SLourdes's Profile

Our dining room and hallways are all Devine paint's Butter. It is a fabulous color.

Can you find a place where you'd be an end unit, and then have the studio be in a room that shares no walls? Maybe an end unit townhome so you also don't have people below you or above you either? Otherwise, I'd say the house is the way to go. As someone who has lived in noisy apartments, I hate hearing repetitive beats like that.

We live in a 1200 square foot condo with a 3.5 year old (and one on the way). We have a second story deck, and ours is about 6 feet wide by 10 feet long. To make the deck more secure, we added lattice all the way around the railings. (Our condo association is about as low key as it gets, so we didn't run into any issues with whatever changes we wanted to make). It lets light in, but keeps my son safely inside the railing. On one side of the deck we placed a sand and water table. This year, we did just water and found it to be easier to keep clean, and somewhat more fun for our kid. Underneath the water table we stored outside toys like bubbles and sidewalk chalk in a plastic bin. On the other side we had a couple chairs and a small table for seating. It's not quite big enough to do much, but it's a nice place to get a little fresh air.

This is a good exercise for me too. I live in a condo, and am often wishing it were a house, but alas, I bought at the top of the market so am not going anywhere anytime soon.

Here are the things I love about my home:
-the location. Our building is on a quiet cul de sac, right across from an amazing nature center where we have a community garden plot, can go visit the cows and chickens, or go for a walk through the woods. And yet, we're also right by the library, Target, and just a few minutes driving distance from downtown. And I have a short commute to work. No matter what I'm in the mood to do, it's close by.
-my kitchen. It's huge, bright, colorful, and just makes me happy.
-our wood burning fireplace on cold MN winter nights.
-the jacuzzi tub in the bathroom.
-everything being all on one level. Great for having small children!
-As much as I bemoan my lack of a yard, not having to mow the lawn or shovel snow is pretty nice.

The grab bar might come out more easily than you'd think. We had one in our shower and I left it up for 5 years, thinking it would leave huge holes in the tile. One day I got fed up with it crowding my already too small shower space, so I took it out with a screwdriver. The holes were only the size of the screws, and I was able to fill them in with some caulk. There was no cracking or anchors or anything else. Granted, my tile was white so covering it was easy, but I am SO glad I finally went ahead and removed the bar.

What's the paint color in the dining room? I really like it and it seems like the perfect gray with a touch of blue I've been looking for!

We did this in our small condo, too. We realized that with the doors on the closet, it became an unorganized dumping ground with junk everywhere. With the doors off and everything spiffed up, we keep it so much neater. We have a big basket for shoes, and a coat rack for coats (and we hang more than one on it!)

I have two blog posts that show it here:
http://underwatercondo.blogspot.com/2011/05/hard-working-space.html
http://underwatercondo.blogspot.com/2010/11/mission-accomplished.html

So in my opinion, this is a great post and not unrealistic at all!

The picture frame was very low quality. I got the blue one, and it immediately chipped (it was kind of a melamine plastic material). And then when I took the mat out to put in a photo frame, the Missoni pattern scratched against the glass. Only $10 but still a bummer. I bought two media boxes and they're cute and good quality. I also bought a headband, which is also cute, and hard to mess up a headband.

LOVE this! I have always loved Totoro, and my son really enjoyed Ponyo. I will file this away for later!

I have a pretty bold home that was stark white when we bought it. I hated the white and it reminded me of an apartment. If I had to list my condo today, I'd go a little more neutral, but definitely not white. For the most part, white doesn't seem as "homey" as beige, pale gray or pale yellow. When we were shopping for a house, the only paint color that gave me pause was super high gloss blood red in a teeny bathroom... that also went up to the popcorn ceiling. Anything that would be tough to paint over I'd avoid.