tour of our pad

As promised, I've completed an apartment tour.

Some disclaimers are probably necessary.  We love our apartment.  It serves the two of us so perfectly, and we finally feel a little bit like grown-ups.  That being said, it's not the newly remodeled house of our dreams, nor is it perfect by any stretch of the imagination.  It has radiators that clang and hiss (the heat just started to turn on around here, and this was a nice little surprise in the middle of the night).  The building is OLD and the floors creak, which also means that our neighbors above us have creaky floors, which we hear constantly.  And the bathrooms and kitchen leave much to be desired.  As in, when my boyfriend saw my bathroom for the first time he said, "It reminds me of college."  Which, at least in our cases, is not exactly what we are nostalgic for when we remember those times in our lives.  The floorboards are uneven, the walls are cracked, some tiles are missing from our bisque-tiled (barf) bathrooms, etc. etc.  It's a mess.  But it's our mess.

And, again, let me make it sooo so so so clear.  We love it.  I don't mean to sound ungrateful.  I am so lucky to have gotten to this place in my life that I can afford to live on my own and support myself.  I am healthy and happy, and my cup is full with abundant gifts.  I look around everyday and remember all the hard work it took (and still takes) to keep all of this a reality.  And I am happy.  This is great.  I breath a little deeper.  Then I remember to stop day-dreaming and get back to work.  Like my dad always said, "The bills won't pay themselves." (Did anyone's dad not say that?).

And, with that said... Please, come in.  Enter our cute, little home....  It's a work in progress, and you're coming along for the ride, right?  RIGHT!?  Ok, phew.  Thanks.

View to right from front door:

Entryway

View straight ahead of entryway: 

My roommate's bathroom

View to right from front door:

Living room

Enter the door next to the bookshelf in the living room: 

My roommate's bedroom

Other side of the house: 

Down the entryway hall to the left: 

Our tiny kitchen 

(we say we have two bathrooms but only half a kitchen...priorities!)

And straight through the doors at the end of the entryway hall: 

The large anti-room I haphazardly described here

The door in the far side of the "office-throw-all-dressing-room": 

My bathroom 

(which is so tiny that getting a picture of it is impossible, so please bear with me!)

And, the door on the far left of that same room, which lines up with the entryway hall, etc: 

My bedroom

And there you have it!  That's all she wrote.  Thanks for stopping by!

one bit on my mind

One bit of my life I want to include on this blog is my home.  Specifically, I would like to document my journey to improving parts of my home step-by-step.  As a renter, this journey can't involve a kitchen or bath reno (phew!) or even a paint color change for that matter (boo, lease agreement), but I hope to improve, recreate, and up-cycle some terrific new and old pieces I own.  I love beautiful pieces and functional spaces, and I believe these two ideas are not mutually exclusive.  I have been collecting inspiration for eons.  Now, if only pinterest would send me an invitation like I requested, so that I could keep track of all of those ideas...  (edited 10/27/11 : They did! I'm on pinterest!  Check me out!)


Here is the place I should be adding a huge disclaimer in bold lettering: I've never DIY'ed anything in my entire life.  I can't draw a straight line to save my life, and I've never painted anything except for an over-sized piece of paper on an easel when I was 4-- and yes I was wearing a "smock" that had had a previous life as my Dad's work shirt when I did that.  


Ok, that feels better...

Beacon Hill photograph courtesy of FayFoto/GBCVB

I live in a 2 1/2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment in a beautiful, historic neighborhood with one of my oldest, best-est girlfriends.  There is nothing "new" about our apartment (I said historic), but it has solid construction and there is charm out the wazoo!  (My mom always says that... I understand it, but this may be one of those times when I lose my audience... stick with me!)  We have solid hard wood floors, terrific molding around the windows and doors, spaaacccceeeee, and a great floor plan.  In short, we love it.

Some of our favorite parts of our apartment.  (These are the little things you enjoy as a renter, because you know you can't add them yourself!):

Swoon!

Note the paint splat from the previous tenants, which adds to the character...

Did I mention 2 bathrooms?  Can I tell you that this is the first time in my life I've had my own bathroom?  Yea.  It's amazing.  And, to explain the "1/2" business in the bedroom description, honestly we are still trying to figure it out ourselves.  There are 2 small bedrooms-- actually, one I would categorize as teensy-- and one extra space/anti-room (in addition to our living room) in which there is a humongously large closet.  We are currently using the room as an office (I work from home occasionally)/ dressing room/ dining room on the occasions we find ourselves "entertaining"/ throw-all-kitchen-drawer-type-room.  It helps to separate the two bedrooms and make the apartment feel open, airy, and private.

Here's another "original" we are blessed with in. every. room. of. our. apartment...

Floor plan and house tour and the first exciting project coming soon! And if you're like me, and you've learned to become a great site stalker researcher over the years, you might be trying to get a sneak-peak from old photos I've posted like this one.  You're welcome.

cheers!

Hi! I'm Jawsie (like the shark).  Or, at least that's what my family calls me.... How does a relatively "normal" mid-twenties girl from the north east get the nickname to match that of a man-eating shark? Good question. 


I am the third girl in my family and it's fair to say my parents fully expected me to be a boy... Doctors word and everything.  (I guess sonograms were fuzzy in the 80's?!). No matter!  A few reassuring comments later (a la "she won't remember her nursery was built for a boy or the fact that her receiving blanket is blue"), they were happy to have me!  As I became more mobile in my toddler years, I was a bit different than my two older pink-and-princess-loving sisters-- I liked to tackle, destroy, and wreak havoc on everything and anything in my path.  The Jaws theme song, play it in your head, became something like my theme song-- a warning sign for destruction.  My mom would sing the tune (dun nun, dun nun...)  as I left the kitchen on my hell-raising path for my sisters wooden block castle in the playroom, or as I escaped the bathtub and was now "loose" running down the hall in my sopping wet birthday suit.  I was Jaws, but the name got "cuter" by making it "Jawsie." Sound strange?  You'll get used to it.  My sisters would scream, assume knight-like positions, and box me out, protecting their precious world. I learned to be quick, sneaky, and a little bit naughty just to get around their defense. And here I am today.

I like to think that I've grown into the name.  I'm a fighter, though not of the physical variety, and my determination has gotten me to a great "place" in my mid-twenties.  I work hard, play hard, fail hard, and always, always dream big. My experiences pushing my way through barriers and past so-called limits have allowed me to find myself.  This blog is a showcase of that person; a bite out of my life shared in bits and pieces.  Hence the title.  

Oh, and my parents finally got a boy.  It just took another try!

Thanks for visiting!

p.s. Edited by demand, I have included this video, which is completely gratuitous...