As previously stated, I am on a never-ending mission of making our home as cozy as possible – however small our place may be. And it is pretty small to tell you the truth, the guesstimate hovering around 480 square feet (and this really is a very broad estimate carried out by yours truly pacing out our 1-bedroom apartment last night).
I did however make some, in my humble opinion, monumental improvements over the weekend. You would be surprised how some little changes can have a huge impact on the overall feel of the place. But you see for yourself. Here’s our living room before. I hate how messy it looks. The laptop usually has its own place in a different corner of the room, but the wireless network was down and I had to connect it to the router.
So and this is the after:
Doesn’t it look that much more neat and cozy? I just love the drop-leaf table that I bought at Ikea. It actually looks like a real dining table opposed to the “desk-like” table that acted as a stand-in for far too long. It was so narrow that we could only sit next to each other or with me trying to squeeze in on the short side of it. Just not fun!
And on top of that, clutter always ended up on this table. I am really going to try hard to not have that happen anymore.
I also was able to make some room in our bedroom to set up a little crafting nook. Considering that there is not much room to begin with, I think it looks pretty neat.
This is the before,
and the after.
I’m not sure how much time I will actually spend crafting at this table, but it’s good to have some space to keep my projects organized. On second thought though, isn’t the lamp just shedding the loveliest light on the room? It makes me want to spend the whole day in bed.
As you might have noticed, I also finally hung up those two pictures, a collage of my family and a picture that my aunt painted. The green theme fits perfectly with our bed sheets :)
The decluttering is definitely not over yet. I have a few boxes to go through and I think another trip to Ikea might be in order to get some more organizational thingys that will hold the odds and ends that don’t have a place yet; but I am really happy with what I have accomplished so far over the weekend.
kim
January 20, 2010 at 5:31 amit looks great! as you know, i’ve been doing something similar this past weekend and i still like to walk into our “new” study/guestroom to just look at it ;) de-cluttering rocks! xoxo
.-= kim´s last blog ..my resolutions on day 12 of 2010 =-.
Stefanie
January 20, 2010 at 6:10 amI love your little changes! It does make a huge difference. I am also trying to not put anything on our dining room table. I am really bad at it. But it has become a habit of mine recently to put everything away before I go to bed. It seems to work for me. :)
.-= Stefanie´s last blog ..That one time someone asked me to come in for an interview. =-.
Tanja
January 20, 2010 at 6:51 amLittle things can make a huge change …. it looks great!
Love the green painting and the dinner table in this direction ;)
ute
January 20, 2010 at 8:25 amlove it!!! see isnt it fun? haha. I also did a lot of decluttering this weekend. you should have seen all the stuff I shredded! :) Proud of you hunbun!!! hugs & kisses
Amy --- Just A Titch
January 20, 2010 at 10:58 amYour place is adorable! So cute!
Antje
January 20, 2010 at 12:31 pmGood job San! It made such a difference!
Maribeth
January 20, 2010 at 12:55 pmLooking good!
Susi
January 20, 2010 at 4:15 pmIt looks great! You are the decorator queen!
Karen
January 20, 2010 at 4:59 pmIt does look so different. It must be so nice to finally have a proper dinner table!
Jamie Jenson
January 20, 2010 at 5:18 pmIt looks awesome, San!! Keep up the good work!
Holly
January 20, 2010 at 8:26 pmYour place looks fantastic – I especially like your crafting nook! I really need to start decluttering our condo …
Terra
January 22, 2010 at 9:31 amLooks great! I love it when little improvements make a big impact!
.-= Terra´s last blog ..Vacation (Light): 24 Hours in DC =-.
ilka
January 23, 2010 at 11:38 ami think it’s always easier to rearrange something when you have space. and so it’s even harder to rearrange things when you have such lil space. it looks really cute, sandra