Growing up, I loved playing house with my sisters. At one point we had our little playhouse with its own mini kitchen and living area and I remembered spending so much time there as a kid. I knew I was just playing then, I never really thought about what it would feel in reality, in the future.
Now that Im an actual adult doing adult things, one of the tasks that spark joy in me is decorating my home. I recently moved into my new apartment (again, I know. Hopefully this is the last one in a long time) and I honestly feel like I’m still just playing house at this point, but somehow all my stuff aren’t toys anymore.
I’m discovering so many kinks about my new place that bother me just enough to annoy my landlord about. Some things I can “MacGyver” myself, like raising the curtain and towel rods a few inches higher or adding a bidet. But it is quite a charming place, a little outdated maybe, but doable and definitely lets me live my dreams of being in an episode of Fixer Upper, I told you, adult things.
I am so in love with my living room! I think it is my favorite spot in this new place, but this for sure was not the case in the beginning. My apartment was built in the 60’s so its super old, and possibly haunted. The second part, I’m not too worried about as I am the kind of person who can sleep through anything. For reference, here is what the living room looked like on the listing:
I honestly did like it so much better in person, but there are a couple of things that the old tenants had to leave as they were the landlord’s furniture, mainly: the wooden coffee table and side tables as well as the hideous brown couch.
I had nightmares about this couch WHILE sleeping on this couch. I didn’t get my bed in the first couple of nights so I had to make do. It was supposedly a sleeper couch, but I’m not sure if this came with the apartment in the 60’s that it was too old and broken that I couldn’t even pull out the bed. If it were up to me, I’d throw this ghastly couch out, but it came with the place and as it stands, the little futon I had in my old studio was too small for this new place.
I decided to reupholster the couch and just keep it. I covered it up with a white sofa cover that I bought from Amazon and I made sure to measure everything correctly. It was such a great buy! It made the couch look beautiful, clean and elevated. I also filled it with a bunch of throw pillows and blankets that I bought from Ross and thrift shops around town. My couch that I used to have nightmares about, turned into the very place I spend at least 70% of my time in, in my new home.
I moved the coffee table to the side as I didn’t really like it being in the way. I loved a spacious little area in front of the couch where I put an ottoman that’s movable in case I needed to lay my feet. I also bought a smaller washable rug carpet to kind of use for working out, but it was honeslty mostly for decoration. A tip that I learned when I made this purchase: Buy a rug pad! Especially when you have wood floors, to keep your rug in place and not have them slip out all the time.
The living room fast became my favorite area. I’ve got large windows that let the sunlight in and its nice and cool in the afternoons, which is perfect for naps. I love my little corner window spot where I could comfortably read a book or people watch. My living room is the space in this house where I do a lot of “LIVING” watching tv, reading, working from home, talking to my plants, and receiving guests (maybe add: hosting elaborate parties in the future, haha, kidding! It’s too small for that, but a girl can dream.)
I know I’m not really an apartment-styling-interior-designing kind of blog, but since the Corona virus, I have not even thought about taking a single trip. I’m too scared to be on airplanes or packed public places at the moment so instead of taking trips, we are staying home and trying to find ways to be creative. In this case: decorating. I can’t wait for my friends and family to see my new place in person. You know, when we can all finally travel again.
I promise I’ll show you my balcony in the next one!
xx Gizel
Find Gizel 