I swore off of IKEA for a few weeks after our move. I just couldn’t afford to keep going. Finally last weekend, I ended my self-imposed IKEA time-out. I drove over to Red Hook, Brooklyn and bought a bunch of little things that I needed for the apartment. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was nice to be back. During my visit I also picked up their new 2011 catalog. The 2011 catalog came out a few weeks ago, but with my new mailing address and my IKEA ban, I wasn’t able to see it until now. Here are some of my favorites from the catalog. Some are new, some aren’t. Anyway, I hope this gets you excited. God, IKEA should be paying me!!

1) KLUBBO coffee table $69.99

2) SORGLÖS vase $12.99

3) DALFRED bar stool $39.99

4) LEENDE carafe $9.99

5) EXPEDIT shelving unit $99.00

6) MICKE desk $79.00

7) MOLGER box with lid, set of 4 $9.99

8) VÄRME teapot $9.99

9) BESTÅ BURS desk $249.00

We made it through our move and we have sore muscles and bruises to prove it! Moving it turns out really sucks. Of course I already knew that but I think I forgot how bad it really is. So I need to live here at least long enough for the past week to fade in my memory. Our building is full of old Russian ladies who love to sit outside the front entrance in a long line. I think I might end up becoming one of them because I will refuse to move ever again. But then on the other hand, decorating a new apartment might just make moving worth it.

To introduce you to my new place I made a floor plan so you can see what the space is like. (Btw to do this I used a great site called FloorPlanner.com.) You enter the apartment through a long hall. On the right are a couple of closets, the kitchen, another closet and the bathroom. At the end of the hall is the living room and right off of that is the bedroom/office.

The obvious benefits of this apartment are that it is an actual one bedroom, gets a ton of natural light (I never knew it was so bright at 5am), is on the corner of the top floor so we are isolated from neighbors and it has great pre-war details. Oh, and also the bathtub is giant!

The only major downside so far is that we are lacking closet space. This is typical of pre-war apartments. I don’t know what people did with their stuff back then, but they certainly weren’t putting it in closets. This is posing a bit of a problem, but I think with some clever management we can make it work.

As we settle into our apartment I plan to chronicle our successes and failures (and there have already been a few). Most of our place is still in disarray, so the first space I’ll share with you is our hallway.

Even before we moved in I decided that I wanted to use the long wall in the hallway to store our books. To do this, we bought four wall-mounted IKEA shelves. My boyfriend was a little skeptical of this idea, but once we installed the shelving and started putting our books up I think we were both excited and pleased by the result.

The other idea I had was to use the hallway to display our myriad of wall art. I have a bit of a wall art addiction, so we have a ton of stuff. And this collection is even more superfluous in our new apartment. Our old place was built in the 1950′s and was basically just a plain box with no architectural details, so it needed a lot of decorative additions. Our new apartment has pre-war details everywhere. Most notably, our living room and bedroom have beautiful molding. Since the molding means there is already a geometric design decorating the walls, we don’t want to over do it with too much stuff of our own. So the hallway (which is sans molding) seemed like a good spot to feature our collection. I was also inspired by my recent trip to Europe to set up the wall in a casual salon style with the items filling the wall completely. I’m pretty happy with the result. The hallway is beginning to feel like a very cheerful way to enter our home.

Below are some photos of the hallway. It is still a work in progress, but I hope you enjoy seeing what we’ve come up with so far.

Our books are out of the way on this wall-mounted shelving.

The view coming out of the bathroom into the hall

I love the way we have arranged the images...and there is room for more!

And best of all, we inherited this hulk hogan light switch from the previous tenant.

I met Jessica through a friend and after hearing that she is a textile designer I just knew that she would have a cool apartment. And I was totally right! What’s so great about Jessica and Will’s home is that they were able to take inherited furnishings and make it fit their aesthetic. Its also impressive that when they moved in together they were able to successfully combine their stuff. This apartment should be an inspiration to all those couples living in apartments full of stuff from their parents’ basements.

Who lives here?
Jessica Rounds, Will Davis, and kitty Ramona

What do you do you both do for a living?
I am a textile designer and Will is a brand strategist for a boutique branding firm.

How long have you lived here?
Just about a year now.

Who has been in charge of decorating or has it been a joint endeavor?
It has definitely been a joint endeavor; we’ve each brought a lot of different stuff, and ideas, into the place.

What were the challenges and surprises of combining you and your boyfriend’s stuff?
We both have been collecting things all our lives, so bringing it all together was a crap shoot.  Will’s things are on the kitschy side, and mine more classic, but after we moved in together, by just unpacking everything and letting it mingle, we found ways to arrange things that we felt made sense.

Do you have any advice for other couples trying to combine their stuff?
Take a little time to live with things before getting rid of them – you may be surprised, like we were, when you are able to look at things in new ways or use them in different combinations.  If you love something but it just doesn’t go, put it in storage until its time comes again.

