Design Manifesto

Now that we’re (probably?) moving I am finally starting to think of what I like in terms of design, and of course, what I don’t like. It feels like with the explosion of Pinterest and Instagram and everything else, it’s easier than ever to snoop on people’s houses. I’m slowly realizing I don’t like what I see recently…

I am a fan of clean lines, simple colors, and good design, much like pretty much everyone else on the internet. But unlike everyone else, I’m also a fan of authenticity. I’m getting really exhausted looking at how everyone’s houses look like Dwell showrooms. I’m tired of hearing the words “curated” and “vignetted.” I’m tired of seeing bookcase WALLPAPER instead of real bookcases, or fake books. I’m tired of seeing the exact same tired style everywhere and everywhere.

Awhile back I got sort of fashion-exhausted. I had tried to wear “fashionable” stuff and it made me feel like either I was dressed as a transvestite or like I was wearing a costume. It took me ages to figure out what sort of style I like, but now that I have, I realize I feel cooler and more confident when I’m dressed like ME than when I’m wearing the latest fashion.

I’m starting to feel this same way about decorating. I HATE some of the latest trends, and trying to push myself to fit in those trends is just making me miserable. My apartment is never going to be  catalogue/magazine worthy. It’ll be me, though, and that’s more important.

So! A quick manifesto for my style to keep in mind when I’m faced with dumb Apartment Therapy pictures:

5. I will never “style” my nightstands. I also will never “style” my bookcases unless I arrange them practically and it happens to look nice too. Nightstands and bookcases for me are for practicality. And speaking of nightstands…

4. I will never trample over Chris’ style. I see tons of  style blogs talking about how they do stuff in spite of their husband/boyfriend’s wishes. “Oh, my dude liked this one better, but I picked this other one because his choice ended up being too blue/too large/too cluttered.” Chris has FANTASTIC design sense – he’s one of those people who is artistic effortlessly, and I trust him a lot when it comes to what looks good. I’m never going to arrange HIS nightstand for him for the sake of photos, just as I won’t arrange mine.

3. My home won’t ever be perfect, and that’s okay. I can’t afford to shop at Design Within Reach. Sometimes I shop at Ikea (okay, I shop at Ikea a LOT). Sometimes I have to find stuff at Goodwill. Sometimes I have to resort to nabbing stuff off the street. I am okay with scratches in wood, small rips in vinyl, and places where the finish rubbed off. Perfection is overrated.

2. What I like and what is “popular” are two completely different things. I HATE globes as decorations. I hate frame clusters. I hate terrariums. I hate leather/fur/animal ANYTHING, real OR fake. I hate shabby chic. I hate Persian/southwestern style rugs/textiles/anything. I hate logs stacked up in fireplaces, poufs, and the way Macs show up in every interior design photo. I love black and white, wood, and clean lines, but I also love video games, Twin Peaks, and skulls. Yes, I will display my Nine Inch Nails poster, and my Team Fortress posters, and yes, you’ll see xbox controllers laying around my room.

1. Home is for living in. This ties back to number five.  I have a ton of hobbies, like painting, video games, drawing, and reading. Chris also has tons of hobbies, like piano, guitar, and servers. We’re going to accumulate STUFF, and that’s okay. Giant rooms empty except for a dining table are luxuries only rich people can have, and my personality MUST and will show though no matter where I live. This is good, and I embrace this.

What do you think of the fact that everyone’s houses look exactly the same? Do you have any design rules?

Living room planning

Moving or not, our living room needs work. We’re using an Ikea Klippan loveseat that I bought in college for $50 from my friend and my then-boyfriend broke five minutes after I handed over the money. WIN. So, the back right leg is broken and collapses constantly, usually when I have guests over, causing the entire sofa to sag into the back wall. Also it’s tiny. And the slipcover constantly slides around. And it’s ugly.

So we need a new couch for sure, and probably some extra seating because I have a crappy piece of crap armchair right now that probably will be trashed if we move.

THE BEANBAG CHAIR. My family has had a beanbag chair since I can remember.  Chris hates them but they are my favorite things in existence. I’m so glad that they make them for adults now in all sorts of colors and materials, and that they even come in materials other than vinyl. I know the rest of the “design” world is embracing the pouf, but those look uncomfortable. Beanbags are for LOUNGING, my friends.

As for sofas, we’re considering a few options, which we’ll purchase with our sizable tax return.

The ubiquitous Ikea Karlstad of course, in sivik dark gray with different legs.

The Avec Sofa from CB2. The tufting! So beautiful, but holy crap expensive.

