So I finally took the time to do a real nice floor plan for my living room/office/kitchen as it currently stands. I left a few things out and the furniture measurements aren’t exact, but I think you get the idea. I’m feeling like I need to rearrange things for better flow, but I’m stuck on how. As you can see, I have these strange pillars in the middle of the room that limit things a bit. And we also have two bikes that need to be stored inside, but preferably not in the middle of everything. It’s a fun idea to have the kitchen table next to the window, but it is so closed off where it is now, we almost always eat at the coffee table which is just silly.

I’m thinking that I will put the TV/stereo console where the computer is, move the two seater couch to where the TV is, stick the computer in front of the window, and set up the kitchen table against the pillar where the two seater couch is now.

Eventually (i.e. ASAP), I want to get a new desk and set up a whole home office corner by the window for both boyfriend and I since we will both be students again next fall. I’m thinking some sort of L-shaped configuration with shelves above on the wall so we can each have our own space. It can’t happen this month because we just purchased a new mattress (!!!!!) and that’s about two-thirds of my Cure budget this season, unless I find an amazing deal somewhere.
So… what do you think?!

UPDATE:  Well, that idea didn’t work.  But at least I got a good workout.  Oof.  I’m now thinking maybe I need some new furniture first before I can really to a rearrangement.  Still would love ideas!

Plus side:  Every corner of the apartment has now been vacuumed and is dust free.  Yay!

Okay, so I am behind on my cure-ing.

I missed out on most of week three (i.e. landing strip week) because I was a frenzied mess prior to a work/fun trip to the south of France.

Then I missed out on week four because I was in the south of France.

I did, however, have lots of time to think about the way I want my apartment to be and now I’m back and ready for work. Boyfriend also happens to be out of town this week, which means I have more time and space to do the cure-ing I want to do.

Since arriving home last night I have:

• Unpacked and started doing the immense amount of laundry that has piled up since my departure.
• Taken a huge bag of clothes out to the curb that have been sitting in the apartment for months waiting to be given away.
• Organized the hanging section of our wardrobe closet
• Put all my wool sweaters into storage until next year (I probably have way too many for Tel Aviv, but a native Oregonian can never have too many sweaters… what can ya do?)
• Consolidated the many suitcases/storage units in the bedroom by filling them up with each other (like Russian dolls)
• Begun a preliminary narrowing down of my clothes and adding things to the outbox (more to be added when boyfriend returns and can go through his half also)
• Vacuumed EVERYWHERE.
• Oh, and I changed the sheets and made the bed.

… Sometimes I think maybe I’m taking this too far when I go on these cleaning/organizing binges. My friends think I’m crazy (in a nice way, I’m almost sure), but once I all done organizing I feel an incredible sense of calm and only a tinge of anxiety from having parted with old belongings. I think it’s also becoming easier for me now that I have a steadier income and sense of permanence in my apartment. Next week we are signing the lease for a second year in our apartment and it feels so nice to know that I’ll be sticking around another year and won’t have to start all over again from the beginning.

Okay, enough reflection. Here are the things I have assigned myself to do this week:

• Catch up on living room week by cleaning and rearranging the salon (that’s living room in Hebrew) and office area.
  • Including: Changing room layout and taking the TV out of the middle of the room and installing a wireless card into our desktop computer and hiding all electronic gizmos under the TV.
  • I am giving myself bonus points if I find time to: Spray paint and reorganize the bookshelf, spray paint the computer chair, and wash the couch “slip cover” (but all the other laundry comes first).
• Take a pile of clothes to the tailor to have zippers fixed, pants hemmed, etc.
• CATCH UP ON LAUNDRY. We don’t have a dryer, but the weather’s heatin’ up which means everything will dry quicker.
• Mattress shop and maybe even BUY (I can’t sleep on our awful bed anymore, but the budget is small so it’s not going to be anything too fancy.)

I bought a bunch of postcards as well as a small 8.5×11 print of Chagall’s “Abraham and the Three Angels”:

I saw this gorgeous painting at the Chagall Museum in Nice and it made me think about how much I love hosting my own dinner parties and I decided I had to have it to hang about our kitchen table. It can come off as a bit dark, though I think it’s actually a rather celebratory image up close.

I plan on framing it and I want to keep our little apartment bright and cheery and I have never framed anything before in my life, but apparently it’s pretty cheap to do here so I figure what the hell. The question is: How?? Ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Okay, that should catch me up for a few days. I’ll try and take some pictures soon as things begin to progress.

Oh and check this out: Someone has to walk up all these stairs everyday just to get home.

Well, I learned a whole lot about expiration dates this week. There was a bunch of random instant soups and jellos tucked in the back of the pantry that I’ve had for god knows how long and it turns out that even though they are probably chock full of delicious preservatives, they were still expired! Who knew?!

I also did some refilling of spice jars and consolidation. I would love to buy some glass jars for flour and sugar, but I am saving my budget for some bigger pieces – we’ll see what’s left at the end.

