Monday, December 03, 2007

Finally: House Makeover, Part 1.

I was at the wonderful wedding of my WONDERFUL friend Anna just a few weeks ago, and the number one comment I heard after loud squealing, and I say nothing against squealing here as I do it myself, was, "I love your blog!"

I had to blink a few times, every time. You love my blog? Are you sure? Are you sure it's MY blog you're reading and profess to love? Because NO ONE EVER COMMENTS AND I DON'T THINK ANYONE ACTUALLY READS IT.

HOWEVER. That bitterness aside, the lovely and hysterical Amy stuck to her story that not only did she read it, but she wanted to see more house pictures. And Anna herself had mentioned a similar wish, many months ago. And I thought, who am I to deny them?

I live in a gorgeous, 1940's style apartment with moldings, door panels, zero plugs, and plaster walls, which makes it impossible to hang anything with screws or tape--the walls either crumble or repel the sticky--but that's okay, because it would be hard to mess up the apartment's natural beauty.

Right?

Unless you're, I don't know, a huge slob in the first place.

A crime against all that is classic and beautiful in this world.

A close-up on the awfulness. This is how to NOT bring out the natural beauty of door panels. This was a doomed project involving corkboard. If anyone ever tells you that working with cork is easier or cheaper than just buying a premade chalkboard, hit them and run away.

The awfulness from a different angle.

Close-up of how to NOT use a coat rack appropriately.

Let's move on to the bedroom, shall we?

Is this a bedroom of a teenaged boy?



This mess of a nightstand guaranteed to not promote slumber.

CLOSET of a teenaged boy.

More closet. I swear I have cute clothes. But you wouldn't know it, would you?

In despair, I had lunch.

And then I hung curtains.

And more curtains.

I thought about hanging them over the actual windows, of which I have two in my room, but I wanted to break out of the ordinary, and although this usually works out badly for me--see, Door--in this case it makes me so happy, having a curtain for my closet and framing for my bed.



And speaking of that door,

Two-thirds done. The top two panels are covered by contact paper, much easier to work with than cork, and bought from this contact paper company. I have the black-and-white check in my kitchen.

Done!

Sadly, the contact paper didn't come wide enough for one door panel, so I was cutting and aligning the diamond pattern for some time, which apparently paid off. Those who thought I would never have the patience for such a job, you are not alone.

As you may have realized, there are no living room "after" pictures--still working on it! I want to get my christmas decorations up. What do other people's houses look like? Tell, tell!

10 comments:

kt said...

tag, you're it. read my blog to find out what. :)

alex said...

A friend of mine says my house looks like the one that the Easter Bunny comes out of in the mall. The Rabbit House

Anonymous said...

Comment. CommentComment.



You know, the soccer ball in the last picture may lend itself to the "closet of a teenaged boy" theory, but actually, it's the closet of a DISTINGUISHED (not old) German Shephard.

Aarwenn just told me today that she will be having a professional (a.k.a., friend) house designer assister her with the daunting living room task. T-town, good luck; you'll need it!

Celia said...

Hey, I've seen that room before! Well, not that exact one, but one like it. :)

I love the curtains!

Amy B said...

haha it looks quite different when it's clean! thanks for posting the pictures! i LOVE before and afters!

Amy B said...

oh, i have pictures of my place, too!

my apartment on flickr

Anonymous said...

You've cheated and been to my house. But maybe I'll post a picture of our place with the Christmas tree and other decorations in place. Maybe.

T-town Girl said...

I am aware of just how much luck I will need. I did, after all, live with Aarween for a year and if there is one thing I am good at, it is getting Christmas decorations up!

Aarwenn said...

Hi everyone, wow, apparently begging for comments really works! Also my own mother sent me an email to say that the apartment normally looks better than even the after pictures. I am not so sure. Regardless, more pictures coming after T-town works her magic. Two years ago she forced me to come to her house and drink buttered rum, which did much to jump-start my happy feelings of Christmas. Hopefully this year will be much the same.

Shananigans said...

Oooh, tres chic. Nice work.