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?