Finally I did a good fridge scrub down and it already seems like it is working better – it likes to be clean too!

Here is my before pantry pic:

And after:

I added a third basket to keep things in better order – 1) Rice, beans, lentils 2) Flour, sugar, salt, spices 3) Pasta! 4) The small ones hold the baking powder/soda, vanilla/vanilla sugar, and other small baking supplies (there are three of them).

I started thinking about my unnatural obsession with these baskets I bought at the dollar (5 shekel) store and that I use all over the apartment. The basket obsession is clearly something I inherited from my mom, but because we live in 450 square feet and my parents in 2000+. I have successfully taken the basket organization method to a whole new level.  Hurrah.

The energy drinks?? You want ‘em? They’re yours. We got them from the bf’s brother after his wedding and we don’t touch the stuff.

More clean kitchen pics:

I want to put something up above the toaster oven.  I have this great old vintage apron but I am not sure how to hang it.  I also was thinking maybe some sort of short and wide poster.  I’m a renter, so I’d rather not paint an area like that – too much work to paint and then unpaint when I move out.

Oh and I baked hamentashen this week for Purim, yum!

Lastly, this week’s flowers hanging out with my rosemary plant (which protects the flowers from the cats):

Feeling great so far!

Okay, I am backtracking here because we’re already on week two. But I didn’t make my repair list until now, so here goes:

Kitchen:

• Fix the light so it doesn’t hang funny from the socket.

Living room:

• Replace lightbulb.

Office:

• None.

Bathroom:

• Replace lightbulb.

Bedroom:

• Fix socket cover.

————————————

I also cleaned top to bottom – washed windows, floors, and the shutters in the bedroom.

Last fall I desperately wanted to take part in The Cure. But since I was on vacation for the first few weeks, it just never seemed to happen. I did do a few improvements here and there, but I never actually completed the full on Deep Treatment Apartment Therapy Cure. So here we go!

Here is what I have done since my attempted Fall Cure:

Living Room:

Old: Ugly pillows in need of covers, ugly couch in need of cover, crap all over.

New: Fun red, homemade pillow covers! New homemade couch cover (Ikea fabric sewn to make a tapestry) and slightly less clutter… oh and bookshelves on the wall!

Kitchen:

Old: Sad, cluttered kitchen and, look to the right, there was this horribly ugly enormous coffee table that accumulated crap like no tomorrow (including that computer monitor which sat there forever).

New: That is horrible coffee table is gone and we got a gas burner and threw out the electricity guzzling old one. Our landlady also installed new counters from granite and a new faucet that doesn’t spray water all over the place like the old one. (I’ll show the totally updated kitchen when I get to current cure pictures, for now this is from just before and it shows my coffee table replacement).

Bedroom:

Old: Horrible horrible horrible clothing storage that made me want to scream.

New: I think this upgrade has made the greatest improvement in my happiness by far. I bought the four drawer Malm dresser. I am thinking about buying a second to put right next to it for the boyfriend. Soooo gooood.

Old: White walls in the bedroom kept me up at night because they were so ugly and boring (seriously. i am neurotic about white walls.)

New: I finally couldn’t take it anymore and decided to paint even though I rent. I only did two walls to minimize repainting when we move out, but it makes such a huge difference and now I wake up happy and rested in my calm blue bedroom. (I know the color doesn’t show that well here. More pics soon!!) Oh and I solved our lack-of-headboard situation with some masking tape.

Bathroom:
Old: I didn’t document this, but the vanity was a boring gray color and the laminate (not the right word, I can’t think of it at the moment…) was peeling.

New: I found fun contact paper and gave it a new look.

Onward!

A few weeks late (just got back from vacation), but here I go with my attempt at the Apartment Therapy Cure. So here we go:

Week One: Deep Treatment

Bones:

My Repair Worksheet:

Kitchen:

Regrout sink area – Buy grout at Ace.

Install new gas stovetop – Call gas company.

Hang plastic bag holder – Borrow screwdriver and install.

Dining Room:

Apply stain to table – Paint.

Wash windows – Buy the window cleaner doo-da on sale at Shuk HaCarmel?

Living Room:

None!

Bathroom:

None!

Bedroom:

Reattach electric socket – Buy replacement?

Paint closet – Buy paint and do it.

Porch:

Outlet for water (?) – It hasn’t rained yet, so I’m not sure this is going to be necessary.

Breath:

One item has been removed! The huge computer monitor that has occupied our extra coffee/crap collecting table has been placed on the street. I’d kept telling myself that I’d try and sell it or something, but I don’t have time to deal with it and really? I doubt I could sell it, since I see them on the street all the time anyways. So bye bye computer monitor! I hope you are the first of many things to be giving away to better homes.

Heart:

Buy fresh flowers… since at the moment I am on the super-low budget, that will have to be skipped for now. I’m hoping to add flower pots for a more permanent fresh flower installation.

Head:

Room reassessment: I will be trying this out over the course of the day… and report back later.

Green products: Already all over it.