Woah... That's Darker Than I Thought...

Before I show you the makeover, I'll give you a little tour of my kitchen.

This is my view. I think it's pretty : ) I can look out and see some of the gardens of my complex, which really are lovely. I am currently without internet and a TV, so I spend a lot of time exploring my new little neighborhood. Some faces are starting to become familiar, and I must say that this place is awesome for people watching. One of my favorites is "sassy running lady," she is about 40, and runs every night in the same outfit- red lycra (but about three sizes to big) with racing stripes down the side and a nascar flag on the back of her jacket. I also love the Indian couple who sit on a bench outside of my apartment. They are probably in their seventies, and sit on the bench every night from about 6:30-9:00. They just seem so sweet, enjoying each other and the warm nights. I hope that I get to do that with my future person one day.

Back to the kitchen.

I wish I could paint these cabinets. I am not a fan of this color of wood. Maybe I could stain it darker?

CURSE WORDS. I moved my fridge to a different wall... and made these two lovely slits (each about 5 inches long) in my linoleum floor.

I hid it with a placemat and Daisy's dishes. Peace out, deposit.

So I really wanted to have a fun, bright, darker color in my apartment, and the kitchen seemed like just the place to do it. It's hard to tell from the picture... but the color is a deep teal.

I have big plans for those chairs. I want to collect some vintage- looking chairs (all different styles) and whitewash them. I love, love, love the contrast of white and a pop of green against this color.

The plant is from Ammy and Baba (the coolest grandparents ever). It originally came in a froggy vase, but Daisy knocked it over : ( He is in the process of being glued back together.

So, there was a big empty white spot right behind my sink that needed a little decoration. I realized that I had a big mirror that I couldn't find a home for, so I thought "hey! why not test it out?" I *attempted* to hang it- it took two hours, 8 screws, crazy Swedish directions, and endless frustration to realize that, no. No, it is not possible to hang this frame. So for now it is leaning, but I'll win this battle, one day. Anyhoo- I really like the mirror here. I know it is an odd choice, but it really opens up the kitchen, and makes it seem larger. It also reflects the light from the window- so it brightens the space. Win!

A Little Break

I got to escape from Rochester for about 24 hours this weekend- and it was a much needed break! I went down to Canandaigua lake for a mini Kitchen family reunion and Lobsterfest! I had so much fun, and can't remember the last time I laughed that hard. Wadhams clan- I'm officially starting the campaign for Canandaigua 2012- a reunion of the Kitchens and Wadhams. Can you imagine the chaos? It would be so much fun!

I decided that if they were going to be feeding me a ginourmous feast of lobster and steak, I should contribute something tasty. I decided on macaroons- they are so yummy, don't cost too much to make, and can be done in about an hour.

Here is a picture of my ingredients:

• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 1/2 cups flaked coconut
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Bake at 375 until toasty : ) (about 12 mins)
• I also like to get crazy and add 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon- but be careful. You can't just add the cinnamon to the batter, because it won't spread evenly- you have to mix it in with the vanilla extract, and then it will spread throughout the batter more thoroughly.

The mixing bowl and spoon were a gift from my friend Christina- and I love them!! Thanks X! (She is off in Peru doing good deeds and volunteering her nursing skills- how cool is that?)

Silly me- I tried to be fancy and mix the batter in a cute bowl with a cute spatula.

I learned quickly that I needed a MUCH bigger pot, and these ingredients call for some good old fashioned hand mixin'

Roll those suckers up in ping-pong sized balls

*hint-wash your hands after about every 10 balls or so- otherwise, your hands get

too sticky to make properly shaped little cookies.

While making these fancy treats, I watched this not-so-fancy show. Have you seen "Swamp People"? If you haven't- you really need to. It is hilarious!!! It's about gator hunters in the Atchatfalaya swamp of Louisiana. It's a mix of "Deadliest Catch," "Beverly Hillbillies," "River Monsters," and the male versions of Paula Dean with giant rifles (think deep fried whole bullfrogs and alligator innards). Let's face it- I'm weird. I am fully aware of this fact. And I've always had a fascination swamps and the Cajun lifestyle. See weird? But The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has always been a favorite book of mine, and growing up my favorite parts of Disneyland were New Orleans Square, Adventureland, and Frontierland. So this show is right up my alley.

Twelve minutes later, these puppies were ready to come out of the oven!!

And here is a little teaser for the next post! Next time you see my kitchen... it will be one of these colors. Crazy, I know. But hey, it's my apartment- and I can crazy-paint it however I please : )

Living Room.

Ok- there is seriously no rhyme or reason to how this uploader-thinngy puts up pictures- gr! Anyways, before getting into more apartment re-d0 talk, I wanted to show you guys my latest purchase!

This is Sandy Strong- and she is the mascot of Golisano Childrens Hospital. I really cannot say enough amazing things about the hospital, but I'll try to give you a little example. Most of the time, kids are really afraid to come into the hospital, especially the really little kiddos. One way that nurses and the child life specialists try to help them adjust to their stay in the hospital is to give them little Sandy dolls. Before any procedure (from taking routine vital signs to major surgeries) these little dolls (or really any stuffed animal/doll) are used to show the little ones what we will be doing. We can show them how we will take a blood pressure, how we will change their bandages, etc. This is really helpful in calming them, and allowing them to be a participant in their care. So anyways, I picked up one of these keychains to proudly show my support : ) yay!

