Apartment Blog

For some people Halloween means as much to them as Christmas would to another person. As such, this occasion would be deemed gift giving. I have actually received a card and flowers from a friend on Halloween because it is her favorite holiday. Regardless if you are the gift giver or receiver, here are some great Halloween gift ideas.

Get Creative! Potion labels are a cool way to personalize a bottle of your friend’s favorite drink or bottle of wine. Just add a themed label appropriate for Halloween and you’re set!  Or creating a collage scrapbook already decorated, just waiting for the photos of this year’s party to frame or bind.

Homemade goods are a unique way to show your friends, or guests at a party, that you appreciate them. Everyone loves a good homemade treat. For this holiday, why not do a candied apple or pumpkin spice bread or ghost shaped cookies. 

Tickets to a fun Halloween themed event. There are bound to be places in your city that will celebrate this spooky holiday. Why not help the Halloween enthusiast in your life celebrate by buying them a ticket. It could be a hayride, haunted house, roller coaster theme park or maybe even a special movie premier.

Provide some type of entertainment by purchasing a Halloween book or movie. If your friend is into the whole scary experience, there are plenty of Halloween movies guaranteed to spoke him or her. Check out our list of 10 Awesome Halloween Movies.

If there are other Halloween gifts you have given or received, let us know! It would be nice to see all the imaginative ideas for this holiday.

What could be a better way for a community to build a relationship with its residents than by providing some sort of fun activity? Many apartment communities do this with parties, game nights, movie nights, etc. It’s a great way for residents to get together, find out who their neighbors are and really feel at home in the community. Here’s a suggestion for August, in keeping with the month’s theme, American Artist Appreciation Month, why not do a craft fair instead?

Just this past weekend I went to the Artisans in the Park off of Great Neck Road in Virginia Beach. It had over 110 artists showcasing their work whether it is photography, painting, wood carving, metal work, etc. There were hundreds of people that attended this show and it was a terrific event. It gave me an opportunity to see what creative talent we have here at ‘the beach.’ But it got me thinking too. Oftentimes there will be a get together for yard sales and things of that sort in my apartment community. Why not a joint craft fair in August?

Since August is artist appreciation month, I think it would be a great time to allow all your crafty residents an opportunity to showcase their work, perhaps make a little money, and get to know their fellow ‘crafty’ neighbors. When a prospective resident walks in through the door during this month, the advertisements on your property for this craft show will illustrate the type of unique and exciting activities your community offers its residents, reinforcing their desire to want to live there. I know I’d want to live somewhere that had one!

If you’re anything like me, the idea of Father’s Day is a daunting one. Not because I don’t enjoy celebrating my father, I do! He’s an unbelievable man who has taught me so much and I love him dearly. But, because I am always at a loss of what to get him. What to get a man that has loved me and cared for me all these years? What to get someone who has truly been there for me whenever I needed someone? Those are the questions that always creep up when Father’s Day rolls around and I rack my brain trying to think of something. 

And of course, I want it to be something creative. Something I’ve not done before to really show him how much I appreciate him. Well after racking my brain for hours, I’ve come up with a list of five ingenious ideas (if I do say so myself).

1. Go the sentimental route. A video montage or collage of photos with you and your father (or the whole family) would really be something special for your father to receive. It’s something he can truly cherish for many years to come.
2. Make an afternoon date with him! If he would enjoy activities such as miniature golf, ice cream, lunch, then why not take him out? He deserves to have a bit of fun doing child-like things for a day!
3. Splurge for some hobby supplies. Every father has a hobby he enjoys! Whether it’s a sport like soccer, racing or maybe just fixing up cars, give him something that he would benefit from. Be careful though, you don’t want to overuse this tip as it could become predictable.
4. Bring him humor! There are a plethora of items that would fit the bill, books, trinkets, etc. In fact, I was on Barnes & Nobles web site and saw quite a few books that poke fun at ‘Dadisms’ or have cartoons to depict father-like situations. Guaranteed to make every dad grin, chuckle and laugh out loud.
5. And finally, time is all your father really wants. He enjoys spending time with you, his child. So be sure to spend good quality time, even if it’s not doing anything special, just to be with him.

This photo is something my father and I did when we were in Key West….father-daughter bonding! J

Summer is here and everyone is antsy to get out of work and do something fun! But oh, what did you say…can’t go out because it costs an arm & a leg? That’s why we’ve assembled a list of relatively inexpensive activities for the summertime!

Rollar bladding-whether you have your own skates or not, this is an activity that can be less than $10!

Local sports game-it could be high school, college or even a minor league game. Tickets for the Norfolk Tides, the AAA baseball team, are about $8.00 per person! Just eat dinner before hand and you’re good to go!

Local book store-you could sit in on free readings for various story titles. Barnes and Nobles has events almost every day in the Hampton Roads area, including a group dedicated to help you overcome writers block!

Visit a museum-how better to spend a hot summer afternoon than in an air conditioned museum. Not all museums are boring either! The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk only costs $7.00 per adult.  You could definitely spend hours staring at beautiful pieces of art work.

