open studio

A Day in the Life of Colbert

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 18:25:00 +0000

Hello all, Colbert here. I’ve mentioned before how difficult it is to be a Colbert, so I thought I’d show you a typical day to give you a sense of how truly terrible my life is. Feel free to send sympathetic thoughts...and bacon.

Sometime in the Morning (I’m a dog, I can’t tell time):

All I want to do is stay curled up on my nice warm bed, but these slave drivers force me to go outside in the cold. At least they reward me for my troubles with a biscuit. It’s a little sub-standard, but I take what I can get.

After all that, they don’t even stay to play with me or anything. They leave me to go to “the gym,” whatever that means. I don’t know why they needed to wake me up only to leave me again. That’s just rude.

Just as I start to get comfortable and fall back asleep, they come back to disturb me! At least this time Mommy gives me my breakfast, which is lacking in flavor and variety. My distinguished palate is far superior than theirs and for some unknown reason, they think this rubbish that they feed me is adequate.

While Mommy and Daddy are Gone:

Sometimes Daddy forgets to shut the bedroom door before he leaves for work. Those are the best days because then I can sleep on the people bed. Normally they don’t allow me on the bed, but I like to go up there when they’re not paying attention. Usually, I spend a lot of my time herding those annoying cats as they run around like crazy. I feel it is my responsibility to referee their activities, since it can get a little out of hand. You would think that Mommy and Daddy would reward me for this good behavior, but noooo.

Forever Later:

Finally, after what may or may not be days later, my Mommy and Daddy return home to release me from this prison. They do grant me a little pleasure by taking me for a brief walk; however, even this is minimal and short lived. They hold me back on a leash, preventing me from running free. I am a prime athletic specimen, yet they refuse to let me perform to my full potential. I am a herding dog, after all.

After returning home from our walk, they feed me more of that terrible food for dinner as they selfishly prepare a delicious-smelling meal for themselves. If I’m lucky, they’ll accidentally drop some food on the floor, which I deftly swoop up before they realize their mistake. The key is to position yourself beneath their feet as they cook.

Sometimes Daddy gives me a treat after dinner, so it’s important to stay close by. The rest of my night is spent alternating between chasing cats, playing with Dragon, and napping. Eventually it’s time to get ready for bed, so I can do it all over again the next day.

Now you that know what it’s like to be a Colbert, I hope you can appreciate my struggles. I’m not one to complain, though; I just suffer in silence.

Design Love

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 19:47:00 +0000

Dapto Anglican Church Auditorium by Silvester Fuller, via Dezeen

Rest Hole in the University of Seoul by UTAA, via Arch Daily

Wine Bottle for Leo Hillinger by Zaha Hadid, via Dezeen

Greenhouse Botanical Garden by idA, via Arch Daily

2722 Building by Daniel Martin Cornejo, via Arch Daily

Your House by Olafur Eliasson,
via Apartment Therapy

Heydar Aliyev Center by Zaha Hadid Architects, via Arch Daily

Star Struck!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 22:03:00 +0000

Let me get straight to the point: I met HGTV’s Anthony Carrino and John Colaneri from Cousins Undercover, Cousins On Call, and Kitchen Cousins! They even talked to me for awhile after taking a few photos with me, and I somehow managed to keep my composure and form complete sentences in their presence! I also met Genevieve Gorder from Dear Genevieve, but I don’t have a photo to prove it.

Photo from Sharp Communications

Now for the backstory:

A couple weeks ago, I joined some friends from work for the launch party of Dekton (a new product by Cosentino) at the Center for Architecture in NYC. I had to go somewhere before the party so I was going to meet my coworkers at the CFA, but ended up arriving before them. While I was waiting for them inside, Anthony came up next to me to grab a drink. Since I had no idea the HGTV stars would be there and because I’m an embarrassment when I get star struck, I immediately froze, saying nothing and just smiling like a crazy person. After finding my coworker’s sister, who works for the PR firm that was putting on the event, I told her how excited I was to see the HGTV stars, as I’m a little too obsessed with HGTV, so she pulled Anthony aside to have him take a photo with me. He then grabbed his cousin John and suddenly I found myself having my photo taken with both cousins and having a conversation with the two of them about design! They then introduced me to Genevieve, and my night was complete! All of this happened before my friends even arrived at the party.

