Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday born I was Thursday's Child
More new apartment blabbering. Livejournal is totally my anti-drug - I am a substance-free user, hehehe. Meaning, of course, I’m not posting much of substance, but then, when have I really EVER? It’s so funny to go back through my old entries and see how young and silly I was (still am?). Anyway. Not the purpose of THIS post.
The unpacking is coming along, which is good because my parents will be back this weekend and I want them to be impressed with how well it looks after only 2 weeks.
Front Room:
Pretty much totally set up, as far as furniture layout (or footprint) goes. May do some tweaking with a bookshelf or two, and I *think* I might have room for the matching large brown one that is still at my parent’s house, to be brought over on a future trip.
Not much decorating (i.e. the purely frivoulous, dust-catchery stuff) is done yet. That’s on tonight’s books, along with getting my packing materials ready to go. I have a tech who just bought a house in Kent, and he lives in West Seattle currently, so he’s going to inherit most of my boxes. Because I’m generous like that, and most of these boxes came from OTHER peoples’ recent moves, and reduce-reuse-recycle, right?
Got a dark-chocolately-brown, micro-suede, suuuuuuuuuuper-stretchy slipcover for the couch. The flowery print was driving me crazy, and starting to look a little shabby. Enter slipcover! The only problem is that it’s a sleeper-sofa (sleeper-loveseat, to be more specific), is that there are NO SLIPCOVERS anywhere for sleeper-sofas. Google-fu failed, home décor stores failed, etc. Enter Gretchen! She is going to finagle a solution that will probably involve a cut along the back and sides so that it can flip down for the bed to come out, attaching some elastic and buttons or something to reconnect it all under the [separate] cushions. Hard to describe, I guess, but I think it will work.
Mom & Dad picked up a large beige area rug to “anchor” the living room furniture into a cohesive whole. I’m not totally thrilled with the beige, but I’m looking at it as a neutral foundation for future rug-layering process. They also brought me a rocking chair (O_o) but I don’t know where that’s going to go, honestly.
Fireplace will be done sometime this fall, after the French drains/waterproofing along the sides of the house are done, which are making excellent progress and withstood this past weekend’s massive rains. I’m hoping I’ll be able to use this winter - I have an entire daydream about a fire in the fireplace, mug of tea or hot chocolate, little snackies, a delightful warm blanket and books and movies and naps, while the rains taps outside. Sigh. I’m so domesticated.
Pictures need to go on the wall. I’m hoping to get those done this weekend - need to diagram out, which will keep me entertained and looking busy at work. Not all will get hung up, though, as some still need to be framed.
I’ve decided, for the time being, to keep the curtains that my landlord put up (sage green in the front room/kitchen windows, and gold in the bedroom). I wasn’t planning to, originally, but at the moment there are no blinds on the windows (screens, however, are forthcoming), and my curtains would not provide any privacy, whereas his curtains can be pulled closed.
Kitchen:
Awaiting my spice rack and mug holder to arrive from Amazon this week, and then I think just about everything in the kitchen will be put away. With some creative ingenuity, I’ve managed to find a place for everything, and avoided putting any of back in my bedroom closet/laundry room like my parents suggested.
I LOVE THE KITCHEN. There was something to be said in my first apartment, where it was small in terms of walking space, but big on counte/cabinet space. Now I have walking AND counter space, and fairly decent cabinets (they look pretty, but I’ve got them FULL UP, you. I seriously enjoyed making my first real meal, and a delicious dessert for book club the other night in this kitchen.
Not much left to do in the kitchen, at this point. Although I am (don’t laugh) kind of confused about the garbage set-up. I get the small container for yard/food waste to be taken away for composting, although I can’t get the lid to lock down and I’m a-feared that rascally raccoons will get into it and make a mess and gorge themselves. SIDENOTE: Shawn has a family of raccoons living under his back porch. He puts out cat food for them. O_o. Anyway, back to the trashy confusion. There’s a big container for recycling (check!) and a small black… box? That might have a lid? I think this is for regular trash, but having been used to dumpsters since I moved out of Wenatchee, I don’t know for sure and I keep forgetting to ask Brad. Hrm.
