My Summer!

I'm happy to announce that I've had a wonderful busy summer! It's time for a quick summary post.

What have I been up to? I applied to my dream grad school, IIT Institute of Design, and should hear whether I made it in this week. I'm leading an identity design project for my church, and giving my two-cents on our website update. And we had the privilege of being visited by family the last two weekends!

My husband's parents flew out to see us last weekend. I knew I'd been neglecting this blog, but after the (very short) tour of our apartment my mother-in-law said, "I love your blog, and I've read through it multiple times." Ah! I should write something new, so this one's for you!

We had a crazy three-days of being Chicago tourists, which included Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, a walk through the Wheaton College campus (with lots of fireflies out!), Shedd Aquarium, Buckingham Fountain, the Riverwalk, Cloudgate, free concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the cool dome at the Chicago Cultural Center, Lincoln Park Zoo, Skydeck, a Water Taxi ride, Chicago hot dogs and the stained glass museum at Navy Pier, and Cantigny.

It was great to see them, and we had tons of fun!

We had a few days to catch our breath, and then we met up with my four cousins and their parents who happened to be visiting Chicago. We spent a day at the Museum of Science and Industry and a day at the Brookfield Zoo.

I was pretty sure the MSI was going to be my favorite Chicago museum, and I wasn't disappointed. We went through a tour of the Smart Home: Green and Wired. I'm pretty familiar with the topic of green living and homes, but it was fun to see everything put together. One new thing I learned about was a countertop surface that can wirelessly power appliances using magnetism. The Science Storms exhibit is gorgeous and does a great job of breaking complicated science into understandable pieces. I love museums for their designed presentations, and this exhibit has audio, video, reading material, and lots of hands-on info. I particularly liked the avalanche section. Museum is gigantic, so there will be plenty more to do when we go back!

Display of my family under a heat-sensing camera

At the end of the day, we all came back to our place for Waldorf Pasta Salad. We can officially fit six guests in our apartment!

We also spent all day at the zoo! The best part was the nearly-white peafowl in a doorway that I nearly walked over. We were admiring her when she stood up and seven babies walked out from under her! Wow! Their new Great Bear Wilderness exhibit was impressive, but the animals were pretty lazy in the middle of the day. My favorite animal, the polar bear, was just lying around. We caught the anteater outside during a zoo chat. It's nose is so cool-flexible like a pigs but on the end of his long snout. I thought one of this zoo's strong points was how it presented the information about each animal. There was depth, interesting facts, and suggestions for ways you can help wild animals.

I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did!

I have two busy weeks ahead of me, and then I'll post about a few crafty projects I've done this summer.

New Eyeglasses

During the craziness of the last couple of weeks, I received my new glasses in the mail!

I went for the bold black metal this time. Do they scream "I'm a smart designer, hire me"? My husband adores them. They took some getting used to for me. They make me think of Zorro.

I chose Teklite lenses, made exclusively by Frames Direct. They're made with an "eco-consious" manufacturing process. They only cost a little more than other lenses with the anti-reflective and UV-protection coatings. The reviews seemed positive, but I'm underwhelmed. I can see rainbows on the edges, and I think that people looking at me see more reflection than on my old pair. Otherwise, they seem pretty normal.

The online shopping experience was okay. Glasses are one of the last things I would buy online, because I want to try them on in person. I visited at least eight stores and fell in love with this pair (Anne Klein 9087) but couldn't find it in black. So I bought them online. The ordering process is fairly easy, and they called the next day to confirm my order. The second major downside of ordering online is that they still need to be adjusted. I bent them myself and managed to scratch one edge a little. Most places will adjust them for free though, so maybe I should take them somewhere.

More photos of after the break, if you're interested.

New Dining Chairs

I've had a busy couple of weeks: attended two out-of-state weddings and the Design Research Conference here in Chicago (loved it). Not to mention I've started working on an identity design project for my church.

But I'm back in blogging business. I have a few decorating posts coming in the next few days, and today we'll start with my new dining/everything chairs.

These were a craigslist find, complete with a bad picture, and I was really hoping they would turn out to be the real thing: Navy Chairs by Emeco!

But this is what we found: imitations from Kmart. With cushions that don't fit well. I'd already convinced Kevin that they would be a good style in our house, so we bought them anyway.

So out with the two old, ugly, dirty chairs, and in with the four new shiny, aluminum ones!

Hamlet Opening Tonight

New Muses' production of Hamlet is opening tonight! It's a gritty, modern version of Shakespeare's famous play. My brother is acting as Hamlet and my mom is the queen. I designed the publicity materials.

Check it out if you're in southwestern Washington. I wish I lived close enough to see the show.

Fix a Wobbly Fan

At some point the ceiling fan in our bedroom started to wobble. My husband is so clever! He said the screws wouldn't tighten more, so today he climbed up there and wedged paper into the gap. Now the base stays perfectly still!