And then, the most expensive of all:

We’ve wanted the Petrie from Crate & Barrel for about ten billion years, in medium grey. It’s lovely, right? I totally love clean lines with tufting. I know these days it’s all about the thrifted chair/sofa but sometimes the stuff people are designing new is fabulous!

And of course I still have a ton more to think about, especially where we’ll be in a few months! It’s still fun to start dreaming and planning though.

Keeping your place warm in the winter

Okay, so maybe this post is a bit premature, but I still say it’s never to early to start planning! When I woke up this morning it was 40F outside, but it’s supposed to be in the 70s and 80s this weekend so who knows (hello? 80s? Is this really Boston, or did I get sucked into a wormhole and I’m actually back in Texas?)

Despite the heat wave that’s heading for us, I’m determined to save tons of money this year on my heating bill in wintertime. I’ve heard a few people talking about how it’s supposed to be a super cold winter this year, and though I don’t really believe them, I keep having memories of last year, where we had the heat set to 64F in our 500 square foot apartment and STILL were spending almost $200 a month. Not happening this year. Not on my watch!

Here are my ideas:

• Insulate the windows in a few weeks (early November). Last year I waited until February for the dumbest reason. I actually didn’t realize that people insulated their windows unless they lived in, for example, Russia. I won’t really go into why, but it has to do with my memories of growing up in Alaska and Pennsylvania, and the differences between winter in these two places, and … I don’t know. I’m probably just dumb. Anyway, I had just gotten it in my head that it wasn’t something people did unless they were in EXTREME COLD.
• Make some rice bag insulating things. I had read about this before but for some reason figured I didn’t need it because our front door is pretty good. Then I realized that these can work for individual rooms or as bed heaters. Again, I’m not very bright.
• Get a water heater snuggie. The way our house is set up is that our water heater is IN THE BASEMENT. The partly windowless, unheated basement. Everyone else has a little closet on their floor, which houses their water heater. We are unlucky in this respect. Water heater therefore gets its own snuggie.
• Stock up on tea.
• Make a Solar Heater.
• Magnetic vent covers? Need to research this…
• Insulation board? Again, more research.
• Styrofoam outlet insulators?

Braiding a rug

Um, holy crap. Why didn’t any one tell me that it’s possible to MAKE A RUG. I’ve been wanting a circular rug for a really long time but they’re expensive and always beige (seriously, beige. BEIGE. NOBODY wants a rug in that color. And by nobody I mean me.). GAH. Life changing moment here.

The surprise

Say hello to Cleopatra, aka Kiki!

We went to look at kittens at a foster shelter showing (the place has no physical shelter – all their kittens are fostered, which is good because they’re cared for more and are less likely to have diseases) and ended up coming home with one. Kiki is exactly (EXACTLY) like Augustus, with the exception of she’s not nearly as interested in cardboard boxes as he is. They’re both rambunctious lapcats who get the Night Crazies and purr extremely loudly when you pet them. They both love string and laser pointers more than anything, and after just a few days together, they also love each other. Very much.

I’ve never in my entire life seen two cats get along so well in so quick of time. Augustus has never been upset with Kiki, only curious and a bit wary. One of the reasons we got Kiki so soon after Sata’s passing is because we didn’t want Augustus to get used to being an Only Cat, because we figured it would be easier to integrate him with a kitten if he’s still somewhat used to having another cat around. I still miss Sata like crazy, but having Kiki around does feel right. She doesn’t feel at all like a replacement – merely another cat. If I could have anything I wanted, I’d have all three – Augustus, Sata, and Kiki.

Anyway, it’s nice having a kitten around. Keeps us all young! Augustus, despite getting his little stomach bug, has so much energy chasing after her, energy that I haven’t seen him have in months. Both cats are healthy and happy, but Kiki still sleeps in her own room with the door shut at night and when Chris and I are at work. I definitely feel like Kiki is the perfect addition to our little family, and she’s so happy with us too.

Trash cans

So anyway, back to trash cans. Right now, we actually don’t have a trash can at all. I “accidentally” forgot the trash can at the house in Austin. Accidentally. Of course. So now I’m in the market for a new trash can. My requirements:

1. Skinny, not round. Our place already has zero space as it is.
2. One of those steppy ones. The kind that you have to lift is just gross and food gets on the lid no matter what (gross). My parents have one of those motion sensor ones and they are SCARY. Trust me.

Also, do you guys keep your trash can under the sink? For some reason, that really bothers me, but I can’t put my finger on why. Yes, the trash can is out of the way, but … I dunno. Something mysterious and sinister about it.

