FD: Master Bedroom

So here we are, the final stop on the tour of the Tree House apartment. The master bedroom!

 Here's the main part of the room. Please excuse the icky cords by the window - they've been messy for so long, I've become immune to them I guess.

 Here's a close-up of some of the art, along with my nightstand.

 And here's some more of the art. The two paintings on the wall behind the TV set were painted by a friend of my grandmother's who traveled to China.

 And here's my dresser, where I put on my jewelry every morning.

 I kind of like the "up-high" angle in this shot.

 I kind of like this one with the lamps on, though their light gets kind of blown out.

 Here's the room as seen from the doorway. I think these lights look a little better than the pink lampshades.

 This little decoration was a gift long ago from a very dear friend. I've always hung it on the wall in my room, even in the dorm! I like the lighting and the perspective in this shot.

 Here's the hallway leading to the en suite bathroom. Those large white spaces on the right are my tremendously dull closet doors.

 Here's my little bitty master bathroom.

 Here's the tie rack where I keep most of my necklaces. It's pretty plain jane, but it does the trick. Also, to the right, there's the memo board that contains my favorite quote - bonus points if you can identify the movie it's from!

 Here's the rest of the master bath. Notice anything missing? That's right: it's a half bathroom, with no shower or tub. Weird? Yes, definitely. But, I suppose that the people who designed the apartment understood that if there were two people living here, the one thing they might really want would be a second toilet.

So, there you have it: the completed tour of my apartment. I hope you've enjoyed looking at the pictures. It was definitely a good experience for me to take the pictures and then see them on the computer screen and try to describe them for my friendly readers before I submit my materials to the Small Cool Contest over at Apartment Therapy in 2013. Hopefully this will help me take my best photos and select the right mix!

FD: Hall Bath

One of the smallest rooms on the tour of my tree house apartment is the hall bathroom. Here it is in its (tiny) glory!

 Here's the view from the hallway. The shower curtain definitely makes the room.

 This is a view of the vanity area. It looks a little less overwhelmingly white in person...

 Here's a close-up of most of the art in the room. It's too bad you can't see it very well with the glare from the light, but I can tell you that the art is all themed around my time at summer camp.

And from here you can see the hallway and into the last room on the tour - the master bedroom, which will be up next week!

FD: Study

Next up on the tour of the treehouse apartment: the study! One of the most important features I was looking for when I moved out of my grad school apartment was a space like this: a place to keep my computer, my books, and craft supplies so that they could be organized, neat and out of the way. My study has definitely done this job!

I could have chosen a different apartment in this same building that had a larger second bedroom, and having that extra space probably would have been nice. Here's the view from the hallway:

 This room is definitely pretty busy - and practically overflowing with craft supplies!

 Here is a view of the closet - the doors, anyway. The closet itself is filled with stuff! Sometimes I let myself believe that all those baskets of craft supplies are well organized. Seeing them in pictures, though, reminds me that they only appear organized to me. To anyone else, it's a jumble!

 Here are my bookcases, as well as a view back towards the door and hallway. This is where I keep all of my extra bags and purses.

 And here's a shot of the other bookcase, printer and file cabinet. Another area that feels more organized than it looks...

And finally, a close-up on the desk, which is more of the same theme. I'm comfortable working at the desk - which used to be the dining room table in my first apartment - but it looks pretty messy. I certainly use this room as a pressure valve to keep the other rooms in better shape. But, looking at these photos reminds me of how easily that can turn into a big mess. Hopefully my goal in the New Year can be to shape it up in here!

FD: Kitchen

The next stop on the First Draft tour of the Treehouse Apartment is the kitchen. Hooray! The kitchen is one of my favorite rooms in my apartment. Before I moved into my first apartment, during the summer between college graduation and starting graduate school, it was the first room for which I really had a vision. There was one day when I was out having lunch with my mom and all of the sudden it hit me: my kitchen would be turquoise and red. I hope you can see that vision in the pictures below!

Let's start with a glance at the floor plan:

A quick overview shows that the kitchen is just next to the dining room. It shares one wall with my across-the-hall neighbor, the other wall with the hallway in the apartment building, and the final wall with my living room.

 This is the view straight into the kitchen from the dining room. I selected the poster - with the red building and blue sky - advertising Japan long before I began studying Japanese. I also have some different examples of a painted letter C, which is my real first initial. Rachael Ray has them in her "kitchen" (the set for her show), or at least she used to!

 Here's a shot of the corner were the stove is. There's an odd little wooden soffit above the cabinets, which looks like it might be made out of white-painted plywood, that I just had to cover up with something.

 Here's a better view of the other side of the kitchen. Look at those icky brown cabinets - yikes! My dream kitchen features white cabinets, dark counters, and light blue walls which will make all of my awesome red and turquoise accents really pop.

