Skip to main content

New Apartment Layout for the New Year

Every six months or so Brian and I see someone's apartment or go to an open house. This inevitably results in our deciding that we need to change things in our apartment. Our friend, Jay used to make fun of us because our apartment would be completely different every time she came over to visit. We can't seem to help ourselves.

This time we saw our neighbor's apartment. We were watching their cat over the holidays and they have the most wonderful, open apartment. They have nowhere near the amount of stuff we have but it isn't empty or cold. We are a bit jealous. So, of course, this results in our consulting the IKEA catalog (it's pages get pretty worn by the end of each year) and rethinking our space.

This time I decided to use graph paper to create a new layout for the bedroom. This is our bedroom right now:



Behind the bed are windows that you can't get anywhere near with the bed where it is. This layout is also really annoying because the dresser drawers can't fully open and the laundry bins are far too close to the radiator.

It was really kind of a pain to cut out the little pieces of paper representing all of our furniture. However, when I was done, it was really easy to see what I could do with my stuff in the space. I highly recommend taking the time to make the cutouts.

We now think this is the bedroom layout we want:


Do you think this is a good layout? The one compromise is that my bookcases (labeled Billy for the IKEA name) will have to be separated. I do like having a wall of books but I can do without. We are planning a trip to IKEA soon to get me yet another bookcase (I have too many books and I refuse to part with them) and I will let you know how it goes!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Spareribs, Sauerkraut and Dumplings

For Valentine's Day this year I cooked a dish that reminds me of home like no other.  It's a family recipe that my Mom knows by heart and my Dad gets on special holidays. Spareribs, sauerkraut and dumplings: Here's my plate before I started inhaling it.     Not everyone likes it.  I didn't like it until I was an adult and came across a very similar dish in the Czech Republic.  I craved home-cooked food at the time and I instantly became obsessed with the dish. The tricky part about the recipe is that it wasn't really written down.  My Grandmother, Anita, wrote a copy for my Mom a long time ago but my Mom has since changed parts to simplify the recipe.  This is the recipe that my Mom told me and I adjusted on my own. For the Dumplings: These are the dumpling when they were boiling, as they start to get done, they float to the top of the water. 3 c bread crumbs (about a half of a loaf dried on a tray for a day and broken up in a food processor) 3-4 c grated r

May 2017 Update

Despite the appearance of my blog over the past year, I am still alive and kicking. I've had a great past year. It was filled with adventures and good times. What have I been up to? 1. I'm walking a ton. At a minimum, I try to walk 10,000 steps a day. When you work a desk job, that is a lot of steps. If I work from home, don't go anywhere, and don't make an effort, I can walk around 2,000 steps in a day. To hit 10,000, I have to make a serious effort. This leads to long rambles to Minnehaha Falls, the Mississippi River, Fort Snelling and circles around the Mall of America. I try to snap cool videos and photos while I walk. I took a short video of Minnehaha Falls this spring: I also snap pictures of the wildlife I manage to stumble across, like this adorable duck family: 2. I've traveled a bit. I went with friends to Massachusetts and Maine a month or so ago. Best selfie from the trip: Brian and I also took a trip to Hawaii in November. I

Halloween Project 2009: Zombie Box

I love zombie movies. My first date with Brian, I made the poor guy watch Dawn of the Dead and Shaun of the Dead . A while back I saw a photo of a glass case that held a fake shotgun that said "in case of zombies break glass" (click here for my original inspiration). Of course, I wanted one. However, they were a promotional item for a videogame. Plus, the shotguns were fake, not at all useful if zombies actually were going to attack. I tried to see if I could buy one of those fire cases that hold fire extinguishers and fire blankets and just adapt it. Those boxes, it turns out, cost at least a hundred dollars. I decided to take matters into my own hands and build myself an emergency box to prepare for the zombie apocalypse. I bought a frame for a few bucks from a discount store and hand painted the glass: The objects surrounding the glass were part of my "cat deterrence system." Oddly it worked. Livia prefers to sit on my paper projects anyways. I built a