Isn’t this a weird thing to post about? It’s amazing how when you move, all you can think about is trash cans and bathmats. So odd.

Chair!

They thought I couldn’t do it.

A few weeks ago, Chris and I were riding our bikes to work as usual, and we came across a chair that had been left out in the rain. It was a really sad state – the cushion was moldy, the frame was all rusted and the paint was peeling. But it had such a great frame that I knew I had to have it. We went back, got the car, and took it home to be renovated.

And there it sat for a few weeks. I pulled off the seat and scraped the crumbling cushion off. It was nasty, let me tell you. Life got really busy after that, and I didn’t have time for it. Just a bit ago, I remembered the chair and sanded a bit, then took a picture.

As you can see, it was covered in rust. And trust me, it looked WAY worse than that before I pulled all the rotting cushion pieces off. Here’s a closeup:

Click to see it bigger, seriously. You can see all the rust and the spots where the paint had peeled off. Underneath, there were patches of gray and yellow. Seriously, pictures don’t do it justice. When my mom saw how bad it was, she rolled her eyes at me and told me I was crazy. So did Chris. Chris was especially none too happy about my escapades.

Well, a ton of scrubbing and Rust-Oleum and paint, and I made it look pretty dang nice, if I do say so myself. It actually didn’t take that long, all things considered (especially when it’s 170F out and paint dries in about twenty seconds). Simply priming and painting the frame made it LOADS better, and I covered the seat in undercoating Rust-Oleum so it won’t degrade any further. It’s definitely not perfect, but there was really no way to 100% salvage the chair without completely replacing the metal seat base. I’m still happy with it, even so.

And I can’t describe how amazing it looks. You can see in the larger photo just how amazingly smooth it is. Okay, so ignore the horrid cushion; I will eventually make one that is better. Instead focus on the milky white frame and the great shape! I really like this chair a lot. Unfortunately I ended up ripping the sticker off the bottom when I painted, so I can’t remember at all who made the chair, but I’m sure it’s no one famous or anything. I really like the seat back the most – it’s so pretty. My favorite is that I did this all by myself, and when I look at it I just feel so proud. Way better than getting something from Ikea, and I got to flex my creative muscles, too.

I also had to go out and get some sticky felt stuff for the feet, because they were in pretty bad condition and will scratch up a hardwood floor, but that’s minor. All in all, it probably cost about $30 to make, which is worth it.

Slowly we’re replacing our crappy stuff with amazing stuff that we’ve either made, modified, or renovated. It feels good to look around the house knowing I can attach meaning and memories to everything within it.

Bean bags

So, in anticipation of the new place, as well as in general, I think I want a bean bag chair. Do you guys remember these? They used to be really popular but for some reason now they only come in child-sizes for the most part. They’re now really hard to find for a somewhat decent price, but luckily there is beanbags.com, which is some crazy site that sells nothing but bean bags. Faux leather bean bags, corduroy bean bags, vinyl bean bags, bean bags that turn into beds (huh?). I have no idea how this is going to work from a design perspective, and since they ship anywhere for free, I may hold off until we actually move in and decide how much space we have.

But there’s no better chair than a bean bag for lounging around and playing video games.

Are they too ugly though? I can’t decide. I really love the function of beanbags but are they too… much? I don’t know.

@ apartment therapy

Tea time!

Plastic

I was thinking about plastic and how it’s really terribly awful for you, and also underarm deodorant (which is a weird thing to think about but oh well). Why would the government allow underarm deodorant to still contain Scary Chemicals when there’s a link between them and Alzheimer’s? Does this not make sense to anyone else? It seems that in other countries there’s no worries about what you buy but here I have to either go more expensive, make it myself, or seriously rethink the purchase.  Every. Single. Product. It’s as if nothing is safe.

I’m not really sure what to do about this except keep doing what I’m doing – make household cleaning products, avoid plastic, buy only fresh produce and avoid processed foods, but it’s still really tricky. For example, I need a trash can. Chris and I headed out to Target to find one and you’ll never guess what I found.

This:

It claims to be stainless steel but I took a peek inside, and sure enough it’s mostly plastic with like … a super thin layer of stainless steel on the outside. Ugh! And a big prominent “MADE IN CHINA” tag. Nothing against China but I’d prefer NOT PLASTIC and cheap but not “cheap,” know what I’m sayin’? (I’ve also already tried Etsy but for some odd reason despite the fact that everyone else seems to be able to find amazing things on Etsy, whenever I need something I never find anything cute, which sucks.)

The search continues… (dun dun DUN!)