My Home Journal

[Ishtara]

OK, I am making a promise to myself that I will use my apartment to its full potential. I am committing to making my home as nice, healthy and inspiring as possible, within a realistic budget and time frame of course.

I generally get a lot more done when I put my thoughts and projects in writing, so I will use this thread to jot down my To-Do lists and other musings on how to improve my home.

My apartment has a lot of great qualities. The floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room let in lots of light, the hardwood floors are very nice and the layout works extremely well for me. It is also a very quiet corner unit on the third and last floor of the building.

Last year I refurnished the living room and it is now my favourite room. I love reading a good book on my daybed with my cat by my side, writing letters at my desk and meditating in front of my Chinese altar table.

There are, however, other rooms that do not work that well for me, either because they have been neglected, or do not have enough character, or are problem areas all together.

So here is a first list of what I need to improve or change:
- do something with my balcony. Right now it is completely neglected and just never used, which is a shame. I am far from being a good gardener, but there must be ways to decorate a balcony and make it welcoming without necessarily growing hundreds of plants
- redecorate the kitchen, which presently looks bland and cluttered. I need to create a better filing system elsewhere so paper stops piling up on the kitchen counter
- write up a list of house chores and stick to it, dammit! :lol:
- reorganise my closets. I went through my clothes and sent an email to some friends today to let them know that they are welcome to whatever they would like to take. The items that do not find takers that way will be put on consignment or donated.
Now I need to go through my bathroom cabinets and my craft closet to get rid of as many items as possible.

Whew. That's all for today. Please feel free to comment or make recommendations if you want, I would welcome suggestions for the balcony in particular.
Oh, and I also hope that you will hold me accountable and :fpoke: me if I procrastinate and do not update this thread with my progress :D

[Ishtara]

Yay! It's taking shape!

Three friends are coming to my place on Sunday to see the clothes and bath products I am giving away.

I am so looking forward to reclaiming my closet space! :smile:

[Philosophia]

Ooh..this sounds good.

[Ishtara]

Oh yes, tidy closets and less clutter are good things in my book! Besides, I am sure that we will have tonnes of fun in the process (my friends are anything but dull!). We are going to bake or make desserts and have tea, so we are really turning this into an occasion :)

Last night I started cleaning my oven. It is going to be quite the project as it has not been done in, ahem, a little while but at least now the door and the bottom compartment are clean.
Baby steps, baby steps... ;)

[MammaStar]

it's all about the baby steps. I'm looking to you for a mentor, because shortly I'll have a new place to live and will probably be undertaking a few of the same tasks you are.

[Ishtara]

Excellent! We will go through this together then :)
It is always good to have a buddy system for these kinds of things. Nothing like a bit of (gentle) peer pressure to get home chores done! :lol:

The clothes swap just ended and it was a great success!

We were four girls roughly the same age and size, which ensured that there would be takers for our stuff. Keeping it a small group helped, since we only had one mirror and also used lots of space to spread out our clothes in the living room.

More than half of my items found new homes, a few more were added to the pile that my friend was going to donate to a charity and I got one skirt, two blouses and a cute black purse in the bargain. I also got rid of an embarrassing number of bath products and essential oils vials.

It was definitely a success and we had a fun afternoon! We all enjoy cooking and baking so we had some wonderful pastries and snacks with our tea. I may have to skip dinner.

As I was admiring the newfound space in my closets, I decided to go one step further and I completely reorganised my bathroom cabinets based on how frequently I use the items in them. There is no doubt about it, tidy does definitely look better than cluttered!
Right now I am going through a pile of magazines that have been sitting on my bedside table for way too long.

My cat has cautiously retreated to her perch on top if the fridge. She always seems a bit leery of my organising endeavours; maybe she fears I am going to file her away or something :lol:

[MammaStar]

I went through my bookshelf the other day. I know have a long list of books to sell and/or donate. :)

[Ishtara]

I left all the books and magazines I wanted to get rid of in my building's foyer and they were gone in a few hours. It was interesting to see that even the books in French were taken quickly, I wonder who the other French speaker(s) are :)

One small improvement this week: I found a pretty tan-and-turquoise magazine holder that I put on that cursed kitchen counter where all the paper clutter always lands. The holder takes up very little room and now my counter is much tidier.

[Ishtara]

I went through my living room bookcase and got rid of a lot more stuff.
Funny how I can "feel" it in the room, even though my bookcase has doors and I cannot see that clutter is gone. The whole space just seems to breathe better :)

This is very encouraging. Tonight or tomorrow I will tackle my craft closet and then on Thursday I will go through my hall closet. I would like to be done with the "declutter and throw away" phase before I leave town on Friday for a long weekend in New York.

When I come back, it will be time to start thinking about better using each room's potential and all that fun stuff :)

[Hærfest Leah]

I think this is a great idea. Yep you can feel it because you know in your mind that it's there not becasue you can see it. Enjoy your weekend!

[Ishtara]

Thank you seapearls :)

OK, so I gave each room a bit of thought and here are the things I would like to do in the near future:

- entrance: this space is too small to be called a foyer. Basically it is just a transition space between all the other rooms. What I dislike about it is that once you are past the front door, the eye is immediately lead into my bedroom or the living room. Not much of a transition, huh?
The entrance has very little wall space, which makes it difficult to hang art anywhere.
The solution I found to create a focal point there is to invest in an eye-catching chair in an interesting colour. I am thinking of getting a "Little Tulip" chair by the Dutch brand Artifort, in a nice teal or turquoise wool fabric. It is small and will not get in the way, but it has enough personality for the eye to pause on it before moving on to the other rooms. Plus the name appeals to my one sixteenth Dutch blood :hehehehe:

- living room and kitchen: there is no artwork in the kitchen and a bare wall in the living room. I just saw some fantastic small canvasses tonight at an opening... I think I know how my recent raise will be spent :lol:

- bedroom: all of a sudden, I am craving colour. More specifically, I am craving emerald green and tangerine. Don't ask me, the great orange-hater, how I came to like tangerine but the fact is, I cannot get enough of it. A trip to Little India and the saree fabric shops is in order!

- balcony: I have to come to terms with the fact that I am a terrible gardener. No, I mean it. Last summer, I... I killed an ivy _inabox_
So the solution I am thinking of is a Zen-inspired mini garden. Sand, rocks, an interesting sculpture, a couple of lanterns and I am in business, without having to water, trim, pinch, shape, feed or mulch anything. Sounds like my kind of garden! :lol:

[maudlin]

- balcony: I have to come to terms with the fact that I am a terrible gardener. No, I mean it. Last summer, I... I killed an ivy _inabox_
So the solution I am thinking of is a Zen-inspired mini garden. Sand, rocks, an interesting sculpture, a couple of lanterns and I am in business, without having to water, trim, pinch, shape, feed or mulch anything. Sounds like my kind of garden! :lol:

a zen-mini garden sounds like a wonderful idea. i too am an ivy killer, so plants would not be a good idea for me on the balcony. we have a balcony that rarely ever gets used, and i want to do something with it.
your thread is awesome for apartment ideas.