on decorating my first nyc apartment

If there's one thing I love, it's interior design.

Along with being a famous pianist, a published author, a professional florist, and a world renowned cake-taster, one thing I would love to be is an interior designer. My ideal Saturday would be spent wandering around Pottery Barn, picking out paint chips at Home Depot, and watching back-to-back episodes of 'Love it or List It'. Sometimes J has to come in and physically unglue my eyeballs from my Home Decor boards before I forget what day it is.

To slowly be able to turn a house (or apartment) into a home is one of my favorite things to do. Of course, I never want to slowly turn it into a home. I want to do it all in one day - quick! buy the furniture! pick out the art! paint the walls! - so that, come dinnertime, I can feel like I'm nestled into my own little Anthropologie catalog.

Having our own apartment feels so good.
We looked at a bunch of different apartments before we found this one, and it was the only place that felt like home right when we walked in the door. Amazingly, it's not the closet-under-the-stairs that we were both prepared to live in. It's small, but big enough for me to do cartwheels in the living room (which is typically how I measure the size of any room). We have hardwood floors, lots of light, and a fire escape outside our window which clearly signifies that I am now a true New Yorker.

While we haven't been able to do everything in one day, we've definitely made some progress in the decorating department. Thanks to my best friend in the whole world (IKEA), we are now the proud owners of a coffee table, a dresser, and a kitchen island. We are also the proud parents of four new houseplants! This apartment is basically bursting with pride.

Oh! And speaking of pride, I am also the proud owner of my very own orange kitchen (!!!). My dream finally came true! Last week, I came home after a long day at my internship with sore feet and a dangerous, ravenous need for Chinese take-out, only to discover that J had painted our entire kitchen from top to bottom. That guy. Hunger was quickly replaced with lots of squealing and jumping up and down. It looks so good! Once we get a few things hung up on the walls, I'll snap some photos.

We have successfully unpacked all four of the boxes we moved in with (thank you, thank you), so right now all the artwork I brought over from Oregon is lined up neatly along the floor of our living room, begging to be hung. I'm getting anxious, but J insists that we wait until we paint. We must wait to paint! We're experimenting with one turquoise wall in our bedroom, and maybe a gray and yellow living room?

The options really are endless.

image via bleubird