The one thing I miss about being in school is having Christmas Break, and any other break for that matter. Andrew and I have been in a flurry of Christmas present making. Ever since my nieces and nephews were born, my family had all agreed that no one could afford to buy presents for every single person. The little ones, our little sister and our parents are the only people we are required to buy for. Even though this is fine with everyone, I still feel compelled to give something to everyone. This year, Andrew and I made (almost) all our presents! I've been documenting them so that after they have been given out I can post pictures here.In the meantime until I can post about the Christmas presents, I will continue with our Apartment Evolution. If the move wasn't official before, it is now. Last night we decided on our last day here and reserved our moving van to seal the deal. Before our apartment is dismantled, here are some detail photos from the main room (see post below):
The first photo is the corner of our main room. The prints on the wall are cards that I bought at Etui online that Andrew and I framed. The flowered curtain Andrew bought for me from a thrift store when he was living in Chicago. When I was growing up, our elderly neighbor and his wife were ceramicists and they had a studio in their basement. Every Saturday, my sister and I would go to their house for ceramic lessons. It was so much fun and I'm so glad I had the experience. When they moved away, they left us a bunch of fired, unpainted ceramics and that's where the roosters and owls on the windowsill came from. I love the fact that they are still all white. The last photo is of our craft area and you can see the branch that we hung on the ceiling. We both love the outdoors and we thought it would be nice to bring some outdoors indoors. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!Fondly,Crystal
Our apartment consists mainly of 3 rooms. It's a railroad style, where all the rooms are connected by doorways, minus the doors. The kitchen isn't really a room, more of an… offshoot of the main room when you first walk in. The bathroom is really really small and also off of the main room. There is a small office with a closet off of the bedroom (which I really love). All in all, it's a great apartment. Especially if you don't have too much stuff. It was great when I first moved in and was living alone, though I had no furniture and it was still fine when Andrew first moved in. But in the past year, we've really started to outgrow the place.
The main room usually has the most stuff going on mainly because it's the first room you walk into, the kitchen is off of it, as well as the bathroom. It also is our Workspace which really takes up most of the room. When I first moved in it looked like this:
As you can see, the whole apartment is a bit askew. It's much like being in a fun house at times with the sloping floors and acute or obtuse angles. One of the first things I did when I moved in was set up my work area. This area has had three different configurations starting with this.
This was my temporary set-up until I could get a REAL table (instead of plywood on stools.) Until Andrew moved in, it was a little difficult to buy furniture because
1.) I didn't have the muscle power to carry furniture up my stairs
2.) things are a lot easier to transport home when you have a car and
3.) I spent all my money on rent!
I had lots of ideas and little resources. However, after Andrew moved in the work area got a lot better. Here are different variations on how things were set-up.
The first table we got (with the green edges) was from a friend who wanted to get rid of it. The table we use now (the long one) Andrew and I made it out of an old door and some piping. It's a million times better, but we still need more space. The table was as big as we could make it for our space.
This is the most recent picture of it, in the middle of a messy work frenzy!
and a view from the living room, the same angle as the shot from when i first moved in shown above.
I'll post more details of the room soon!
Fondly,
Crystal
So, we've got a big announcement! We're moving back to Ohio. It's official! We decided a couple months back, but I just put in my notice at work on Monday so now it's really happening. I plan on finishing this next issue of the magazine which closes in the middle of January. After that, we're out of here. I'll miss NYC dearly. I've been here since graduating high school and it's the only place I've ever lived on my own, the only home i've had in my adult life. We plan on visiting often and I honestly believe that once you've got NYC in your system it's practically impossible to get it out. Which is not a bad thing. With all that said, we are still very excited to be moving back. It's our home state and we're moving back to our hometown which I know the thought of that makes many people cringe. But unlike many people, Andrew and I both have a fondness for where we grew up.
I figured this would be a good introduction to the Evolution of Our Apartment. Since we're moving out, I thought it would be good to share how it has changed in the two years we've lived there. When I first moved in, like most places, it was a little depressing but with good potential. It was my first time flying solo, so I had high hopes.
I figured I should do it one room at a time, so as not to overwhelm. So I'll start with The Kitchen.
This is what it looked like when I first moved in:
Really small, really inefficient. All the cupboards are really high up and there is no counter space or ANY space really. My first instinct was to move the refrigerator out of the kitchen area because there was sooo little space.
Also, to add some pattern to the room I wallpapered the area behind the sink with vintage wallpaper that I got at a thrift store.
Without the refrigerator and with the wallpaper and a lamp, it's not that bad!
I painted the only existing shelf and added a new one for extra storage. The paint is Benjamin Moore in Baby Fern and the white shelf hardware I got at Lowe's Hardware Store.
With a new curtain (I made from a pillowcase that I found at a thrift store), a new table cart, and new kitchen towels it's almost done.
A couple final touches, artwork by a family friend and some wren bells that Andrew's mom bought for me.
And if you were wondering about the refrigerator, this is where it is now.
Fondly,
Crystal
Time for Christmas Present #3 given to my friends Toby and Ash: Wee's. These guys were made from the Wee pattern from Hillary Lang over at Wee Wonderfuls. They are so simple and easily customizable. Made from thrift fabric with embroidered faces. If you want to check out of her amazing patterns you can go here for the free ones to download, and here for her shop that definitely has some stuff worth checking out.
Fondly,Crystal
