Tag Archives: decorating

Getting Some Custom Artwork (or Finishing Up More Projects At My Place)

Posted on February 23, 2023 | Comments Off on Getting Some Custom Artwork (or Finishing Up More Projects At My Place)

After my parents were in Santa Barbara, they came to LA for a few days. Sometimes when they come to LA, they are here longer, but this time we had only a few things we wanted to accomplish and we had to work around my work schedule. But we lucked out and the Monday they were here happened to be a holiday, so I had the day off work. So we were able to do a lot in a short amount of time.

Every time my parents are visiting me, I always have a list of projects that I need help on. This has happened at every place I’ve lived, but I think the projects have become bigger now that I own a place. But this time, most of the projects I had ahead of time were pretty small things. I had worked on building a tv stand, but couldn’t get a few of the steps done so I needed my dad’s help to finish it. I also had built a shelving unit for my bathroom and needed help hanging it up and making sure it was secure. And now that I know where most of my furniture is going to be, we worked on making a few things a bit more secure for earthquake safety.

But the biggest project we had to work on was something that I didn’t have until my parents got here. I have a very long wall in my living room behind my couch and I looked online for a few months to find the perfect thing to put there. I found something I liked, but it was too expensive. But I showed it to my dad since it was made of wood and I knew he was learning woodworking. He showed it to his neighbor, who is his woodworking teacher, and they decided that it wouldn’t be the easiest project but it was doable. So my dad was going to make something similar to what I saw online, but more customized for my house.

I had seen progress pictures over the past 6 months of the different stages of the artwork in process. And when I was in Portland we worked on the color design since they needed to stain the wood. The one that I saw online was a single piece, but because of the size of the wall, we knew doing a triptych would probably look cooler. And once the artwork was here and we were able to hang it up, I know that was the right choice.

It doesn’t cover the entire length of the wall, so I might add some photos or something to the sides to make it more of a gallery wall. But it is substantial and really a statement piece. The colors are similar to what I have in my living room, but also a bit bolder so it adds a nice touch. A lot of the things I own are more neutrals and I knew I needed some color. The teal in the artwork really stands out in a great way.

I don’t know if the photos really show off how cool this piece is, but you can see a lot of the texture from this close-up photo.

Most of the visit with my parents was focused on doing all these projects, and I think it was worth it to do that. My place still isn’t fully decorated or complete, but it’s feeling more like it’s not something still being worked on. And the things I don’t have yet aren’t things I urgently need so I’m ok with waiting a bit longer to buy them. I just have wanted to make my place feel like home and every time I get a few new things or work on projects like this, it feels more like it’s mine. I also think the renovation helped it feel like that right away since I designed a lot, but the furniture and artwork helped so much.

I’m glad we were able to get so much done on the day I had off of work since the next day I was busy pretty much until dinnertime. But my parents came over after I was done with work and we went out to dinner. It might have been faster than most of their visits here, but we had some very specific things we wanted to accomplish and we were able to get them done. And even though I have a few other little projects to still work on, those are things that I either need to hire someone to do because we can’t do them or they are very small that I can do at a later date.

I’m not sure when my parents will be in LA next. Possibly at some point this summer or maybe in the fall. But I’ll see them again in a little over a month in Santa Barbara and I’m hoping that maybe I can finally make it back to Tahoe this summer! But whenever they come back to the condo, I’m sure I’ll have more projects on my list for us to work on and we’ll try to be as efficient as we were this time.

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Reorganizing My Space (or Enjoying The Possibilities I Have)

Posted on February 17, 2023 | Comments Off on Reorganizing My Space (or Enjoying The Possibilities I Have)

When I was living at my old place, I felt like I didn’t change my furniture that often because most of the things I owned fit a very specific space and I couldn’t imagine anything else fitting there. The only real changes I can remember making were getting a new couch and tv stand. But for both of those things, I was replacing something from my place before that didn’t really fit into the tiny house I was living in at that point. But when I was moving out of that place and into my condo, I did end up getting rid of quite a few things, and many of them I had for over a decade.

I’ve slowly been upgrading things in my current place. Some of the new things I got were things I had when I moved, like my new bed. Others were things that took a bit of time to find, like my couch. And there are also some things that I am saving up for and will eventually get but I’m not in a rush to buy them. I want to make sure that I get the right things and not waste my money, so it’s taken time to find the things I want.