Before I knew HGTV people would be at the event, I was actually excited about the product launch and the corresponding exhibit. It was not only highlighting Dekton and its features, but also showcasing an exhibit by six local emerging architects who each created a model or design piece either using Dekton materials or interpreting concepts of the product in some manner. Below are my favorites.

Model by SOFTlab

Detail of model by SOFTlab

Model by MANIFOLD

Model by EASTON+COMBS

Model by Architecture in Formation

I’m so glad I was able to attend this event, and I’m feeling very fortunate to have met and talked with Anthony and John!

Design Love

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 22:11:00 +0000

Vanke Brand Center by Vector Architects, via Arch Daily

The Polymorphic by The Polymorphic Youth!

Jackson Family Retreat by Fougeron Architecture, via Contemporist

Via 31 by Somdoon Architects Ltd, via Arch Daily

Dear Ginza by amano design office, via Arch Daily

Princeton

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 02:33:00 +0000

Last Sunday, I tagged along with Vincent when he drove down to Princeton to work at the Seton Hall men's soccer game against Princeton university. Neither of us had been there before, but we had been told it's a cute town that we would enjoy visiting. That was an understatement!

The day could not have been better. The weather was beautiful, that perfect combination of fall approaching while summer still lingers. As soon as we turned onto campus, I felt like I was at Duke, with the forest trees protecting the street from the outside world only to reveal a little oasis of collegiate gothic buildings. I remember hearing somewhere that Duke blatantly copied the architecture of Princeton, but it was odd to see it in person.

The sports fields and facilities were immaculate and I was instantly jealous of their use of contemporary architecture for the sports buildings. I feel that too often college architecture plays it safe, so it was refreshing to see these newer buildings taking advantage of contemporary styles, materials, and forms. I also appreciated that not all of the facilities were exactly the same. It was clear all of the buildings were part of a larger complex, but each had a unique function expressed through its form, solid/void relationships, and materials.

After the soccer game ended and Vincent had finished his work (unfortunately Seton Hall lost), we headed over to Palmer Square, a cute block of shopping, restaurants, cafes, etc. We quickly learned, however, that we had come during Jazz Fest so the entire area was packed with people and vendors. By some miracle we found parking and set out to find a decent restaurant nearby. We ate outside on the patio of the Yankee Doodle Tap Room, listening to the wonderful jazz music being performed on the lawn next door and watching all of the people stroll by.

As Jazz Fest came to an end and vendors packed up their tents and trucks, we wandered around window shopping and taking in the local history. Once the daylight started to fade, we decided it was time to return home to a cranky pup and needy kittens. All in all, it was a remarkably pleasant day!

Design Love

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 02:14:00 +0000

PUMA's Red Shoe Box by Architect Klaus Krex, via +MOOD

Assemble Studio by Assemble, via designboom

Karolinska Institute Future Learning Environments by Tengbom,
via Contemporist

Brown Vujcich House by Bossley Architects,
via Contemporist

Gammel Hellerup Gymnasium by BIG, via Arch Daily

While I was Gone

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 03:03:00 +0000

For many students and teachers, as Facebook has informed me, today was the first day of school. Today also marked the day that my baby sister headed off to college as a Freshman! So in honor of summer vacation coming to an end, I will end my own Blog-cation by sharing what has been occupying my time this summer (because it certainly wasn’t maintaining this blog, for which I apologize).

The number one reason for taking a break from open studio this summer:

Travel

Things I did not do this summer: anything on my “Improving a Rental” to-do list. Maybe I’ll be better about checking things off that list in the fall.

