How We Made Our New Apartment a Home

Earlier this year, Erik and I made the big move to a new apartment. When I say big move, I mean really big...a whole two blocks away from our old place. Our old apartment had lots of charm- old wood floors, glass knobs, tiny hexagon tile in the bathroom, to name a few things. It was a typical pre-war apartment building. It was cute, full of character, and the perfect first place for us in the city. Eventually, though, the issues that come with living in an older building (like a leaking ceiling/roof, for one) outweighed the charm.

If you know me well, you know that I love old things. I LOVE vintage clothing (check back soon to see what I found to wear to Erik's work Christmas party this year!!!), old furniture, dishes, buildings...anything that has a story and a past. Even the house I grew up in is closing in on 150 years old.  Needless to say, moving from a place that had such history to a place that was still being updated the day we moved in was a little out of character for me. We decided that we loved our neighborhood too much to leave so we took the tiny leap and moved a couple blocks down, into a newly renovated apartment.

It was a fresh start...and a very blank slate.

Choosing the color palette was more difficult than I thought it would be. Since the first time I laid eyes on the red and blue flamestitch (bottom right), I loved it. I was so certain that it would be the perfect inspiration for our new living room. While I dug through my 'collection' of fabrics searching for reds and blues, another palette started to surface. It was softer, lighter, more subtle, more Northwest...what was happening to me?! I love bright colors...I AM bright colors! Why was I being pulled to this neutral palette? I knew Erik would love it...especially because we had pillows with fuchsia, orange, and even flowers in our last place. I couldn't decide so I took the issue to the people who I knew would not hold back their opinions...my facebook friends!

 Right or Left?!?! There was no clear winner! I had to make a decision and just for kicks I chose.....

The Neutrals!!

And here is the before...the blank, bland, cream, living room. AND our new, comfortable, gray Kravet sofa!

We organized the books (a perfect backdrop for any space!)...

Found THE PERFECT coffee table on etsy (click here to see this guy's shop...amazing) and paired it with a simple chevron throw rug.

I slaved away on my little sewing machine...not really...but it took a few week nights and a Saturday afternoon to finish up the pillows. Here are three of my favorites...

And a couple close ups...

One of my favorite movies and a gift from my Papa Garrett...my Casablanca poster is finally on display after so many years.

And after a few months, a little shopping, collecting, sewing, and picture hanging...here is our lovely living room, the space where we hang out, read, eat, and live.

I've learned something very important through this move and this 'make-over' of our living room. No matter where we live, whether its an old house full of stories, an apartment with lots of history, a simple, clean, renovated place or somewhere in between...it's what WE bring to the space that makes it a home (but a few new throw pillows won't hurt).

New bedding is a girl's best friend...

Over the past three and a half years, the bedroom became a catch all for bills, magazines, laundry...and fabric (my fault!). It wasn't as relaxing as it should have been and it definitely wasn't aesthetically pleasing. Our duvet cover was too neutral, our decorative pillows were from my college days, and our sheets had been through too many tumbles in the extra hot dryers in the basement of our apartment building. A little organizing and rearranging would help but fresh new bedding and throw pillows would make all the difference.

I had a stock pile of my favorite fabrics but no jumping off point...I didn't have that statement piece I needed to build the bed around. That is, until Christmas morning when I opened a present from Erik. He bought me a vintage pillow cover with two embroidered love birds. The inspiration piece I needed!

I started throwing fabrics around and a slate blue and tomato red color scheme fell into place. The fabrics were a mix of soft, cut velvet floral patterns with edgy, flame stitch and geometric patterns. It was masculine and feminine...the perfect balance for a young married couple!

As luck would have it, this makeover just happened to be at the same time many stores have their January bedding and bath sales. I spent last Sunday afternoon searching through online deals and finally found a duvet cover, matching shams, and fun sheets. I was super excited but a little worried that the color wouldn't be right. For someone obsessed with fabric and color, ordering the bedding online without touching it and seeing the color in person was a little scary for me. Thankfully, the bedding arrived and it looked great with the fabric I selected from my stash!

The next step was sewing up a few simple pillow covers. Each have an envelope closure in a coordinating fabric. Check out the four pillows, front and back, below:

And after a very productive Sunday.....the finished product! Sweet dreams!

Our bed skirt just happened to work with everything. The printed fabric hanging on the wall is a piece I made in college.