Renovation Archives | Embracing Homemaking

This post contains affiliate links to products I own and love.

Since moving last week I’ve discovered quite a few things about myself and I’m sharing them here with you in hopes that you might find them helpful.

1. The biggest thing thing I’ve noticed is that I LOVE clean and open spaces. Okay, that really shouldn’t have surprised me but how much I love it certainly does. I don’t even feel like decorating. I’m sure I’ll decorate as time goes on but right now I’m enjoying the serenity of freshly painted walls.
2. I thought I would be disgusted by eating out so much but it gave me an opportunity to seek out those healthier options at restaurants that I usually avoid. …and I liked them! I may not completely revert back to my “go-to” restaurant favorites.

3. After a few days of eating out I decided to see what all was possible with my make-shift kitchen consisting of a fridge, toaster oven, microwave, and a wok on a hot plate. It turns out that you can make a lot with those! I’m feeling creative and enjoying the challenge of cooking with less equipment.
4. I am enjoying, no absolutely relishing in the amount of things we have out. I feel like I’m on a vacation, just living with the minimum and having the time of my life. We have all of our unopened boxes in one room and we keep the door shut. We go in to get what we need and leave the rest there. Once we have our kitchen cabinets installed and closet systems in place we’ll unpack a bit more but right now I’m loving having less. We donated a lot as we packed up our old house but because of this high that’s coming from seeing and interacting with less I have a feeling I’m going to be donating a lot more in the coming weeks. Less toys means less to put away. Less clothes means more laundry but less choices. Less things to dust around and vacuum around. Less has truly made my spirits brighter. I wish it didn’t take the painstaking ordeal of packing a few hundred boxes to fully convince me but that did the trick. If you want to live with less you can get started with my 200 Things to Throw Away post!

5. Because we’re in a new place I want to be at my best for my kids. I don’t want my cranky attitude to make them dislike their new house. I know that seems silly but if you’re a parent you know how your attitude can affect your child’s. To help with my attitude I’ve started going to bed earlier. On purpose. Every night. It has helped my attitude tremendously! I’m still tired through the day because of my narcolepsy but I’m more alert (and happier!) than I have been.
6. Along with going to bed earlier I’m trying to prep for the next day by laying out clothes, towels for the morning, and planning and prepping breakfast for the next day. It takes very little time but helps me tremendously as I’m stumbling around in the morning. I started doing this on my own and I had success but a few days ago my blogging friend, Crystal Paine of MoneySavingMom.com released a new 14 day course that provides a step by step system to help you Make Over Your Evening. I immediately bought it, devoured it, and can say that I have truly benefited from it. Here’s my affiliate link if you’d like to check it out for yourself. The course only takes 15 minutes a day…unless you’re like me and go ahead of schedule. 🙂

In just 15 minutes a day over two weeks the course promises you’ll learn how to:

– Establish a Realistic Evening Routine that works — and that sets you up for amazing success!
– Design a Prioritized To Do List for each day — one that you’re actually excited to wake up and tackle!
– Nourish your body, nurture your soul, and no longer put your health on the back burner — even in the middle of a busy and full life.
– Assemble a wardrobe of simple outfits you love and that make you feel great — so you can finally, as Dear Abby Leigh says, “Dress for the day you want to have, instead of the one that’s trying to have you”!
– Develop a contagious, positive attitude — so you can experience and express more joy in your everyday life.
– And more… visit MakeOverYourMorning.com for more information.

7. Lastly, I hate to admit that there may possibly be downsides to living in the woods. The only downside so far is that I’ve found way too many spiders to have only been here a little over a week! (Yes, I saved you and shared a picture of my darling daughter instead of a yucky spider. You’re welcome!) I’m seriously thinking of investing in one of these little spider catchers that I’ve seen on Facebook a few times.

If you’ve endured a move and lived to tell about it I would love any advice you have to share! Happy Monday, friends!

A Touch Of Class: Making Your Studio Look Like A Hotel Room

Working in the city often results in you having to compromise on the size of your apartment. For example, if you live in places like Manhattan, San Francisco and L.A., the places where you can affordably stay in an be quite limited. In such cases, it is actually quite common for many people to simply live in a cramped studio apartment that is barely 24 square meters in size.

For some people, their apartments can be even smaller with some of them being barely 18 square meters. Suffice it to say, you can see that space is at a premium in such locations and it is due to this that the concept of “class” is rarely connected to the “shoe boxes” that people wind up having to live in. However, just because you live in a cramped room does not mean that you cannot bring a touch of elegance into the way you live in order to enhance your overall experience.

Getting a Bed that is Also a Cabinet

Source: instantshift.com

One of the more unusual items that you can get for your home comes in the form of a cabinet bed that you can get from sites like Cabinetbed.ca. This is basically a bed that is collapsible and can be inserted into a nondescript yet elegant looking cabinet that can be placed at the side of your apartment. The advantage of choosing this type of bed over a solid mattress is the fact that it not only enables you to have more space as you move around your apartment, it also enables you to have a small mini office in your bedroom that helps you work from home without being tempted to work from your bed the entire day.

Get Soft Lighting and Lamps

Another way of enhancing how your apartment looks based on the advice of ApartmentTherapy.com is to install soft lighting into it along with placing lamps on your side tables. While it may seem like an odd choice, soft lighting is actually rather helpful in creating a nice ambiance in your room. This is further enhanced if you were to place proper light covers on the lights in the ceiling. This helps to distribute the brightness to the extent that it helps to create a nice even setting of lighting. Aside from this, small lamps placed on side tables are an effective way of adding a touch of class to your small room since you can turn of your main lights and turn the lamps on.

Getting the Right Sort of Household Goods

Another thing that you can do is to invest in branded household goods such as the Alessi line of kitchen tools from Lumens. The unique designs really stand out when displayed in a kitchen area, and the entire line is rather durable as compared to ordinary household items that you can buy from your local mall. When displayed via hooks and open shelves in your kitchen, they really add a considerable touch of class to your tiny apartment.

Have Carpeting Installed

People tend to forget that the floor of their apartment is also a valuable element when it comes to enhancing the overall appearance of their home. However, it is normally the case that they neglect to add sufficient “enhancements” to the floor and leave things as-is. This results in people looking at the floor and seeing nothing more than drab tiling, or maybe even wood flooring that looks like it has seen better days.

In order to enhance the look of your apartment, install some plush carpeting that both matches your walls yet can be easily cleaned. While investing in carpeting may seem to be a rather expensive option, you need to take into consideration the fact that you will be the one who will make the most use out of it. Just imagine the feeling of a nice plush carpet as you walk across it. There are few feelings like it in the world and shows just how nice a carpet would be both for the sake of appearance, as well as how it would feel like on your feet.

All in all, if you implement even a few of these recommendations when redesigning your studio apartment, they’ll go a long way towards enhancing the overall look and feel of the place. Just remember, making your apartment look good is more for yourself, since a nice apartment helps to create a calming and homey feel that enables you to relax after a long day at work. In fact, Gizmodo.com states that an apartment that looks drab and tiny makes you want to avoid it rather than stay in it—and this defeats the purpose of having an apartment in the first place.