Apartment Blog

 So I’ve been living in my current (and first for that matter) apartment for six months now.  And I have yet to entertain house guests.  I know, that’s sad, right?  This is not to say I have not had company.  I’ve had a couple friends over, even had family stay for a weekend, but I have not entertained friends.  You know, having a small group over for a get-together, maybe a game night.  I can pinpoint this problem to the sole factor; my living room isn’t so livable.    Living on your own, I mean really on your own, will definitely change your spending habits.  Prior to paying rent, I would buy any and everything.  Now, not so much.  I really like the “modern” look, or “New Age”.  Things like coffee tables that are low to the ground with concave sides.  Like Picasso’s art, his art was unusual and that’s how I like my furniture.  So, I know what I want, but now it’s just a matter of getting it.

The only room that’s complete is my bedroom.  That was the only room I actually “planned” out before moving in.  Along with being modern, my style is pretty simple.  I don’t enjoy a whole lot of decoration.   For me, less is more.  I’ve got my queen sized bed against one wall.  It’s a dark brown wood with a small headboard, frame, and no footboard. To add a little color, I picked a teal-cyan mix comforter set laced with dark yellow, chocolate brown, and dull silver rings splatter in no particular pattern on it with matching throws.

 It’s actually a nice contrast against the chocolate colored wood.  Against the opposite wall about a few feet away from the window sits my matching dresser with mirror.  I didn’t realize how big the dresser actually was until the movers set it down.  It’s huge.  I would say it takes up about half of the wall space.  And the mirror sits atop it spanning just over two-thirds of the dresser itself.  In the far corner about a foot away from my bed rests a small, make-shift nightstand from Target (formerly a mini storage compartment).  When I moved in I thought “Wow this is a huge bedroom, but it’ll look smaller once my furniture arrives,” well, my furniture came and it’s still huge.   It’s pretty empty aside from my three pieces of furniture, there’s a painting of the ocean above my bed and a lone trunk from college in the other corner beside my bed.

My dining room is laid out as such:  the table and chairs sit about two feet away from the corner walls (it’s a small space).  It’s an old set from my aunt that’s comprised of a glass table top with a wooden support and wooden chairs with the old cushioned seats.  The bottom supports are metal and rusty.  I guess you could call that vintage, but it doesn’t really go with my modern feel.

Now we come to the living room.  It’s truly a work in progress.  This is where I find myself with a dilemma.  I’ve got a bookcase resting in the far corner of the room next to the window overlooking the patio. It’s rather tall; with five shelves a little less than two feet apart, but it works.  The bookcase is composed of a “faux” wood based from a much lighter shade than my bedroom furniture.  Next to the bookcase is my TV stand.  It’s tiered so the TV’s on top and my DVD player is below.  It’s comprised of black bases with gray supports.  Simple, but cute.  In the corner opposite the bookcase is the cutest lamp I found in Target.  It’s pretty tall, reaching almost to the ceiling, and it curves over to hang (my Dad says it looks like a bee hive).  Hey, I like different things!  Other than a key missing item, which I will get to in a moment, that’s pretty much it for my living room.  No pictures or wall decorations, just whiteness.

Now we arrive at the reason for which I don’t have house guests.  Sitting is truly a commodity in my apartment.  Apart from the dining room set, I have a lone circular lounge chair facing the TV, which rests on the back wall of the living room.  I desperately need a couch, something, but I’m on a treasure hunt to find the perfect one.  I know, just pick a sofa and be done with it. Along with having no where to sit, there’s no coffee table, nowhere to put a game board, let alone a glass of soda.  But for me it’s not that simple.  The couch has to be modern.  What do I mean by modern?  Well, it has to be earth tone, preferably a brownish or tanish shade.  I would like for it to sit kind of low to the ground, but not too low.  I want it to be long, but boxy, like the couches from the old movies, very defined on the ends, no rounded corners.  And of course, no designs or patterns, just plain and simple.  I want to be able to entertain.  Not wild parties or anything like that because it is only 900 square feet, but I would like my guests to be comfortable and impressed at the same time. 

So, honestly, my home is missing just one thing.  But that one thing seems to be the centerpiece of it all.  That one piece of furniture will virtually solve all of my problems.   Well… maybe not all, but the most immediate.  Is anyone out there feeling me on this?

Tags: apartment, apartments, color, colors, decor, decorating, decorations, design, forrent.com, friends, guests, home, housing, ing, living, moving, parties, style

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 8:38 am and is filed under Apartment Decorating Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.