Oh, and I do need to get new bar stools, eventually. Brad’s are… very industrial looking. Not really my aesthetic. :P
Bedroom:
This was my big project last night. I had about 4-5 boxes not even close to unpacked at that point, and clothes, clean and dirty, piled up everywhere. So I sorted the clothes, and started a round of laundry (I think I got 3 loads done last night, about half). Got the boxes either unpacked or moved out to the front room for proper dispersal.
Realized that since I have no linen closet anymore, I need a convenient place to store extra bed linens. Enter the antique trunk at the foot of my bed! Perfect place to store linens, and those extra curtains.
Still to hang are my jewelry holders (two - an earring holder and my French memory board that I use for necklaces), a cherry-wood shelving unit, and pictures. What really sold me on the gold window treatments is that I can hang my sepia-toned London vignettes in between, and it ties it all together with my other London/England décor.
Also, I need more rugs, particularly in this room, because the floor is cement, not cherry-wood like in the front room.
Bathroom:
Pretty well set up at this point. My dad installed a nice over-the-toilet shelving unit that just fits all my “usual” bathroom stuff (as opposed to stuff that I usually put in a medicine cabinet or linen closet). Need to figure out where the medicinal stuff is going to go. Possibly on a shelving unit in the laundry room?
On my List of Things To Get is new towels. I’ve got hand-me-downs and the towels that I got in 2004, and they are really getting thin with random bleach spots and just… blech. So I want to get thick, creamy large bath towels and black hand & face towels. And maybe, just maybe, for special hostessing events, the embroidered ones that match the shower curtain. I’m a little too much Monica Gellar/Martha Stewart about this, aren’t I? (Remember the episode with Monica and her potential new boyfriend, and she told him HE could use the guest towels?)
Anyway, the towels will be kept in the bathroom, in a black canvas tote - I picked up one this weekend in the Large size, but it’s too big, so I need to try the medium.
Closet:
Finally getting organized as well. Need to tweak some things here and there, and once I can access the garage (which is currently blocked by stacks of empty boxes, then I can store holiday stuff out there. My landlord was kind enough to get a shelving unit for my own particular use.
The washer and dryer are working just great! It is SO NICE to have them SO HANDY. So much ♥ people. Really.
When it’s ALL DONE, I will post before/after pictures. Aren’t you excited?
I saw Wicked on Saturday. OMG. LOVE. A+++ would see again! The cast was smashing, I had a great seat, and just really, really well done. My only quibble is with the actually smashing of the plot, at times it feels a bit TOO rushed (and yes, I’ve read the book but have mixed feelings about it), but overall, a very enjoyable show.
Had Book Club on Monday night, a petite group that provided excellent discussion on Choderlos de Laclos’ Les Liaisons Dangerouses, an excellent read in and of itself. Ooooh, those naughty, naughty aristocrats! And we gorged ourselves on pasta, shrimp, baked brie (complete with cut-out penis and bas-relief pudenda :D), and the peach crisp dessert with maple cream sauce. I would love to try that dessert with apples for fall, in lieu of peaches, I think it would still be lovely (maybe add cinnamon?). Also, possibly cook longer for the crust to get "crisp"-ier. Still quite nummy.
September is not a whacktardedly crazy month! A few things here and there (including a Passion Party for moonrock!), but not much else. THANK GODDESS, because October is looking to be rather schizophrenic, and I need to dust off my Ashley Clone and send her out to do all those little things.
Oh yes, and I might "surprise" my parents with a glimpse of the West Seattle Naked Bike Ride on Sunday (if I'm not in class when it happens). Hurr, hurr. So evil, I am.
Today’s To-Do List:
Work (pshaw!)
