Re-arranged Living

I posted a sneak peek at the "big changes" we were doing in our apartment a week or two ago. We moved furniture all over the place, deep cleaned, de-cluttered, and made a lot of purchases. It's been a little crazy, but exciting.

The living room is finished enough to take a ton of pictures and show it off! I just put artwork back on the walls last night, which means it's done. And not moving for a while. After living with the new layout for a few weeks, I'm in love. Let me show you.

Spring Cleaning/Chaos

Things have been a little chaotic over here lately. We've been dreaming of a new TV for years, and finally decided to take the plunge.

That sparked a whirlwind of change. Jeff actually came up with the majority of the decor ideas. Crazy, right? Even crazier -- he encouraged me to buy organizational things! I don't know what's gotten into him, but I love it!

By the time we're done, our office and living room will look completely different. Our living room is 90% done, and it already does. And I'm finding all sorts of new reasons not to leave the couch...

The big re-arrange sparked some major cleaning too. We've got a gi-normous pile of clothes waiting for thrift store donation. We took piles and piles of things down to the trash. Bulk garbage like our old computers, unnecessary CRAP like old papers and magazines. I also went through our storage cage and trashed a lot of things we didn't need to make room for the new TV's box, and some things that didn't really need to be in our apartment but we wanted to keep. I'm tired just thinking about all we've done since we decided impulsively to start this process.

I'm waiting to share until it's all done, which could take a few weeks since we ordered some things online and have to wait for them to make the trip across the ocean.

But I was too excited about the whole change not to share a sneak preview.

New TV, new surround sound, new woven baskets. Drastically altered entertainment center. And a really close crop because there's so much new going on to the left and to the right.

And that's it! No more until it's finished. We're down to the simpler tasks, like running clothes to the thrift store and a TV to its donation spot. Once our packages arrive, we've got some organizing to finish in the office and one more big purchase to buy and assemble.

We're having people over for St. Patrick's day, so I'm hoping we can have mostly everything done by then. In the meantime, I promised some of Jeff's co-workers some cookies and I've got some black bananas just asking to become bread. I think a baking session is the perfect way to spend this Sunday afternoon.

Continuing My Cleaning Spree

Mondays are generally my cleaning days. We relax on the weekends, so dishes and laundry often pile up. I vacuum and dust about once a week, so since I'm picking things up and putting them away, I just do everything at once. Since I cooked like crazy yesterday (we have mashed potatoes for about 10 sitting in the fridge!), I had a whole counter full of dishes to get through, yuck.

I should have moved to the office once I finished all my regular cleaning to finish that room, but instead, I decided to do random deep cleaning things I don't normally do. Like scrubbing the sinks, shower, and tub with Comet.

Then I borrowed an idea from a friend and decided to clean the couch.



I bought our couch 2 years ago, and it's held up really well. But since I'm a total klutz, I often drop things, spill things, etc. And my husband does occasionally too. While we're quick to clean up things like spilled soda and bright red spaghetti sauce, the couch still had a sprinkling of spots and it bothered me.



So I followed my friend's advice and dug out the laundry detergent!



I diluted some water with some laundry detergent, then used a washcloth to scrub and soak the couch until all those stubborn stains disappeared. It took a little time because I basically scrubbed every inch of the couch, but it was so easy.



The couch is still drying in this picture, but it's clean! The washcloth I used to scrub the stains also picked up a disgusting amount of dirt. Gross, but it's good to know that's gone! The couch also smells pretty good now too ;)



Woo hoo, stains gone! I wonder if my husband will even notice when he gets home from work (I think if anything he'll notice the smell first). But, I'm happy with it and am planning on continuing to wash the couch every few months or so. Mainly to keep the dirt at bay and make it smell all fresh and clean again.



It's not the most astounding change ever, but it does make a difference!

Since we just moved in a few months ago, the rest of the place doesn't really need a deep clean. So that might be the end of my deep clean spree, but it feels good to have a sparkling bathroom and clean couch. At least until the next time I drop something on the couch. Which will probably be tonight since I just cleaned and that's how my klutziness works.

Decorating the New Place: Afghan & Wall Collage

This post is going to be stuffed with pictures, fair warning ;)


When we moved in, we unpacked as quickly as possible. But I took my time with decorating. I shoved every picture frame, nick knack, and candle into a closet and left it there for a while. Now, things are finally starting to come out of the closet. It took a little bit for this apartment to start to feel like home, and now I'm finally feeling the desire to make it look like home too. Which means color and decorations and way too many candles.

So here's my start:



Color on the walls and the furniture! It wasn't necessarily on purpose that I picked brown furniture. I originally wanted a chocolate brown couch that was out of stock, and the light brown was a similar model on clearance. The chocolate brown bean bag chair was a nice way to get the brown I wanted to begin with. But it made our living room kind of blah, especially with brown carpets and cream walls. I was tempted to paint, but paint's expensive in Japan and I honestly didn't want to move all the furniture around again.

So.

