A Year of Home Updates - 2024

I’m a big advocate of the idea that interior design can be a hobby. It can definitely cost money, but there are ways to do it cheaper/get creative with it.

I have been in this apartment since June 2023 and I feel like only this year have I made huge strides in the way that my space feels. At this point in my interior design journey for this home I feel like I have gotten most of the broad strokes down and at this point its all about nailing the small details and filling in everything.

“Entryway”

• Got a hall tree for shoes, jackets, and bags
  • I wanted a place to hang coats and put my shoes that was easier to access than my coat closet which was annoying to open/close most times.
  • This was item where I was inspired by a friend’s apartment.
• Put up (and took down) a dry erase calendar
  • A physical calendar let me look at my month at a glance, both forward and backward looking which really helped me visualize and understand the flow of time.
• Put up a Shoe Closet sign
  • I asked one of my friends who graphic design experience to make me a sign that would look nice and alert my guests to where to put their shoes when they come over.
• Put up a mirror and key/mail holder
  • I never had any place to put my keys or other people’s keys when they came over.
  • I also wanted a mirror to just quickly check my appearance right before I leave.
  • I looked for an integrated solution that had a mirror built into the key holder but they didn’t have anything in a size that would have worked for me.

Dining Room

• Got the Target 5-Head Floor Lamp and put old medals and conference lanyards on it
  • I was inspired by a trip to my friend’s apartment where he was hanging his tote bags on the lamp, but I didn’t just want to copy his idea entirely and be completely un-original.
• Built home library (5 shelves)
  • At first I had one Billy bookshelf with a lot of additional shelf inserts to hold all my books but 1. I was running out of space and 2. I don’t really like the look of the Billy to be honest.
  • It has always been a dream of mine to have a big personal library, so wall-to-wall shelving is the first step in this achieving this dream.
• Switched dining table
  • When I first moved into this apartment I bought a dining table that was a bit too large for the space and was always a bit annoying. When one of my cousins was renovating her house, they were giving away this table that my uncles made so I took it because the shape and size is much better suited to my dining room.
  • I still am not completely in love with the new table, and have been looking for a gateleg double drop leaf table, but have not found anything good yet.

Breakfast Bar

• Got a trinket display
  • My parents had a Vintage Letterpress Drawer Tray that they used to use to display various trinkets but eventually they put it in the basement because they didn’t have anywhere to really put it. They allowed me to take it and I have some of their old trinkets mixed in with some of my new ones.
• Added faux neon Jinro Soju sign
  • A friend of mine likes to do neon art, so in talking to her it made me want to get something neon in my house. I have always loved the look of neon signs and since they are quite expensive, I decided to go with a faux one for now.
• Switched breakfast bar stools with seats
  • I got counter stools from Amazon that were actually pretty nice, but I wanted something that I could actually lean back in. One day when I was walking around my apartment complex I found two perfectly good white counter chairs in the trash that I took and wiped down for my use.
• Added brewery signs to wall
  • I want a bit of a dive bar aesthetic but not too man cave-y, so I have been trying to find nice, clean brewery signs that aren’t faux distressed.
  • Celestial Beerworks and Rogue Dead Guy Ale tin tackers

Balcony

• White tulip table to sit/eat at
  • I got a free table from my cousins when they moved and luckily I had a leftover tablecloth from when I had a circular dining table that looks nice outdoors.
• Ikea faux wood outdoor tiles across whole balcony
  • Inspired by Jusuf’s balcony makeover
  • It is pretty expensive and also does require some cutting which I have been procrastinating. However I just bought a reciprocating saw that should be able to do it easily because a utility knife (boxcutter) was not doing it.
• Plant shelf to hold plants and decor
  • I got it for from the trash and while I don’t have many plants yet I have some old glass bottles/vases sitting around that I have been able to display on it.

Kitchen

• Built floating shelves
  • My kitchen is a galley kitchen and has a nice dividing wall on one side that had nothing on it, which was the perfect place to put floating shelves.
  • I bought a large wooden beam from Home Depot and cut it in half and bought floating shelf brackets from Amazon. Since I didn’t stain the wood it was overall a very easy project that looks great and is very functional for me.
• Moved liquor shelf
  • I have an old children’s book shelf that I used to use to display my vinyl, but now I use it as my liquor shelf to hold my bottles.
  • I used to have a beverage bar in my dining room that had my liquor and mixology equipment as well as coffee machine, but I didn’t really like giving up that much space/storage just for drinks.
  • I also hung a print above the shelf that I bought from Mikeller a Danish brewery that I think has a really cool design identity.
• Put up valance curtain
  • I have a high doorway into the kitchen from the living room that I wanted to develop a sort of transom for in order to provide some more separation between the two rooms as well as adding some visual interest.
  • All I needed was an adjustable length tension rod to hang the curtain and it has held up ever since!
• Added artwork just below the floating shelves
  • I added Nut Free Zone sign, a Kitchen Conversion chart print, and a Vintage Tea Tins Illustration print.

