Call me the Queen of Suburbia.

The exodus from Apartamento to the Suburban Castle (our new humble abode) went smashingly well. We have some amazing friends in our lives for helping us on one of the hottest days of the year so far. There were some hiccups, but I was Zen like all day. I know, shocking, right?

Two weeks in and we are getting the hang of the space. I'm still wrapping my head around the amount of storage space we now have. There are about 5 boxes in the living room that still need unpacked, so bare with me, but we have gone from this:


To this:


Another angle:


The tree tapestry seen in the last photo is the coat closet; this place is full of craptastic old closet doors, which now live in the garage. We also took off the ones in the master bedroom and the girls' room. Here is a peek at their room (as of Sunday):

I sort of want to hang a curtain of some sort on their closet...but I'm not sure? There is a lot of storage/toys going on in there, so I feel like it would be nice to close the curtain at bedtime. I have a cute black and white floral cloth shower curtain I'm not using right now, so I might pick up another tension rod and try it? Not sure at this point about that. Also, I am secretly ecstatic that I got to hang up the teen magazine posters in an orderly fashion; you should have seen them at the apartamento. It was chaos.

from the door:

I plan on getting two more sets of curtains to frame out the pink sheers, something purple I do believe. I think it will cozy it up a bit. We also want to get some of those over sized letters for the girls' to decorate and hang over their beds. I saw some cardboard ones at Hobby Lobby a while back, which I think is perfect, because if it does fall off the wall, it won't hurt them.

I have these on order from Amazon, for a project for the bedroom (more to come later). IKEA will also be getting a good chunk of my monies soon.

Since I love a good list, here is a run down of everything we still need to do/get:

Living Room
Curtains (IKEA sheers, for starters)
DVD Storage (Lerberg from IKEA x3 or 4)
Closet doors off; tree tapestry turns into curtain w/tension rod and clips
Switch out ginormous ceiling fan? Perhaps!

Kitchen
Island (buy or re-purpose something else)
Chalkboard Wall
Girls' Art Gallery-need to ID drawings for this and get sizes for frames (IKEA)

Laundry/Utility Room
Steel Shelving to create pantry storage
Hang curtain to hide furnace/Hot Water Heater (IKEA again)
Organizing bins for cabinets over washer/dryer

Hall
Hang Framed photos (size each with paper ads, hang papers on wall in pattern, nail through and hang up pictures)

Bathrooms
Get 1 small and 1 large rug for main bath, brown
existing large green one goes in half bath
Something for walls-one picture has been printed, just need a frame and I'm thinking of shopping what we already have for the half bath.

Girls' room
Hang up collage wall near Kiddo's bed
Organize toy bins/put in closet/take off closet doors to maximize floorspace
Curtains (still need purples, IKEA?)
Big Letters for over their beds
Spice racks as front facing bookshelves from, you guessed it, IKEA
DIY Canopies (maybe)

Master
Long and low dresser 6-8 drawers, I want to find old one and re-paint and get new hardware for
Bedskirt/new bedding
DIY project with Wallflowers-ordered
Prints off Etsy (frames IKEA, do you see a pattern here?)
Different curtains-eventually

I have yet to unpack my books and get the Expedit 100% organized, so that is on the agenda for tonight.

I love how this place is evolving and I can't wait to see what it will become by the end of the Summer. The husband and I keep saying this place makes us feel like grown ups; I feel like it is exactly where we need to be right now. We have the opportunity to acquire all the crap we need for a house, without having to worry about the upkeep on things. I think by the time our lease is up (in two years) we might actually be able to look into buying. Or not, but that is okay too.

The other day my sister says, "what's with all the talk of "projects"? When did you become so crafty?" I've been reading on the interwebs about all this stuff basically since I got married in 2009, now I have a blank slate to execute on, and I'm so excited. And you know what? I just can't hide it.

New Normal.

I squint through the darkness in order to see what the time is, and once again I've awoken just shy of a half hour until I need to get up. As I stumble still half asleep to the bathroom (since that's why I'm awake too early once again) the thought of a morning workout crosses my mind but quickly decide "not today" and head back to bed for another 20 or so minutes of sleep. One snooze button hit later, I'm in the shower and he's up and moving.

"I'm going to go start the cars" he says. I smile. "Okie" I reply.

We have been doing the morning dance around each other in our small apartamento for a month now. For the first time ever we have to be at work at the same time every day. I sort of love starting my day with him.

Aside from realizing we need at least a bath and a half in our (hopefully in the not-so-distant) future home, it has been strangely nice. It is easier to get out of the warm bed knowing your personal heater has to get up as well. And knowing your car won't be warm and/or not covered in snow when you go to depart. That is worth sharing the bathroom for.

His job is going well. He likes it, and it is a lot of take home work sometimes, but eventually he won't be the new guy and won't have to prep so much for the computer programs he is teaching the next day (because he will have already taught them). He is finally doing something he actually enjoys, for the first time in over five years. That makes me so happy for him. Add in the fact of room for advancement and profit sharing and I think my husband might have a career on his hands.

The 4 months he was unemployed I was constantly waiting for something epic and bad to happen, that we wouldn't be able to afford to fix. It never happened and here we are on the other side of things, wiser and happier than I could have imagined. I've been saying the lay off was a blessing in disguise; things really do happen for a reason.

So even when I'm dark and twisty, things aren't that bad, and I feel like they can only get better from here on out.

But wait, what happened to the angsty crap from last time? I would attribute that to really bad PMS....plus I'm working out again, and I've said it before, its my own natural anti-depressant. It's a wonder what sweating it out can do for your mood. If only I could stick with it forever and I would be rainbows and smiles permanently...ehhh I don't know about that...