Yo-yos in the House

Boy am I in for trouble. My hubby received a package of ten wooden yoyos (his hobby) in the mail today. He's really excited, and he says they're great quality. Two of them will be playing a part in an upcoming decorating project.

Can you guess he's an engineer?

One yo-yo that he'd intentionally loosened came apart and hit the wall, and another broke a string and flew across the room. But it should only get better from here.

I Love Conduit

I just read this post with pictures of the Conduit Restaurant on the Sabbespot blog (one of my favorites), and found this article from Architectural Record.

The Architect created dimension in a space with a low ceiling by adding fake conduit to the existing exposed pipes. I love the result. I can see doing a removable divider wall made out of conduit in an apartment. The stuff is so cheap! We bought a piece of conduit for about two dollars to use as a curtain rod. I like the industrial look. Check out more pictures of my living room here.

Contact-Paper Kitchen Makeover

I'm excited to share my kitchen transformation today! We moved in to an apartment with dark, grimy cabinets, and I lived with them for a year. I cringed when I had to open one. I was embarrassed when guest came over. You get the idea.

The first "before" picture was taken a couple months after we moved in. The rest were taken during the project.

After some experimenting with cleaning methods (which kept removing the finish), I concluded that the cabinets are covered with a wax coating and over time oils had been clumping the wax near the handles. Disgusting. But refinishing them would take way more time than I cared to spend in a rental. Solution? Cover them in white contact paper, hoping for good results like this kitchen featured on Dollar Store Crafts. The first step was removing the handles. Mr. Kelly worked hard to make them look pretty using his Dremel.

I fully covered some panels with white contact paper, but it looked cheap and goofy on my round-edged cabinets. I took the few panels I'd already done down with no problems. Inspired by this credenza facelift, I decided to go for stripes instead.

Not only do the stripes fit more nicely on the cabinets because I could wrap the ends around the top and bottom, but they also give visual height to the room and add some fun. And they were easier to position correctly than a large sheet of contact paper.

It just so happened that my apartment managers showed up a couple days later to do their yearly inspections. And they were impressed! Yay! Our neighbor came by later and suggested we leave the handles off, too. So we did.

We also have a vinyl graphic by Blik in our kitchen.

I worked in a sign shop for a while, so I like to consider myself pretty good at applying vinyl and sticky-paper things.  But the stripes make everything really easy (although slightly more time consuming).

White contact paper is really easy to find (try your grocery store, Target, or Walmart). I also have my eye on DesignYourWall.com for lots of fun colors, but you have to order a lot so it gets expensive.

Apartment Photos: One Year

Last week a miracle happened: our apartment was completely clean. Crazy, right?! I took advantage of the situation by taking some pictures. It's already April, so we've lived here for one year already!

Wondering about the kitchen? It just had a makeover of it's own. Check back next week for before and after photos.

Happy Easter!!

I hope you've had a nice holiday. Our two-person family celebrated by taking the traditional Sunday-afternoon nap and buying a new betta fish (named Lui, short for Aleluia). Now we're enjoying a big storm from indoors.

I want to share with you some photos of the kind things people have done for us this year.

First up, our neighbor came to our door last weekend with a beautiful Easter Lily! She's such a sweet lady. And the lily smells amazing! I've been enjoying them all week.

Also, both sets of parents sent us goodies in the mail. Thanks to the moms for their love! Today I took a picture of my mom's home-molded chocolate. Very cool. When I opened up the blinds for more light, there were four people in the next apartment staring back at me, haha. What can you do but wave?

Living Room Inspiration

Last month I found this room by interior designer Amanda Nisbet posted on House of Turquoise. Wow! I literally looked at it every day for weeks.

I think the Chicago winter is getting to me, because I love the use of bright turquoise, blue, yellow, and orange on a neutral beige background. I'm aiming for the happy but not-too-bold feel of this room in my apartment.

I think I have too much dark brown in my own living room for it to ever feel this airy, but I'll give it a good shot. I like the near-symmetry and her repetition of fabrics and furniture pieces, even between the living room and dining room. Does this house give you any good ideas?

New Member of the Family

My husband and I decided to spend the afternoon on Valentine’s Day getting our first pet. At the pet store, we picked out a beautiful betta fish and a nice plant and some gravel for him. He’s red and turquoise, one of my favorite color combinations right now. He really shines in the sunlight. We decided to play off the alphabet theme in naming him.

Introducing Romeo the Delta Betta!

Romeo lives on top of the TV armoire. He’s very lively for a betta, and we think he’s happy!

We love him.

Polar Bear Cookies

A new blog calls for…cookies! I baked a batch of sugar cookies shaped like polar bears and sprinkled with white sugar. Aren’t they adorable?!

I received this cute polar bear cookie cutter along with my membership to the Alaska Wilderness League for Christmas (thanks Grammie and Granddad!).