Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Unpacked

Finally I have some before and afters of the new apartment to show you. We are about 90% unpacked and about 15% decorated. Please excuse the massively naked wallspace and the unfilled squares of our new book shelf.


The apartment started out a mess. As most just-moved-in-apartments do. Except this time we had guests! Joy! And we lived by maneuvering around stacked chairs and towers of boxes - that I did not do a good job documenting, for about two weeks. Gross.

But now, thankfully, wonderfully, the apartment looks like this:





The kitchen table was the table we had while I was growing up. It's been in storage for about 8 years and I was super stoked to use it once again. Unfortunately the top got a few huge scratches on it during transit, but the yellow tablecloth makes me pretty happy too. The living room rug was an awesome Target find. It blended Kamel's need for neutrals and my need for Bam! Wow! Shizam! And of course my beloved couch that cost 399 and is both leather and insanely comfortable.


One of my favorite parts of the apartment is our entryway. Because we do have a little entryway. That's the old time-y buzzer on the wall complete with a little hook we can move in case we want to ignore the buzzer and a button to let people in. Our apartment door also has a doorbell which is interesting and something I've never seen built in before. The flowers are hiding the place where a wall phone could go. I'm imagining the kind with a separate mouth piece that was then updated to a rotary. In the land of cell phones it is now home to a rotating bouquet of fresh flowers.


This is my favorite little nook in the apartment. That is a painting one of my old room mates painted for me, and that leather chair used to be bright red and sitting in my parent's living room for years and years until the sun bleached it this bricky-pink color. My parents wanted to upgrade to a love seat but wanted to keep the chair in the family, so voila. The book shelf is another target find. It will look better when filled and decorated. These cube things come with a ton of add-ons that you can buy. We opted for the floating shelf, but if you're in need of storage go check it out. The whole shebang cost us under 80 bucks, even the bottom drawers.




Here is our galley kitchen complete with miniature stove and hanging fruit basket. The basket currently holds 1 onion, 1 banana, and 2 green potatoes that used to be yellow. I need to work on that. I've always wanted a cool hanging basket so when I bump my head on it while drying dishes, I choose to ignore the annoyance.


This is Kamel working his photo Magic on our prepped, polished, and staged apartment.


This is me, hiding in the kitchen, while Kamel kept calling out "Lauren! Don't Move!" because there are several frames with my gray blurr shooting through them. Oops.

We have a big photo project planned for one wall and some framing that needs to be done so when we're finished I'll give you an update. And show you the bedroom that was too messy and we were too tired to fix up. But it's really nice too! with our one closet! in the whole place! Isn't that fun? haha....

You should come over one day! We' ll drink wine and look at the ocean.

13 comments:

  1. oooomiiiiggggoossssshh I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! Ive been waiting and waiting and WAITING for this update blog and IM IN LOVE with your space, the light, the decor, the nooks and crannies and of course the CUTEST people ever who inhabit it!! Yay new place!!

    ps: my pics are sooooooon to come but a lot more slowly than yours! haha

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  2. Reading this post was like HGTV in blog form. When are you getting your own show?

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  3. This is not apropos of your post, more of your recent twitter, but do you want to drop me an email? Your contact info isn't listed anywhere (which is probably just as well, says the person hopelessly behind on her blog email).

    But. You do appear to live relatively near me. On the same side of the city, at least. The foggy side. Don't think your tempting me with your ocean views, I KNOW BETTER.

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  4. I would definitely watch the Lauren & Kamel show, P.S.

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  5. I love our apartment! Love. it. =)

    Nice post!

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  6. hahahahhahahaha there would probably be a lot of bickering over things like.... the smell of bananas, kamel needing to WASH HIS JEANS, driving, how kamel insists I never truly "look for things", and how he takes too long in the bathroom. Also featured on the LaurenandKamel Show: impromptu disney singing, movie watching, and kamel rolling his eyes as Lauren goes to sleep at 930. It would be a riot. hahaha

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  7. hahahahahahahahahahaha

    Someone SHOULD follow us around with a camera crew one day.

    I want to go on The Marriage Ref!

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  8. i love that you have that table! I thought i recognized it- used to have pancakes on saturday morning sitting in those chairs and at that table!! :) love the apt!

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  9. YAY LIDA! After sleepovers!!!! Awwwww memories*

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  10. Congratulations both of you, it looks amazing! I'm sure the bedroom will get a special post...

    It's so pretty!

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  11. I can speak from experience- its an awesome apartment! Nice job on the floating shelf btw, I always think of those as a grown-up apartment decoration :)

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  12. Kamel and Lauren,
    Congratulations on your beautiful apartment, great job guys. It's so cozy...
    Rebeca (tia)
    And I would definitely watch your show

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