decorate my apartment

I thought I was getting a tax refund and had it all spent in my head. Unfortunately, I made a mistake and it turned out I owe! So no pretty Jonathan Adler light and Pottery Barn rug for me right now.

But I did manage to rearrange my closet this weekend. That was free.

And I’m spending $3 on ribbon for bulletin board decoration, but that’s allowable.

And hanging the photos I have: also free. Then I plan to fill in the holes on the wall o’ photos with black/white images I’ve found online: should be just the cost to print at Kinko’s. Also allowable.

Reupholstering and restuffing the couch: I’m afraid to get the quote. Won’t be allowable, I’m sure.

argh. I hate how life moves in small increments. I want instant makeovers—they’re so satisfying. I love makeover shows for that very reason.

But fine, budget demands little changes.

One thing I did this week which made a big difference, bigger than I expected, was try to fix one of the little vignettes I’d made in my apt. I have some halfheartedly attempted “vignettes” – gol, that sounds so pretentious and obnoxious. Can’t I find a better word? But obnoxious as they are in both name and idea, they really do bring a home together. And mine are sort of thrown together, almost like I didn’t want to work on them too hard because of my deep rooted disdain.

So I fixed my bar/table up a bit and it makes me very happy now when I look at it. Happy sigh of satisfaction.

Plus I bought tomatoes, catnip, and purple basil, and some dark purple pansies for my “garden”.

And I’m trying to keep my bathroom cleaner. And buy flowers every week.

- hung the chandelier I got on ebay
- purchased & assembled light for kitchen sink area
- offered sofa to my cousin – hope she wants it!
- reorganized bar cart
- glued hooks on backs of posters/prints for hanging
- cut out fabric for lampshade & pillows

TOMORROW:
- clean bathroom & kitchen
- do laundry
- buy frame for painting
- buy file storage thingy
- hang posters/prints
- finish lampshade
- take in alterations to be sewn (pillow/seat cover)

finally got my wall of black & white photos hung. Also hung my movie postcards all over the walls of my kitchen and the movie posters in the living room area. I feel a little bit more unpacked and a little more organized. The next three orders of business are: a) finishing the chairs (I started but ran out of spray paint), b) getting the expedit bookshelf from Ikea and finding file boxes that fit it, and c) painting the walls (aqua w/ pink stripes in the bathroom, lavender/periwinkle in the bedroom, and light green with darker green diamonds along the living room wall) I’m trying to find a quote I can write above the bed since I don’t want to hang any more pictures/posters – it’s starting to feel like a little too much ‘decorating by hanging pictures’. I’m thinking of a Martha Graham quote (from her letter to Agnes deMille or the line (I forget who said it): if you can’t be a good example, you’ll just have to be a horrible warning. I think it’s cute and funny and very apropos, but perhaps not inspirational…tough to wake up to everyday. I’m trying to find something inspirational-ish enough that’s not cheesy and won’t look twee written in cursive over my bed. You can see the problem.