I have lived in my current apartment now for three years and two months. I have not lived in the same place for more than three years since my junior year of college when I still moved back to my parents' house for the summers. Although I have settled here in NYC, that doesn't mean that I am completely settled into my apartment.
Earlier this year I did some updating that made a huge difference. It gave my apartment a new look and feel and it was refreshing. Although I still like the changes that I made, there is one thing that I cannot change, the layout of my apartment. It's a railroad and all rooms lead to the next. What bothers me the most is that I feel like I have no bedroom. My bedroom is the third room down the line (living room, sitting/play/reading room, my room, my son's room) and it is the smallest. It opens up to my son's room by the french doors and due to the fact that I have no windows in my room, I often times keep those doors open thus creating a big room that I essentially share with my son. I didn't always mind that, especially when he was younger. It made it easy and quick to get to him when he needed me. However, he is four now. He doesn't need me in that way anymore. It's time for our own living space.
I have given moving a great deal of thought and it is still not off of the table. However, what I am certain of is that I do not want to leave my neighborhood. That limits me to very, very few options since my neighborhood is very expensive. So financially, my best (and only option really) is to stay where I am unless I want to move out of the 'hood.
So today, the itch got the best of me and I decided to try something. I changed my bedroom to room #2. The issue with this is that room #2 opens right up into the living room. There is a giant six foot wide opening and no doors for separation. The perks is that this room is more spacious. I can actually open up my dresser and it just feels more like a room rather than a place I dump myself only to sleep each night. There is an actually door between rooms 2 and 3, so I actually split my apartment in half and my son has his own living wing with a bedroom and now an attached play/reading room.
I am not sure how I am going to like the new flow of my apartment. It was very open, which was something that I liked. I hope that my changes don't make it feel any smaller than it actually is. I am also concerned that I will not like that my room is now openly attached to the living room. It's weird now to look over and see my bed there. My son now feels so far away now too. Even though that's what I wanted, it's still a change.
What I do like is my vision for my new room. I already began to redecorate. I bought velour plum curtains today that hang ceiling length in the living room. The color matches perfectly with my accessory color in the living room. These curtain serve as a "door" (when needed) to separate my room from the living room. I also bought a white sheer curtain to hang on my side of the wall to add a feminine touch. Tomorrow I am going shopping for a new bed frame. I have actually needed one since our antique bed finally gave out about 6 years ago. It's about time and I found a metal frame that I love. It's a bit more than I wanted to spend, but it's still cheaper than just about anything else. And finally, since my room needs to flow with the colors of my living room, I am going to get a new bed set. I have stumbled across some white ruffly comforters which are completely girly. They are pretty and I am set on getting that style. I am just trying to find a reasonably priced one. While I am in the waiting for those two things though, I do realize that I really should paint that room. I skipped that step when I updated it this past spring. I don't mind painting though (just the cleanup, blah!). But tonight I will be sleeping in my own room! And within a week or two, it will really be my room. I am really excited about it!
This change was pretty spontaneous. I never thought I'd put my room where it now is. Not only that, I am in the process of updating my son's room. He never got new furniture once he moved out of the crib (never had new nursery furniture either) and I wanted to get him something that matched. After much debate, I did decide to keep his bed. I had only bought it about 6 years ago and it was rarely ever used, it was wasteful to get rid of it only to buy a similar one. So instead... I am going to paint it! Eeek... I know. I don't like the cherry wood coloring of it for him. So I am thinking a midnight blue. I also found a furniture store that custom makes dressers, which he needs, and I bought one unfinished so I will be painting that as well to match. I am a bit nervous about all of this painting, but I am excited about the end result there too. I think that I am going to bring the big comfy chair and bookcase into his bedroom from room #3 and make his bedroom a bit less toy cluttered and make room #3 an official playroom. There's lots of work to be done to make this all happen though.
