Category Archives: Home

The Move

So I reserved a U-Haul for Saturday and I guess that means this thing is really happening! This move has been somewhat less traumatic than moves past because I have had the luxury of taking my sweet time. Basically every afternoon when I get off work I just drive home past my old place and pick up a load, drive home, unload, and that’s it. It doesn’t feel exceptionally laborious, and all of a sudden the only things left in my studio are large items of furniture. It’s been sad packing up and leaving my cute-bachelorette space, but I’ll tell you what, I am happy I did all that purging 6 months ago when I moved in!

The more stuff that I move into the Carmichael house the more it starts to feel like my home too and that’s exciting! Not to mention I get to think about things like furniture! and paint! and decorating! all over again. Obviously those fun things will have to wait a little bit because with Maui coming up at the end of May all of our extra cash is being budgeted for that excursion and not so much for new furniture, but even just browsing for design inspiration gets me all giddy! I’ve been cutting things out of magazines and keeping all my ideas in a notebook at home and I can’t wait to start working on it.

Speaking of notebooks, since I’ve been packing things up I have found A LOT of old journals that chronicle my pre-blogging life as well as a number of old photo albums. It’s funny to note that even before I started this blog I obsessively documented the most random aspects of my life. It’s actually been tons of fun to go through and read about exactly what I was feeling even just 4, 5, 6 years ago…because although it seems like practically yesterday, my life has changed SO MUCH! The other night I read my way through my life in Los Angeles, my move up to Sacramento, meeting my new roommates, subsequent moves, my thoughts on my future career, my laundry list of items I was looking for in a partner — just about everything you can imagine. And the best part was that the writing was totally unencumbered. It’s made me feel like I need to get back to a little bit more personal writing, and probably by hand. I’ve gotten so used to the quick blog update, and although that is also good documentation, and a great way to stay connected to my family and friends, sometimes I just need a place to let out some of the other important ideas that I’m stirring around. I’m not saying things are distilled here, but in some ways that have to be because of the broad readership. The idea of jotting down thoughts only for myself feels just perfect right now.

Speaking of old journals and photos, I decided the other night that I’m going to take some of the photos I have lying around and using them in our house. Garrett and I have had a ton of great adventures over the past few years and the other night we spent an hour sitting on the couch reminiscing and looking through old photos and had such a fun walk down memory lane! It made me think that we should have those pictures out and about, because some of the photos really capture fantastic moments. I definitely don’t want our house to turn into tchotchke photo land, but I think we could find more ways to artfully incorporate some of those moments into our decor and I’m looking forward to finding a way to do that. (My only fear is that dealing with things like hanging pictures involves measuring and I HATE measuring…although not more than I HATE crooked picture frames, but I guess that’s not something I need to reconcile right this very minute.)

Doing this move at a slower pace has really made me feel pretty inspired and creative lately. I can’t wait to start working some of those impulses out, not only on paper but on the walls. I love being absolutely submerged in possibility!

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Our House

I would like to be sitting here reporting on life’s latest events as if everything is fine and dandy but for some reason I have been sort of incapable of forming complete sentences lately. I have emails to write, facebook messages to return, a blog that is begging for attention and I have fingers that are suffering from emotional arthritis and if it is more than a ‘status update’, then they just aren’t budging. I wish my life was exotic or exciting right at this moment, but the truth is that I just have ALOT going on and to actually think and reflect and write about all of it is sort of overwhelming, but I’ll settle in for a few minor updates.

So I’m moving again, which is pretty much common knowledge at this point, so I’m sorry if you are thinking “Newsflash, we already knew that. Give me some actual juice.”  As I was looking for a property management and home selling service to get help from, I opted to check out this local company in Virginia and find suitable residential homes for sale or luxury apartments for rent to move in. But I really haven’t expanded on it too much. Garrett and I are moving in together and I am simultaneously ecstatic about it and exhausted by the thought of it all. I’m not sure if I should make 100,000 lists of all the million things that I have to do before April 15th and FREAK the EFF out, or if I should just sit back and enjoy the fact that Garrett and I are in the process of carving out a life together, our life together, the life that we started carving out together years ago and just go with the flow and revel in the fact that these are pretty exciting times. I know far off in the future we will look back at these days with nostalgia. The newness of it all! We’ll probably laugh at the stress it caused. How we freaked out over the possibility of having too many slotted spoons. What to do?!? The Horror! But as you know, I’m not so much of a go-with-the-flow type. And honestly, the whole process just makes me want to lie down and take a nap — but there is NO TIME! There are lists to make! and houses to clean! and things to pack! Chop! Chop! And that is pretty much the pace of my life right now.

