I Hate Our Bathroom!

Let me say that again (since I can’t say it enough), I. hate. our. bathroom!  It’s so small, so ugly, so moldy, and it’s located completely on the opposite side of the apartment from the bedroom.  When Vincent and I rented our St. Louis apartment, we knew we were spoiling ourselves, and that we wouldn’t be able to live in a place as new and modern as that once we moved to the east coast.  However, I thought we’d be able to get a bathroom at least better than this one.

The toilet paper holder never worked right--and eventually fell off the wall--so I got a cheap Ikea TP holder that functions better, only to discover this mess.  Instead of taking the hardware off before repainting (why were the walls green in the first place?!  And why did they think one coat of white paint would be enough to cover said green walls?), they simply painted around the toilet paper holder.

The handle on the pocket door doesn't allow you 
to pull the door shut, so we had to put a 3M hook
on sideways as the door handle.

I understand the original builder’s reasoning behind placing the bathroom at the back of the apartment - it keeps all of the plumbing in one area, since the kitchen sink and laundry machine are located right next to the bathroom - but no architect would ever design a layout like this.  The bathroom’s small size makes it very difficult for Vincent and me to get ready at the same time (and usually Colbert and the cats try to follow us in there too).  In fact, I have a hard enough time drying my hair in there when it’s just me.

This is an example of a well planned, small bathroom.  This is how my bathroom should be laid out.

via houzz

In my future house, I don’t even need the coveted double sink (although that is better for resale value), I just want a longer sink counter and enough space for both Vincent and me to get ready at the same time.  We actually had that in our bathroom in St. Louis because the toilet was situated next to the long sink, providing a lot of space for the two of us (and Colbert).

via Chezerbey

via houzz

One element of our current bathroom that is not terrible is the shelving tucked in next to the toilet.  Although cramped and awkward to reach, it provides much needed storage.  I think I prefer shelves over a linen closet because, if done right, it can become a decorating element.  This is something I would want to have in our future house as well.

via Arianna Belle Organized Interiors

Oh Ikea, You're My Favorite

This Christmas, I was given a couple Ikea gift cards, so yesterday I took a trip to the nearest Ikea and tried to control myself.  That place is dangerous!  I was very well behaved, only buying items that we actually need.  There were a couple items I wanted to help organize our apartment a little better, but they are specific to this apartment, and I only wanted to purchase things that can be used in any future living situation.

The first piece of furniture I looked for (and immediately found) was a shelving unit for the pets’ food bowls.  We have to keep the cats’ food up high so that Colbert won’t eat it, but it also has to be located near Colbert’s food bowls because the cats eat his food too.  By having their food near his, I can pick them up and move them to their own food when they start eating Colbert’s.  They also only drink out of Colbert’s water bowl (even when they have fresh water right next to their food), so that’s another reason why the cats’ bowl needs to be near Colbert’s.

Prior to my Ikea trip, we were keeping their bowl on top of the washing machine.  For obvious reasons, I wanted to find an alternative solution to this.  This shelving unit works perfectly.  It fits right where Colbert’s bowls were already located, and the shelf for the cats is just high enough that Colbert can’t reach it, but not too high that it’s difficult for them to jump up to.  It is also the exact depth of their food mat, giving them plenty of room to both be up there at the same time.

Another item I purchased was something I had not planned on getting: a carpet for the living room.  When I was walking through the textiles area, I noticed this rug for only $20.  I knew the size would fit the living room, and I loved the neutral color and pattern.  I had thought about a rug there before, because Colbert has difficulty on hardwood floors and I like the idea of warming up the most-used room in the apartment, but typically they are very expensive.  The appealing price tag on this one, though, had me sold.

I also bought some other items for the bedroom, laundry area, and the kitchen, but I’ll discuss those another time.  Until then, here’s a picture of Pat and Colbert playing with one of the Ikea boxes.

Breakfast Bar

There are a lot of things I like about where we live - having a separate office and living a short distance from NYC, among other things - but one thing I really miss about our last apartment in St. Louis (aside from everything being brand new and modern) is the breakfast bar.