Where is most of your furniture from? Did you buy it or inherit it?
Most is inherited/secondhand from family and friends.  Some is vintage, from thrift stores, flea markets, junk shops, or sidewalk sales.   A few pieces are from Ikea.   And the coffee table, console, hope chest, and a night table were handmade for me by my father.

What is your advice for people having to decorate with inherited furniture?
It’s a great way to decorate on a budget, look at it as an opportunity.   Don’t be too precious about it – repaint, recover, use it in a way that works for you. There’s no point in keeping something just the way it was if you’re not using it and enjoying it.

What is your favorite area of your apartment and why?
The living room – it gets incredible light and serves so many different functions for us.  It is an awkward space and we had trouble figuring out how to arrange it, but now it has the couch for lounging, the bar, and the breakfast table, as well Will’s record player and record collection.

If there is one thing you could change about your place what would it be?
We mostly wish we had a back yard, and a nice tub in the bathroom for a good soak now and then.

Do you have any plans for upcoming projects?
I am planning to make a new bedspread and recover the couch, and Will wants a dart board, some kind of vertical garden, and a whippet!

Jess’s Room includes two window seats, a private sink and a working fireplace! And right outside her door is a very odd bar area…

The Common Areas include a living room with a grand piano and a kitchen with a wallpapered ceiling

And then there is the practice/work space in the basement

Here are some shots of other spaces in the house. It seems that each bedroom has its own unique nooks and crannies.

Q&A

How many people live in the house?
8 of us, 5 being musicians

What do you know about the house’s history?
The house was a music school and recording studio for over 60 years operated by Buster and Fae Bromley. They had a presentation orchestra, music lessons, recording studio, the whole 9 yards. They even left behind many of their instruments. Three pianos (2 uprights from the late 1800s and 1 grand Steinway from 1921) as well as an organ and many manuscripts, orchestra banners, etc…

We were told that even before the Bromleys, the house was a music school when it was first built, but I dont know much of the history there.

How has the house’s history inspired you?
It was such a special find to learn of the house’s rich history, especially because when I first found it (on Craigslist) I knew nothing of it, and only when we were getting ready to sign the lease, were we told some of the Bromley’s history.  When we first moved in we were so inspired by the spirit of it all that we wrote many songs and actually dedicated our album to the house “Songs From The Bromley House.” [Editor's note: to check out Lucius and Songs From The Bromley House click here!]

Another cool thing about it was when we moved in, they offered to leave many of the houses original furnishings. We were given desks, rugs, record players, tables, lamps… the desk that was left in my room was pretty filthy. I took some time to clean it, opened the drawers, only to find a typed letter from 1933. It is stuff like that that makes everything so precious and meaningful to us.

I’ve heard stories that the house is haunted. Have you experienced anything weird?
I dont want to offend anyone who may end up reading this article, but we have definitely had some interesting experiences. One of my roommates saw a man, described him specifically and two weeks later, a house guest of ours (who had never met that roommate or heard the story of the man) saw the same man and described his features verbatim. There are other stories like that, but that was probably the most odd. We also have 2 doorbells, that go off at different times, and lately the chime has been playing a completely different melody (jingle bell to be exact). We have no idea how it changed or if it is even coming from one of those doorbells.

What’s your favorite thing about your living space?
The stories that come with the space, the high ceilings, the original and ornate detailing (yellow glass doors with small circular detailing, candelabras, floral wallpapers, wood walls and special window detailing).

What’s the best “inherited” piece of furniture in your space (referring to things that came with the house).
I think id have to say the 1921 grand Steinway. Its in near-perfect condition, and come on – a musician’s dream!

The acoustics of the house also help :)

If you could change one thing about your space what would it be?
7 roommates and heat bills!

I live in the ever growing Ditmas Park neighborhood in Brooklyn. In the past year, our neighborhood has acquired many things one of which is an herbal apothecary store called Sacred Vibes. I live next door to this shop and have been curious about it since its opening. So when it came to some herbal and aromatherapy ways to keep our spirits up during these last weeks of winter and/or preparing our bodies for spring and the allergies that come with it, I thought Sacred Vibes would be the perfect place to go.

Karen Rose is a master herbalist and the owner of Sacred Vibes. She was nice enough to give us some great tips on products that can help keep us stay happy and content no matter what the season.

If you still have a few weeks of winter ahead of you

Eternal Sunshine – An elixir (a blend of medicinal herbs) that work as a nerve tonic, which can be most helpful. Click here to buy

Nutritive Late Winter Tonic with Buckwheat Honey – As the choices of organic and locally grown veggies thin so does our choices to get the necessary vitamins and minerals to get us through the end of the winter. This blend of herbs to provide your body with the nutrients it needs. Click here to buy.

