jeunessedoree's Profile

as someone who just spent 1 1/2 months stripping 90 years of paint off of my original wood trim to stain it back to its original mahogany color (and boy does it look so much nicer now!), i feel bad for the person who lives there after you who will want it back to its original glory. it's so hard to get paint out of all the crevices!

i moved into a rental fixer-upper thinking i would barely stay a year...and that was 6 years ago! didn't do much originally (just painted) but when my roommate moved out a few years ago things started in earnest...the first thing i bought for the apartment was a vintage venetian glass chandelier for the dining room (the old brass one is in the closet to be put back when i move out). everyone thought I was crazy, but it really made the place look better. Since then I have installed a new sink and faucet in the bathroom, installed a ceiling fan in my bedroom, stripped and re-painted all the kitchen cabinets, planted flowers in the front yard, and am now embarking on my biggest project to date, stripping all the 1930s woodwork and hardware back to its original glory.

Even 6 years in, I have a long list of things to do: new lighting in the bathroom and hallway, replacing the countertops, maybe even buying a new stove a refrigerator down the line. my husband and i have agreed that for the nominal amount of cost and effort we are expelling, we'd be paying much more for a comparable "refurbished" place within our neighborhood. best to save the $1000+ a month and make our place more liveable day by day!

how about a nice clean roman shade with a lovely valance to set off the window? I might be in the minority here, but I think that curtains would be too much for that small wall.

my wine shop guys have suggested that the best place to store wine is on the floor of an interior closet, because they usually stay pretty cool. I, however, keep mine in a rack in the back stairwell, where it is also pretty cool.

former neighbors:

the one next door (in a 1940s courtyard-style apartment) was a chain smoker who would ash his cigarettes on the valance above the window, often by my door. he was over 6 feet tall so I guess it was the right height for him. i just always wondered why the hallway smelled like cigarettes until i stood on a ladder one day. Eww!

He also conveniently placed his speakers right next to the wall my bed was on (i shared a room with my roommate, so I didn't have anywhere else to move my bed) and would also come home every night drunk and/or stoned around 3-4am and listen to coldplay so loudly that my bedroom wall would vibrate. not even weekends. every day. like tuesday.

the real kicker was when he got a pet ferret that he never cleaned and would let hang around near my front door. of course i couldn't say anything because the few times i asked him to turn the music down (around 4:30am), he would either a) turn the music up or b) threaten me.

i later found out that he was planning a career in politics.

my downstairs neighbor was vastly better compared the my adjacent one with the exception that he would sometimes go fishing and leave somewhere around 3am. More than a handful of times, he would leave the alarm on even though he was gone, which i could hear through the floor of my bedroom!

i have two black leather chesterfield chaise lounges in my living room and find it very comfortable. i have even slept on it when the boyfriend is sick in bed! i inherited the pieces but believe they were purchased at neiman marcus. have you gone to furniture stores in your area to see if you like the chesterfields or modified chesterfields in those stores? the feel is very different from a slouchy sofa, but there are benefits too (like not having to contstantly fix the cushions!)

there aren't enough rooms shown, but of the rooms I see, I am not taken by the furniture, general decor, and the lack of wall decor bothers me

i love this. i was going to enter my own home, but now i feel too outdone

my boyfriend is a nut for public transportation...where can i find these? I've only ever seen the NYC ones.

i use microfiber towels for 90% of my cleaning and i don't even need to use cleaning products most of the time (i will use cleaning products in the bathroom and in sinks). I usually find that having one damp cloth for cleaning followed by a dry cloth will leave spotless, streakless finishes. It's cheap (I bought a huge pack at costco and split it with someone) and pretty eco-friendly. I really recommend switching to microfiber!