The Zen Room

We've been living in this apartment since June 2016, and though we've had it decorated and looking decent for the majority of that time, only one of the rooms actually feels finished... or at least close enough. The living room is next in line, once I get off my ass and sew some cushion covers for the couch... but I digress. Let me finally give you a quick photo tour of the Zen Room!

We live in a rowhome - one long rectangle with a hallway that connects all the rooms and runs adjacent to another apartment which is laid out in the exact same way. Thankfully, we rarely hear our next door neighbors, and the darkly lit window-less woes of a city rowhouse are not upon us - we actually have an end unit on the corner of a semi-busy street and the sunlight is amazing. It's actually part of the reason we chose this unit! *

This is the first room you walk into; aka the front room, but we like to call it the zen room because that's our intention for the space. When we moved, I was at the beginning of my yoga teacher training and looking forward to finally having a space to practice at home. So we decided this would be the yoga/relaxation/plant space. When I want to practice, I just move the rugs out of the way. (I actually recently had three friends over for an hour-long yoga session - it was awesome!) We had our record player in here for months, but recently moved it to the living room because this room stays really cold and we weren't using it. Most of our plants are in here as well, but we may move them because the cold hasn't been good for them either. That sunlight totally makes it worth being cold though! And behind those curtains is the door to our balcony, another fun feature of this place.

One of the things I also really like about this room is that most of the things in here were found on my travels, or were gifts from family and friends. I think it just adds to the positive energy of the space. I also love the rugs! This is our first apartment with hardwood floors, and we were ecstatic to be able to get some rugs! If you'd like to know where anything specific is from, ask away! I'll try to remember, or help you find something similar.

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* A quick little background about this apartment building - when Shawn and I first moved to the area 4.5 years ago, every time we would walk past this building we would say, "One day, we're going to live in there!", but we always thought it was way beyond our financial means. Then, about two years ago, I became friends with someone who actually lived in the building. I got to see the inside of her unit and fell even more in love with the place. Lucky for us, when we were looking for a new place to move into, she reached out to her landlords and found out that there were two available units - and they were in our price range! (Actually, they were way less expensive to rent than we expected! Which makes us sad because we could have totally moved in here 4.5 years ago...) Annnnd now we live in our dream apartment! It's an old building and could definitely use a little revamping in parts, but the energy here is great and it fits all of our needs. The cats love it too because it's SO much more space than our last place. Oh, and we didn't paint anything. The last tenants had some great colors already so we told the landlord not to bother repainting. It's so nice being in an apartment that isn't all white!

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New Apartment Essentials

So... I should be working on my homework for yoga teacher training right now... but since we get the keys to our new apartment tomorrow(!!!!!), pretty much all I have on the brain is IKEA. My enthusiasm for that store may be a tad overwhelming sometimes, and I realize that not everyone is lucky enough to have one nearby, but IKEA is part of my abode-history. Half of the stuff in my parents' house growing up was from IKEA, in fact, we took frequent trips there as a family. It's also where I went when I moved into my first apartment, and each and every single one after that one... so my love for IKEA goes way back.

Needless to say, whenever Shawn and I are looking for anything house-related, 99% of the time IKEA is the first place we look. We've been daydreaming about the new apartment, and now that move-in day is within fingertips reach, we can finally make our daydreams reality. Since we're pretty good on furniture and don't currently intend to buy any more (minus some for the balcony, and possibly a new bed/mattress...) I thought it'd be nice to focus on the little things that help freshen up a new spot.

Here's a list of (what I believe to be) essentials for a new apartment. Essentials being, pretty much anything that isn't furniture. Or, more specifically, anything that gets a lot of use and could probably stand to be replaced every year or so.

Potholders: You know, those grimy squares you use to pull roasted vegetables out of the oven, or to keep your lap from getting hot when you're too lazy to eat at the dinner table? Yeah, those somehow manage to get close to all of the most epic kitchen messes, and yet they never get washed. I think it's time to buy some new ones.
Dishtowels: Yeah, those get pretty messy too. And even though you remember to wash them will all your other linens, somehow they still start to fray after 6 months and then you find a random hole in one.... hm, I think replacing these every year isn't too much to ask. And you can use the beat up old ones as cleaning rags!
Cutting boards: Sure, the wooden ones are prettier and they last longer, but they're porous and that leads to all sorts of potential issues that I don't trust my particular roommate to be aware of (ahem... raw meat), so we stick with plastic and just replace them once they're well worn - usually every year... we do a lot of chopping.
Towels: Our bath towels and hand towels get a lot of use because we purposefully only have one set. Mostly because we haven't had room to store any extra towels. Plus, having only one set forces me to stay on top of laundering the linens, because let's be honest, I don't do that nearly as often as I should. So new towels every year or two? Sure!
Sheets & duvet covers: Unless you shower every night before bed, sheets get gross fast. These are another thing we only have one set of, also for lack of space, so they get a lot of use. Duvet covers probably don't need to be changed as often, but they're still fun to get. They'll make you excited to hop into bed!

Not yearly essentials, but we also need:
Pots & pans: We aren't at a point in our lives where we can spend a lot of money and get some super-quality cookware yet, so we've been buying mid-range cookware that, with heavy usage, generally lasts us about three years. We are due for some new pots and pans... especially a big pot! Our biggest pot right now only holds 3 1/2 quarts!
Silverware: Certainly not something you need to get every year, but every few years it's nice to switch it up. We're still using the same wooden-handled set we bought back in 2010, and they're looking a little worse for the wear. Plus, we seem to have lost two forks over the years, so it's time for a change.

Is there anything you would add to the list?

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