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.

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?

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.

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.

paris hotels - how fun!

paris is basically everywhere (i look) for decor and fun stuff.  its wild.  i'm constantly bumping in to things online about paris.  maybe its a sign i should move there. or maybe its just because i love it so much, it sticks out.  ha. so there is this hotel in paris where you can pay what you want. cool idea. i dont imagine i would ever stay there since i have friends in paris with whom i would stay, BUT its cool to get the word out AND i love the decor.

here is the hotel: Tour d'Auvergne, a three-star hotel in the city's Opera district, which is an amazing location!

and here are some cool rooms:

in my next apartment...

so it appears that i will be moving in 2 months time. i need to commemorate my current apartment, but until then, i am going to begin collecting ideas for decor (which i have been doing all this time, but now i might have room to do things!).

i've been looking at furniture, because i will have to buy quite a bit of furniture for my next place and boy oh boy!  its expensive.  so i would like to get some used pieces to redo or bring to new life.  the only issue is, living in a city, there aren't many random garage sales where i can pick things up for cheap.  der.  and the consignment stores are actually quite expensive.

in any case, i would love to do this on something.  here is the aftermath, what i quite love, and what it was.

maybe some colored books? from here.

many moons ago...

i lived in paris.  sniff.  i lived in an apartment in the 10th arrondisement that, if i remember correctly, was 18m squared. or maybe it was 15.  i can't remember. it was a small studio. i wish i had more pictures of it.

in any case, when i saw this apartment in paris, it reminded me of my place. my bed was lofted and my family (parents and 2 brothers) came to visit and stayed WITH ME in the apartment. it was soooo cramped. think dickens-style poor cramped.  this is a bit more spacious, it seems, but very small and yet ultra cool.

i've love to own a place like this for when i travel there and i could rent it out at other times.

more pics here and here is the floor plan.

i guess thats why they call it a bathroom...

because you can take BATHS. bahahaha.  ok, that wasn't that funny.  but i have to write about these bathrooms.  they are
GOR
JUS

so gorgeous.  find more here.  below are some of my favorites.

the following one makes me feel a bit exposed... what if someone came by??

and this one i like because you could float around... reminds me of the springs in new zealand, rotorura.

stairs! they're everywhere!

last week, i wrote about some funly painted stairs.  funly is a word, right?  ok, it's not.  i'd like it to be.

well, now there are MORE stairs from here.  that just keep getting crazier and crazier.  here are some of my favorites.

this one would be great for rolling suitcases up and down.  (or kids, if you have them)