 Here's a close-up of the artwork above the sink. I bought the Loteria cards that are now in the black frames while I was in Texas before I graduated from college. I love the colors. The blue triple frame on the bottom was actually a calendar that I picked up on clearance in early 2011, just a couple of weeks after moving into this apartment. Each of the cards has an image on one side and a calendar from a month in 2011 on the other. Since its 2012, I decided to just hang onto it as artwork!

 Here are some of the things that line the counter next to the sink. My grandmother always had a kitchen full of roosters, and while I wasn't sure I wanted that to be my style, I just couldn't pass them up when I found roosters that matched my decor. My mom made the cupcake pin cushion and the tin angel is a souvenir from a trip to San Diego where some friends got married several years ago.

 Here's another shot of the strange plywood soffit and my monogram collection. I made the sign that says Minnehaha, which is the name of the creek that runs just past my window. (The arrow is pointing the correct direction).

 Here's the stove with my full complement of candles illuminated. The spoon rest is actually a candle dish I scored at a Wal-Mart ages ago. I made the clock myself, which seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm not the greatest at measuring, and so, because the numbers aren't properly spaced, it's never kept very good time. I took the battery out and got a different clock, but I couldn't bear to part with this one.

 Yay! I love Mr. Man and Little Miss. I used to have this in my office while I was in graduate school, where I had a gigantic metal filing cabinet. These days, I have a plastic filing cabinet, so this hangs out at home. Today? I'm Little Miss Giggles!

 Here's a shot of the rest of this side of the kitchen. The place came with these cup holders I'm using for my mugs previously installed. It's a fun way to show them off!

Here's a view into the dining room, which you saw more about last week.

 I decided to shoot this same photo both from a low perspective...

and a higher one. I'm not sure which I like best, but I expect I'll be featuring something from this vantage point in my "Small Cool" submission. One plus about this bottom option is that it shows off my other rooster - blue with white polka dots - on top of the refrigerator, just beyond the microwave.

Thanks for checking out the kitchen. Stay tuned for the study next week!

FD: Dining Room

As spontaneously as my technical difficulties began, they have now resolved themselves! I wish I understood what happened to make it better, but unfortunately, I'll just have to live in ignorance and hope it doesn't happen again. Without further ado, let's get to this week's installment of the First Draft tour!
Next up in the tree house apartment: the Dining Room!

Here's a shot of the dining room from the living room. It's actually pretty small - the only way this table even fits in here is with the chairs moving towards the corners.

 Here's a view of the table and the window with a little better view of the art next to the window.

 This view is from the back corner of the dining room, near the light switch, looking towards the window and the living room.

 This is the same as the first picture, except the light is turned on. The only thing I don't like about it is the shadows on the walls from the chairs. I think those shadows are coming from the natural light from the window. I might have to try taking this same photo at night.

 Here's a close-up of the art on the wall next to the window. Unfortunately, I've not come up with a way to get this shot without a reflection in the umbrella poster...

 

Here's a shot of the back wall, which is shared with my neighbor across the hall. This is another one where the glare is pretty terrible. 

 

 This is the wall shared with the kitchen. From the dining room, this little wall is on the left of the doorway and is closest to the living room. The frame says Norway in Scrabble letters and contains three postcards I bought while in Norway. The plate features scenes from Hastings.

 These two plates are from Pier One and the trivet is an antique I got on a trip to Duluth.

 This is the view out the dining room window down to the lawn. The cranes in the distance are still here as the road construction project continues!

FD: Living Room

Next on the First Draft tour of my apartment is the living room! This is the view when you enter the living room from the hallway.

Here's the floor plan so you can get oriented. It's definitely a weirdly-shaped room, but I'm very happy with the way the furniture is arranged!

This is the view from the dining room. It is a little strange to have an angled wall, but I think it works!

This is the corner that I initially planned to be my spot to read - before I got my new (to me) red chair! This brown faux-Eames chair has been with me since my first year of college. Before that, it was my dad's easy chair when I was a tiny little kid!

This is a view of the futon and the red chair - that's the dining room off in the distance, but you'll have to stay tuned for a better view.

Here's a little vignette view over one of the short maple bookcases. I don't think this view is going to make the cut.

Here's a close-up of the double ladder bookcases that are the focal point of the room.

I also took a few shots with the lamps turned on. Do these pictures look better?

Here's another one with the lights on. I'm surprised by how yellow the shades look - they're normally white (the one closest to the lens) or light beige (the one by the window).

I also took these two pictures (one above, one below) from the same position. The only difference is the camera angle. It seems to me like the one below makes the place look more spacious...

Here's another shot of my reading nook...

This is the bookcase alcove, where the building's corner is located. I like this one, which I took by setting the camera on the floor.

And finally, a shot backwards over the red chair towards the hallway and the apartment door. I hope you've enjoyed this step of the apartment tour!