…and speaking of packing. I hate it! And I’m totally awful at it. I wish I could enter a contest to be the world’s WORST packer. I throw breakable things in laundry baskets, heirlooms in weekender tote bags, I just HATE it. And no amount of preciousness that an object possesses will make me want to be any more careful in how I wrap the item and place the item. It’s truly a character flaw. However despite my distaste for packing, this weekend Garrett and I packed up my ADORABLE kitchen (RIP. I’ll miss your adorableness) and moved the bulk of my kitchen-y stuff to Garrett’s house, er…I mean, our house. (Note to self: Work on that. It ain’t the Bachelor Pad, no mo’! Holla!) Oh my god, and can I tell you what I discovered? If there is one thing I can promise you right this very minute, it is that when Garrett and I get married we will not register for One. Single. Item. of kitchen paraphernelia because we have already got it covered. So you know, there’s that to look forward to if you’re coming to the wedding. Unless of course you would like to purchase the Martha Stewart Easter Egg Blue Kitchen Aid Mixer that I LUST FOR or something. But we can talk about that at another time. Like when I am actually engaged. You see how I get ahead a bit ahead of myself? See: Character Flaws.

So anyway, when we got home Garrett basically told me to have my way with the kitchen since I am definitely the manager of the inventory and operations in there most of the time, and let me tell you, it was kind of thrilling! Yeah, I’m a dork like that, what? Organizing a kitchen on a Sunday afternoon thrills me, once I got away from the initial WHERE THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO PUT ALL THIS STUFF anxiety. I’m sad to be leaving my adorable and stylin’ acid green kitchen with all of it’s charm and character, but I keep reminding myself that there is a lot to be said for, oh I don’t know, drawer space! and counter space! and cabinets! I already called a contractor that does kitchen remodeling in Fenton. OH MY….even if it does come with a Harvest Gold Range. (And a cherry on top?) Yes, I did say a Harvest Gold Range. (However, in its defense, in the last 13 years that I have lived on my own, Garrett’s Harvest Gold GE Range is the best oven I have ever cooked in, hands down…so I guess aesthetics will have to take a back seat for a bit until we can afford the dream Viking Range.) Anyway, that’s kind of where my head is at lately. Packing up and moving again. I feel like I could have a second career as a gypsy — but I guess I won’t put that on my resume, eh?

In other news, I started working out again and it feels FANTASTIC! If someone could bottle that feeling into like a cute little vitamin water bottle so I could just have a few sips when I was feeling lazy and wanting to skip out on my work out, that would be great. Could one of you get on that? Because I feel so much better when I’m working out (scratch that, after I’m done working out), but honestly the only thing that is keeping me motivated right now is that I signed up for a class that is costing me money and Good God Damn, I’m gonna get my money’s worth. But I’m looking for perhaps, some other motivation…so if you’ve got any, let me know!

Also, speaking of suggestions, if you have any about Maui I am actively planning my May/June vacay, so please chime in. I did the math today and it looks like I am working about 8 days in the month of June with all the rendezvous (how do you make that plural?) that I have planned, so I’m thinking July is gonna be a rude awakening. But hey, at least I will be waking up in a fantastic house that will be all ours!

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The Little Studio: Bathroom + Kitchen Edition

So I realized that I had showed you the before pictures of my new little studio (emphasis on the little), but I hadn’t yet posted any update pictures so I thought I’d show you what I did with the Kitchen Renovating and bathroom remodeling project.

(Bedroom/Office/Closet Pics to Come!)

So here is the Main Area where I spend a good portion of time. It houses the kitchen, the dining area, and off to the right you get a sneak peak of the bathroom.

The thing about a studio is that there is very little space. This challenge has probably been my favorite part of living here because often I have had to really streamline my material things and be creative about storage. Part of my solution has been to repurpose some items like this bar from Pottery Barn:

This actually functions as a home for my favorite cookbooks, but also instead of storing bottles in there it has become something of a dry goods pantry. And because the space is limited, I really have to be organized about the food I keep on hand, which I love. I took some great ideas from this website about what to keep on hand, and it has really made my pantry not only more organized but healthier! When you don’t have much room for storage, I am more likely to store something that will make up part of a delicious, healthy meal rather than some impulse buy snack food purchase.