Inner Conflict.

I finally did it. I reorganized our bills/mail/nonsense "landing strip" area last night. It was not as fun as I thought it would be, nor does it look as awesome as I imagined. Either way, it is much more streamlined and tidy, which I hope will help quell my inner demons since its the first place I see when I get home and the last place I see before leaving. (I remembered to take before and after pictures for once, but haven't gotten them on a computer yet....maybe tomorrow?)

For some reason, I just can't let clutter be. I have a theory on this: when my brain is a cluttered mess, I can't stand my physical surroundings to be the same.

I got up off the couch to go to bed at 10 last night. I actually got into bed at 10:25, after I cleaned up the kitchen, fed the cat, picked out what I'm wearing right now, brushed my teeth and huffed and puffed about how messy the bedroom has become. It's a reoccurring trend. Our clothes storage consists of one four drawer dresser and a normal size closet with an extremely warped single pole (which causes everything to slide towards the middle) and piles of insanity underneath. I think I might have to visit IKEA soon and buy this guy:



I think it would be as step in the right direction.

In other news, there is a house in the town where Kiddo lives (right around the block from her house, to be exact) that keeps dropping in price. It's a fixer, but it has its high points: two car garage, big deck and yard, 1.5 bathrooms and decent sized rooms so we are considering it. I think it has potential (unless there is something crazy bad wrong with the foundation, roof and/or any mention of the word "mold" and its a no go) Although neither of us is ecstatic to move to this town we decided it won't be forever. Plus it is so close to Kiddo and 30 minutes closer to Little One. We are going to get pre-approved through our Credit Union and then call the Realtor for a possible showing Sunday.

Possible future casa de Melberry?

Stay tuned for more on this...among other things.

Home.

The apartment we currently call home is approximately 1200 Sq. ft. of living space consisting of two bedrooms, one bath with an open floor plan living/kitchen/dining area. Until last week, it was thought of by me as a temporary space we are on the verge of outgrowing. Due to various reasons, including fiscal and personal, we are not ready to buy a house so I'm on a mission to transform the home of all our crap into a home that is truly ours. My husband and I decided we don't like moving much, so until we can buy a house, we are staying put. Might as well get comfy, right?

Now, if you know me, you know I am slightly handicapped in the arena of designing anything. Clothes, home decor, arts and crafts, etc...but I am trying to make a true effort to change this. But I need help. That's where the interweb comes in. It is chock-full 'o goodies.

Most of the inspiration to begin this transformation of our rental into our home comes from reading about a friend's own decorating adventures over at Turn Right at Lake Michigan. While they are renovating their first home (something I don't even want to think about undertaking...they have bigger balls than I) there are many interior design topics that come up, and that's what I'm going for. If home ren-o is your thang or if you just like witty banter, check it out (yes, I just said thang, it wasn't a typo).

Apartment Therapy has proven to be an amazing source for inspiration so far as well. Here's a snapshot of what I likey from them.

For the bedroom:

I have a weak spot for trees/nature worked into design and I love the wall mounted dressing area for its space saving abilities.

For the living room:





I find myself loving clusters of things hung on walls. It reminds me of collages I used to make as a kid and since we have high ceilings in the living room, why not? I also am digging the t.v. stands that double as shelving/storage. And I will have a sectional couch like the one above even if we have to eat ramen noodles all summer long. It would be perfect for our living room, and since the couch seen here is awful, our first large purchase will be a sectional:

Kiddo doesn't judge us for our post-fire donated couch and although its functional and pretty comfortable, its very ugly. (ps-she read that chapter book in two sittings! She's a genius I swear and please ignore my hubby's scruffy do...he even admitted yesterday he's overdue for a cut)

For Ms. Kitty:
Even though I don't know where we would fit this, I thought it was so smart...it's an IKEA hack, consisting of a $60 cabinet and a $13 kitty door.

Again, all these (and more!) can be found at the amazing Apartment Therapy.

I am going to try to use updating this blog as motivation to keep re-working our space at home. I will admit I forgot to take before pictures when re-organizing the space right inside what we use as the main entrance, but here is the after, with a fabulous shoe rack I got on clearance at Target for $6.50: (I apologize for the crappy blackberry photo as well)

The wall crap needs a do over as well, but for now at least my shoes aren't the focal point of the space. Maybe by next time I'll have the table removed from what is now a reading nook near the deck doors to nowhere (that's a whole other post) and I'll share that space, or just some pictures of the apartment the weekend we moved in...since not much has changed since then...but that is about to...well, change.

Til next time.

I have too much time on my hands.

Today at work I have:
-found every house in town in (what I think is) our price range for buying and made a tidy list including address, price and number of bedrooms/bathrooms.
-found (the more realistic option) a spacious 2 bedroom apartment closer to downtown for not much more than we are paying now. I'm going to call the guy tonight for serious, and ask him one determining question: does it have a bathtub?
-found two realistic locations for our wedding. No, we still aren't officially engaged, but we might as well be. I felt weird researching things at first, since there is no ring on my finger, but it is only a matter of time (and money) until it is and I don't want to spend ions of time planning, so I might as well know what I want early.
-updated my offbeat bride tribe profile.
-checked MySpace a zillion times.
-visited Facebook a few times as well.
- I have NOT however, done much significant work. Not that I am complaining...I'm just worried one of these days they are going to bust me doing very little and realize they are paying all this money for me to organize my life on their time.

Oh well. I'm thinking over time, things may get busier, but who knows.