my head started turning around and around, like they do. I eyed up the desk. And I eyed up the wall. I'm not especially gifted in spatial reasoning, but I was Pretty Darn Sure that the desk would justtttt fit alongside the outside wall.

 

In a surprise boon, I got some free furniture from my mom's newlywed boss (mazel tov!), and the new bookcase I brought home was just the motivation necessary to do a little switcheroo. Switch switch it went, and suddenly, we had a writing nook/office where naught but "behind the couch" was before!

 

 

I have so many plans for this nook; there's a decorative craft project I'll hopefully be undertaking soon, and I'd love to brighten the space up with more art (Belle is lonely!). Once the weather gets warmer, I plan on repainting the bookcase, so I'll have to start pinning ideas for that! (Right now I'm sort of feeling ombre on the inside? Maybe a stencil? Anything goes!) Obviously we have to decide what sort of things we're going to keep on the shelf - leaning towards more decorative, since just out of sight there are three massive bookcases double-shelved with books with more books in the built-ins AND an entirely separate shelf K is keeping in her room. Maybe I can put some of my pretty coffee table books out (they were banished from the proper shelves for being non-regulation size).

Here's a close-up of the bookcase:

It's a cute pale blue in real life, but it has a few dings (probably from when SOMEONE was trying to haul it in and out of the back of a Nissan Versa...oops) so refinishing is on the list. Oh, and up on top is a peek at an easy and quick "project" - I framed a page from my alma mater's calendar. This one is of the old-fashioned mailboxes student receive their mail in. Old-timey, black and white, a secret personal connection, AND free? Sounds like a winner to me!

As always, pics are from Instagram. Follow me there to see it all in real time!

settling in

It's aliiiiiiiive!

Yes, it's true. Contrary to appearances, this blog is still alive! What have I been doing that's so important? Well...moving. Whoever said that moving was easy was lying to you. (I don't believe anyone has ever said that moving was easy.) Who would have thought a person could accumulate that much stuff? And yet once I was in the apartment, many trips to Target were necessary for more stuff! Mysterious...

Dining room, circa moving weekend. Check out that sweet built-in!

As of now, House Snark is still very much a work in progress, which is both fun and frustrating. Just like every shelter blog tells you, making a well-appointed home takes time. I would rather make do than run out and spend a lot of money buying things that I'll probably regret (also the running out and spending a lot of money isn't actually an option right now. Budgets!), but it's sometimes hard. Kaitlin and I both really want to have an organically created home, with lots of things that are handmade, vintage, and just plain old awesome. Sometimes that means living without a dresser (hello!) or a coffee table (hello again!). But problem solving happens - I've got clothes in my closet, obviously, as well as in storage crates on my IKEA shelf (I would show you but one of those crates is holding my underwear and...I don't really feel we've reached that level of intimacy, Internet.) and a pair of folding chairs have served admirably as places to set computers, plates, and beverages while sitting on the couch.

Speaking of the couch, that's one thing that I am really pleased with. Neither Kaitlin nor I had a couch going in, and I knew that was something that would be really important to both our day to day life (where else are we supposed to watch Downtown Abbey* and play Mario?) and really difficult for us to get into the apartment on our own (we both drive compact cars and, PS, are delicate noodle-armed young maidens). So the couch needed to be set before move-in day. My mom agreed to be my shopping buddy (she drives a Ford Escape!), and we made a plan to visit a local used furniture store to check out the selection and possibly stop by to check out the clearance section at Steinhafels.

But the used store turned out to be a lot less local than we thought, and I'm afraid of bedbugs, so Steinhafels became the first stop and, well:

With cameo appearance from my mom's foot

I even WANTED a grey couch! It was on my secret mental list (because I didn't want to want it too badly) and there she was, waiting for me in the warehouse clearance section (which is PAST the normal clearance section and is, indeed, in the warehouse) looking pretty as a picture and comfy to boot. Not to mention all clearance was an additional 15% off THAT DAY ONLY (oh sales, you do enliven my blood and bring the caps out of me). In the end, the couch B A R E L Y fit in the car (I had to ride with my knees squashed against my chest because the seat was pushed forward all the way) and was in the neighborhood of 45% off. Not too shabby! Plus, I was right about the comfy thing (I'm sitting on it right now, so I would know.)