One of my more recent upgrades was to get a new tv and tv stand. I first set up my new tv on my old tv stand since that was the easier project. And over this past weekend, my friend Pamela came over to help me build the tv stand. I was excited to build it since the box was huge and heavy and it was taking up a lot of room in my entryway. The project ended up being harder than expected and there were a few steps that we just couldn’t figure out how to make work. So my dad is going to help me when my parents are here soon. But at least I got most of it built and it’s looking pretty good so far. The cables are a mess for now since I’m waiting until it’s done being built before organizing it, but it’s so much better than my old setup.

But after building it, I had to find a place to put my old tv stand while I work on selling it. I also need to sell my old tv but that is easier to store away for now. I had a few options for where I can put stuff, but I ended up putting the old tv stand in my office for now since the wall where I will eventually have a bookcase murphy bed is still empty. And since I put that in that room a few days ago, it’s made me wonder if I should keep it there for a while since I won’t be getting the murphy bed any time soon. I probably won’t do that since I want to sell things while I can, but it’s interesting to plan for different options that I hadn’t considered before. I’m not used to being able to have multiple options for furniture and it’s kind of fun to imagine what I can do with different things.

I’ve been so used to having to be set into a specific layout and now I feel like my mind has been opened a bit more to what I can pick with the other things I want to buy. I have been looking for new nightstands and a dresser for my room, but I’ve been looking at a lot of the same things over and over again. And now I’m expanding my search a bit more and have had some more interesting and creative ideas of what I could do. Since I don’t need to buy new things immediately and can just keep using what I have for now, I have the freedom to consider more options and I think my search might take a bit longer now that I have started looking at some different possibilities for how I can reorganize my room with new things.

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A Busy Building Weekend (or Having My Parents Help Me Continue To Put My Place Together)

Posted on October 26, 2022 | Comments Off on A Busy Building Weekend (or Having My Parents Help Me Continue To Put My Place Together)

My parents have been able to come to LA a couple of times since we bought the condo. They hadn’t seen it before it was officially ours, which was a little odd, but they had been on Facetime with me a lot so they had an idea of what it looked like. Plus they trusted the realtor we used and looked into all the inspection details so things weren’t a big surprise for them. They also were here before the remodel started so we could finalize details such as the stone and tile we would use. They came down during the remodel to ensure things were working the way they should. And then they were here when things were technically done and I had moved in, but that was before the floors had to be redone. So they have seen my home in all different stages.

As I have gotten new things, I have shared photos or videos with them so they have been aware of the changes I’ve continued to make. But they hadn’t been able to see the place in person since right after I moved in (which was the time we found my new couch). They usually have planned their visits down here around the time they would be seeing my brother, but they had a trip to Santa Barbara earlier this where it didn’t make sense for my parents to see me because they could only be here on weekdays. I work all day, so I knew if I really wanted to see them it would have to be a weekend. So they planned a weekend in LA and then planned to see my brother around that. And we had a pretty busy weekend.

My parents brought some stuff down for me this time, including a new bark planter for me to put in my backyard.

I had bark planters at my old place, but they were really old and brittle so it was time for an upgrade. And my dad was able to make me this one and then they found a little stand with wheels so I can move it around (it’s too heavy to really lift and move). My dad also helped me out and planted the new plants I bought in it, so hopefully, I will be able to keep those plants alive.

We also had a trip to Ikea. My parents hadn’t been to Ikea before, so I figured it would be fun to go in person instead of me just ordering some things I was looking at online and having them shipped. Plus, there were a few things I was undecided on and wanted to see in person before I decided what to buy. On my list for this trip was a new vanity for my room, some storage for my bathroom, and a big full-length mirror.

I was successful in finding a new vanity, but it actually wasn’t the one I expected to get. When we looked at them in person, I found one that I liked more and that I think fit into my room better. The storage thing I was looking at for my bathroom was the right thing so I got that too. But the mirrors just weren’t the right thing for what I needed, so I’ll have to find something at another store.

Because of how Ikea is set up, we spent a while walking around and looking at the different areas and what things might work for me or inspire an idea. And while we were walking around, I found a cabinet that I had been looking at for a while but hadn’t gotten. I wanted some more shoe storage and something near my entryway to have a place to display things and just to ground the space. So I showed my parents what I had been looking at and they agreed it would be perfect as well. I wasn’t sure about the color since I had originally looked at the white one, but we decided something a little darker would be nice and a good contrast against the paint color.

