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.

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.

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??

new beginnings!

in honor of a (partial) furniture delivery to my new place last weekend, i am excited to re-launch the art ramblings! so excited!  i've got lots of fun postings and pictures coming up, so stayed tuned!

in the meantime, history:

left my 900 sq ft, yellow-kitchen apartment on january 15 and moved back to my old apartment. i am the only person living here this time, although, i have a lot of visitors. i'm loving it.  i was really torn on the decision to move or not, but now i am so happy that i have moved. the ONLY thing i don't love is the commute - i'm 15 minutes further away from everything. so thats not ideal.  it actually impacts things more than you may think: i have to leave so much earlier for things like work, MOVIES, just to see friends. AND its not just the 15 minutes that i have to leave earlier - now i am dependent on public transport, so i usually have to leave MUCH more before than i'd like.  for example, i went to see a movie on saturday at 5:30. in my old place, i would have left at 5:15 and walked 10 minutes. now, because i had to rely on the bus, i left at 4:40, just happened to catch the bus immediately, and was at the movie theater at a little after 5. so nearly a half hour early. however, if i hadn't caught that bus, i would've been waiting until the 5:15 bus, which would've gotten me there after the start of the movie. it's not a huge deal, first world problems, i get it, but it's annoying nonetheless to me.

ok, so back to my new old place - eeeee! i'm enjoying decorating. and one of the main things i have left is my living room. i am still waiting for a couch delivery - was supposed to come last weekend, they told me 2 days before my delivery that it was damaged during shipping, and so they are making me a whole new couch. i only partially buy this excuse, but whatever. in any case, i got my entertainment stand and my desk chair. the desk chair is making a HUGE difference. like, massive. i was sitting on an exercise ball and ... not ideal. my feet never stayed in place (i don't wear shoes indoors) so i was constantly leaning against the desk. but now my chair! i LOVE it!

ok, and now... for the piece de resistance. the entertainment stand.  here is a before picture:

yes, that's a 50" tv on a wine fridge. a wine fridge that, no less, has a broken indoor glass. that's a story for another time.

and now...

what do you think? its a REALLY beautiful piece. its hard to be able to tell from far away, but it looks so nice. i'm so pleased.