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.

( photos ahoy! )

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.)

( Here's an approximation of what the space looks like: )

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

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!)

( Her sanctuary... )

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. 

Hello, I was directed to this comm by someone on ourbedrooms ^_^ and I was hoping that you guys might be able to help. Me and my boyfriend have lived in our house for 3 years this coming xmas and as the time has gone on, we've realised that we have a dead middle room. I call it a dead room because it doesnt really feel like part of our house, it has no purpose or function and we are at a loss as to what to do with it.
I have some photos but please dont comment about the clutter - we both collect stuff and have alot of it!! Also, some items in the room will be going as they are for sale on ebay etc, I'll point these out so you know what is staying and what it going.

( Read more... )

Hello! Okay, so I'm moving in two weeks. Today, I went "Goodwilling", and came across this BEAUTIFUL couch. Obviously the picture doesn't do it justice, but it's a pretty green chenille material, with a wooden base with round legs. Also if you look to the right bottom of the picture, you can see the detail on it.  These pillows have obviously seen better days, so I'm interested in dressing up the colors of this couch. I'd love to get ideas from you guys!!!

I recently re-painted my office and I love the color. it is called faded denim and it is this light blue with gray undertones in it. Now I am repainting my bedroom and wanted something similar. After looking for a teal with a gray undertone I couldn't find anything I liked as much as the office color. Do you think it is ok to use the same color on two different rooms?

Hi all. I think I posted something similar in this community a few years ago. Anyway, my wife and I are currently in a 2 bedroom apartment, and we recently had a baby. We're finding that we want more room - basically, our current apartment doesn't have any room for a table to eat at, and given that our baby will be starting solids in a couple of months, we'd like to have a table. And of course, eventually she'll need her own room - right now the second bedroom is taken up with bookshelves and a computer.

So, there's a bigger 2 bedroom unit in our building available. We're debating whether or not to move into it, or to hold off. We'd have to make do with our current apartment until we could afford something bigger outside of the building.

I'd really love some input as we're fairly torn about what to do. Moving sucks - but moving within a building is probably a hell of a lot easier than moving completely. We'd also have to paint our apartment back to primer, along with painting the new place. We'll probably get a couple of weeks overlap (hopefully without having to double-pay for both units) to do so. This isn't a 'make up my mind for me' post...I just would love to get some input as I find that people outside of the situation can sometimes see things that you can't when you're in it, y'know?

Things to consider:
-our current unit has a beautiful old clawfoot tub. new place does not.
-our current unit has a balcony. new place has a fire escape (there looks to be enough room to put some chairs on it, but they'd have to be folding chairs as to not block the ladder)
-our building is a beautiful old low rise. our rent (for both apartments) is a few hundred below market rent (it's a co-op)...if we move outside the building, we'd have a hard time finding something this nice for so cheap. also, we love this neighbourhood, but we probably couldn't afford to live in it if we weren't in this building.
-current unit is on the 2nd floor (walk-up). new place is on the 3rd.
-the new place looks to be a couple hundred square feet bigger than our current place.
-current place has a lot of closet space, while the new place has less - we're actually not even sure if it has closets at all. we have a storage unit in our basement, so we'd have to move a lot more stuff down there.
-the 'master' bedroom in the new place is smaller than what we currently have. but the living/dining area is bigger. the kitchen looks to be a bit bigger. bathroom a bit smaller.
-new place looks to have more windows.
-as I said, we'll definitely have to move eventually, but if we decide it's not worth it to move now, then we'll make do with this place for another....year or two I guess and hope that we can afford something outside of our building at that point.

We haven't seen the new place yet, but we got the rough floor plan from our administrator. I've posted both floor plans below.

( floorplans ahoy! )

Hello! I have been stalking this group for a while, and would love some input! My husband and I just moved into a new apartment and the living room is set up kind of funky. We're buying some new furniture, but can't figure out how to place things so we haven't been able to buy anything yet. We already have a few pieces: an oversized loveseat, large tv, tv stand, and a bookshelf. I plan on getting on sofa and possibly a chair or two so we can have people over (since our seating right now is so limited). I was thinking of possibly splitting the room in two somehow so we could have seating around the tv, and then a smaller area for the bookshelf and possibly a desk... or something.

Any suggestions or ideas would be awesome, thank you!

( Pictures of my living room... )

Hello!

I just joined the community & scoured the memories but couldn't find anything on staining (let me know if I missed it). I recently got 2 great pieces for my new apartment at a neighborhood sale, but I would prefer if they were darker wood.

I need a staining expert! The pieces are:

1. An Ikea light wood dresser. It's definitely finished with something, but being Ikea, I don't know if it's real wood underneath, a plastic or a real varnish, etc so I don't know how to treat it. Can I stain it without sanding it?

2.A real wood end table. It appears to also have some type of varnish.

Is it worth trying to stain these? I don't want to ruin them! They aren't super light, just not as dark as I'd like.

Thanks!