The Housekeeping, Decorating, and Furnishing Thread • Page 22

When we went to the garden place, we showed them pictures of our house. Really, we're just replacing bushes with bushes and trees with trees. The bushes we currently have in front of my house are prickly, not good with kids around so we got a different type. Our trees in front of our garage are kind of dying, so we picked out new ones. We asked for low maintenance and items that will last a long time.

The landscaper suggested planting a bunch of flowers and stuff, but I don't want anything that I'm going to have to replace quite often (or ever) or anything else that will require a lot of maintenance.

 

Do you have any hostas? Not sure how they hold up in your area, but I'm in Maryland and they are always huge and beautiful year after year. We have so many because they do so well and are extremely low maintenance.

 

We didn't get any of those. We're gonna go back tonight or tomorrow night and pick out a few more things.

 

All about Hostas. Frances Williams to be exact. Apparently they thrive in urban areas depsite polluted air.

 

I have a new couch and idk what color pillows I want for it. It's blue like my old couch but not the same shade so idk if I like how my old pillows look on it and I might use them on my other couch. It's a pale blue where my instinct is to have gold or mustard colored pillows but I already have a lot of gold and mustard accents in my apt and idk if that's overkill. Maybe a rose gold? I rly like jewel tones but idk. My other pillows are jewel tones but I'm just not feeling those particular shades on this couch. In the store for staging they had emerald green pillows which I thought looked nice so I might go with that idk idk. Being an adult has so many twists and turns!!

 

Planning on getting a table and bookshelf this weekend. The difficult part about trying to “furnish” the apt is that it’s super small (the bf things is decent size). There isn’t a “hall closet” to put linens and the bedroom closet is super small. Can’t even fit a tv stand in the so called living area. Only fits a couch and small coffee table and that’s it

 

U might have already, but pinterest has cute small apt ideas! Mine doesn't sound quite so small but it's still v small and I rly need to get into some space saving ideas myself. I rly want one of those loft beds so I can put my vanity below it

 

Haven’t even thought about Pinterest, but I may have to check it out.

 

Aldi had a headboard on sale for $20 so I got that last night and my room already looks better. Kinda weird though, it's just 8 square panels attached to the wall with velcro strips

I need to get rid of a lot of old stuff and I think i'm gonna ask for a dresser and nightstand for christmas because I've had mine since middle school and they're in a bad state

 

I think I've had the same dresser my entire life. I keep mine tucked away in a walk-in closet so no one can really see it. I barely even use it, now that I think about it.

 

In my opinion the best way to declutter in small spaces is to try to decorate as vertically as possible. It’s more helpful and also leads the eye upwards to give an illusion of more space. Also def Pinterest is super helpful on ways to organize and store things in small spaces. As someone who has way too many clothes I’ve done all sorts of different tricks I’ve found on Pinterest and most of the stuff are just thing so you can pick up from the dollar store.

 

It’s really hard to decorate when you have almost no space to even try to decorate. I haven’t found any ideas that might work yet

 

I have limited wall space because I have a small apt and exposed brick and I'm not messing with that lol, so it can be tough. I have things hanging from the ceiling and above door frames. I have a few framed things on the wall above my couch but lots of things are near the ceiling or on v high shelves. I also try to find personality in the (limited cause of space lol) furniture or decor I choose. Like instead of plants and pictures I try to pick out bed comforters or shower curtains or towels or dishes or throw pillows etc that can express personality and interest without rly taking space. I also have fairy lights hanging around in a few places because they don't take up space.

 

Finally got my stuff somewhat sorted after moving.

 

That looks great!

I really want my apartment to look more homey but I also hate having a lot of clutter and things. I know people don't like coming over sometimes cause my apt is small and also not cozy. I think part of that is the food sitch. I live alone so I don't have lots of food cause it goes bad if I buy too much. And most of the things I buy are perishible. I don't rly buy like chips or crackers or anything to serve guests or be a good hostess. People don't come over often enough for me to buy all this stuff, but when they do I'm like nooo worst hostess ever!!

Gonna keep browsing Pinterest for small apt ideas tho

 

I’m not a fan of clutter either. It looks nice, I’m not knocking it, but for me if I had stuff out it would bug me and I’d ask myself why it’s there and what it’s doing. Everyone says my apartment looks like a hotel room no one has stepped foot in or a photo set because it’s always clean and there’s no real signs of life.

 

I own so much shit it should be a sin. I work for an antique auction house so first off, stuff is kinda like my job and because I know a lot about goods it’s hard for me to pass things up especially unique things. I can’t even tell you how much shit I own cause I’m like omg this is a mid century vase and the thrift is selling it for $2?! I have to get it. It’s a curse.

 

I think I could buy more stuff if this was my permanent place. But I know I don't want to live here forever and the thought of having to move or get rid of a ton of junk is super daunting and overwhelming. Especially because I have googled and there are no moving services out here because I would totally spare the expense to hire movers but of course that's not a thing here heavy sigh

 

Today I reminded myself of how futile the chore of raking leaves truly is. Oy.

I also set up some new plants in the house. Spray painting terra cotta pots is a great way to spend an unseasonably warm Sunday afternoon.

 

Put an offer on a house over the weekend, apparently sellers are reviewing today. Super anxious, going to be a very long day.

 

Good luck!

April will mark 5 years for us at our home. We're thinking about moving in the next year or two. Our homes are selling at really good values right now and we've totally out grown our house (moved in with no kids, now have two).

I'm actually about to purchase flooring today to re-do our kitchen, living room and front hallway because our kids have completely ruined the floors we have now and there's no way we'd be able to sell it with literal pieces of flooring missing.

 

Thanks man, it's quite bittersweet. I spent the last five years in our home with my STBXW, three with our kid, it hurts having to leave all that behind. But on the plus side, I can move on from a toxic relationship, start new, build new memories with my kid and go from there. I've been looking at house for some time now, and I just had a real good feeling about it, so I really hope it works out. This is just the kitchen and basement.

 

A finished basement is a MUST. We just finished ours last year and I'm reluctant to move on from it because it's become my favorite spot in the house. Beer fridge, record player, big screen, etc.

 

Haha, yup. We spent a good chunk of money finishing ours as well, it's so much nicer.

In the pic I posted above, the previous owner has a record player and TONS of records on that shelf on the right. Also, a projector mounted in the ceiling. So yeah, this basement is great!

 

Just bought $1,600 worth of flooring...still need to pay for installation. Ugh.

The flooring was originally $2.75 but it's listed on sale for $1.57 during a holiday sale and I talked them down to $1.47 per Sq. Ft

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