This photo was taken before we had bought stools.

I loved sitting at the counter each morning with my cereal and coffee while reading a magazine.  Although my new work schedule here would not be conducive to taking my time like I could in St. Louis (I worked about a 10 minute drive away), weekends are when I miss the breakfast bar the most.  I used to revel in my weekend mornings, relaxing in my modern counter stool from Crate & Barrel with the latest issue of Dwell in hand.

Felix White Barstools from Crate & Barrel

I had originally hoped, before moving here, that there would be enough space in the kitchen to add a free-standing island like the image below with a place for stools.  Once we had our furniture in place, it was clear there was enough space for an island but not for stools.  

Belmont White Kitchen Island from Crate & Barrel                     

In my future house, I would want a breakfast bar like some of these designs.

Image via Apartment Therapy

Image via Arch Daily

Image via designboom

SAYL Chair

Is it possible to be in love with an inanimate object?  I am certainly in love with the newest (non-living) member of our family, the SAYL Chair by Yves Behar for Herman Miller.  Very rarely do I spend a lot of money on myself, and when I do it’s usually associated with guilt, but with this latest splurge, I hesitated for merely a second.  The desk chair that we bought 6 years ago at Bed Bath and Beyond for what couldn’t have been more than $40 has finally reached the end of its life.  Over the years, the screws underneath the seat holding it all together have fallen out and gradually we have lost some of these critical components, making the seat loose and creaky.  The final straw came when I sat in the chair and one of the arms immediately went crashing to the floor.  It was time to say goodbye to our cheapo desk chair.

From this....

To this.

I decided it was time to purchase a chair that’s comfortable and meant to last.  Being a lover of all things design-related, my first stop on the office chair search was Herman Miller.  At two of the architecture firms I have worked, I had the Aeron Chair at my desk, which is also from Herman Miller.  The Aeron Chair is quite possibly the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in.  Quickly seeing that this was out of our price range, I set my sights on SAYL.  Marketed as an “affordable” option, I decided to go for it, to splurge on myself like I hardly ever do.  After making sure the reviews were favorable, I purchased the SAYL Chair (only with the default options, no extras) and waited 4 weeks for it to arrive.  The wait time was well worth it!

Everything about this chair is ideal.  The seat cushion and back are firm enough to be supportive, but have enough give to be comfortable as well.  Not to mention it looks great!  “Inspired by the principles of suspension bridges, the frameless back of the SAYL work chair encourages a full range of movement while the suspension back material keeps you cool—all with an extremely small environmental impact” [Herman Miller].  I plan on using this chair for a very long time.

Basket Case

The recent blanket situation on the couch has really started to bother me lately.  I always start with the best intentions, perfectly folding each blanket and placing them in a pile on the couch before going to bed.  That only lasts so long before it becomes a mangled lump, which I’m sure Colbert uses as his own personal pillow.  Recently, that lump of blankets has migrated to the Eames chair, resulting in my favorite chair getting little to no use.  This has prompted me to take action.

After a quick Target run, I am now equipped with a lovely new basket to hold the blankets.  I have been looking at various types of baskets, but I decided on this one because of its neutral look (in our house, neutral means dark), the fact that it has a liner so the blankets don’t snag on the wicker, and because it is large enough that once I stop folding the blankets (and we all know that day will come) they’ll still fit in it.  

Now why, might you ask, don’t I just store the blankets in a closet since it’s almost summer?  Good question.  The answer is relatively simple: I’m weird.  I’m a generally cold person, so as I sit on the couch with either the AC or ceiling fan running, I start to get chilly and need to wrap up in a blanket.  Vincent is the opposite, and therefore thinks I’m crazy, but it is what it is; and now I can sit in my Eames chair again!

Open Shelving

An odd feature in our new kitchen is the overhead cabinets.  The set of upper cabinets between the fridge and stove has an open-shelf part to it that looks almost unintentional, like it was supposed to house a microwave or something similar.  Not to mention, it is positioned much higher than typical overhead cabinets.  Originally I thought about adding this Ikea shelf below the cabinets, but we ended up having more than enough storage space so it seemed unnecessary.

