maps in the home

so this link has some cool pics of maps used as decoration.  of these photos, i like the ones below.

as a floor!

wallpaper!

paris!

on a dresser!

in multiple frames!

more paris!!

and then, to show my love for maps, here is an AWESOME map that i have in my house.

to do in my apartment: redo the stairs

i would LOVE to buy my place.  i didn't think i would ever say that, but i have a lot of ideas for what i could do with it.  i could really turn it in to an airbnb and make a lot more money if i could add a second bathroom.  and one of my ideas is to turn the spiral staircase shown here

into a thin staircase with one change in direction.  i think i would have the opening change, instead of stepping on to the staircase on the right hand side at the top, i'd move it to the lefthand side then have it go down against the brick wall and turn once and go in to the dining room.  anyway, thats an idea and then i saw this change in staircases (from a ladder, though, not a spiral staircase) to a totally functional staircase and it makes me want to do that!  check out these before and after pics from here.

next apartment: a loft

i've been showing you some things around my apartment and what i would like to do with this place.  my lease is through august 2016, so i'm not going anywhere anytime soon.  and even then, i'm not sure i'd leave.  i love this apartment and the location.  but, i'm always on the lookout for cool places to live and i've found some really cool lofts from here.

i love how bright and open the photo above is.  is that a wood stove on the left?  i love it.  and a ladder to get to books on the top??  love.  the next one is cool - i'm always drawn to stairs and bookshelves.

and i think the next one is really the most my style, at least from a decor standpoint.

gallery wall: to do

one of the things i want to do in my apartment is make a gallery wall: a wall with lots of pictures of different styles, frames, shapes, etc.  i have the perfect place for it: my entryway.  here is the entryway as of march 2015.

as you can see, the only things on the wall are at the end of the hall, as seen here:

i want to COVER the walls with photos and art.

i have found some examples of gallery walls that i quite like.  check out these photos from here.

i actually like how the one above is kind of hap-hazard and unexpected.  the one below, i like because it covers the whole wall.

and this one looks haphazard, but i think its actually quite organized.  i love it.

this one is really cool because it goes over two walls - so creative!

i really want to do this with this area in my apartment.

you can't really tell, but there is a big curved wall to the left of the couch.  i want to cover it with something and then have it feed through to above the couch.

what do you think of gallery walls?

vines, vines, and more vines!

in addition to art, decoration, and other artistic things i like, i want to use this space as an area to write about my apartment.  i have a lot of goals for things i would like to do and things i have done, to date.

i moved (back) to this apartment in january 2015 and LOVE it.  i was really hesitating moving, but i am so. glad. i did.  lots of room, and i feel like my decor really shines in this space and you really get a sense for my personality.  more on all that later.

to begin, i wanted to write about the vines that are on my back wall - outside vines, of course.  when i moved in, the vines looked a bit like this.

just over the guest bedroom.  the two windows to the right of the vines are my bedroom windows.  no vines.

here is a closeup.

and then, by july, here is what the vines looked like.

can you believe the difference?? i didn't even realize that i didn't really have vines over my bedroom window until i was looking at my airbnb photos.  so i hired a guy to come and take all the vines down. and this is what it looks like now.

when the gardener was taking the vines down, i was in my room watching tv and it became so bright so quickly, i felt like i needed sunglasses.  i was SHOCKED at how much the vines covered up the sun.

anyway, so there is the first post on my apartment.

travel tuesday on THIS blog!

so how nice would this entrance to your home be?

oh waaaaiiiitttt... that's not a HOME entrance, thats an effing PLANE entrance.  whaaattt???  this is a new custom built 747 that i read about here.  i will post some other nice pics for you here.  i don't love the color scheme, but i think thats maybe a fancy color palette?

and here is a video showing how everything goes together.  check it out to see the bathroom.  this place is nicer than my apartment.



ok, people, where are we going???

window benches - wow. what a creative title!

my mom sent me a cool closet bench and bookshelf.  i can't find the picture right now, but it was a closet that they put shelves in on all three sides, took the door off, and then put a comfy overstuffed bench so you could sit IN the closet and read.  how fun does that sound?  she knew i would like it because she knows i like things like this: window benches.

from here.

when i was little, i tried to convince my parents to add on to our house (as if money grew on trees!) and give me a bay window in my bedroom (the smaller room, not the one facing the street at 1210).  i never got it (understandable! doesn't really add a ton of resale value! - ha!), but i still love looking at things like this.  love the colors in this next one.

good use of space for a random walk-up space.

do you have a window bench?

yellow or purple kitchen??

in my last apartment, i had a yellow kitchen.  it was kitschy and i LOVED it.  i accented it with purple pieces.  and it was HARD to find purple kitchenware.  i found a few bowls and some plastic utensils, but not a ton.  eventually, after living there over a year, i FINALY found purple kitchen towels and oven mitts.  i found them in a grocery store in DC.  my former roommate ruined my kitchen mitts, so i called him and asked him to get them for me.  he did!

so you can imagine how excited i was when i saw this post about purple kitchens.

i've posted a few pictures of the ones i like here.  this one is super cute and subtle.

this is a different type of purple, and not on the counters but on the walls and backsplash.  nice.

and saving the best for last:

how AMAZING is this??

PINK.  ORANGE.  AND PUPLE!!

i love it.  its my favorite.  so cool.

movin' on up!

i can't count how many times i have praised stairs here (actually, i probably could, but am not going to).  i love them.  LOVE them.  just love how they look and function - so cool.

earlier today, my sister-in-law sent a listing for her mother's childhood home which is on sale in north dakota (link here, if you're interested).  and this house has. amazing. stairs.

how nice are they?  such a lavish and beautiful entrance.  love it.

ironically, apartment therapy posted today about STAIRS.  funny!  small world.  and they explain what is needed to pass code for most stairs. so interesting.  here is a cool staircase that i liked from today's article (found here).

books make you look smarter

i don't listen to the radio much, but i've started to a bit in the mornings before going to work and recently there was a question of the day that i found chuckleable. it was something like "70% of people have this to make them look smarter." many people guessed glasses or pocket protector or things like that. the answer was books. its true that i used to give books to my brothers so that they would look well-read (even if it was just a jason bourne story). not sure they fully appreciated it, but i DID.  :)

in honor of books and reading and being smart, here are some cool libraries in people's homes that are enviable.

more where those came from here.

also, figured i would show you my small little collection. this is me at my desk with my books on one side and dvds/cds on the other - those make you look smaht, right??

next steps... job-wise

so i am in a bit of a transition lately... new home, new job (soon!), new health adventures, etc. just lots going on!  one of the things i've been thinking about career-wise, is how can i be more creative? AND... MAYBE... how can i work from home??  i'd love to be able to make a living doing crafts or blogging or something like that, but i just can't envision it just yet... maybe we'll get there.  we'll see.  in the meantime, these craft rooms are EN-VI-ABLE. even if you aren't in to crafts, don't they just seem cool??

from here. below are my favorites.

i LOVE the bright, colorful, disorganized organization of amy sedaris' craft room.

if i can't have a full room to myself, i do enjoy this hidden organized closet.

if i COULD have my own ROOM, i would love this version.  this might be the best.

but then again, i do love me some paper and this room is quite nice.

what do you think? want to pay me to blog??