Call Abbey Party and Alexander Party Rentals - again, since they haven’t returned previous calls. :\
Start packing up packing materials (that makes no sense to anyone but me, I think)
I'm forgetting something here...?
The unpacking is coming along, which is good because my parents will be back this weekend and I want them to be impressed with how well it looks after only 2 weeks.
Front Room:
Pretty much totally set up, as far as furniture layout (or footprint) goes. May do some tweaking with a bookshelf or two, and I *think* I might have room for the matching large brown one that is still at my parent’s house, to be brought over on a future trip.
Not much decorating (i.e. the purely frivoulous, dust-catchery stuff) is done yet. That’s on tonight’s books, along with getting my packing materials ready to go. I have a tech who just bought a house in Kent, and he lives in West Seattle currently, so he’s going to inherit most of my boxes. Because I’m generous like that, and most of these boxes came from OTHER peoples’ recent moves, and reduce-reuse-recycle, right?
Got a dark-chocolately-brown, micro-suede, suuuuuuuuuuper-stretchy slipcover for the couch. The flowery print was driving me crazy, and starting to look a little shabby. Enter slipcover! The only problem is that it’s a sleeper-sofa (sleeper-loveseat, to be more specific), is that there are NO SLIPCOVERS anywhere for sleeper-sofas. Google-fu failed, home décor stores failed, etc. Enter Gretchen! She is going to finagle a solution that will probably involve a cut along the back and sides so that it can flip down for the bed to come out, attaching some elastic and buttons or something to reconnect it all under the [separate] cushions. Hard to describe, I guess, but I think it will work.
Mom & Dad picked up a large beige area rug to “anchor” the living room furniture into a cohesive whole. I’m not totally thrilled with the beige, but I’m looking at it as a neutral foundation for future rug-layering process. They also brought me a rocking chair (O_o) but I don’t know where that’s going to go, honestly.
Fireplace will be done sometime this fall, after the French drains/waterproofing along the sides of the house are done, which are making excellent progress and withstood this past weekend’s massive rains. I’m hoping I’ll be able to use this winter - I have an entire daydream about a fire in the fireplace, mug of tea or hot chocolate, little snackies, a delightful warm blanket and books and movies and naps, while the rains taps outside. Sigh. I’m so domesticated.
Pictures need to go on the wall. I’m hoping to get those done this weekend - need to diagram out, which will keep me entertained and looking busy at work. Not all will get hung up, though, as some still need to be framed.
I’ve decided, for the time being, to keep the curtains that my landlord put up (sage green in the front room/kitchen windows, and gold in the bedroom). I wasn’t planning to, originally, but at the moment there are no blinds on the windows (screens, however, are forthcoming), and my curtains would not provide any privacy, whereas his curtains can be pulled closed.
Kitchen:
Awaiting my spice rack and mug holder to arrive from Amazon this week, and then I think just about everything in the kitchen will be put away. With some creative ingenuity, I’ve managed to find a place for everything, and avoided putting any of back in my bedroom closet/laundry room like my parents suggested.
I LOVE THE KITCHEN. There was something to be said in my first apartment, where it was small in terms of walking space, but big on counte/cabinet space. Now I have walking AND counter space, and fairly decent cabinets (they look pretty, but I’ve got them FULL UP, you. I seriously enjoyed making my first real meal, and a delicious dessert for book club the other night in this kitchen.
Not much left to do in the kitchen, at this point. Although I am (don’t laugh) kind of confused about the garbage set-up. I get the small container for yard/food waste to be taken away for composting, although I can’t get the lid to lock down and I’m a-feared that rascally raccoons will get into it and make a mess and gorge themselves. SIDENOTE: Shawn has a family of raccoons living under his back porch. He puts out cat food for them. O_o. Anyway, back to the trashy confusion. There’s a big container for recycling (check!) and a small black… box? That might have a lid? I think this is for regular trash, but having been used to dumpsters since I moved out of Wenatchee, I don’t know for sure and I keep forgetting to ask Brad. Hrm.
