Fact: My house is totally unorganized.

My sweet, sweet, dear, cutie pie, even tempered husband. He puts up with a lot from me. Right now our space is cramped, stacked and a series of pathways to the couch, pantry, refrigerator, bed and bathroom (Etsy/Ebay shop inventory). Our apartment is mmm... around 700 square feet. We are the end unit on a row house of three. Our set up is shotgun; living room, kitchen, bedroom. All three rooms are the same size with the bedroom having floor space taken by a closet for two and a teeny tiny bathroom. Our bed sits two feet from the wall- so the door can open... Ugh. Its depressing just describing it.

Why are we here?

Because I fell in love with it. Because on Nov 1st 2007 we were waiting patiently outside, watching couples come and go, watching couples fill out applications to rent the apartment... and I just had to have it. Or at least I thought I did.. Well, I didn't know, but I didn't have a lot of time to think. Then yes, I wanted it. I wanted a front porch to put a cute chair on, I wanted the (totally unexpected gold nugget) 50 square feet of a back yard for Oliver. I wanted a washer and dryer. I wanted to live in THIS neighborhood. I wanted to paint the huge walls yellow and the giant trim white.

What I forgot to check for to fall in love with: a dishwasher. I forgot to think about how inconvenient it might be for guests to walk into our bedroom to use the bathroom. I forgot to check for a shower head with good pressure. I forgot to check for cell phone coverage INSIDE. I forgot to set a marble on the floor and see if it rolled around in circles for five minutes. . . .

All that said, I've been apartment searching/dreaming for the past few months. A few things we're up against: 1: Brian walks to work. Takes him three minutes. 2: We LOVE this neighborhood. 3: Its stupid expensive to move. 4: I hate having my body get beat up from hauling crap in and out of moving trucks.

Blah blah blah.

So what to do? I need to re- fall in love with our place. So we can be content with staying here. I need to totally re-design/organize our living space.

Problems to solve:

No guest bedroom.
Lacking major storage space for vintage goods.
No dishwasher.
Kitchen table is being taken over by vintage goods.
Horrible kitchen layout.
Cramped bedroom.
TOTALLY ugly bathroom.

I've been chatting with a few friends for ideas, and checking out Apartment Therapy for suggestions. I totally appreciate our place and need to embrace the fact that 700 square feet is enough! =)

I adore all my Etsy finds, and would love to "display" them like this:



which could easily be solved by hunting down a few clothing racks on craigslist. -but I'd really like to hide this stuff.. because the place it seems to make the most sense to store them is in my rather large, rather stupidly designed kitchen.

I lllloooovvvveee this idea, but lack a few hundred feet of ceiling to execute the idea.



And lastly, this is just rad:



All images found here


Speeeeaking of AT... =) Tomorrow my unidentified "Chair Doe" will be posted on Apartment Therapy for readers to weigh in on and share any info on the designer, or age. How exciting!!

Any suggestions, ideas, shared links, photos ect would be TOTALLY appreciated! I'm planning on posting current pics and a floor plan in the near future.