The last time I posted here I was still unpacking some things. This time I am posting just the bedroom. The whole apartment has been through a lot of changes, but later for that.

I share an apartment with my boyfriend/eventual husband. The apartment is actually large for two people and we would like to move into a much smaller place when the lease is up next year. Suggestions on decor are very very welcome, though- We can't paint. As you can see, I like minimalism with contained clutter. But I love to hear any suggestions because I think it's great fun so if you have ideas that don't fit in with my style then go buck wild anyway!
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I just moved a few days ago and progress is slow. It's weird, looking at my crooked and badly lit photos, to know that I actually take interior shots for a living sometimes. But the truth is you guys wont see nice photos until a lot more work is done on the apartment. I don't care enough yet.
Low income housing is the worst. The office is supposed to be open right now and there is a little sign on the door saying they will be open at 10am. It's 11:30 now and no one is there. I wanted to use the treadmill and request pest control. I have a feeling this is going to be a common problem.


Living room. We need to get something to hold the dvds and video games but I am waiting till after me and Brian budget for the next few months.
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SOooo...I am planning to move to Miami in September. If anyone has any advice about the city, a great way or place to find an apartment (I'm using Roomster and a little craigslist so far, and I am searching for a realtor, but feeling a little overwhelmed with that), or jobs, please let me know!

I still don't have a confirmed answer. Last I posted, the landlord had called someone to come.


( PCO? Utter HackjobCollapse )

So two days later, the guy I wanted from Ehrlich comes to inspect.

This guy was much better. He was friendly and willing to discuss everything. He seemed to know his stuff, and was very informative. He thought bed bug at first and then began comparing it to another specimen with a strong magnifying glass before considering it may very well be a bat bug. He also let me look between the specimens. He said he could not be sure without confirmation. Stupid me slipped my mind to show him the dead bug from under the bed I'd found when cleaning up. He had checked my bed and found no signs though on anything. He said that I should have it looked at by an entomologist. I had considered Lou Soukin, an expert in the field. Lou's on bedbugger's forums, so he's seen my posts already.


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He's taken all 3 to the entomologist at the company. I have asked for my specimens back. I won't find out until Monday what any of them are. I hate not knowing and having to go another weekend like this. It's hard for me to handle the anxiety that comes with it. I plan to mail the specimens to Lou as soon as I get ahold of his address. If Lou will not look at them, the PCO from Ehrlich said he will pick them up and have them looked at. I don't get it. I can't find any other live bugs and 2 PCOs have found no live ones or traces (we won't count the first) Each found one has been spread out- live one on the couch (dead within less than 24 hours, which is what people would love), dead one in a plastic bin under stuff under the bed, and then one caught in a spider's web near the ceiling outside of the bathroom.

I don't even know what to do at this point. Should I be laundering clothing and beginning to live from Ziploc bags? I know I should be decluttering. I'm afraid of transferring them to other people's houses if it is bed bugs.

Hello!

I live in Japan and have been here for almost 5 years now.
I lived in a very small (1-room) "shoebox" for 4 years. I also posted here a long time ago, but cannot find the post anymore, so instead I'm just gonna link to the post in my LJ, hope that's okay: my old, super tiny apartment (2008-2012)

After moving into this new apartment in March 2012 a whole bunch of problems were awaiting me.
The dude who used to live in there before me just left everything completely dirty!
I've never seen such a dirty apartment in my whole life! He lived there for 4 years and I'm quite sure he NEVER EVER cleaned the apartment AT ALL!!

I had quite a miserable time, spent my first few weeks cleaning night and day. As my new apartment is quite big for Japanese standards it really took forever.
The first few nights I couldn't sleep because it was so disgusting, I swear!
Everywhere hair, the shower room was black from dirt(!), a lot of critters' poo ....

Anyways, all the cleaning wasn't in vain! Here's my new, big(ger) apartment!

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Zoomed in.

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Thanks for reading.
I hope you enjoyed the short tour through my apartment!

Today was the start of summer vacation for teachers, and my afternoon started when I found a bed bug crawling on the couch. I've lived here for almost 3 years now and never had a pest problem until now. I've contacted the landlord and he's going to talk to an exterminator and get back to me, but I think he's kind of clueless. I trapped the bug and have it stored in a ziploc bag for later. I read that exterminators like to see the actual bugs.

I started cleaning up and vacuuming today, but I guess tomorrow starts the real task of meticulously going room by room and cleaning everything and everywhere. I did start in the bedroom and inspected the mattress and box spring, but couldn't find anything. I'm really hoping I've caught the infestation at the start. I ordered encasements for both. I'm not sure about the couch though. There's only one kind of encasement, and it's expensive. I don't think people make it a habit of making their own encasements either, but I was wondering if plastic and duct tape might work. Not garbage bag plastic though. My dad works at a company that makes vinyls and plastics and could get ahold of some for me for free. My couch and loveseat are rarely used except by the cats, so I wouldn't mind having these on there. Plus, they get covered with sheets anyway for shedding. Is this really crazy? Because otherwise the couches may have to go. There's tears in the fabric and I'm afraid bugs may have gotten/will get inside, especially since that's where I found the bug crawling in the first place.

