Have You Downsized Your Living Space??

Hello to everyone, hope you all had a wonderful Holiday weekend! I'm realizing that the day is quickly approaching when photographer, Janis Nicolay will be in town to shoot our apartment & I'm so PSYCHED to show you what I've done with it so far!  Of course like many of you, I find myself making a little inspiration folder on my desktop & putting all the images that INSPIRE me throughout my decorating quest! Below are some images that are currently inspiring me!
 

For those of you who don't know, we downsized from this 3,000 sq. ft house in Las Vegas to a 1000 sq. ft apartment in New York City. Yup, BIG difference. 


In the process, I HAD TO SELL most of my furniture because where the heck would I put it!?! I had 3 bedrooms & four bathrooms in our other home, which means, every bathroom had it's own accessories & every room had its own furniture. 


So, I had to choose which items would come with us & basically sell everything else off. When it came down to it, we condensed it all to ONE bedroom + office & one bathroom. 

Top two images are of Claudia's lovely place via peep my style

 (images above adore magazine)

I'll tell you one thing, this one bathroom thing.... my guy absolutely HATES it!!! Well, then again so do I. But we're in Manhattan & coming across an extra bathroom comes at a price, a much HIGHER price. Some of you may already know this....

For now, we'll make due with what we have & just be grateful we have a roof over our heads, and not a bad one at that! Can't wait to show you!

 (images below the coveteur)

 (image below style at home)

Have you given up your LARGE suburban space for a smaller place in the city?!? What do you hate & love about the change??

Bits of My Weekend...

-images by jen ramos

Bits of my Week..

via my iPhone....
 

enjoy your weekend everyone!! See you Monday!

-images by jen ramos

What I REALLY want for Christmas...

My head has been spinning lately....You see, I'm getting that feeling of wanting to move back to New York City....again. So, if I had to choose one gift this year, it would be that. I used to live there several yrs ago & my family is still there - which I MISS very much! In fact, if my mom didn't love coming out here so much, I'd visit her more often. 


Manhattan is so alive... every time I visit, I SWEAR, I want to stay longer! Frankly, moving there would be giving up a lot, mainly square footage. As most of you know we have a decent home here in NV & it would SADDEN me to leave it.  


UNFORTUNATELY, due to the market, we'd have to rent it or.....not. You see, I'm VERY fanatical when it comes to my home, a perfectionist to say the least. So, other people (renters) in my home, would feel invasive to me. Is that so bad? Hmmm

Let's face it, we've played landlord before in the past & it was a BIG mistake! No matter how nice & neat potential renters seem, they can be pretty messy & uncaring once the keys are in their hands. The thought of being a landlord again stresses me out. 

Know what I mean?? Ever experienced a renter from hell???!  We have!
 

It's no party & truthfully it takes up a lot of my work time.  No renters means we'll only be able to afford a smaller place because we'd still have to pay on this house...it sucks. Oh, what to do??

So, in the meanwhile MY GUY is searching out JOBS in NYC.  A good job in the software/web industry. To be more specific - he's a UX/UI designer & information architect.  If you know anyone in this industry & can get us in touch with them, we'd appreciate it.  We are ready...!  As for me, I can pretty much work anywhere from home. Thank God.

The worst part of this whole thing is we would be sacrificing a large home & moving into a smaller apartment in the city. To many of you, that would suck, to me, I desperately want the culture & the vibe NY offers. I think there are days where I just want to pull my hair out because this town is sooooooooo fashion-backwards. 


Yes, I like fashion & love when average folks on the street have their own individual style. It seems LV lacks this - BIG time. It makes me feel like the elephant in the room every time I walk into my local Starbucks.  Most people here look the same, no one really stands out. I like a town that has vibe & culture, it's how I grew up, I can't help it. We're NOT the types that go out to clubs or bars, we prefer big bookstores, cafes, restaurants, museums & going to farmer's markets.


And yes, these are my views and my experiences, so if you disagree, that's fine.

Oh & I get invited to a bunch of events and 99% of the time they're in NYC. Figures.