When we got home from Ikea, we had a list of things to get through. There were a few other tasks I wanted some help with, like hanging some art that I hadn’t put up yet. But most of our afternoon and evening was filled with building the new cabinet and vanity. And I have to say after the cabinet was done that it was exactly the right thing to put in that space.

I haven’t put all my shoes away yet and I might use one of the drawers for something else, but it really fills in the space that you see when you walk in the door and I love that it’s really shallow so it doesn’t block my hallway too much. It really was the perfect thing for that space and I’m so glad that I got it!

Because my parents were only here for the weekend and we had a lot of things to get done, we didn’t do much else while they were here. But that’s ok since I knew this visit would be one that was spent doing a lot of random work. We didn’t get everything done that we wanted to, but a lot was accomplished. And I know the next time that they are here, I’ll have more things for us to put together and to make my home feel even more complete.

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Finding Some New Awesome Art (or Still Celebrating My Liver)

Posted on September 22, 2022 | Comments Off on Finding Some New Awesome Art (or Still Celebrating My Liver)

I knew when I moved into my new place, I would need to get some more things to decorate since it’s about 3 times the size of my old place. I felt like my old place had a good amount of art and fun stuff around, but that was because I had so little space to put them up. So ever since I moved into my new place, things have felt a bit sparse. But I also don’t want to just buy things to fill up my new home, so I’m always on the lookout for cool things to get or add to my wish list so I can buy them later.

I know I will want a lot of cool things to decorate when I eventually get the library bed for my office/guest room. There will be a lot of shelves that I want to decorate and I’ve added so much to a wish list already such as books with decorative covers to make them look more like art than books. I never really got into the idea of styling bookshelves until a few years ago, but now I love the idea of finding creative ways to set up bookcases. And one of the things I love seeing on styled bookcases is fun pieces of art that can feel a bit random. You can’t exactly just go shopping for random things, but it feels like you found a treasure when you find something that happens to be perfect.

I was scrolling through TikTok a few weeks ago and came across someone who does embroidery. One of the things I love about TikTok is how you can discover someone you might never have found otherwise. And this person not only does cool embroidery, but she makes different organs out of embroidery. And the video that I saw was her making a liver. Of course, I needed it so I could celebrate how amazing my liver has been and to commemorate the tumors shrinking. I immediately went to her Etsy shop and looked for it, but I couldn’t find it. So I commented on the video and she said it was going to be a part of a release coming up. I made a mental note to look at her shop again when she released new items and just hoped that I would be lucky enough to get it.

And on the release day, I guess I forgot what day it was until very late that night. All of a sudden, I realized that the liver art was going to be for sale that day and there was only one available. I was worried that someone else got it before I had a chance to buy it, but somehow it was still available. So I clicked to buy it and made sure I finished everything before anyone else got a chance to do so. I was so happy when I got the order confirmation because I really wanted this piece as a part of my office. And now I knew I would be getting it.

Because it was coming from overseas, I knew it might take a while to get to me, But it was only about 2 weeks later before there was a package in my mailbox and my new amazing art was here!

I think it looks even better than it did online! Every time I look at it, I smile. It’s really beautifully done and I know it sounds weird to say this but I love the colors. When I saw it online, I knew immediately that it’s a liver, but I think some people might think it’s a mushroom or a tree. But that almost makes it even better. It’s something so random and cool but also so meaningful to me.

Since I don’t know when I’ll be getting the library bed so I can decorate my office, right now my new embroidered liver is leaning against things on my desk. But I think I’ll get a little stand for it so I can have it upright next to a stack of books when I do have that new piece of furniture. I don’t have many things yet to put on those shelves when I do get them, but I am so glad that I have something so perfect already to put on there in the future.

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Repeat Birthday Presents (or This Really Makes A Big Difference In My New Home)

Posted on July 19, 2022 | Comments Off on Repeat Birthday Presents (or This Really Makes A Big Difference In My New Home)

Now that the renovation on my new place is finally done, the work I have left is the fun stuff like decorating and getting new furniture. I put off getting quite a few things since I didn’t want to have stuff in boxes all over my place while work was still happening. But I have been doing a lot of browsing online and saving links for things that I wanted to get. There are a few things that I will have to wait to get because I need to save up for them, but it’s been fun to plan things out.

