The Rappy Pad

While snappy is still cooperating, I'm taking the opportunity to show off my new pad.

We start our tour at the front entrance, which opens onto a small foyer, leading into the various rooms.

In the foyer is this dresser...

Which I plan to refinish in a lavender shade. I've already got the paint stripper at the ready, and think I'll tackle the project sometime in the next couple of weeks. I'll need to get some sort of rug for this room, and some sort of coat rack arrangement.

To the right of the entrance are the kitchen and bathroom, to the right and left, respectively.

Right at the entrance to my kitchen is the mankey washing machine that the last tenant left behind.

It may very well work, and the inside of it is sparkling clean, but the outside is so gross that I'm just waiting for someone with a little more strength than me to come over so that we can chuck it the hell out. Blech. Once it's gone, I'll move the fridge over to take it's place. I may turn it around so that the door faces the counter.

The kitchen has a window that opens with a view to the building entrance (the entrance isn't closed, so I get to look right out at the street whenever I'm at the stove.

The ceiling in the apartment is very high, and those upper shelves are very tall. I haven't quite gotten around to cleaning them, so right now all of my pantry items are stored in the cabinet to the left of the dishes. On the counter to the right of the sink is a fairly spacious toaster oven. As soon as I get to Ikea and get this service cart, it'll be moving over to the cart to free up much needed counter space. There's also a massive old microwave which is currently in my living room which will be going on said cart. Hopefully they'll both fit on one cart. I may actually get two carts and place them side by side. I plan on resurfacing the cart with tile to make it look a little more unique.

The bathroom is long and narrow.

I'll be decorating it with lavender accents, including (if I can find one) a lavender shower curtain. I already have fairly specific plans on how to fix this room up. The towel rack is coming down, and I'll be putting up Ikea metal bars between the bath and the toilet to hang up towels.

I'll need to replace the mirror, which is just an ugly, plastic framed thing, and find a better storage solution for all the crap I currently have shoved in the nook under the window. Again, I already know what I plan to do there, with the help of my good friend Ikea. (Pronounced Ick-ey-a in Israel.)

The bedroom is tiny, with just enough room for my futon and a small space to walk in and out.

You can see the bed peeking out from the doorway, and it is pushed against all three walls. There isn't even room for a dresser in there, but I have a large closet on the balconey for my clothes. The door to the bedroom is a hideous brown accordion thing, which will remain open at all times, so as not to assault anyone's eyes. Whomever painted the room actually painted the window shut, so it's a rather airless little nook. I'll need to find a way to fix that. I have an idea for a "headboard" of sorts, but I'm holding off on it for now. It'll be something that Vern did on Trading Spaces, back when there was a normal designer on that "show".

To the left of the entrance is the living/dining room, which opens onto an enclosed balcony. The picture is rather dark, owning to the very bright sun shining in through the open shutters of the balcony.

The way the room is set up right now, is as a living room on the right side (if looking in from the foyer) and a dining room (which you'll have to imagine for now) on the left. I have my bookshelf along the wall that back on to the bedroom, and the sofa at a 90 degree angle to it.

There is a window over the sofa, and an airconditioning unit right next to the it. The AC is loud, but so far has kept me warm when it's been chilly. I'll have to wait for summer to see if it cools as well.

In front of the sofa is half of what will eventually be my coffee table. It's actually a tv stand that I got from a friend of a friend. He has another one that he's still using (until his renovation is complete), which I'll hopefully be getting once he's ready to get rid of it. You can't see it now, but the side facing the sofa is open, so I'll set them up back to back, and put magazines or maybe books in the spaces. I'm still debating whether to refinish them, as they are slightly beaten up. The sofa, by the way, is the fugliest thing you'll ever lay eyes on, and not particularly comfortable, either, but it's all I can afford for now (it was free).

As far as the dining room bit, there's a table that the landlady left (seen in the corner) but it's a stupid table. It's too low to sit at with a chair, and too high to sit at as a coffee table, so in short, it's the most useless table on the planet, but she listed it in the lease, so I can't really get rid of it. I'll be buying a table at Ikea, as well as (hopefully) a big carpet to go in the middle of the room.

The balcony is fairly spacious.

I plan to use it as an office in summer (the balcony is enclosed with shutters, but has no windows, so it's fairly cold in the other seasons), with a desk placed against the left wall. On the right wall is a large closet. The little chest in the middle matches the dresser in the foyer, and I plan to use it for my spare bedding. It *may* fit in the corner of my bedroom. I'll refinish it in lavender as well. There are bars along all of the windows, and the bars on the balcony are angled so that I can place planters on them. At the moment all I have there is my little herb planter (which has thyme, oregano, sage, and rosmary in it). I may put up a bunch of geraniums as well, to liven it up. I'm not a plant person, but the herbs look lonely out there when you approach the apartment from the street.

This armchair was given to me by the same person who gave me the dresser, chest, and coffee table.

It's been horribly molested by what I'm told is a lion-sized stinky cat (so told by the friend who introduced me to my benefactor). I'll need to reupholster it to make it presentable, but it really is a gorgeous piece of furniture. It apparently belonged to the guys' grandmother.

So there you have it. Now all I need is to find someone willing to drive me to Ikea and back.

Posted by raptorgirl at March 28, 2005 11:22 AM