Living Room

• Added a rug
  • I didn’t like my Millennial Gray carpet in my apartment, so I decided to get an area rug that would cover most of it in the living room.
  • I’m not the hugest fan of the rug because it isn’t as soft as I want it to be, but not sure if I actually care enough to go find and buy a different rug.
• Added Ikea bubble mirror
  • I really like the look of a convex mirror so I wanted to have one in my apartment. It was pretty blank on the wall though, so I asked a friend to help me draw the text “Smile!” in bubble letters above the mirror.
• Got glass side table from apartment trash
  • One of the legs end caps was broken so it wasn’t sitting properly, but I superglued it back together with some support so that I could use it again.
• Started a gallery wall
  • I’ve always loved the look of a gallery wall and I have been slowly curating one. At first it was all framed art, but now I’ve also been starting to add non-framed content which I have been liking the look of.
  • Most of the pieces are quite small so I might try to get some larger pieces.
• Repurposed cabinet for vinyl table
  • I found a cabinet in the apartment trash because it had a broken door that wouldn’t stay closed. I tried fixing it but realized that I could actually just rip the doors off and remove the hinges to make it open storage.
  • I bought a 75LP wood and metal vinyl record holder from Amazon to store my records.
  • The piece is too light and wobbles when people walk around so I don’t actually get to use my record player, so I am going to eventually have to replace it.
• Hung an art piece over vinyl table
  • I found a square print of a tarot deck and I got a gold frame for it.
• Replaced main living room reclining couch
  • I had a reclining couch from my uncle that I had in my living room which was very nice, but the only problem was that it really only sat two people and had a center console. When my cousins moved out of their place, they have a different reclining couch from my uncle that sat four people so I was able to snag it from them and upgrade my sofa.
• Replaced ladder shelf and side table with console table in living room
  • The console table blocks less of the window vertically and I feel like it doesn’t stop your eyes from moving across the living room anymore.
  • I also added a mesh metal shelf underneath to hold board games.

Bedroom

• Put up (and later took down) blackout curtains
  • I am very sensitive to light when sleeping so blackout curtains definitely helped my sleep quality. However when I first bought them, Amazon actually send me the wrong curtain rod but I didn’t figure that out until much later and after I had already installed it.
• Get rid of standing desk
  • I never used my standing desk in my room and it was just taking up too much space so I decided to give it to my mom and not have a desk in my apartment anymore since I would always just work at the breakfast bar or on the couch.
• Got rid of my dresser
  • My closet had some racks to put clothes in, so I just bought and installed more so I could store all my clothes in the closet without the need to have a dresser in my bedroom taking up space.
• Got Togo couch dupe
  • I always wanted to have a conversation pit-esque vibe in my room, so I knew I wanted to have a variety of really comfortable furniture facing each other in my bedroom.
• Added poetry wall and other art
  • I hand-stamped lettering for two of my favorite poems and was gifted some Japanese haiku from a friend after their travels. I also got a used copy of “Goodnight Moon” and cut out the pages to put on my wall.
• Added storage shelves to bedroom (later replaced with clothing rack)
  • I needed more storage so I got two Ikea Kallax units, but then I added another shelf rack to my utility closet, so I had no more need for the extra storage.
  • I put a clothes rack because I wanted to be able to have more clothes as well as put some of my extra shoes. I think it adds some texture to my room and makes it feel like more of a bedroom.
• Built loft bed
  • I fulfilled my childhood dream of having a loft bed with the help of my uncles.
• Bought full length mirror
  • I never had any place to take a full body outfit picture so I knew I needed a full-length mirror at some point. The one I bought came with a stand which is nice so I don’t have to lean it anywhere or screw into the wall to hang it.

Bathroom

• Hung art in bathroom
  • My friend got me a funny bathroom-related print and I also had a lighthouse photography that I took from my parent’s house that they weren’t using that I thought had nice color.
• Put up hand towel ring in bathroom (then replaced later)
  • My bathroom had a towel bar for bath towels, but nothing for hand towels so I have been trying to find the best solution to add my own towel ring. I tried a sticky 3M one which worked pretty well, but then a friend accidentally ripped it off the wall. I then bought a screw-in one as well, but I think the drywall anchors weren’t very effective because it also came out of the wall eventually.