Festivals-the amount of carnivals, country fairs or festivals always increase during the summer. My favorite to attend in Norfolk is the Bayou Boogaloo & Cajun Food Festival at Town Point Park. For just $10.00 per person, you can see live entertainment; walk through the amazing New Orleans Art Gallery and more! For just a few bucks more, you can sample some of the mouthwatering Cajun spiced crawfish, jambalaya, gumbo and alligator.

Take a tour-whether it’s of an area you’re not that familiar with or perhaps a historical tour of the city you live in. Williamsburg and Jamestown, Virginia have great tours to really experience the true history our state offers.

Wine Tastings-local winery shops, such as Total Wine in Downtown Norfolk, have free wine tastings in their stores weekly. You would certainly become a connoisseur in no time!

Including some of these activities into your summer plans will ensure you have a slam packed adventurous season! More inexpensive and creative ideas for saving money are in our Nesting in These Economic Times blog.

It’s time to get creative! If you’re decorating style is stuck in a rut but you have little to no money to do anything about it, check out these great ideas. Most don’t require you to purchase anything, just using things you already have in your house. But boy will these ideas do the trick!

• Turn a quilt into a headboard. Drape it over your existing headboard or nail it on the wall to frame your bed.
• Prop up art to conceal cords. No one likes to see them all the time, use random frames to conceal them.
• Repurpose bracelets as napkin rings. This serves as a trendy and funky way to decorate your table.
• Dress up a dresser with ribbons, different colored ribbons would make a big impact.
• Paint legs of old chairs, or paint a different color on all the chairs at your dinning room table. This can be a great conversation piece.
• Wrap boxes with wrapping paper for a decorative & functional piece. Can be used all over the apartment.
• Unused wine glasses as candle holders. Simple and classy.
• Use clips from the office to hold photos or post cards around the house.
• Upgrade a lamp shade w/ribbon or paint it a color you’d never find in a store.
• Use a planter as a side table for the bedroom or the living room. All you need to do is add a glass top. This is very cheap compared to purchasing a new table all together.
• Rearrange furniture-like on an angle. It’ll make the room feel refreshed!
• Find any magazines or books that have photos in them that you like. Cut out the photos and frame them around the house.
• If you have a full bookcase, remove one shelf of books and treat it like a shadow box.
• Gather all your accessories that are the same color from every room in your house. Don’t worry how they relate or what you bought to go with what. Now…group all of them together on a tabletop.
• Remove all the pictures scattered around one room and rehang them on one wall, together - “salon style.”
• Instead of centering one big piece of art over your bed, hang one really small piece of art. It will have even more of an impact.

Check out your apartment and see how you can incorporate our suggestions. Or if you have any ideas that you have used before, please share! These tips were collected from Real Simple Magazine and House Beautiful.

If you’re a renter you know the difficulties behind adding a little personality and color to your apartment. Restrictions like ‘no painting’ doesn’t allow for very much creative freedom. And given that your apartment is your space, your personal retreat from the rest of the world; it’s hard to be surrounded by bare white walls. Desperate to find solutions to this persistent problem, here are a few tips to help alleviate the madness.

Mirror, mirror on the wall.
Did you know when you decorate with mirrors that it can give the illusion of more space? Hanging a mirror on a wall opposite a window can also help with that effect while bringing in the color scheme of the outdoors. And my favorite, hanging multiple mirrors in a pattern is eye-catching as well as functional for adding dimension to the space.

Vinyl decals are lifesavers.
One day while sifting through the dollar store (you know, my favorite store), I noticed that they had wall decals. I bought a couple different sheets in a shells/beach theme to decorate my guest bathroom. They were a perfect solution to not being able to paint in there.  I put the decals on the tub as well as on the walls. The variety of color and artwork really was ideal for that small space. A friend of mine also purchased some for her bedrooms. Brightly colored flowers that coordinated with her bedding set. It was a wonderful compliment to her space. And with the variety of options out there, phrases, themes, graphics, colors, etc., you really can choose one that is all your own.

Collage of….EVERYTHING!
When you think of collages, you probably think of photographs. There isn’t just one way to do a collage of photographs though. You can do them by stringing them on a grid like patter, like we mentioned in our ‘20 Simple and Sensible Decorating Ideas’, or in frames. Varying the sizes and how you hang each one would make a big impact as well. In addition to a collage of pictures, you can also do plates. I saw on Home Décor with Kelly Edwards that this really makes a one of a kind art piece that is completely personal to you.

Think fabric & texture!
A rug doesn’t have to be on the floor! You can totally tack that sucker up on the wall for more vivid colors. You can also do one wall completely in curtains, Hildi taught me that (referencing Hildi Santo from Trading Spaces). It’s a way to make a very big impact with whatever pattern you want. Plus, you can change it out as often as you’d like. Another way to create visual interest on your walls is to do fish netting. I have that up in my bedroom with various shells weaved through it as well as a couple shell necklaces and sea glass. The netting itself doesn’t give any real color (besides the sandy color of the string) but what I can accent it with sure does!

When you purchase a home one of the main things, I’ve been told, you look forward to be being able to do is paint! Decorate those walls to your heart’s desire. But unfortunately, for us renters that is not an option right now.   So hopefully these tips will help you express yourself in your living space.