I know I'm venting, but I feel I'm at a crossroads & if my guy lands THE job, we may just end up moving to NYC. We'd come back every so often to visit our home here in LV - but that's it. I've learned that material items, whether it's a big home, a nice car or 30 handbags, none of this will truly make a person (me) HAPPY....I have to dig deep into my heart & listen to what's it trying to tell me. 

In the end, I believe God will lead us on the right path whatever is decided...



So, am I crazy?? Would you give up a nice big home for a small place in a vibrant city?!? Should we sacrifice certain things to find a bit more happiness?

-NYC images by Marilynn K. Yee via New York Times

Guest Post: By Ashlina

Hi everyone! It's Ashlina, interior designer and blogger at TheDecorist. I was beyond thrilled to guest blog for Jen while she comes to visit us here in New York City. I adore Jen and am so excited that I get to share with you (her loving readers) my favorite things about this city that I love so much!!

I just moved out here from LA a few months ago and have found these 7 places to be AMAZING and I would definitely say are MUST-SEES for any decorista visiting NYC!

1. The Jane Hotel: A beautifully decorated hotel in the west village, its perfect for meeting girlfriends for  a fun get-together.

2. Top of the Rock: the view from the top of the Rockafeller is absolutely breathtaking. It's such a fun thing to do so you can see the city from the most beautiful angle!

3. Saks Fifth Ave: shoe department...I almost fainted when I first went here, its enormous and the shoes are like glitter in the sand, so beautiful you will be overwhelmed with excitement.

4. ABC Carpet & Home: The place to be inspired for home decor. It's like the mecca for decorating. I just love it.

5. Olde Good Things: If you love antiques or anything unique then you will LOVE this store. There are a few around the city and each time you walk into one, you see things that you never would have imagined. I love the history of everything and imagining the homes that these items lived in is so fun!

6. Levain Bakery: quite possibly the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever tasted in my life. It's around the corner from my apartment and has become such a weakness.

7. The Highline: Walking the highline was one of my favorite things to do this summer. The views are so pretty and they play black and white movies on the weekends. I had never heard of it, until I moved here and quickly realized its definitely a must visit place.

Hopefully one day all of you will get the opportunity to visit New York. It's probably the most magical city in the world!!

image credits:


jane hotel photo (time out nyc)
olde good things (apartment therapy)
the high line (www.mentalfloss.com)
abc (youropi.com)
levain (foodieuncensored.blogspot.com)
top of the rock (topoftherock.com)
saks (luxist.com)

My NYC Hotel Stay...(Via Made By Girl)

NYC has been amazing, minus the weather.  It was raining most of the time - so I didn't get as much done as I was hoping!  I also missed the last two days of Blogfest!!  I know....but I ended up doing other things that were quite beneficial business-wise, so it all worked out nicely in the end! 


Either way, I got to meet some nice people at Blogfest and saw several old school friends as well as family. One of the best parts of my trip was definitely the hotel room.  The internet connection was a bit crappy.....up & down the whole time - but at least I got my money back for the internet room charge.  


As promised, here are pictures of the room at the Royalton.

 

The service at the hotel was spectacular - they were always attentive & helpful - especially the door guy who helped with my bags & tried to hail a cab for 20 minutes! CRAZY.... 

I ABSOLUTELY loved that the room was high up on the 14th floor & faced 44th street (front of building). 


And get this....it had a LARGE balcony with original wrought iron railings, gorgeous arches & columns!  


If you ever stay at the Royalton ask to stay in ROOM 1417 as it's the only standard room with this feature. I'll post several more pictures of my trip, including a tour of the Kate Spade store- which is sooo pretty for those who haven't visited the SOHO location!  

I'll be heading home Friday evening & I'm already feeling sad. I miss NYC, my friends, family and all the different varieties of food you find here. I'm really thinking about coming here every 6 months....hmmmm


Are you from NYC?? Do you love it? Have you had enough? Never been but want to visit?!??

 


-images by jen ramos