One of the few things that I ordered ahead of time was a new couch. This was something that I wasn’t originally planning on getting. I thought I might add an armchair or something else to my living room, but when my parents saw how my old couch didn’t fit well into my new living room, they said we should at least go and look at new ones while they were visiting me. And we found something we could customize a bit so it would be perfect for my new living room.

My old couch was a birthday present from my parents back in 2014. It was really the perfect couch for me when I was living at my old place. Since it was such a small space, I had to be very careful with how things were set up and the size of anything I put in my home. I was very lucky to find such a perfect couch that fit everything that I needed and I loved how my living room looked in my old place.

But my new living room is several times larger than my old one, so when I had the movers move my couch, it really didn’t fit well. Even with the original plan to add an armchair, it just didn’t seem right. I couldn’t figure out why until someone pointed out that the color seemed off now. In my old place, the walls were a yellow-based white and my couch looked gray. In my new place, the walls are a blue-based white and the couch almost looked brown. It just didn’t fit and I figured I would just keep my old couch until I found something I liked. I didn’t think I’d find one while shopping with my parents, but that’s how it all turned out. I put the purchase on a store credit card because they had an offer for a gas card with the purchase, plus there would be no interest for a year so I would have more time to pay it off without having extra charges. But after I got that all set up, my parents said that they would like to help me pay for the couch for my birthday present this year. I think that is so generous of them and I love that I will still have a couch that is a birthday present!

Since I was going to have to delay the delivery of my new couch, I had some time to find a buyer for my old one. I posted about it online and a friend of a friend needed a new couch and was willing to pay close to what I was asking. I wasn’t trying to make a lot of money off of it, but I did want to get something for it. So taking a little less than asking was fine with me. The old couch was supposed to be picked up a few weeks ago. Originally, it wasn’t going to be here when my floors were redone. But the person buying it off of me was delayed, so it was here until this past weekend. I think that worked out perfectly because I was able to arrange for the delivery of the new one to also be this past weekend. And that way, I was only without a couch for 1 day instead of several weeks.

It was sad to see my old couch go since I did love it for so long. But I know that it wasn’t going to be the right thing to have in my living room to have the look I wanted. And I only had to be sad for a day before the new one was delivered. When we ordered the couch, they had a deal going on for the delivery to be white glove service, so they would set up everything and take away all packing material. So I didn’t have to worry about all the plastic and boxes that the different pieces came in. And the delivery people were very nice and willing to let me try out 2 different combinations since this sectional and be adjusted however I’d like. But I went with the original layout that we were thinking and I think that it looks perfect.

I think everyone who has seen this photo agrees that the new couch fits in so much better than the old one.

It was only delivered on Sunday and I haven’t had much time to sit on it, but it is very comfortable. And I can move the ottoman around so I can extend the couch wherever I’m sitting. It’s much better than the little square ottoman I’ve been using that is just big enough for my feet. And if I decide to make the couch a different shape, it’s pretty easy to move the different pieces around. I haven’t really lived somewhere I could do that before since at my old place, everything pretty much only had one way that it would fit into the room. Now, I have so much more space to play with and I’ve been loving it!

Just like I’ve said so many times in recent months, this is helping to make my place feel more like my home. There is still stuff to get and different decor that I want to get up, but at least now I have a couch that really fits the space and makes my living room look so comfortable and inviting.

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Having Some Fun With Setting Up My Place (or Now I Can Plan Out More)

Posted on June 30, 2022 | Comments Off on Having Some Fun With Setting Up My Place (or Now I Can Plan Out More)

A lot of getting my new place set up was put on hold until my floors were redone.  And as I wrote yesterday, I finally can get some furniture things delivered or planned out now that the floors are done. And this part of moving and living in a new place is definitely much more fun than the stress I was having with the move back in April. Of course, I am still finding more and more things that either I need to get or want to replace, so I’ll be working on this phase of my new place for a while. I lived in my old place for 12 years and I felt like I was always making changes or upgrades. And now that I have more space, that means there are more opportunities to decorate and make the space my own.

