Dirt Chic

Today's Garage Saled Item: Mod TV Trays

If they hadn't been $1 apiece, no way.  Though they are epically cool.  But I only had $2. :)

 

A Ridiculous Tour of My Closet Furniture.

I feel so lowbrow, in how I FAIL to harness the power of my iPhone.  

Whatever.

I'll get better, I promise.  (I'm still getting a tripod.)

Anywho.  I was going to take a bunch of pictures of my "closet" furniture but thought, what the hey, I'll take a video.

 

My closet room/bedroom/dressing area/BOUDOIR is the most ghetto room in my apartment.  It's a really good example of how I've failed to marry form (beauty) and function.  I'm working on it.  Right now, function is more important - I need to get to all of my clothes.  I need to be able to see them.  And I need my furniture to NOT MAKE THEM SMELL.  (I even put carnation soap in the drawers... but no....)  

It's not like it's a public room, anyway.  So it can be as ghetto as I want.  Until I stop wanting to be ghetto. ;)

TTI: Authorial Intention

I found IT.

I bought it.

I had a time bringing it home.  I will be bruised and battered tomorrow morning.  Right now, I'm high as a kite with joy at having a vintage mod RECLINER.

Now, may it inspire me in infinite ways... or at least make me comfy enough to find inspiration elsewhere....

Cabinetry Fail?

I noted last evening that I've got my record player and records propped up on a chair - in front of a record cabinet.  Der.

Well, the cabinet is an excellent bookcase.  I'm not going to upset the status quo and actually revert the cabinet back to its original use.

Good grief, there's a lot of pink in here.  Yessss!  (Praise IKEA; thrift stores; spray paint)

TTI: Bookcase

Yes.  There is always room for another bookcase.

In this case (ha ha), I wanted something to make my dining room (which houses the bulk of my books) look more homey.  So I found this case for $5 at the SalArmy.  It could stand to be painted, but actually looks fine without it.  It is some solid wood.

I put all my fiction and creative-non-fiction in it that would fit.  I also color-organized it - a new favorite tactic, when referencing books by subject is not a concern.

Expanding My Wardrobe With a Wardrobe

I'm very, very grateful to have a spacious 3-bedroom apartment in a well-kept brownstone.  I'm even thankful that it's kind of minimal in terms of storage space, because it challenges me to use what I have in the best possible manner.  It also challenges me to get rid of stuff.

However, I am an UNAPOLOGETIC CLOTHESHORSE (but, frugally so), and since we moved here in August I have had my clothes in two different rooms, because not everything fit in one closet.  This is a pretty standard problem of mine, because I have quite a few vintage winter coats, and they take up a lot of space.

It was nice to have this closet last year.  But whatever.  I don't have it anymore.

(This picture even kind of makes me crabby, because it looks so cluttered, even when, in fact, it wasn't.) 

I digress.  So anyway, around the time we got everything settled in here, I thought that maybe a wardrobe would be a good idea.  I told my mom to be on the lookout for one, and I puttered around on craigslist, and kept an eye open at thrift stores.  No luck.  No luck at all.  They had 'em on craigslist in Chicago, but they were expensive.  I would see pseudo-wardrobes at antique malls, but they would be the kind where one side was drawers, and one side a little cabinet.  No can do with that.

So I was at the 11th street SalArmy last week (my favorite, forever), in the book/furniture room, and look what I stumbled upon.

 

Not in the best shape, but certainly not in the worst shape.  And on wheels! The best part, though, was that it was only $50. I walked away from it (but only because I didn't want to deal with it right that second (and was kind of distracted and annoyed by seeing two beautiful vintage blue n' wood chairs that match my apartment but I don't need). I finally asked my hubby to buy it and somehow transport it.  He did, rather seamlessly.

  

I moved it in the bedroom, where I keep all my clothes.  (I was dumb and used my almond oil stick in two places on the front, and now the whole thing needs to be rubbed down with oil.)  I don't think this will be its permanent place, but I'm not dealing with room rearrangement right now.

 

It matches my vanity quite nicely.  It would also match the dresser if it wasn't painted.  I will probably paint it (the dresser) when it gets nicer out - not brown, but something that matches the room.  Perhaps green.  Or blue.  Or something.

The nice thing about the wardrobe being $50 and in so-so shape, is that it can now function in whatever room we want it to - I don't really have to worry about painting it (though I probably never will).  

I think I'm done with buying furniture, for awhile. :)

--Arwen

Apartment Before & After: Bedroom

The bedroom, in this apartment, is not very decorated.  But, it's better than this:

 

As well as this hideous mess that was the room in-progress:

Now:

 

 

Due to the small closets, my clothes are in 2 different rooms.  Ah well.  Maybe I will find a solution for it later.  It's only annoying when I have to put stuff away.

Apartment Before & After: My Office

AKA Writing Room. :)

Finally, I get to put up my pink curtains.  And I didn't have to go very far to find "tie-backs":

I couldn't get that many Before pics of this room, either:

But that's ok.  I don't even think the previous tenant used this room.  I do.

 

It's less messy than it looks, believe it or not:

And also FINALLY get to put things up on the wall instead of prop them:

 

More or less like I've had it at my last few places. :)

Up Next: Bedroom.

Apartment Before & After: Dining Room

Ew:

 

Rad:

Clutter:

Woodworking majesty:

Lame lamp:

Peter, Paul & Mary:

Side view:

Next: My Office.

Apartment Before & After: Hubby's Office

I have no picture of how it looked when all our crap was strewn everywhere.  This is a pic when I first saw the apartment and signed the lease (as are all the Before pics, from here on out):

Hubby does a good job decorating. :)

 

I don't have better shots, as it is a smallish space.  Next: Dining Room.