Oh, and I do need to get new bar stools, eventually. Brad’s are… very industrial looking. Not really my aesthetic. :P
Bedroom:
This was my big project last night. I had about 4-5 boxes not even close to unpacked at that point, and clothes, clean and dirty, piled up everywhere. So I sorted the clothes, and started a round of laundry (I think I got 3 loads done last night, about half). Got the boxes either unpacked or moved out to the front room for proper dispersal.
Realized that since I have no linen closet anymore, I need a convenient place to store extra bed linens. Enter the antique trunk at the foot of my bed! Perfect place to store linens, and those extra curtains.
Still to hang are my jewelry holders (two - an earring holder and my French memory board that I use for necklaces), a cherry-wood shelving unit, and pictures. What really sold me on the gold window treatments is that I can hang my sepia-toned London vignettes in between, and it ties it all together with my other London/England décor.
Also, I need more rugs, particularly in this room, because the floor is cement, not cherry-wood like in the front room.
Bathroom:
Pretty well set up at this point. My dad installed a nice over-the-toilet shelving unit that just fits all my “usual” bathroom stuff (as opposed to stuff that I usually put in a medicine cabinet or linen closet). Need to figure out where the medicinal stuff is going to go. Possibly on a shelving unit in the laundry room?
On my List of Things To Get is new towels. I’ve got hand-me-downs and the towels that I got in 2004, and they are really getting thin with random bleach spots and just… blech. So I want to get thick, creamy large bath towels and black hand & face towels. And maybe, just maybe, for special hostessing events, the embroidered ones that match the shower curtain. I’m a little too much Monica Gellar/Martha Stewart about this, aren’t I? (Remember the episode with Monica and her potential new boyfriend, and she told him HE could use the guest towels?)
Anyway, the towels will be kept in the bathroom, in a black canvas tote - I picked up one this weekend in the Large size, but it’s too big, so I need to try the medium.
Closet:
Finally getting organized as well. Need to tweak some things here and there, and once I can access the garage (which is currently blocked by stacks of empty boxes, then I can store holiday stuff out there. My landlord was kind enough to get a shelving unit for my own particular use.
The washer and dryer are working just great! It is SO NICE to have them SO HANDY. So much ♥ people. Really.
When it’s ALL DONE, I will post before/after pictures. Aren’t you excited?
I saw Wicked on Saturday. OMG. LOVE. A+++ would see again! The cast was smashing, I had a great seat, and just really, really well done. My only quibble is with the actually smashing of the plot, at times it feels a bit TOO rushed (and yes, I’ve read the book but have mixed feelings about it), but overall, a very enjoyable show.
Had Book Club on Monday night, a petite group that provided excellent discussion on Choderlos de Laclos’ Les Liaisons Dangerouses, an excellent read in and of itself. Ooooh, those naughty, naughty aristocrats! And we gorged ourselves on pasta, shrimp, baked brie (complete with cut-out penis and bas-relief pudenda :D), and the peach crisp dessert with maple cream sauce. I would love to try that dessert with apples for fall, in lieu of peaches, I think it would still be lovely (maybe add cinnamon?). Also, possibly cook longer for the crust to get "crisp"-ier. Still quite nummy.
September is not a whacktardedly crazy month! A few things here and there (including a Passion Party for moonrock!), but not much else. THANK GODDESS, because October is looking to be rather schizophrenic, and I need to dust off my Ashley Clone and send her out to do all those little things.
Oh yes, and I might "surprise" my parents with a glimpse of the West Seattle Naked Bike Ride on Sunday (if I'm not in class when it happens). Hurr, hurr. So evil, I am.
Today’s To-Do List:
Work (pshaw!)
Call Abbey Party and Alexander Party Rentals - again, since they haven’t returned previous calls. :\
Start packing up packing materials (that makes no sense to anyone but me, I think)
I'm forgetting something here...?