What kind of summer adventures have you all been on?

Design Love

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Sun, 26 May 2013 17:21:00 +0000

Before I show you some fun examples of contemporary architecture and design, I want to apologize for letting the blog get away from me. Between studying for my architectural registration exams, work, and life in general, I have not been able to dedicate as much time to open studio as I would like. Blogging is very important to me, so I am disappointed with myself when I allow it to fall behind. I currently have a few DIY projects planned, and I hope to maintain a better live-work-blog balance in the future.

Thank you for continuing to follow open studio, and have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

Les Bebes Cupcakery by J.C. Architecture, via Dezeen

WIREFLOW by Arik Levy for Vibia, via Design Milk

Involution by students at Savannah College of Art and Design,
via SuckerPUNCH

Rami Stool and Side Table by Il Hoon Roh, via Contemporist

CIPEA No. 4 House by AZL architects, via Arch Daily

Kids These Days...

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Fri, 10 May 2013 03:00:00 +0000

These kittens get away with everything and they have no respect for authority. When I was a puppy, I wasn’t allowed on the furniture or the table or the counter, and I respected those rules. Now, whenever my people tell the cats to get off the counter, they just sit there staring back at them defiantly. If I did that, I would have been punished, no questions asked. So not only do the cats not care, but the people don’t care either. They let them behave badly with no consequences.

Since my mom and dad won’t discipline them, I have to be the one to teach them the hierarchy here. It’s a slow process, due to their lack of accountability up until now, but we’re making positive strides. They’re beginning to understand that morning biscuits are for Colberts only and not to be shared. Also, if I say it’s mine, then it’s mine. The kittens are starting to respect the boundaries I am establishing, but every once in awhile they relapse and I have to put them back in their place.

Now I just need my people to stop spoiling them, and all will be fine.

Baby Steps

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:30:00 +0000

As I formulate my game plan for accomplishing the items on my To-Do List, I have a couple small improvements to share, which will hopefully get the creative juices flowing and motivate me to tackle some bigger projects.

Just over a week ago, I turned...sigh...30 (I guess that means it’s time to update the About section, since I’m no longer “a newlywed, dangerously-close-to-30, Architectural Intern”)! My aunt gave me these beautiful flowers for my birthday, which the kittens promptly destroyed.

This photo's a little blurry, but it shows the crazy
look in Selma's eye when she was near the flowers.

After cleaning up flower remains, I was left with a lovely vase that reminds me of a smaller version of my Palmetto Vase, and I decided to keep it out as a decorative piece. Unfortunately, our apartment’s lack of functional space leaves little room for displaying items like this, so I placed it on the kitchen counter in between the plethora of kitchen appliances. It’s not ideal, but it freshens up the counter a bit.

The test tube spice rack next to the vase is a
previous DIY project.

I also placed two metal trivets on two metal hooks, all from Ikea, on the wall above the kitchen counter. This backsplash area is much larger than it should be, as I have mentioned before, so the trivets help break up this openness.

I have also thought about adding a removable backsplash similar to the two examples below (each with tutorials on how to make it removable), but I worry that it’s not worth spending the time and money on a big improvement like this in our current apartment. I might save that project for our next apartment.

via Door Sixteen

via Four Generations One Roof

Design Love

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:58:00 +0000

l'Office 64 de l'Habitat by Arotcharen Architectes, via plusMOOD

Flare II by Antony Gormley, via Inspir3d

Tree Art Museum by Daipu Architects, via Dezeen

Lucien Pellat-Finet Shinsaibashi by Kengo Kuma, via Retail Design Blog

China Wood Sculpture Museum by MAD, via Dezeen

To-Do List

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 23:51:00 +0000

While this apartment has always felt temporary, the longer we live here, the more I realize I need to make some improvements that I would otherwise pass off as being something to do in an apartment we plan on staying in for many years. It would be nice to bring this place up to our standards, making it feel more homey and comfortable and less like a temporary stop before finding our “perfect” apartment. Obviously, because it’s a rental, any improvement I do has to be removable, but there are plenty of options out there now to make a rental apartment feel like a permanent home. I also want to tackle projects that I think would be more universal; in other words, ones that could probably work in any other apartment we rent in the future.