Next up on my list is to hang some art and continue to deck the halls. I'll share some more pictures once things are more to my liking. I ordered some curtains for my bedroom that I'm super in love with, so hopefully they'll look just as good in my room as they did on the internet.

Until then, blogizens!

*OMG Downton Abbey! I somehow hadn't seen it before, so K and I are working through it. All of Lady Mary's outfits are TO DIE FOR. Possible post upcoming.

apartment hunting: success!

Not that kind of Rent...

When I last posted about my apartment hunt, it was a wishlist for my "someday" apartment that I hoped would be coming soon. That was back in May but, happily, someday has come! The fabulous Disdainbrook and I signed have signed a lease and are now officially renting a lovely little apartment (dubbed House Snark).

I won't lie, the searching was rough. I spent hours on Craigslist, sifting through spammers and aggressively ugly (and poorly maintained) apartments. Not even gonna lie, after the thrill of finding a place, my second thought was "I don't have to spend every night on Craigslist anymore!" Freedom is sweet. But in the end, perseverance (and a little good ol' fashioned luck) is what made it happen. We visited several places, some (one) doable and others not. We weren't overly picky, in my opinion, but we knew what we weren't willing to compromise on and, much like in the dating world, we were looking for Mr. Right, not Mr. Right Now.

And Mr. Right, indeed! I didn't really remember what I'd put on the original wishlist I'd posted, so out of curiosity's sake, I went back to take a look. And, well, see for yourself!

(Bolded points were top priorities)

Location - I'd like to be close enough to downtown to go back and forth easily but in a neighborhood that's relatively quiet. Not college student-land. Check! It's in our top choice neighborhood, which is close to the city but has a great mix of neighborhood-feel and funky flair

Clean/well-maintained Check!

2 BR/1 BA Check!

Separate dining room OR den - K and I are both writers (obviously) and would love a shared office space. Personally, I'd lean towards dining room because I also would like to entertain Check! We have a lovely little dining room (complete with a built-in with leaded glass!)

Hardwood floors Check!

Historic charm Check! Built in the 1920s with many original features!

On-site laundry Check! (and it's free too!)

Non-hideous kitchen Check! And much more spacious than most kitchens we saw

Parking for 2 - preferably at least one that comes with the unit, the other can be street parking Check - one garage & plenty of street parking

Central air - Uncheck :( But there is a window unit that comes with the apartment, and we knew that was a longshot in the historic buildings we were looking at

Preferably upper level Check!

Walkable to restaurants/groceries Check! (Well, the winter might keep us in our cars a bit, but there's a lot of great stuff within a mile)

Tall shower - we are both tall ladies Check!

Outdoor space for DIY projects Check! We get our very own private porch - great for projects and entertaining!

All but one point on my wishlist? Not too shabby, if I do say so myself!

My biggest tips for new apartment hunters like myself are: never give up (never surrender!) and be ready to act. It was tough trying to coordinate two very different work schedules (I have a standard corporate schedule with no availability during the day, Kaitlin works a variable retail schedule that changes week to week), and there were a few times that we set up an appointment for a showing a few days in advance only to be called and told that the place had already been rented. The same was true in the case of the apartment that became ours - I asked for a showing on a Sunday, we saw the place on Monday (due to a serendipitous series of events that gave Kaitlin the night free), decided that night we would take it, filled out applications on Tuesday, were formally offered the place on Wednesday (and immediately accepted), and signed our lease that weekend. The rental world moves fast, especially when you're looking in a popular area. It's scary, but when you see the right train coming, you just have to be ready to jump on board and ride that baby all the way to tenancy. 

I'm nervous (and horrified by the length of my to-do list), but I'm so excited to finally put all my blog-reading and pinning to good use. And, of course, to share our ideas and projects with all of you! Westward ho!