But because I can finally start getting more things bought and planned out, I knew I needed to really figure out what I want and which stores I would be ordering things from. I did order a lot online, but there have been some things that were at stores and I do like to see things in person before buying if I can. So when I was looking for a bench for my entryway, when I found a very basic and simple one at IKEA I knew I would want to go to the store to see it in person. The store isn’t super close to me, but it’s not unreasonably far either. And my friend Robert came with me so he could help me make decisions and we could have some fun wandering around the store.

The IKEA in Burbank is the largest one in the US. I had been to the old Burbank location, but this one is about twice the size. So I knew we would be there for a while and that there would be a lot of walking. But we were both prepared for that and we knew we might find some really cool random things.

We spent a lot of time just looking around at the different display rooms they have set up even though we didn’t need anything from most of them. One of the things I did want to look at besides an entryway bench was a display cabinet I was thinking about getting for next to my tv. I’m glad I did look at them in person because I realized they would not be the right thing for me and they wouldn’t go with what I already own. I realized after leaving the store that it might actually be cheaper for me to just get a new tv stand, so I’m now shopping around for those. But I didn’t think about that when we were in the store.

We did find the bench that I had been looking at online, and it seemed like it would be a good fit for what I need. I don’t need anything crazy, just something to sit on to put on shoes or for me to put my purse down. And after we found that and noted the item number for later, we started looking around at more random fun things.

I wanted to make sure I didn’t go too crazy with buying stuff, so I tried to limit what I considered. I did get some new organizers for my kitchen plus a few fun little decor items, but there were other things I was looking at, like new food storage containers, that I decided to wait on getting until I was sure I wanted something new.

We ended up being at the store for a few hours, and I was getting tired as we were leaving. We did make one quick stop at the little cafe to get slushies since it was a really hot day and I figured that would be a good treat to have on my drive home. And I’m glad I didn’t get anything too big since the box for my bench just fit into my car and I don’t know if I could have made a bigger box fit.

As soon as I got home, I built the bench. It wasn’t too hard to put together, even with the minimal instructions that you get. And while I need to organize the shoes I have there so it’s not as cluttered, I think it looks pretty nice.

I also got the organizers in my kitchen drawers, and I’m glad they fit because I forgot to measure the drawers before we went. But they ended up being perfect! I haven’t taken the decor things out of their boxes yet since I still need a place to put them, but I’m still happy with what I got because they were not expensive at all.

It was a very successful outing to get things for my condo. I got some things I needed and some things I just wanted. But they all are making my place feel more like my style and I know that as I add some more of the bigger items I’m looking at it will just continue to get better!

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A Busy Family Weekend (or Continuing To Set Up My Home)

Posted on May 17, 2022 | Comments Off on A Busy Family Weekend (or Continuing To Set Up My Home)

This past weekend, my parents were in LA to see me. This was their first time here in a while and they hadn’t seen almost any of the work done to the condo in person. They had seen plenty of videos and photos, but the last time they were here things were still pretty much in the demolition and rebuilding stage. They saw the new opening in the kitchen, but the kitchen was a blank space with nothing there. They saw the bathroom torn down, but the walls only had the first moisture barrier on them and there was no tile or anything else. This was really their first chance to see what it’s going to look like when everything is all done.

There are still a few things that are being redone or worked on, but the current look is basically what it will be. So I was excited for them to finally get to see my new home. Plus, we had a bunch of different random things we wanted to get done while they were here.

My parents got here after I was done with work on Friday, so that day was just to give them a tour of the condo, for them to give me a few things, and for us to have dinner. Our busiest day was on Saturday. After my dad and I had our workout, we got to work at my place. My parents took a few notes of things we want to tell the contractor about to add to their touchup list first, but there are only a few little things that just need to be fixed (like tightening a fixture or fixing the slide on a drawer). Then, we did the big project which was hanging up the artwork that I have.

I don’t have a ton of artwork, but I do have a few pieces I love. I didn’t know exactly where I wanted to put everything, so we only worked on the ones I was sure about. So that was a painting in the hallway, another painting in the dining room, a mirror in the entryway that my parents brought for me so it was new to me, and a painting over my fireplace.

My dad is a perfectionist with all this so we were measuring and using my laser level to make sure everything was hung up perfectly, but we wanted to only have to do it once and then be done so I was ok with that. And even though some of my things aren’t on the walls yet since I still am unsure of where to put them, I am so much happier with the things I have up now. And it makes it feel even more like my place since these pieces are on the walls and not just leaning on the ground.

