Apartment #1

This was the first apartment – I was here for about a year. It was tiny, but since it was part of a house rather than a complex (and the owner was my boyfriend at the time) I was able to paint and make some improvements.

This was one of the worst kitchens EVER when I moved in. Blue counters and none of the cabinets matched…and then there was that weird shelf/counter thing:

By the time I was done, it was actually one of my favorites:

I painted all the cabinets white to tie them together, added brushed nickel hardware and put a skirt on the shelf (cafe curtains on a tension rod – I DO NOT sew) which created extra storage. I found a soothing blue-gray paint that tied the floor and the blue counter top together, making the counter a little less scary.

I also covered up the ratty wallpaper with a new back splash and replaced the faucet.

Dining room BEFORE:

Dining room AFTER:

Using an cute bookcase for storing dishes was my solution to VERY limited cupboard space:

I did this whole apartment on a pretty strict budget. I decided to leave the furniture in my house and rent it furnished for 2 reasons: the idea of emptying the entire house was daunting to me, and the new apartment was so small that I knew I could furnish it fairly cheaply - as a bonus I was able to get a little more $$$ for the rent at my place.

The entire dining room was done for less than 500 bucks: the round table came from a garage sale, 2 of the chairs were in my basement, the other 2 were from Target at an end of the season clearance. My dad found the buffet/cabinet in one of his neighbors yards with a “for sale” sign on it. The bookcase was a clearance floor sample at Pier 1. The stuff on the walls were all clearance sale or thrift store items, and even the dishes were only a couple bucks each.

I went for a casual, beachy vibe through the whole apartment. The space was TINY. Dark colors would have made it a cave…and I figured if I was going to not live in my own house for a few years, I would pretend that I was just visiting my beach house.

This table was my favorite project ever…and I could kick myself for not taking a “before” shot. I found this at the thrift store for $1.49. It was black, rusty and had no top. I was looking for some small-scale furniture for this apartment, and I had wanted to try a mosaic project for while – I love it when the planets all align like that!

I put a plywood top and trim on it, scraped and painted it and used broken tile for the top. I hung a glassware/wine rack over it and it functioned as  a little wine bar in the dining room:

Bathroom BEFORE:

I had to really fight the landlord on this one…the bathroom had wallpaper that was falling off the walls (does nasty wallpaper just follow me everywhere?). I assumed that with my experience removing the wallpaper from every room in my own house, that this little bathroom would be no problem. I was SO wrong…

There 3 layers of wallpaper. THREE. In some places it was cemented on, in some places it was falling off. When I tried to strip it, chunks of drywall came off. Why on earth would you wallpaper a bathroom? There is moisture in there, people…

The solution I came up with was to cover the whole ugly mess with bead board, which I painted to coordinate with the floor tiles. I found a sink and vanity combo that was fairly cheap, so I replaced the tiny existing one along with the medicine cabinet and painted the cabinet over the toilet white:

Other Projects

I did a couple of rooms in the other apartment of this house. This was the very sad bathroom BEFORE:

And AFTER:

Kitchen BEFORE:

…and AFTER:

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