Back to the apartment business. So I got this rug at IKEA in Toronto. Fun fact- the US and Canada do not have the same currencies. Who woulda thought, right? Well you probably would have, but I didn't. And my "inexpensive" IKEA trip turned out to be a lot more expensive than I thought due to the exchange rate. Also, I thought that I had remembered an IKEA right across the US/Canadian border at Niagara falls, but the morning that we left, I couldn't seem to find directions to that location, so we drove all the way to the Toronto IKEA- which turned out to be a 4 hour drive due to traffic. And wouldn't you know... right as we finally get out of the bumper-to-bumper Toronto traffic, and are about to cross back into America- we see the other IKEA. But, even with the extra 3 hours of traveling time, it was worth it, and I got lots of fun and cute items :)

I got these couches from a graduating med student. They were an awesome deal, but I need to figure out how to clean them....

So this is a desk that I picked up from craigslist for $25. I plan to DIY it, and eventually it will be used to hold a TV and appleTV that I am hoping to get for my birthday... *hint, hint* : ) Having cable doesn't really make sense for me, because as a nurse, your hours are all over the place, and so I'd never really get to watch anything with consistency. This way, I can stream netflix and hulu, and get all the shows that I want, when I have time to see them!

This picture really disappoints me. The gallery wall looks so much cuter in person! Oh well... I eventually plan to cover almost the entire wall with pictures and art, but I ran out of frames- and I'm very picky about my frames.

I filled my gallery wall with pages from my favorite books (Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, and The Adventures of Huck Finn are displayed so far)

Photos of my favorite people (This is my sister's wedding!! Isn't she the prettiest bride, ever?)

And art from my favorite Esty vendors. This one came from a woman who lives in Arroyo Grande, CA. I found it hilarious that the street that she lives on is Tally Ho! Road. (Well I added the "!" but it seemed like it belonged there)

So, I still have a long way to go. I need to buy some side tables, a coffee table, and more decorations, but I think it will turn out really cute when I'm all done!!

Bedroom

So, here is my bedroom makeover. I apologize- I have no idea how to rearrange the pictures, so the order doesn't make much sense, but I will try to caption them as we go down in the post.

So here is my bed. The bedding is from anthropologie, which is my home inspiration. If I could live in anthropologie- I would. The bedding was from my parents for my birthday- so it was obviously not included in my $1,000 budget. If you don't know- anthro bedding is heavenly. It is the softest, most lovely, squishiest bedding in the world. Buy some. Eventually, I will be getting this duvet to go along with the set. OH! while I was finding the link, I found that the bedding is now 20% off- so I'm buying it now. I love a good flash sale : )

This is my dresser- I got it from craigslist for $35, then sanded, and painted it. I pretty much love it. I was going for a shabby chic, but modern style, and so I think this really fits in well with my scheme.

This vanity was another craigslist find. It was $25, and isn't the best quality, but I am obsessed with the mirror thing on the top, and it folds down to become a desk. It was a hideous seafoam green, and I painted it white. I hate seafoam green. I also hate that chair. I have already purchased a super cute a chair to DIY, but I still have to sand and paint it, so this piece o' junk will have to suffice until I get around to it.

See? The order is wrong. But this is the dresser before painting.

This is my favorite piece of art. It's a letterpress poster that can be found here at heartfishpress. The versions with the hearts replacing the "o" are special editions, and only come out every few months- I was lucky enough to snag this one before they were sold out.

So- as you will soon see- I love frames. I have been collecting them for the last few months, and spray painted them white to make the "headboard" shown in the first picture.

See? Hideous seafoam.

My family will appreciate, and not be surprised by the fact, that after painting my whole room, I opened the door, and of course, for got to paint a rather sizeable section. dang it. Can you see the color? It looks blue, but really, it's a dove grey. I love grey.

This, my friends, is God's gift to DIY-ers. I really hate taping- it takes FOREVER, and paint always seems to seep or peel. But with this little guy, you don't need to tape because it makes perfect little edges.

So, there is my bedroom makeover. I still have some work to do, but it's a start : )

The New Place

Alright, before we go any further- I do not claim to be a writer. I have horrible grammar, spelling, and punctuation ( I really love over-using commas). And I fully realize that this blog probably won't be very interesting to anyone except for my mom and grandma. I am writing it because I have two months before starting work (I'm an RN, and will be starting to work in a pediatric intensive care unit while going back to school and earning a nurse practitioner degree in pediatrics/care of the child & family) and I need something to do with my time. I also love interior design and think I have picked up some great tips along the way from HGTV, and a fun blog called YoungHouseLove. Seeing as I have no job, everything that I am using in my apartment is either second hand or from target. My challenge was to decorate my apartment for under $1,000 including furniture. So- let me show you the place.

This is the view from my bedroom and living room windows- it's the Colgate Divinity School here in Rochester, and it is so gorgeous. I love taking walks around the campus, and they have the BEST sledding hill- that's important, because it is snow here 11/12 months out of the year. Ok, fine. That's a lie. It's more like 8.

This is my street.

Hey! That's my building

Living room.

Intro

Hi everyone,

So I started this blog about a year ago to document my time as a nursing student. Well... as you can see, I never posted once. Things were a little bit crazy with the whole moving across country, leaving my family, breakin' up, and starting the most intense academic year of my life. So here is my second attempt. I will be documenting the transformation of my little apartment into a space that would make Jeff Lewis proud- well, probably not, but I'd bet Jenny and Zoila would really like it. I'll start off by giving you a little taste of the god awful apartment I lived in last year, so that you can understand why this new little apartment means so much to me.

See? So beat. And that mold picture TOTALLY does not even do it justice. By the time that I moved out, that whole area was black. My poor kitten, Daisy, even got asthma. Thankfully, I am all moved out, and on to the next : )