I’m hoping that putting these projects in list-form on my blog will help get them out of my head (and out of Pinterest!) and into reality. Plus, who doesn’t love a good list?!

Make new shades for the living room to replace the venetian blinds that the kittens destroyed.
Add a “feature wall” behind the bed using removable wallpaper.
Reorganize the nightstand, remove the table lamp, and add wall-mounted light fixtures on either side of the bed.
Customize my closet.
Find a new use for the wine crates that have been sitting on the floor in the office collecting dust for the past year and a half.

Pat destroying the blinds

Removable Wallpaper via Chasing Paper, DIY Lamp via Bungalow 5,
Closet via Take the Side Street

More New Additions

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:05:00 +0000

This weekend I spent some time making two new open studio buttons.

Of course I had to include Colbert in one, and the other was more of an exercise in graphic design. I wish I had taken some graphic design courses in grad school when I had the chance, because whenever I attempt graphic design work, I always feel like this:

via Huffington Post

Also, open studio is now on Instagram, which means I have added an icon to the social media icons at the top of the sidebar. Check me out on Instagram!

Design Love

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 16:24:00 +0000

Clarion Hotel and Congress Trondheim by
Space Group, via plusMOOD

Green Dot Animo Leadership High School by Brooks + Scarpa
Architects, via Architizer

colourSPACE by blackLAB Architects, via Design Milk

A.H. McCoy Federal Office Building by Schwartz-Silver Architects,
via Arch Daily

University of Wollongong AIIM by SKM-S2F, via Arch Daily

I Hate Our Bathroom!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 01:24:00 +0000

Let me say that again (since I can’t say it enough), I. hate. our. bathroom! It’s so small, so ugly, so moldy, and it’s located completely on the opposite side of the apartment from the bedroom. When Vincent and I rented our St. Louis apartment, we knew we were spoiling ourselves, and that we wouldn’t be able to live in a place as new and modern as that once we moved to the east coast. However, I thought we’d be able to get a bathroom at least better than this one.

The toilet paper holder never worked right--and eventually fell off the wall--so I got a cheap Ikea TP holder that functions better, only to discover this mess. Instead of taking the hardware off before repainting (why were the walls green in the first place?! And why did they think one coat of white paint would be enough to cover said green walls?), they simply painted around the toilet paper holder.

The handle on the pocket door doesn't allow you
to pull the door shut, so we had to put a 3M hook
on sideways as the door handle.

I understand the original builder’s reasoning behind placing the bathroom at the back of the apartment - it keeps all of the plumbing in one area, since the kitchen sink and laundry machine are located right next to the bathroom - but no architect would ever design a layout like this. The bathroom’s small size makes it very difficult for Vincent and me to get ready at the same time (and usually Colbert and the cats try to follow us in there too). In fact, I have a hard enough time drying my hair in there when it’s just me.

This is an example of a well planned, small bathroom. This is how my bathroom should be laid out.

via houzz

In my future house, I don’t even need the coveted double sink (although that is better for resale value), I just want a longer sink counter and enough space for both Vincent and me to get ready at the same time. We actually had that in our bathroom in St. Louis because the toilet was situated next to the long sink, providing a lot of space for the two of us (and Colbert).

via Chezerbey

via houzz

One element of our current bathroom that is not terrible is the shelving tucked in next to the toilet. Although cramped and awkward to reach, it provides much needed storage. I think I prefer shelves over a linen closet because, if done right, it can become a decorating element. This is something I would want to have in our future house as well.

via Arianna Belle Organized Interiors

Kitty Cabinet

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 04:44:00 +0000

Awhile back, I wrote about cat-proofing the apartment and I alluded to a solution I had in the works for the litter box. Well, that solution has arrived. I designed a cabinet to house the cats’ litter box in a stylish way in order to keep Colbert away from their litter and to prevent them from scattering litter throughout the apartment.