Essential Oil – Specifically lavender, lemongrass, orange, and clary sage and rose geranium – all of which can be used in a diffuser or just boiled in a pot of water on the stove to disperse throughout the home to increase feelings of well being.

Uplift Milk & Sea Salt Soak and Room Spray – again using aromatherapy to uplift

Winter Blues Tea – a blend of herbs to assist with depression and anxiety.

And if it feels more like spring where you live:

Restorative Lung Tonic Tea – This tea will help to build lung health and open breath

Spring Tonic – This tonic will be available later this month and provides a detoxing effect that will jump start the body for spring

Bless You Again Allergy Tea – For allergies this tea works wonders. Click here to buy.

Where to buy?

Lucky for you, they have an Etsy Store where you can purchase many of their items online: http://www.etsy.com/shop/sacredvibes

Their brooklyn store is at 376 Argyle Road  (Cortelyou and Dorchester) Brooklyn, NY 11218 718-284-2890

And Karen also has a great blog: http://www.sacredvibes.blogspot.com/

A little over a year ago a new bar/flower shop (yes, a bar slash flowershop) opened in my neighborhood called Sycamore. Their flower selection is beautiful and definitely a step up from the typical roses, carnations and baby’s breath that most places sell. Sycamore tends to have much more unusual selections with exciting names like “Kangaroo Foot.” Anyway, after buying a few beautiful bouquets there (that I did not put together myself), I realized how little I know about flowers and putting together nice floral arrangements. I don’t know why, but I kind of suck at it. Which is too bad because flowers are a great way to spruce up a room. Luckily Allison Jonas, one of the owners of Sycamore, agreed to give me some much needed advice. Here are her answers to my general flower questions. Read through them and then check out my progress as I put this advice into action!

Sycamore Q&A

How did you come up with the idea to open a flower shop in a bar?
We wanted to create a warm, inviting space to walk into during the day that could turn into a cozy place to hang out in at night. And we realized there was a need for a unique flowershop in the neighborhood. We sell everything by the stem, so you can stop in and just pick up a few blooms – which a lot of the time is all you need to spruce up your place and get a little pick me up on the cheap.

What are some general rules of thumb for creating flower arrangements? Could you walk us through the process?
First, pick out a color palette, then once you’ve decided on the colors you like, try to pick between 3-5 different types of flowers for the arrangement. Any less than that can feel incomplete and sometimes more than that can get a little crazy (but sometimes crazy can be fun). Of the 3-5 different types, its good to pick one of each of the following categories: Full/Big/Round Blooms (Like Peonies, Roses, Anemones, Sunflowers) then add in floppy, leafy stems to fill it out (like eucalyptus, brunia, waxflowers, kangaroo paws) and finally its nice to add smaller blooms for interest (like ranunculus, gloriosa, or delphinium). You can also add in some different textures (blue thistle, dusty miller). And when in doubt, just go for all of the same kind. Its classic and you can’t go wrong that way.

This is a question specific to me, but I always seem to have trouble figuring out how much of the stems to cut off so an arrangement will look best in a vase. It always feels like hit or miss even when I try to be thorough. Do you have any tips for how to do this better (or is it just practice)?
I’d say always cut the stems longer and then try them out in your vase, then you can adjust where to cut next. It is also helpful to split the arrangement into thirds and slowly add in stems.

What are some of your favorite kinds of flowers? Are there any flower combinations that you especially love?
My favorites are peonies, ranunculus and anemones

What are some tricks to making flowers last longer?
Flowers are happiest if you trim the stems on an angle every day and change their water. Also you can add a little sugar to the water (Sprite works) and a drop of bleach to keep away bacteria.

If someone is interested in learning more, are there any resources you could suggest?
We have a great reference book called The Floral Artists Guide. It lists every flower, how long it lasts and how to use it in an arrangement. Super helpful.

And now, I try out my flower arranging skills

Ok! After taking Allison’s advice into consideration, I boldly went into Sycamore determined to put together my own bouquet. I started by picking a color palette. On this particular day I was immediately drawn to the purple hydrangeas, so from there I selected some blue  delphinium and some purplely pink button poms. These selections also fulfilled my quota of full blooms, taller stems and small blooms. I was well on my way!

Once I got home I faced the challenge of arranging these flowers in my vase. This was a little scary, but I just remembered to be conservative with my cutting and also to add a third of the arrangement at a time. And viola! Here’s the final product:

Not bad? Maybe its not Martha Stewart quality, but I’m still pretty proud of myself. This arrangement cost $20, but you don’t have to spend that much. As Allison mentioned, just a couple of stems in a small vase can work wonders in a room.

And also, for your increased flower knowledge, here are pictures of all the flower species mentioned in this post:

Peony

Ranunculus

Waxflower

Kangaroo Paw

Gloriosa

Eucalyptus

Dusty Miller

Delphinium

Brunia

Blue Thistle

Anemone

Poms