They also brought me a few other things for me to put around the place, such as the vase that I put on my fireplace. I have a lot of things I want to display, but I think I’ll be buying some display cabinets soon for my living room so those things are staying in boxes for now. But I like that I have more things that give my place some personality and it’s not quite as plain.

After the art was done, we had another mission. Originally, my plan was to keep my couch and get a new chair for my living room since my couch looks so tiny in the new space. I love that couch so much, but it’s really not right for me anymore. The color looks off with everything we designed, and even if I added a chair to the living room the couch would still probably look small and weird. So we decided to go to a furniture store near my place just to look around and see if we get any ideas.

Originally, I was thinking if I got a new couch I would want one that has the pullout that is under the seats to make it almost like a bed so you can stretch out more. But the store we went to only had one of those and I really didn’t like the way it looked and it wasn’t the right dimensions. So we kept looking around and we found a modular sofa that we could buy additional pieces for so it could be the right size for the space. And if I wanted a slightly smaller couch, one of the couch pieces could be moved to the side to be a chair. And while it doesn’t have a pullout to make it feel like a bed, the ottoman it comes with fits in nicely to make it have a bit of that feeling.

We didn’t want to make any rash decisions and we hadn’t really done all the measuring we needed to do at my place to make sure this was right, so we said we’d be back the next day if it would all work out. And when we measured, it would be perfect! So we went back on Sunday to order it!

The couch is going to be held for me until we are ready, and we aren’t exactly sure when that will be since we are waiting on the contractor to get back to us with some timelines for the work. But hopefully, that will be done soon and I can get the couch delivered (after I sell my old one).

I know I’m trying to not spend as much on new things, but the more I looked at my current couch, the more I knew I needed an upgrade to make my place what I wanted it to be. I’m still waiting on buying a lot of things that are on my list, such as the bookcase murphy bed I want to put in my office. And soon, I’ll work on some budgeting stuff to be able to figure out how long I will need to save until I can get that. But it is exciting to have some more new furniture coming soon!

The only negative part of our full weekend was that I was feeling really awful on Sunday. My pain and anti-nausea meds really weren’t working and I was having moments where I was in so much pain that I was in tears. So we had planned on spending more time together on Sunday before they left, but by the afternoon I knew I just needed to sleep off the rest of the day and hope things would stop hurting for me. So we had to say goodbye without getting to have dinner together on Sunday.

I’m not sure when my parents will be back in LA, but it probably won’t be for a little while. By the time they are back, I should hopefully have everything done here and my new couch! And maybe even more new things that I find to keep making this place feel like mine! But for now, I’m so glad we got the things done that we did and it’s coming together even more.

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Default ThumbnailA Busy Family Visit (or Making Some Choices For My New Home) Default Thumbnail2 Busy LA Days (or Getting More Renovation Planning Done) Default ThumbnailThe Roadrunner (or More Memories In My House) Default ThumbnailMinor Remodeling (or Putting My Parents To Work On Their Vacation) Default ThumbnailAnother Busy Condo Weekend (or A Working Visit For My Parents) Default ThumbnailGetting More Settled In (or Really Feeling Home)

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A Busy Family Visit (or Making Some Choices For My New Home)

Posted on November 19, 2021 | Comments Off on A Busy Family Visit (or Making Some Choices For My New Home)

When I started looking at condos again in September, we had no idea how quickly I would find a place I liked. It would have been amazing if I had found a place when my parents were in town, but I also knew that was going to be very unlikely. Then, I started to hope that maybe the timing of finding a place would be when my parents were going to be in Santa Barbara for our early Thanksgiving. What ended up happening was finding a place before my parents were here this month, but I think it worked out better. Because the condo is officially ours now, my parents were able to visit me after the early Thanksgiving so we could focus on the work we want to do before I move in.

Technically, I could move into the condo in the condition it is in now. Not everything is working perfectly, but I could do quick fixes to make them work. And some work could have waited until after I was living in there. But it’s easier to do the work before I move in, so that’s what we decided to do. There aren’t really any structural changes we want to make, but we want to fix up things that are outdated or broken and make the condo really my style. Fortunately, the ideas my mom and I had were not too different, so deciding what projects we wanted to do wasn’t too hard. But that was the easy part.