Having no carpentry skills myself, I recruited Vincent’s stepdad to build the Kitty Cabinet for me. After emailing him the construction drawings and explaining it in detail over the phone, he quickly got to work, texting me progress photos throughout the process.

This past weekend, Vincent’s mom and stepdad made the 500 mile drive up from North Carolina for a visit, bringing the Kitty Cabinet with them. I designed it to be larger than most people might want--because we have a rather large litter box that both cats share and I added space adjacent to the opening to provide a buffer between the outside and the litter box--but it fits perfectly in the office.

My design inspiration came from multiple sources:

The initial idea to build a cabinet to hide the litter box.

via The Chive

I shamelessly copied this cat opening.

via Architizer

I love the legs on a lot of mid-century modern furniture. Unfortunately, you can’t see the legs that well because of the proportions.

via Mid-Centuria

In retrospect, I should have have designed the legs to be more like this...

via BLTD

...or this.

via Fab

The next step is to make a cushion to sit on top of the cabinet, which I hope Pat and Selma will use as a cat bed. I suppose it could also serve as a bench for people, as well.

Design Love

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 19:55:00 +0000

Messe Basel Exhibition Hall by Herzog & de Meuron, via designboom

Or2 by Orproject, via suckerPUNCH

Pan-Gyo Residence by Office 53427, via Design Milk

Interactive Interior Facade at Issey Miyake by Moment Design,
via designboom

Model Home Gallery by NADAAA, via Arch Daily

Happy Valentine's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 19:45:00 +0000

The nerd in me wishes you an Architecty Valentine's Day!

Contemporary Drawings design by Raleigh Architect Coffee with an Architect

Snow Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 18:52:00 +0000

It snowed! Did you know that it snowed?! Snow’s my favorite! My mommy let me run around in the park across the street for awhile this morning, and there was more snow than I have ever seen in my entire life. It was glorious!

After playing in the park, I helped my daddy clear off the cars. I had to supervise his work because he can’t be trusted to do a good job on his own. With my keen, watchful eye, he finished in a timely and efficient manner. He’s very lucky to have had me there to help him.

Now that my work is done, it’s time for a nap. Happy Snow Day!

Design Love

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:28:00 +0000

Water + Reed by BLAUW Architecten, via designboom

Childminders Centre by TallerDE2 Arquitectos +
Gutierrez-delafuente Arquitectos, via Arch Daily

FOLDONE by NOVAE Architecture, via plusMOOD

Lahas Zone by CROX International, via Arch Daily

Bionand Building by Planho, via Arch Daily

New Look, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 18:00:00 +0000

In the previous post, I discussed some of the changes made to open studio’s layout. It’s amazing how much you can do yourself relatively easily just by Googling specific tutorials. In addition to the category tags and social media icons, I added some other new features that I hope you’ll enjoy.

Pin It:
One of the cooler things I added is the “Pin It” button. If you hover your mouse over any image in a blog post, a small Pinterest icon will appear in the lower left corner of the image.

Clicking this button brings up a page to create a pin using that image, automatically filling in the description with the title of the blog post.

I wish I was smart enough to figure out how to do this on my own, but that’s the beauty of Google. I found this tutorial from BloggerSentral; it was really easy to follow and recreate on my own blog. I didn’t like how large the Pinterest icon was, however, so I made a smaller version in Photoshop instead.

Open Studio Button:
Another easy tutorial to follow is this one for adding a grab button to your sidebar from Code it Pretty. I will tell you right now, I will be creating a new version of this button, but for now it works.

I’m also considering adding another one at a different size since 125x125 seems pretty small. An extensive online search confirmed that 125x125 pixels is a standard button size, but other sizes under 200x200 are acceptable as well.