First, I finally finished my crocheted afghan a few weeks ago. It was a granny square pattern I repeated over and over and over again in different colors, envisioning a colorful and cozy blanket. I actually finished it a few days before the earthquake, so it kept us warm when we didn't have power!



It's a thick and heavy blanket. It also has the blues and greens I love and wanted in the living room. I had the hardest time picking a granny square I liked that didn't seem too "granny". This fits pretty well for me though.



The blanket's also huge. Here it is on our queen bed while the comforter's in the dryer. I prefer cuddling with a big blanket that can go from my chin to over my feet, so I knew I wanted to make plenty of squares. While it took forever and I was sick of the colors by the time I sewed the last piece, I love it now.





And now onto the more recent project I've been toying with for a few weeks.



I collected all the pieces I wanted to hang, and knew I wanted to cover a big chunk of wall. One night, I mapped out an approximate area for the pictures to hang.



Then I copied the same measurements onto the floor and fiddled with the arrangement for a good couple of days. (This was a good time waster during the quake's power outage!) Jeff got a little annoyed with walking over frames, but it helped.



I took a bunch of pictures to remember the arrangement, then started hanging the pieces on the wall. It turned into a little bit of a mess, because I bought the wrong Command strips. So I had to use nails, but it was going to be a lot of nails! There were also cement beams (I have no idea what they were, but this is what our sponsor told us was back there, so I'm going with it) in portions of the wall, so I couldn't nail in certain heights. I finally gave up with just a few pieces hung and ordered the correct strips off Amazon. Then left the wall as is for over a week, which drove me insane.



It was during that week, though, that I decided I didn't want glass in all the picture frames. They always had a glare. Always. Either the bright sunlight or the lights, this wall somehow always gets light. So I could hardly see what was behind the glass (at the moment, old pictures that were in the frames before).



I could never decide what pictures I wanted, so I ordered some scrapbook paper and burlap. I was going to use both as accents to the pictures, but decided to just fill in each frame. Well, I really liked the way that turned out. I'm not sure if I'll ever fill in with pictures or not, because I like the color and pattern. The sunlight washed a lot of that out in these pictures, but they're pretty blues, browns, and greens with pattern and texture. And our wood plaques and decor are mixed in. Some kind of eclectic movie themed, Irish and pirate vignette?? I don't know, but it's all stuff we like.



This one is one of my favorites. I've had it for years and it was one of the first things I hung in our first place :) I also think it fits really, really well in this household!



I think the wall collage fits pretty well too! It fills up the wall without feeling too crowded (although if you ask my husband he'll disagree. He said he thinks all collages look cluttered, and I happily disregarded his statement and starting hanging things...) And since it has some color to it, I don't mind the white walls as much. It also has some wiggle room on each side to add more in the future, but don't tell Jeff that ;)



I'm really happy with the start of my decorating! It makes me smile and that's really all Jeff cares about. Although I used all the Command strips I ordered and was telling him I need to order them in bulk so I always have some on hand and he just rolled his eyes and tried to change the subject. (These are the Command strips I wanted, and I used them for everything but the heavy wood plaques.) It's not my fault the BX here doesn't carry the exact version I want!



If you're curious, this is the scrapbook paper I ordered. It was kind of expensive for just paper, but my options are limited here. It turned out to be nice, heavy cardstock with texture and beautiful colors, so I don't think the price is all that unreasonable for the quality. I'm trying to think of other things I can use the sheets for, since I still have a ton left.



The picture makes it look pink, but there were a lot of pretty red pages I wished I could use somewhere. I don't have red in the house though. Maybe the office needs some red???



Here's the texture I was talking about. This is heavy cardstock, so I'm sure you could use it for tons of different projects.



I also have 2 yards of burlap, minus the couple inches I cut for frames. I want to do something with it, just not sure yet. I was thinking about making a little burlap covered box to hold all my laptop cords and drives in the living room... or something else? Not too sure, but I've got a lot to work with!

So there you have it, a much more finished and colorful living room. Some of the other walls still need some attention, and the couch is calling for new throw pillows, but this satisfies my need to decorate for the time being.

Now I'm off to go stock up on Command strips so I can continue to hang things around the house and annoy my husband with my "cluttered" style. He really doesn't care what's on the walls, I promise ;)

Unpacked and In Need of Organizing...

Our apartment is finally starting to look like our home again. Almost every box is unpacked, and even better, everything fits! We lost lots of storage space when we moved from a townhome to an apartment. Luckily, we got rid of some bulky items, like the lawnmower, before we left CA. And some things, like our cats' stuff and extra chairs, fit into a small storage cage we get that's around the corner on our floor. We have just enough space on the balcony for our grill and table, but they're in pieces until the snow disappears for good. We still need to do some work to organize and make the most of what storage space we do have, but for now things are in a semblance of order and it's enough.

The living room is by far the most finished, since it's where we spend most of our time. The movies were the first things put away and organized. My dear husband has his priorities after all.