So for the past few days, my parents have been in LA helping me plan out fixing up the condo. They have been doing most of the work because I have had to be working while they were here. So they interviewed contractors and discussed bids, which was better for them to do since I’ve never done this before. They also took a look at a few things that we might be able to fix ourselves and what little projects we might want to add or remove from the plan.

They also made some decisions on a few things like if we should try to fix up something already in the condo or if we should remove the broken thing and put something new in. We are mindful of a budget, but it would be easier to do this all at one time and not have to wait until later and do another big project. And we don’t want to do something that might break in a few years so we want to find a good balance of low price but good quality. Again, I’m glad my parents are helping me with this because I don’t know what to look for or even what prices seem reasonable.

Since I was working most of the time they were visiting, I only saw them in the evening after work. But I did take one day off work so we could do a lot of design planning. We went to multiple stores to try to see what styles I was interested in and to pick out a lot of materials we would be using. The main materials we needed to find were for the kitchen for the counter and backsplash. I had an idea of what I wanted, but I also hadn’t looked at counters and tile together and I knew that would be important. I originally picked out a tile I loved for the backsplash, but it was 4 times the price of almost any other tile. So that had to be replaced. But I think I found the perfect combination of counter and tile for my kitchen.

I also had to find tile for the bathroom and there were so many ideas of what we could do. I think my mom and I decided on something a bit more unique with a textured tile for the walls so it has a bit of character. But for a lot of what we are looking at, we are just trying to keep things clean and somewhat neutral. I can add a lot when I move in with art and my furniture. To me, moving somewhere that is fresh and new will feel amazing, so I don’t think I am too worried about things like what style handles are on a cabinet. Most of the things I ended up liking as we went from store to store were the most basic and generic models. Fortunately, that meant they also tended to be on the lower price side. But we are still shopping around since I do have time before I need to have everything figured out.

My parents might not be back in LA until after the condo is done. That depends on how long things take to finish and if I need more help. But we did make a lot of progress on this project and I’m excited to start getting things moving! The point of my parents visiting me this time was to get work done and not to have as much social time, and I think we accomplished just that!

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Still Doing More House Projects (or Just Trying To Find Busy Work)

Posted on September 3, 2020 | Comments Off on Still Doing More House Projects (or Just Trying To Find Busy Work)

Since I’ve been staying in my house, I’ve done so many projects around my house. I’ve done some redecorating, I’ve done organizing things, and I’ve probably done more deep cleans of my house than would be necessary. Sometimes I do these projects because they are things that I’ve been putting off. Some of them have been to just change up the look of my house. And some of them are because I’m bored and have nothing else to do.

I have to be careful with the projects that I do just because I’m bored. If they are things that don’t cost me anything, that’s fine. But a lot of these projects cost me something because I’m buying supplies of some sort. And I don’t want to buy a lot of new things just because I’m bored. I know that I will buy some things when I’m redecorating my house, but I’m also really trying to use the things in my house in a new way that makes them feel different.

Doing projects has been a good way to have a sense of purpose on a day that I might not have anything else going on. I feel a sense of accomplishment if I do something and complete it. It’s silly how proud I can be of myself for some of the things that I have done, but at the same time, I’m going to take a win however I can get them these days.

I think I had a bigger desire to do projects a few months ago. That one was motivated by feeling bored in my house and wanting to have a different view when looking around my place. I have slowed down a lot with the projects or have found random smaller ones to do from time to time. And like I mentioned above, a lot of these projects are also about cleaning my house. My floors and surfaces have never looked better. Of course, I also am using the floors and surfaces as staging areas for other projects, so they can look a bit cluttered. But even if they are cluttered, they are clean.

And when I find a project that does cost me money, I try to be very aware of how much I’m spending and what I really need to get. For example, I recently spent some time online searching for some nice fake plants. As much as I would love to have real plants in my house, I’m not that great at keeping them alive. So fake plants allow me to get the greenery in my house without the potential plant murder. And there are so many nice fake plants online to pick from. Just like with so many things, if I had endless money I would probably buy a ton. But I wanted to keep it limited to maybe one new plant for now. I ended up buying a set of 3 small fake plants that I’m deciding where I want to keep them (right now, all three are in my kitchen window, but I bet I’ll move them a few times within the next week or so).