The three year itch... I think its a good thing that I am staying to atleast make it to four. Keeping busy is good. Changes can be good too. I am looking forward to what all of this hard work will show in the end.
Earlier this year I did some updating that made a huge difference. It gave my apartment a new look and feel and it was refreshing. Although I still like the changes that I made, there is one thing that I cannot change, the layout of my apartment. It's a railroad and all rooms lead to the next. What bothers me the most is that I feel like I have no bedroom. My bedroom is the third room down the line (living room, sitting/play/reading room, my room, my son's room) and it is the smallest. It opens up to my son's room by the french doors and due to the fact that I have no windows in my room, I often times keep those doors open thus creating a big room that I essentially share with my son. I didn't always mind that, especially when he was younger. It made it easy and quick to get to him when he needed me. However, he is four now. He doesn't need me in that way anymore. It's time for our own living space.
I have given moving a great deal of thought and it is still not off of the table. However, what I am certain of is that I do not want to leave my neighborhood. That limits me to very, very few options since my neighborhood is very expensive. So financially, my best (and only option really) is to stay where I am unless I want to move out of the 'hood.
So today, the itch got the best of me and I decided to try something. I changed my bedroom to room #2. The issue with this is that room #2 opens right up into the living room. There is a giant six foot wide opening and no doors for separation. The perks is that this room is more spacious. I can actually open up my dresser and it just feels more like a room rather than a place I dump myself only to sleep each night. There is an actually door between rooms 2 and 3, so I actually split my apartment in half and my son has his own living wing with a bedroom and now an attached play/reading room.
I am not sure how I am going to like the new flow of my apartment. It was very open, which was something that I liked. I hope that my changes don't make it feel any smaller than it actually is. I am also concerned that I will not like that my room is now openly attached to the living room. It's weird now to look over and see my bed there. My son now feels so far away now too. Even though that's what I wanted, it's still a change.
What I do like is my vision for my new room. I already began to redecorate. I bought velour plum curtains today that hang ceiling length in the living room. The color matches perfectly with my accessory color in the living room. These curtain serve as a "door" (when needed) to separate my room from the living room. I also bought a white sheer curtain to hang on my side of the wall to add a feminine touch. Tomorrow I am going shopping for a new bed frame. I have actually needed one since our antique bed finally gave out about 6 years ago. It's about time and I found a metal frame that I love. It's a bit more than I wanted to spend, but it's still cheaper than just about anything else. And finally, since my room needs to flow with the colors of my living room, I am going to get a new bed set. I have stumbled across some white ruffly comforters which are completely girly. They are pretty and I am set on getting that style. I am just trying to find a reasonably priced one. While I am in the waiting for those two things though, I do realize that I really should paint that room. I skipped that step when I updated it this past spring. I don't mind painting though (just the cleanup, blah!). But tonight I will be sleeping in my own room! And within a week or two, it will really be my room. I am really excited about it!
This change was pretty spontaneous. I never thought I'd put my room where it now is. Not only that, I am in the process of updating my son's room. He never got new furniture once he moved out of the crib (never had new nursery furniture either) and I wanted to get him something that matched. After much debate, I did decide to keep his bed. I had only bought it about 6 years ago and it was rarely ever used, it was wasteful to get rid of it only to buy a similar one. So instead... I am going to paint it! Eeek... I know. I don't like the cherry wood coloring of it for him. So I am thinking a midnight blue. I also found a furniture store that custom makes dressers, which he needs, and I bought one unfinished so I will be painting that as well to match. I am a bit nervous about all of this painting, but I am excited about the end result there too. I think that I am going to bring the big comfy chair and bookcase into his bedroom from room #3 and make his bedroom a bit less toy cluttered and make room #3 an official playroom. There's lots of work to be done to make this all happen though.
The three year itch... I think its a good thing that I am staying to atleast make it to four. Keeping busy is good. Changes can be good too. I am looking forward to what all of this hard work will show in the end.
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