After we piled all the boxes then lugged them all down to the garbage area, we had a little nook of space in the dining area. I stuck a spare folding table there and it's turned into our little laptop charging station. I usually move my laptop to the kitchen table so I'm not facing a wall, and Jeff usually grabs his and takes it to the couch, but it's a handy space to stash them.



The setup of this room was actually pretty easy since there was only one way to situate our couch and entertainment center. That big empty wall will soon have some type of collage on it. I'm still working on what I want to put in all the black frames I have... I don't want it to be picture overload. I'm in no rush, although the bare walls are pretty boring.


The bathroom is done, because it's a bathroom and doesn't take much. We hung a curtain, some towels, and stocked up on toilet paper and were good to go. I have some artwork for in here, but it's actually the exact same shower curtain cut up into frames, so I don't think I want the same pattern all over the place. That's a little overkill.




The bedroom is pretty plain right now. We don't have much furniture for this room because all our clothes fit in the closet in CA, and they do here too. (Although just barely, and only when all the uniforms are in the spare bedroom's closet.) It was another easy room, since the bed could really only be put one way.



I'd love to get a nice big dresser to match our nightstands and make the room feel fuller, but without an overflowing closet, there's really no need. We have some plastic storage units and put our folded clothes in those, and hang the rest. It works out well that both of us prefer simple clothes, and don't buy many of them. Easier to move with!



This is another room where I have things in mind for the walls, but I'm not sure how I want to put things up yet.


The office is the only disorganized room left. It's the least used room right now. When we were in CA, I spent hours in the office working on papers and exams for my degree. We had a desk and bookshelf and all the little office supplies I wanted to have on hand to over-organize things. Now, I don't really need any of that. We set up the desk with Jeff's desktop, but he usually uses his laptop now that we bought new laptops for both of us recently. We bought another bookshelf before we moved, so we set those up and filled them immediately with all our books. I alphabetized and plopped them on the shelves, but they're not "pretty". Jeff and I also disputed over how to organize the books, so we intend to split the collection into "his" and "hers" so we can each organize how we prefer. The boxes are full of the office supplies and misc. items that we don't really need at the moment, so we haven't worried about.



Since Jeff intends to start taking some college courses soon, I suppose I should start organizing all those pencils, pens, calculators, and papers that are stacked in boxes. Not to mention, our book collection is almost as impressive as our movie collection (they're both forever growing, check back in a few years and we should be buried in our collections), so I want it to look as neat and impressive as our movies do. Our movies need work too, since they're overflowing from their bookshelves, but we can't agree on a solution and that's not the point right now...






So that's the house as is more recently. It's organized enough to feel like home again, but too plain for my liking. All these empty walls! Oh well, I'm sure things will change soon.

Not much else going on around here. It snowed pretty heavily the past few days, so we're staying close to base this weekend. The Japanese roads are treacherous in the snow, since they rarely plow and don't salt. At least on base the plows are running as soon as the snow hits! I've got plans to explore some more on base, and then we're meeting with some people from work to check out the "Misawa Idol". I've never been a fan of Idol, but I figure it'll be a few laughs and some good company.

In The Works - Wall Collage?

Since we moved in and unpacked, all my wall decorations, picture frames, candles, and misc. decorating items have been shoved into a closet and ignored. First I had to get everything unpacked and all the empty boxes outta here!

We have a lot less wall space here than in our last place, and I don't want to throw things up randomly then change my mind a week later. I've been trying to figure out how I want to decorate our living/dining/kitchen area (I guess that's called a great room?). In our old place, it was split into almost 3 rooms. Here, it's one big long space and I really only have one wall to work with. Above the entertainment center is maybe 3 or 4ft. of empty space. Not a lot of wiggle room, especially when things are so packed underneath with movies and entertainment goodies.



To the left of all the furniture is one big wall of windows.



And behind me, in the kitchen, there's tile as far as the eye can see.



So I'm left with one big long wall. We have a lot of small pieces -- picture frames, wood plaques, etc. As a matter of luck, most of them are black. So I've decided to do one huge wall collage. Lots of different shapes and sizes grouped together to encompass a huge chunk of that empty wall.

Like this:





(I believe I found both of these pictures at Pottery Barn's website)

Nothing too symmetrical or perfect, but nothing too chaotic.

I've pulled together pieces from all over our old house. Here's some of the pieces:





Counting them up, I have about 25 different sized picture frames, wood plaques, tin signs, ledges, and letters (J & T above). It'll be a huge hassle to organize them and hang them, but I think the end product will be interesting and eye-catching. I hope anyways.

What do you think? Will a wall collage fill up the space nicely?





(By the way, those boxes are history! I'm planning to take some newer pictures, I just keep putting it off.)



I got all excited and told my husband all about my plan. He rolled his eyes and told me I should finish one project before I jump into another one.

Oh yeah... I've been working on this crocheted afghan for a few months now and have yet to finish it. I'm almost done with the squares, maybe 5-10 more. Then I have to arrange them and crochet them into one big comfy blanket. He tells me I should probably finish it before all the snow melts.



So I should get off to my yarn. But after that, it's on to picking out pictures and planning out the collage for our great room!