There are several more fake plants that I have saved online because I love the look of plants in a house. I want to get something to put on the floor near my tv, but I think it’s harder to find good fake plants when they are big without seeing them first. So far, I’ve only bought small ones online. But maybe in a month or two, I’ll change my mind about that.

I’ve also done a lot of organizing and cleaning of the random stuff I’ve had around my house. I don’t want to collect things that I don’t use, but I also struggle a bit letting things go because I’m scared I might need them eventually. But I have been getting better at that and then also organizing whatever I have left. It’s a process doing this and I’m taking small steps, but I have gotten a lot of stuff out of my house that I really don’t need (and either have it stored for donating or friends have taken things). This week, I worked on organizing my purses/tote bags/travel carryons. I pretty much only use one purse for my day to day life. I have a few fancy purses and a few other random ones. But I have a lot of tote bags and carryon sized bags. I went through them all, found the ones I haven’t used or don’t like anymore, and put up command hooks in my entry closet to hang up the ones I’m keeping.

I’m sure that I’ll find more random projects and organizing things to do this week and going forward. As I said, I need things to keep me busy and not just have my day be a nothing day. It’s probably a good thing I live in such a small house because there are only so many things I can do. I can’t imagine all the projects I could think up if I had more rooms to do them in!

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Doing A Lot Of Shopping (or Just Trying To Have Some Variety In My Life)

Posted on May 26, 2020 | Comments Off on Doing A Lot Of Shopping (or Just Trying To Have Some Variety In My Life)

I’ve been doing a lot of shopping and organizing lately. I’m glad that I am finally doing this since there have been so many things that I have been putting off that I needed to do. I want my house to be the most efficient and amazing place for me. And there are things that I set up when I moved into my house that I just never changed. But it’s been a good thing to change them up and get my house to a place that I had been wanting to get it to for a while.

This is so important because my house is so small and I don’t have unlimited space to do what I want. Most things in my house need to be able to be moved if necessary or to be functional for more than one thing. I don’t want to have a ton of furniture that I have to work around all the time. Obviously, there are some things that don’t move, but for the most part I am able to shift things around if I need to.

But besides buying things to organize my house, I’ve been buying things to change up the look of my house too. I haven’t gotten as many of these, but I have been finding new decorative things I want to add. Some of this is because in my organization (especially around my desk), I’ve been taking a lot of things down and either getting rid of them if I don’t need them or moving them into different places. I could keep all my decorative stuff the way they are, nothing is horrible. But I just felt like I needed a change and went for it.

I haven’t gotten the new decorative things since I ordered them online and there are lots of shipping delays, but it has gotten me really excited. I just can’t wait until I am able to put things up and maybe I’ll move even more things around.

I wasn’t thinking too much about why I felt so compelled to redecorate my house. At first, I thought it might be because I have had so many things in my house for 10 years and I was ready for a change. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this might be due to quarantine. I don’t really leave my house for anything right now. I don’t go to the grocery store that often (I usually get it delivered but maybe go to the store once a month). I don’t go out anywhere. I am working on finding some good socially distant social events, but I haven’t planned any yet. I am just inside my house and looking at the same walls all day.

I think my urge to redecorate had a lot to do with that. I was craving a change and changing the decorations inside is something I can do and not have to leave my house. Maybe this will trick my brain into thinking I have gone somewhere different. Maybe it will just take some of the monotonous feelings of being home away. I still think that I will be antsy to get out and back to normal life, but hopefully this takes a little bit of the edge off. And even if it doesn’t, I’m excited for a change in my house. Everything that I have changed up has made things feel a bit more serene and less cluttered. And I have changed other things around my house to fit with those new things which changes it up even more. Even if it doesn’t, everything I bought does make me excited about them so I don’t need them to do more for me than that.

Whenever people can finally be out and social again, my house is going to look like an entirely new place. I’ve joked to people that they won’t recognize it when they come over. But even if nobody noticed or cared, I am still so happy about the changes I’ve been making. And I hope the new things coming soon will just continue to make me feel that way. But I do hope that I have a break of changing things up that require purchasing after this. As great as it’s been for my mental state, I know that I am spending money that I should probably be saving. But I’m not worried about that right now.

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