What are some ways that you have improved your own blog or website?
Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

New Look, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 03:54:00 +0000

After tweaking the appearance of open studio a few times in the past, I would always feel the need to keep changing it, never being fully satisfied with the overall look. Recently, I spent some time planning out what I really wanted, looking at other blogs and websites for inspiration, and Googling (lots of Googling!) how to actually implement most of what I wanted to achieve. Now that it’s completed, I’m very happy with how it all came together. I’m not promising that I won’t change it in the future, but it’s been a few days and I haven’t been thinking of ways to scrap it and start over like I have in the past.

Categories:
The part of the layout that has bugged me the most was the tabs on the sidebar for the various categories. Originally, I tried to have the style mimic the header, using the same font with a shadow and reflection, but it seemed to dominate too much of the screen.

Next I converted the same images to grayscale, hoping that would make it less in-your-face.

Still not liking it, I decided to stick to my minimal roots and choose a new font (“Labtop” which I downloaded for free from here) on a simple gray background. So far I have no complaints.

Social Media Icons:
For a while, I have wanted to add icons providing you direct access to follow open studio on an RSS feed and on Pinterest, but I could never figure out how to do it. After Googling some tutorials with no success, it dawned on me that I could just use the same code I use for the Design Love and Colbert’s Corner pages. My biggest problem had been getting the clickable images to sit next to one another, which is exactly what I do for the recap images on the DL and CC pages (which I am now fully caught up on, for those of you wondering!)

Here’s how I made my RSS, Email, and Pinterest icons:
Step 1: Upload the images you will be using for your icons to a public photo sharing site. Since my blog is on Blogger, I use Picasa, but I know that Flickr and Photobucket work too.
Step 2: In your Blogger Layout sidebar, click on “Add a Gadget” and select HTML/JavaScript.

Step 3: Copy the code below and paste it into the Content section (leave Title blank). Since I know nothing about coding except what I find online, forgive me if this is inefficient or “ugly.” It gets the job done, which for me is all I really need.

(Sorry, I can’t remember where I found this code, it was a long time ago)

<table> <tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="YOUR LINK HERE" title="YOUR TITLE HERE"><img border="0" height="40" src="YOUR IMAGE URL HERE" width="40" /> </a></td>
<td><a href="mailto:YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HERE" title="YOUR TITLE HERE"><img border="0" height="40" src="YOUR IMAGE URL" width="40" /> </a></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>

Step 4: Copy your link (either to your RSS feed, Pinterest, Facebook page, whatever it is that you’re linking to) and paste it where it says YOUR LINK HERE, but make sure you keep the quotation marks. Only replace the text in caps!
Step 5: If you want there to be a title when you hover over the icon, type it in YOUR TITLE HERE. If you don’t want it to do this, you can delete title="YOUR TITLE HERE", but leave the > bracket!
Step 6: Back in Picasa, right click on your photo and select “Copy Image URL”. Paste this in the code where it says YOUR IMAGE URL HERE, again making sure to leave the quotation marks.
Step 7: Repeat steps 4-6 for each icon.
Step 8: Email is slightly different because you’re not adding an actual link. Simply replace YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HERE with, yep, you guessed it, your email address. So that line should look like:
<a href="mailto:openstudiodesigns@gmail.com" title="email">

You can play around with how big the icons appear by changing the numbers for height and width.

There are more layout improvements that I want to talk about, but this is a long post already, so I’ll continue discussing this another time.

Design Love

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:15:00 +0000

Hoshakuji Station by Kengo Kuma & Associates,
via Architonic

Whitney Studio by LOT-EK, via designboom

Offices of Damiani-Holz & Ko. by Modus Architects, via Architizer

Apartment in 47 Plaza Building in Brooklyn by Workstead, via Remodelista

Vejlskovgaard Stable by LUMO Architects, via Arch Daily

Laundry Time

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 14:30:00 +0000

Vincent and I are very spoiled. All three apartments we have rented have had a washer and dryer in the unit. No lugging clothes to a laundromat, no scary basements with shared washers and dryers, no worrying about whether someone will remove my wet clothes if I forget to switch them over to the dryer. Just pure, private, laundry laziness.

