Our apartment needs creative therapy!

As I'm exploring self improvement through creative therapy, I stopped and took a look around my apartment and realized that our apartment needs a little therapy, too.  We've been living here for two years and haven't done much to fix our digs up.  We hadn't intended to stay very long but not it seems like we'll be here for a little while longer so why not fix her up a bit to help pass the time and make it a more pleasant place to live.  Ms. Jess over at Fig and Plum recently told me about Apartment Therapy's group cure.  I, too, am wating for my Apartement Therapy book to arrive so I can start the eight step home cure.  I'm often lacking in ideas about arranging the apartment as you can see from the rough floor plan I just drew up.  We lack floor space.  Drawing straight lines are not my forté, y'all.  There will be a version 2 very soon.

Click here for better viewing size.
Click photo for some explanation of the lay out.

Our apartment is strangely laid out.  It's long. Very long.  In all, it's 59 meter squared or 635 square feet.  But our hallway is 13 meters squared long (139 square feet).  The hallway runs the length of the apartment and it's technically the biggest space in our apartement. .  So, I guess I should start out with the things I like about our apartment.  It's quiet. There's a lot of light and the ceilings are very high. In our previous apartment I could almost touch the ceiling jumping, we felt very closed in.  The list of things that I don't like is much longer, so I'll just give you the short version:

- No bathtub
- No heater in the hallway. Hallway = Siberia most of the year.
- The bathroom and our bedroom are on opposite ends of the apartment.
- No closet space. (!)

The last one really threw me when we moved in.  I figured we'd be alright and get a few armories and I'd just get over the lack of closet space.  It's painful to get an armories when you have such little floor space, so we've contented ourselves to sharing one armorie which just doesn't work for two clothes horses like us!  You'll see in the guest room/office that J has a clothes rack with just his suits and dress shirts.  The guest room can be easily called our office, dressing room, vanity and Leo's bedroom and someday when we have our first child this will be their room too.

So, there you have it... this is chez nous. We're going to try to give our little apartment some love therapy so that we can all get along. First on my list, paint a wall in the living room green. Here's a color I'm thinking about...

and

Here's a shot of our livingroom today...

Comments

[reese]

as you say... you are renting so why do much work to the apartment? i feel the same way about mine, but we have done some updates like installing an automatic digital thermostat, put in new locks, and generally fix some broken things. the landlord reimburses us for those fixes though.

i might have an idea or two for a living room layout, but would need an actual photo or something of it.

[anne]

I wish I had a creative bone in my body. And another one for home improvement...! Good luck on the home make-over, I look forward to seeing the progress.

[Dagny]

I usually do not do too much if I am renting. However, I did paint the bedroom in my current apartment -- partially because I was bored and partially because I figured that I may be in the apartment for some time. Housing prices are so outrageous here.

[jess/ ncn]

i think you already know this, but i really liked your place! esp the kitchen...
aaaaand, you have SO much more closet space than me, you lucky duck!
buuuut, i think therapy is always in order. i like the green paint color a LOT!

[cyn]

oooh! both our kitchen and master bath will be in shades of green! the kitchen much lighter hue than the bathroom. i decided to try to go a little "bolder" in there. =D before, everything was just white in our home, basically. tho the bathrooms have blue from previous owners.

[Jennifer]

Have you thought of putting a mezzanine in your room and make the space under it a 'dressing'?

I agree that sprucing up an apartment is good for the soul (even if you are renting) because it's a place where you should feel good. Really good. It should be a place that you feel you can put down your keys and relax. The cost of paint is peanuts compared to that.

Personally, if there is a lot of clutter and stands of stuff laying around because I don't know where to put it, it drives me insane. Maybe you are the same?

Apartment therapy requires a visit to Ikea. Lot's of good ideas there even if you don't plan on buying anything.

[Aimee]

We are talking about putting a mezzanine in our bedroom but the hubby is worried about getting up in the morning and being bothered, meaning HE doesn't want to be bothered! But we'd probably have to build the mezzanine ourselves as well because we have an odd sized mattress of 160x190, and not sure that mezzanines are made that big?

We have a trip planned to Ikea next week. :)

[Serena]

I know what you mean! I get part of the way through jazzing up my space and then just give up. Part of my problem is that I start to feel guilty for putting so much resources into a space that I'm rarely in. Maybe it just means I need to stay home more ; )

[stinkerbell]

I am thinking about joining in too. But I have to get the book first :)

[Fanny (Paris, France)]

Alors juste un conseil : faites attention avec ce vert particulier, selon l'orientation lumineuse du mur que vous voulez peindre...trop peu éclairé, il pourrait paraître assez triste..(mais ce n'est qu'un point de vue hein :-)!)