Image from Ikea

At first I was unsure of how I felt about the open shelf, but once we put our dishes up there, it started to grow on me.  Open shelving in kitchens has become in style lately, as seen most recently on the extremely popular DIY blog, Young House Love.  The Petersiks’ highly-documented kitchen renovation includes white shelves supported by heavy brackets (there are a few too many of the bulky brackets, for my taste, however).

Image from Young House Love

Image from La Maison d'Anna G

While I do like open shelving, there’s something to be said for being able to hide the clutter behind cabinet doors.  Ideally I would want a combination of open shelves and cabinets, but in a more controlled manner than what we have now.

Image from Apartment Therapy

Image from designboom

The Office

For not having a full-time job, I sure have been busy lately.  Doing freelance architecture work has its benefits, the primary one being able to work from home.  While I certainly find myself missing the comaraderie found in a firm, it can be relaxing at times to not have to commute anywhere.  I wake up, turn on my computer, and start working before I have even finished my coffee.

Something I really like about our new apartment is the office.  I enjoy working in a space that’s separate from the rest of the apartment, because I feel much more productive when I’m not out in the open, as was the case in our first two apartments.  When I’m working while Vincent is home, he can watch TV or do whatever he wants in the rest of the apartment without distracting me since the office is removed enough.

Even though our office is small, there’s still enough room for the chaise, creating a little reading area in the opposite corner from the desk.  This is something I would repeat in our future house, but I would want it to be more integrated into the space.  Below are some inspiration images.

Image from Contemporist

Image from Contemporist

Currently we have one desk that we share, since we usually aren’t working at the same time.  However, I think I would eventually like to have two desks because I feel bad that I have kind of taken over the desk with my computers and office supplies.  I really like the desk idea below because it’s simple, modern, and still provides plenty of workspace.  I do love our current desk, though.  It’s very contemporary and functional, but it would be nice to let Vincent have his own desk that’s not covered with my stuff.  Maybe one day in our future house.

Image from chezerbey

Sink Half Full

So far it seems like all of the lessons I have learned from living in this apartment are things I would want to avoid or change in a future house.  Well, the sink is not one of those things.

 

 

I love this sink for two reasons:
1.  It’s a basin sink, meaning that there is no divider in it.
2.  It’s huge!

In my humble opinion, sinks with dividers (like this one below) are utterly useless.  I have yet to understand the point of them.  All they do is make it so that you can’t fit as many dishes in the sink at one time, and often times the lack of a garbage disposal on the larger side means you have to be careful about which dishes go in which side.  Our enormous basin sink is perfect for carefully containing the mess that accompanies making recipes for dinner.

Photo from Kohler

 















Fortunately, Vincent is the cook in our house, which means that we eat delicious dinners that unfortunately result in lots of dirty pots and pans.  If I were responsible for cooking, we would be surviving on microwavable meals, and thus no dishes and no need for such a wonderful sink.

The Out-of-Towners

This weekend, my college roommate and her husband came to visit.  We had a wonderful weekend full of laughing, eating, more laughing, more eating, and a little sightseeing thrown in for good measure.  Since we had perfect weather, most of our time was spent outdoors (when we weren’t at restaurants).  However, returning home each night to sleep emphasized how small our apartment really is.  As I have mentioned before, we use the second bedroom as our living room.  While this works perfectly well for just the two of us, having overnight guests means that it suddenly becomes the guest room.

 

Clearly Colbert thinks the air mattress is his.

The air mattress squeezed in between the couch and TV stand gets the job done, but it’s not pretty.  In our future house, I would love to have a loft area that can serve dual functions as an office and guest room.

Photo from Apartment Therapy

Photo from Apartment Therapy

I love this idea of utilizing the dormer for a small office, allowing the remaining space to be free for other purposes.

Photo from Arch Daily

 

This isn’t a loft, but it’s a cool way to incorporate both a desk and bed.  For now, the air mattress will have to do.