Our first two apartments in St. Louis each had the laundry in a separate closet, but this apartment oddly has the washer/dryer in a nook off the kitchen, without a door to close it off if we have guests or to minimize the noise. This laundry “room” is a cramped space that leads to a storage closet and the back door, and it has become the dumping ground for everything that doesn’t fit in the rest of the apartment (eg. golf clubs, clothes needing to be taken to Good Will, old electronics that we’re holding onto for no particular reason). It’s also where we keep the recycling, pet food, cleaning supplies, and clothes drying rack. When you consider that it cannot be larger than 4 ft. by 6 ft. -- and that’s a generous estimate -- it’s amazing the cats haven’t gotten stuck back there!

This photo doesn't do the clutter justice.
It's a mess, I promise!

After my recent trip to Ikea, I decided that I couldn’t stand the mess any longer. I had purchased the Grundtal Drying Rack as a space-saving tool to replace the clunky, traditional drying rack that always ends up in the way (because, let’s face it, clothes stay on it for days after they’re dry).

Grundtal Drying Rack from Ikea

It folds flat against the wall to save space.

I also picked up a cheap-o trash bin from Target for recycling cans/bottles/glass. Woohoo, no more brown shopping bags sitting out in front of the washer/dryer! The pet food bins are now pushed farther back so I can actually stand on the floor in front of the laundry machine, instead of standing in the kitchen and leaning awkwardly over the clutter just to put clothes in the wash.

At one point during my Ikea shopping trip, I had the Dignitet Curtain Wire set and a curtain in my shopping cart, thinking that I could hang it in the doorway to the laundry nook. Ultimately, I decided that this particular curtain system is specific to our current apartment, and I’d rather buy things that will most likely work in future apartments as well.

Oh Ikea, You're My Favorite

noreply@blogger.com (Christina (open studio)) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 03:52:00 +0000

This Christmas, I was given a couple Ikea gift cards, so yesterday I took a trip to the nearest Ikea and tried to control myself. That place is dangerous! I was very well behaved, only buying items that we actually need. There were a couple items I wanted to help organize our apartment a little better, but they are specific to this apartment, and I only wanted to purchase things that can be used in any future living situation.

The first piece of furniture I looked for (and immediately found) was a shelving unit for the pets’ food bowls. We have to keep the cats’ food up high so that Colbert won’t eat it, but it also has to be located near Colbert’s food bowls because the cats eat his food too. By having their food near his, I can pick them up and move them to their own food when they start eating Colbert’s. They also only drink out of Colbert’s water bowl (even when they have fresh water right next to their food), so that’s another reason why the cats’ bowl needs to be near Colbert’s.

Prior to my Ikea trip, we were keeping their bowl on top of the washing machine. For obvious reasons, I wanted to find an alternative solution to this. This shelving unit works perfectly. It fits right where Colbert’s bowls were already located, and the shelf for the cats is just high enough that Colbert can’t reach it, but not too high that it’s difficult for them to jump up to. It is also the exact depth of their food mat, giving them plenty of room to both be up there at the same time.

Another item I purchased was something I had not planned on getting: a carpet for the living room. When I was walking through the textiles area, I noticed this rug for only $20. I knew the size would fit the living room, and I loved the neutral color and pattern. I had thought about a rug there before, because Colbert has difficulty on hardwood floors and I like the idea of warming up the most-used room in the apartment, but typically they are very expensive. The appealing price tag on this one, though, had me sold.

I also bought some other items for the bedroom, laundry area, and the kitchen, but I’ll discuss those another time. Until then, here’s a picture of Pat and Colbert playing with one of the Ikea boxes.