Apartment living...almost by the rules
There are benefits to living in an apartment. You don't need to mow the lawn. Household repairs are free. You have plenty of neighbors to meet. You don't pay property taxes (at least directly).
You can even find a new place every six months if you want.
But what about dogs? Painted walls? Your choice of ceiling fans? In this way, apartment living can be somewhat limiting, but be encouraged. Most of us have been there.
THE DESIGN GUY AND HIS WIFE...THE EARLY YEARS.
I know this because my wife and I lived in an apartment for a few months after we got married. We could hear the neighbors music through the walls. We could hear loud conversations outside our windows. Our ceiling fan was plugged in by a cord that ran across the ceiling, down the wall, and into an outlet. Fun was had by all.
Eventually, we grew tired of the white/yellow stagnant walls and decided to find ways to give the place a little more flair. Wall coverings became the focus of our attention. We considered hanging curtains against the wall in our living room to change the flavor. Then we determined that this was a little too dramatic for our tastes. Next we moved into vegetation. The plants were beautiful for weeks at a time and really enlivened the living space. Unfortunately, they began to die as fast as we could replace them. Apparently, we lacked gardening skills.
Next we moved into artwork. We tried building pleasant, 1000 piece puzzles that we hoped to laminate and hang. Though pictures are worth a thousand words, they're worth a lot less with only 998 locatable pieces. Though we didn't think of it at the time, our idea might have worked even with the missing pieces. It would have been "deconstructive modernism."
My mom's paintings helped with some of the rooms but we weren't quite there.
Next we moved into a music theme. We took an old guitar case with orange velvet lining and took the cover off of it. Then we cut Plexiglas to match the shape of the case and bolted it in with 3/4 in thick bolts. After cutting a little space at the top of the Plexiglas we had ourselves a hangable guitar piggy bank...or donation jar, depending on the generosity of our company.
We matched this up with a pair of snare drums that we bought at a garage sale. We painted the face of one of the drums orange, then bought a cheap clock at Wal-Mart and pulled the hands, motor, and battery out of it. By piecing all the parts back together through the head of the drum, we had a groovy clock that we hung on our wall. The other drum we also painted and used as an end table.
My wife finished off the room with 40 vinyl records that she purchased from the thrift store to hang them around the room. Though the records didn't work out so well, we never had to worry about coasters again.
Just an anecdote: There is nothing new under the sun. Just when my wife and I congratulated ourselves on our cleverness, we found ourselves in a little bed and breakfast in a small town in Arizona called Strawberry (population: 42). While sitting in the lobby we noticed that both the coffee table and the clock on the wall were snare drums!
To finish off our office, we needed something that could hold a lot of books. We didn't just want shelves because the room was already pretty bland. Eventually, we found a Target that was selling off their red employee lockers for $40. I guess they do those kinds of things when they are going out of business (I had to restrain myself from buying a commercial-grade, soft-pretzel warmer).
You can even find a new place every six months if you want.
But what about dogs? Painted walls? Your choice of ceiling fans? In this way, apartment living can be somewhat limiting, but be encouraged. Most of us have been there.
THE DESIGN GUY AND HIS WIFE...THE EARLY YEARS.
I know this because my wife and I lived in an apartment for a few months after we got married. We could hear the neighbors music through the walls. We could hear loud conversations outside our windows. Our ceiling fan was plugged in by a cord that ran across the ceiling, down the wall, and into an outlet. Fun was had by all.
Eventually, we grew tired of the white/yellow stagnant walls and decided to find ways to give the place a little more flair. Wall coverings became the focus of our attention. We considered hanging curtains against the wall in our living room to change the flavor. Then we determined that this was a little too dramatic for our tastes. Next we moved into vegetation. The plants were beautiful for weeks at a time and really enlivened the living space. Unfortunately, they began to die as fast as we could replace them. Apparently, we lacked gardening skills.
Next we moved into artwork. We tried building pleasant, 1000 piece puzzles that we hoped to laminate and hang. Though pictures are worth a thousand words, they're worth a lot less with only 998 locatable pieces. Though we didn't think of it at the time, our idea might have worked even with the missing pieces. It would have been "deconstructive modernism."
My mom's paintings helped with some of the rooms but we weren't quite there.
Next we moved into a music theme. We took an old guitar case with orange velvet lining and took the cover off of it. Then we cut Plexiglas to match the shape of the case and bolted it in with 3/4 in thick bolts. After cutting a little space at the top of the Plexiglas we had ourselves a hangable guitar piggy bank...or donation jar, depending on the generosity of our company.
We matched this up with a pair of snare drums that we bought at a garage sale. We painted the face of one of the drums orange, then bought a cheap clock at Wal-Mart and pulled the hands, motor, and battery out of it. By piecing all the parts back together through the head of the drum, we had a groovy clock that we hung on our wall. The other drum we also painted and used as an end table.
My wife finished off the room with 40 vinyl records that she purchased from the thrift store to hang them around the room. Though the records didn't work out so well, we never had to worry about coasters again.
Just an anecdote: There is nothing new under the sun. Just when my wife and I congratulated ourselves on our cleverness, we found ourselves in a little bed and breakfast in a small town in Arizona called Strawberry (population: 42). While sitting in the lobby we noticed that both the coffee table and the clock on the wall were snare drums!
To finish off our office, we needed something that could hold a lot of books. We didn't just want shelves because the room was already pretty bland. Eventually, we found a Target that was selling off their red employee lockers for $40. I guess they do those kinds of things when they are going out of business (I had to restrain myself from buying a commercial-grade, soft-pretzel warmer).
Used Employee Lockers
Make Great Storage
After getting the lockers home and reassembling them, we began to hammer off random doors to expose empty cubbys. Eventually, it produced a neat storage space that added a lot of color to the room and covered up most of a wall. Unfortunately, the lockers were too much of a challenge to reassemble when we moved so I threw them away.
I am not sharing these ideas with you so that you would try them at home. That is not a good idea. Instead, I am trying to reveal that style takes time to develop and apartments are great places to start experimenting. The limitations put on you by your situation provide you a great opportunity to grow. Creativity takes practice and its affordable when you're finding ingredients from thrift stores and garage sales.
Don't worry about the bad ideas. We just gave all the really weird stuff away to our college aged neighbors who had even less furniture than we did.
Who wouldn't want to set their coffee mug on "Freddy and the Jets Greatest Hits Volume II"?
posted by The Design Guy at 8:40 PM
1 Comments:
Very humorous piece. I'd like to know where you moved to and if it is a house or an apartment. I did not care for apartment living either, and we used my husband's veteran benefits to buy our first house 32 years ago. Incidentally, we still have some pieces of furniture from our college days!Please say hello to your wife for me!
Love,
Cousin Ellen From Chicago
(Jon's Mom)
Post a Comment
<< Home