One of the other storage solutions I have found instrumental in this space is my Ikea Expedit Bookcase. I turned it on its side and, voila! Insta-storage!

With little cabinet space, I had to find a solution to the question of where to put a lot of my cookware. It also made me realize that the things I stored needed to function in multiple different ways. For example, the bottom right corner stores my All Clad Multi-cooker which is a multi-tasking lifesaver, as it only takes up as much room as a stock pot, but it also includes a strainer for cooking pasta and vegetable steamer basket. This guy may seem big, but in the long run saves me SO MUCH SPACE!

In the actual prep area you will see that the space is limited (are we seeing a pattern, yet?), but I actually found some creative solutions, again from Ikea that really helped me fit everything I needed in there without taking up all my counter space.

When you need to know more about the various materials out there, you can turn to a durable materials review to help you understand what the best ones are for your project. If you are doing some remodeling in your home or office, you need to make sure that you are choosing durable materials so that you will not have to replace them for many years. If you want to make sure that you get the best ones possible, you should check out some of the information that is available with this article from SuperDurables. You may be surprised at how helpful these materials can be when you want to make sure that you get the best value for your money.

The first was maximizing my wallspace with the Grundtal line of rails, hooks, and holders. It really allowed me to keep the things I use all the time within arms reach but without having them take up valuable prep space.

Yum…Coffee.

I also used that same line of products on the other kitchen wall to maximize my knife and spice storage.

Since I cook A LOT, I still store some spices on the counter, but this obviously helped keep that to a minimum!

Lastly, in the kitchen, I made sure to keep all my accessories bright and cheerful to reflect the vibe of the house. How great is the acid green and light turquoise paint on the walls? I never would have chosen those colors myself, I’m just not talented like that, but I love, love, love them! It’s helped inspire my choices of colorful cookwear — I mean how could you have a plain white tea kettle with such fabulous paint on the walls?

And even though it can get a little cluttered, I love posting my favorite pictures on the refrigerator. It inspires my photography, and reminds me of how lucky I am to have such great friends and family in my life!

So that’s the kitchen and dining area, onto the Loo!

The bathroom, like everything else, is small, but it’s the perfect size for me and I have found some creative storage solutions to make sure I have all my favorite girly products available. Can’t scrimp on those! The paint is a little more neutral, but the tile in here is the real showstopper! Full of greens, browns, and even some purples, it is definitely a great detail. We also got a bathtub replacement.

I absolute LOVE the pedestal sink! But that also came with it’s own storage challenges. The previous tenant left the plastic drawers to left of the sink, and even though they are not the prettiest, they have been super useful, we’ll have to keep them until we’re able to do a major renovations with the amazing products found at www.granitetransformations.com/. And the apothecary jars on top are from (where else?) Ikea and they allow me to keep my most used items at my fingertips at all times.

And last but not least I thought I’d give you a sneak peak of the Little Shower. Not because it is particularly fabulous or anything, but I thought you might want some photgraphic proof that I do actually use the products I recommend here!

So there you have it! That’s my Little Studio — well the kitchen and bathroom, at least. Next up I will give you a little tour of the other half of the house, so Stay Tuned!

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Home Sweet (NEW!) Home

So I spent this weekend moving all of my stuff into my new place and seriously folks, I am in IN LOVE with it! I am having so much fun decorating it and doing everything just exactly the way I want it. I have never lived alone and it is so liberating! I will post some updated shots of it very soon, but for now I thought I would post a few ‘Before’ pics so you can get an idea of the space.

The Specs:
It is a guest-cottage type studio behind the home of my good friends, so it feels very safe (which I love, living alone and all!) It is a second floor space with entry on the first floor, so there is an entry hall with stairs and then up to one wide open space that has space for kitchen, living area, bedroom, and office. It may seem small, but I have found it the perfect size for little ol’ me so here are just a few sneak peaks:

Entry Hall Stairwell

Dining Area/Bathroom Door

Kitchen

Bathroom

So there’s just a few shots! Can’t wait to show you when it’s all done. There has been lots of IKEA shopping, Target bargaining, and definitely some elbow grease over the last few days. It is really turning into a home!

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