If you know me in real life, you're probably aware that cleanliness/neatness is not one of my top priorities. I don't consider myself a slob, but frankly, I feel like I have better things to do than clean most of the time. That isn't to say that I don't clean at all - I am occasionally possessed (and/or implored by my husband) to clean a lot in one session, but it would certainly be easier going if I just did a little bit more often.
All that to say, we're moving into a bigger place at the end of the month (or early October) and I have such high hopes that I will make this place look like a spread from a magazine, but even I know that probably won't last if I ever get it looking that fancy in the first place. Regardless, I'm excited about it and want to share a few of my inspirations while I wile away my hours waiting for mr. baby pants to arrive. I even got off my bum and took "before" photos, hopefully to be accompanied by dazzling "after" photos at some later date.
The fact that we're moving at all is a huge blessing. You most likely know that we've been living happily as newlyweds in a 1 room loft (well, it has a kitchen, bath & hallway too) and that we didn't plan to have a little person joining us quite so soon. As much as we love this place and were prepared to deal with our quarters getting even more cramped, the place downstairs from us recently became vacant and it has 2 bedrooms, a yard, and washer & dryer hook-ups. Our current place has indoor stairs to the front door and a ton of very low windows with a 2 story drop, so it wouldn't have been safe for baby for very long anyway.
As if the move weren't awesome enough, the landlords are totally re-doing the apartment downstairs, adding wood flooring, modernizing the kitchen and letting us choose paint colors. AND they're paying Jonas to help them renovate it! Not only is that some much appreciated extra mulah, but he's also able to get some experience in construction and plumbing and possibly some electric work. The house which these apartments are in is an old 1920s farm house, so it has great high ceilings downstairs and lots of nifty nooks and crannies, as well as some huge windows in the living room. There's even a built on sun room of sorts that is also the laundry room.
I chose to paint the whole apartment a bright true white so that I could use my ever-beloved deep hues on some of the walls without making the place look like a cave. I've chosen a dark grey for the largest wall in the living room, an indigo blue for the master bedroom wall that doesn't have windows in it, and a jungle green for the baby room ceiling and closet/shelving interiors. We're leaving the kitchen and bathroom white, but will certainly decorate with some colors in the decor.
While I'm not going to post any photos of the actual place just yet, I will show you some of the inspiration boards I've made and a collection of pins that I'm using to inspire me as well. I'm making most of these images on polyvore, so if you want to know more about any of the images or items you see, you can follow the rabbit trails to their original sources, starting here. Please [don't] mind the apparent gaps between text and photos, below - the images from Polyvore have a rather large white margin. :/
Without further ado, here is some living room inspiration. 1.Would love a print by Marcos Mazzoni 2. I'm kind of a sucker for sparkly uncut/unfinished stones - these particular specimens are platters 3. I have a similar color on my toes right now, adore it 4. I have long wanted a velvet couch... 5. I'm a big fan of the original Dracula book and would love a poster of some Dracula inspired art.
Left to right, top to bottom - Our new place looks kind of like this with the white, big windows, and high ceilings. I'd love to hit up the 99cent fabric place in Solvang for some long (possibly mismatched) curtains. / We're dying for a cowhide rug from Ikea / Another long time wish, a carved ox skull (there's one in Moro Bay, but I haven't been there to see if it's still around in quite a while). That might go better in the bedroom though / As always, there will be some gold accents / Maybe I'll make some "quilt" curtains from various fabric scraps I have / I'm gaga about paint throwing, so I'll probably want to spice up various pieces of thrift store furniture.
Now, on to Baby's room! The theme is jungle-y. 1. Want to use fabrics like these for a window curtain. 2. I have this awesome piece of green paper with screen printed gold alligator heads on it. Though of course, it wouldn't be totally unlike J & I to find an actual skull either. ;) 3. I bought these little elephant garlands from World Market! 4. Don't actually have anything like this or a plan to get one like it, just in there for the vibe. 5. My wonderful sister Annelise made a replica of this for me with her signature tea-stained paper for her soon-to-be nephew's nursery walls. 6. My other sweet sister, Julia, is spray painting our wooden mini crib a dark blue color.
More baby inspiration above, clockwise left to right - The original room that inspired the jungle theme / I love this giraffe illustration. Maybe it will end up on a wall. / Maybe I will add some gold corners to artwork frames in the room / I have tons of beautiful mini origami papers and no mobile yet... so those two facts may just result in a project / I could make drawer pulls, possibly with left over animals favors from our wedding! / A gorgeously colored Audubon print.
Now for the kitchen & yard. Clockwise, left to right - Not sure if I can pull this off, but I love the look and nostalgia of dried chili garlands / Still adding to my blue & white Asian china collection, though this could go in the bedroom or a living room display as well. / I have lots of indoor plants and some outdoor plant aspirations (even some pretty pots), but it would be fun to incorporate our apartment number like this as well and decorate the porch. / A pretty little trick for the yard, especially useful since our "driveway" is a dirt lot. / There are two amazing little alcoves in the kitchen that look like they're for figurines or something - I will probably paper the insides with some of my beloved collected scraps.
I don't actually have many images in the way of bedroom inspiration. Probably because our current place is basically a bedroom which I already have designed. All my Indian/Middle Eastern decor (curtains, canopies, lanterns, etc) is currently part of a display at church, but it will go back in our room around Christmas time. We recently bought a new duvet cover at Ikea, but perhaps you can see that in my "after" photos some time later this year. I do have some art pieces in mind that I would love to put up though, so here are a few of those. Clockwise from top left - I have always adored this photo, it makes me think of Jonas & I. / Not a piece of art, but I do like these industrial clothing racks, though we probably won't end up needing that much extra clothing space / One of our favorite works by one of our favorite artists, Yoshitaka Amano. / Arabic calligraphy, "Lord". / A little display of rocks. We have oodles of little natural specimens to display.
I can't wait for our first married (and baby!) Christmas in our own little place. I'm dreaming of a mini tree (possibly white) maybe with popcorn and cranberry garlands and probably with some ornaments that have to do with In-N-Out. :)
We're also very excited to have this bigger place because it means we can invite people over and they'll actually have a place to sit! It will be grand.
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