Tampilkan postingan dengan label apartment. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label apartment. Tampilkan semua postingan

Selasa, 31 Januari 2012

Renting: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Hello everyone! I'm still on the road & boy am I EXHAUSTED. I'm literally trying to force my eyes open while I write this next post....
About a week ago I asked on my Twitter if there were any bloggers who wanted to share their rental experience with MadeByGirl readers. 

Since I will now be RENTING, I'm curious to know your thoughts on 'the GOOD, the BAD, the UGLY' of apartment living! I chose a few of the posts that were submitted to me last week. Below is the first one....I'll share more of the submissions soon! Enjoy!

Hello MadeByGirl readers, I'm Julia from Tartan & Sequins. Sharing my apartment living experience!



The GOOD
Let’s face it, developing a sense of style when it comes to your home is even harder than developing your personal style. Of course there are people who just get it from the start. But, for the rest of us, it usually takes some time to figure out what you like and don’t like when it comes to decorating and then gather all the parts and pieces to make the design work. 

Being able to test-drive design ideas and styles is one of the great benefits of apartment living. You can focus on developing your style while not having to worry about too many extra design elements like paint, wallpaper, construction, etc. It’s less risky to make changes when you’re living in an apartment, as a throw pillow is easier to change out than a horrible fireplace. 




The BAD
Now onto the bad. Once you have developed your design sense, it can be frustrating not having control over those extra design elements mentioned above. It may even get to a point where you just have to bite the bullet on the repainting fee and go crazy with painting the place. Other changes can include replacing hardware like the towel bars in the bathroom, door/cabinet knobs, or installing curtain rods at your own expense.

The bad part about living in an apartment is that that those types of changes usually require someone else’s approval. No I don’t mean your significant other - that’s challenging enough. I mean the person who actually owns the place, the landlord.




The UGLY
Now, we all have things we can live with and cannot live without when it comes to apartment living. You may be able to live with a small cramped kitchen, but not having a walk-in closet to house your large collection of shoes simply will not do. Living in an apartment requires all types of tradeoffs, it’s what you do with the bad scenario that makes all the difference. I, myself, have two bay windows in my living room. 

Not a problem you say? Well, they are covered in old beige blinds and each take up an entire wall. So in an effort to inject color, establish a theme for the room and hide the blinds, I put up light olive green and white Moroccan print curtains. The bay windows are now my favorite part of the room!


If you'd like to share, the good, the bad, the ugly of living in a rental, email me your submission with 3-4 pictures of your apartment!

Rabu, 11 Januari 2012

I'm Moving!

Hello everyone! Remember this post?

Well, my guy was just informed he got a job in NYC!  He & I sometimes chat on Skype video when he's on his lunch break & TODAY he held up this sign....



I SWEAR, my heart skipped a beat! I'm so excited to be moving!!  You see, this past weekend we flew to NYC on a last minute trip for his interviews. While there, we took advantage & viewed a few rentals. We probably saw 20 places, some nice, some not-so-nice. I felt like I was on House Hunters, narrowing it down to 3 places - all on the upper east side- my fave neighborhood.

Now, the challenge is to sell some items in my home, in my closet, sell our car, rent our home (yes, I gave in) & figure out how we're going to ship a few pieces of furniture & clothing! ....AND do this all by Jan 27th.

We need to find a moving company to move a few pieces...as I'll be SELLING my large Crate & Barrel dining table, possibly the dining chairs, my sectional sofa from West Elm, Master bed tufted leather headboard/bed, a few lamps & possibly my dark brown West Elm coffee table (which I love).  Oh yes, & our cool car.....
 
I'll be posting items FOR SALE on my blog within the next few days...however, if you see something in my home you'd like to buy, just shoot me an email & I'll let you know if I'm selling it. Wish me luck.


Below are some photos from the trip last weekend, including the hotel we stayed in & some of the apartments we viewed!





























Came across this building below & thought it was interesting. It's an actually entryway to an apt building...only in NYC.











The hotel - was called "Marmara" - it's a cool place with a nice staff located on 94th & 2nd avenue. Very affordable too! The only issue I had was with the construction on 2nd avenue, but it didn't bother me that much in the morning!  Having a full kitchen was well worth it & saved us a few bucks by cooking.They also have an AMAZING deck area, with views of the city!







 How cool is this? A chandelier in the elevator!!






-images by jen ramos