I've found many helpful sites with tips to clean and attack the problem with vacuums and such, and I've stayed away from the sprays. Do you guys have any additional hints or tips to focus on? Anything I could do that I haven't thought of? I do have two kitties, age 3 and 14 so I'm wanting to keep them in mind with whatever I do.

Update 6/2: Still no signs of an infestation in either living room or bedroom. I posted my dilemma to bedbugger.com. This is the post: http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/found-on-couchhelp-iding. Pics are included. I've started wondering if it's a swallow or bat bug due to birds nesting outside. The landlord has called the exterminator, but not heard back. I also called a different exterminator, but have not heard back either. I did tell the landlord that bug bombs are a no-no, and make things worse. So far I've cleaned up clutter under my bed. I did find what appeared to be a dead bed bug in one of the containers, but that was it. The bug in the bag I trapped has stopped moving less than 24 hours later. Is this usual for a trapped bedbug? I also received my order of food grade DE today, and have spread it around the legs of the couch. I will spread it around the legs of the bed tonight. No signs have been found on the bed- no blood stains or feces. I woke up this morning to find a bug bite on my leg, but it only itched for a moment and then nothing. It was red, but that was it. That's all I've got for now.

So I posted a while ago, trying to get opinions about whether or not to move into a new unit. I live in a low-rise, 100 year old heritage building in Toronto with my wife, our 9 month old daughter and our two cats. We decided to go for it, and haven't looked back! We are absolutely loving the new space. Sure, we miss having closets and the fire escape doesn't have quite the same appeal as our old balcony (although since it's winter we haven't noticed that issue much), but the new space is so much bigger and brighter. We're still getting stuff on the walls and other small things (isn't it always a work in progress???) but it totally feels like home. We see ourselves staying here for a good long while!

here is the post with the floorplans and photos of our old apartment.

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Please let me know if this post isn't appropriate to the community!

After three years of living with roommates, my SO and I are making the leap to an apartment of our own. It's anxiety-making, but only because we're moving from a quiet condo situation to a large apartment complex with all kinds of possibilities for inanity.

We're holding off on buying a lot of the essentials until we get into the space and can see how far we can stretch our very own 600 square feet. Since I can never walk into a store and buy something on the spot, I've been putting together an inspiration board to figure out what things might work well together (and what they heck "my style" is.)

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( And here is what I'm thinking for the main space:Collapse )

Sofa - IKEA (I'm dying to get an L-shaped couch, since we battle over who gets to lay flat)
Poster - orkposters.com
Desk - Urban Home
Kitchen table and chairs - IKEA
Bookshelves - IKEA
Lamp and lampshade - Target
Bookends - Restoration Hardware
Gray Rug - IKEA
Yellow Rug - West Elm
Mirror - West Elm
Vase - West Elm

We also own a wood and glass coffee table that I don't have a photo of, and will be trying to find a small TV stand to put between the two bookshelves along that wall.

Thankfully we're moving during tax refund season, so we have some flexibility, but since both of us work in the freelance television production market, we're trying to be judicious with the budget.  The big move is Saturday (!!!) and I honestly don't have my life coordinated enough to paint, but I plan on adding the gray accent wall after we're settled.

Please let me know your thoughts!  Inexpensive furniture/accessory sites, inspirations of your own, etc etc!

So after a separation from my husband almost 2 yrs ago and then a recent break up with my ex,...alas,...I am back home with my parents and younger sister. This isn't a bad thing because I'm totally in love with my room and bathroom and feel like I have my own space to just "be me" in. Although being 26 and living back with the parents wasn't my ideal situation I am still very thankful I have such a dope ass family. I'm very blessed. So anyways...check out my new room. (p.s. I moved all the way from Jacksonville, Fl to right outside of New Orleans, Louisiana so it was a MAJOR move!)

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Okay so I recently resigned my lease (like on the 31st). I've had quite a few issues with my apartment complex but the location and the price isn't bad. And overall I'm pleased with the community. However last night I was putting my Christmas tree away and I found a TON of mold in my closet. Now this is the 3rd time I've found mold in my apartment. The last two times they've had the carpets cleaned for me and sprayed something on the wall. However the mold has never been this bad. I live on the first floor and have a feeling that has a lot to do with it. I'd really like to move up to the second floor. I'm going to go speak with the leasing office tomorrow to see if something can be done. They said they'd paint the living room from the mold the last time and they STILL haven't to this day. Im just frustrated now cause if I would of seen this before. I probably would of looked into moving into a different unit before.