So we’ve entered a contest and we’re kind of excited. We’ve never really done anything like this mostly because we’ve never really felt settled or happy with the place we were living. Also, we’re kind of messy normally. So this was also good motivation for spring cleaning to actually happen. We haven’t heard back yet if our entry has been accepted but as soon as we hear I will let you know!Then you can go vote for us if you’d like.

So here’s a little home tour… (you can also find more pictures here and here)

We love our home. It’s someplace we spend a lot of time so i suppose that’s good.  So far this is the only place that has really felt like it reflects us well. Our last apartment was huge and we just about drowned in it. It was cavernous and the rooms we’re awkward and hard to arrange. The things we owned were mostly free finds, thrifted, from craigslist, things left in our basement from friends needing to store things that they never returned for… but almost nothing did we really love. So when we moved we purged… and purged… and purged some more. We emptied our 1500+sqft apartment of almost everything and moved into our current little lovely 1927 stucco nest of 850sqft.

We only kept the things we loved, the things that had personality, the things that were useful and beautiful… and maybe most importantly, the things that you could store things in. You see, this lovely little dream apartment of ours had one downfall… one small closet… in the whole place. No place for linens, towels, brooms, cleaning supplies, coats and barely enough room for two grown adult wardrobes. So we got trickey and organized…

We installed a coat rack.

The small sweet table by the window is perfect for sunny breakfast and a prime spot for kitties when the sun hits. In it’s drawers we keep practical bits like kitty toys and treats, light bulbs, batteries, cords, candles, matches…

It even folds out to seat 4-6. Or with a little rearranging, it can be placed end to end with the matching one from the craft room for parties.

We divided the room to be both living and dining with a nifty sideboard where we store dave’s cameras, film negatives, shoe shine kit, paperwork, and a few table linens and napkins.

The trunk by the chairs holds the vintage Raleigh dave is working on, the coffee table has extra blankets and old nintendo & atari plus games (which we are currently trying to find new homes for so if you are interested in video games…)

the expedit became home for books, extra plates & wine glasses, movies, craft supplies, and photography implements. Folding chairs hide under the couch.

An old radio case next to the desk holds our turntable/small stereo set up and hides away all our cd’s. We’ve put all our music on a hard drive so we don’t have to mess with the actual cd’s or make them accessible and have that, the record player and our laptop hooked up to the stereo.

We bought bins and baskets for the closet

a beautiful old wardrobe so we each had our own closet space: he got the pretty but small-ish wardrobe and i got the closet (which i promptly filled up!).

The trunk by the window holds all our christmas decorations and gift wrapping supplies.

A small bookcase is my tiny vanity and is plenty of room for all my makeup and jewelry.

The tiny hall nook is just the right size for some art and a small bookshelf for cookbooks and craft books.

A small wooden shoe rack fits perfectly under the bathroom sink as a shelf and a small wall shelf with hooks works as a shaving center for dave and a place for a hand towel.

Pig Hat print from Obara.com

The kitchen was the room that really made us swoon… we cook a lot. Indian, thai, japanese, hungarian, german, polish, lithuanian, persian, italian, french… Our last kitchen was tiny so this large expanse really made us giddy.

 before moving things in. IT”S HUGE!!!!!

The addition of a shelf and a couple small kitchen islands expands the counter space nicely and gave us room for all our most elaborate meals, experiments, and dinner parties.

Sneaky little cart between the stove and fridge makes oils, vinegars, salts and peppers handy

The small room off the kitchen (probably a laundry/washroom set up before) became a space for tools and home supplies, the air conditioner when not in use, the drying rack & ironing board, and most importantly, a place for me to make stuff!

We put in some terribly useful shelves from ikea, another slim folding gate-leg table, along with a nice long table for sewing and fabric cutting.

So yup, that is our little home and we love it.