2013 Home Wishlist

2012 was such a great year for Jeffrey and me. Thanks to the support of our families we were able to furnish our kitchen and living room with brand new appliances, kitchen accessories, lamps, a coffee table, and a couch. We received even more great stuff from them at Christmas, and we're looking forward to investing in more pieces to make our apartment a true home.

This is my 2013 Home Wishlist for the kitchen, dining room, living room and bedroom. Everything is affordable (the furniture is under $200 each), stylish, and comes from either Amazon or Target (and with our Amazon Prime and Target Red card memberships we will enjoy discounted prices and free shipping!)

Read on to find out what we plan on purchasing in the new year!

Fiesta 5-Piece Place Setting, Shamrock at Amazon.

Last Christmas we were fortunate enough to receive five of these 5-piece place settings from my uncle, who is a user of Fiesta himself. We later purchased two sets ourselves and then were gifted two sets of the matching silverware for my birthday and two baking pieces this Christmas season. To even out our collection to a healthy set of 8 I am eyeing this set in Shamrock. I'm also eyeing Sunflower since we don't have a yellow color currently. But I really love how Shamrock looks!

Fiesta Stoneware Spoon Rest, 12" Bread Tray, and Sugar Packet Caddy in Sunflower (Amazon)

To go along with the two serving dishes (in Tangerine) we received this Christmas I've found these three pieces in Sunflower that would add both functionality and bright color to our kitchen. We currently have a spoon rest but it is wine-themed and I would prefer something a bit more plain. The bread tray would be perfect for when I make homemade bread from scratch, and the sugar packet caddy perfect for storing packets of Truvia, which I use for my coffee and tea.

Keurig Mini Brewer at Target

I've been wanting one of these for a few years now. However, I could never really justify the purchase and still can't. When we moved into this apartment I purchased an inexpensive coffee maker, and also used an inexpensive espresso machine Jeff had purchased for me back when he lived in Camarillo. During the year we upgraded to a nicer espresso machine and have used it primarily for coffee brewing ever since (and the occasional Starbucks-inspired white chocolate mocha). The Keurig uses K Cups which come in an assortment of flavors and varieties (including tea and hot chocolate) and is perfect for me as I am the only one who drinks coffee. I still plan on using my espresso machine, but I've had my eye on this for so long that I've decided I should treat myself. And isn't the color fantastic? 

Keurig K-Cup Carousel Tower at Target

I saw this K-Cup carousel tower in a YouTube video and instantly fell in love with it. It looks so cute and is a great way to display and choose from K-Cup varieties. 

Wine Enthusiast Hanging Metal Stemware Rack from Target

 A hanging stemware rack is an item Jeffrey has wanted since we moved in, and we have a perfect place to hang it right above where we prepare food. This is a very inexpensive version and would allow us to get our wine glasses out of the dusty top shelf and looking chic.

food storage

At one point we purchased a set of food storage containers from Fresh & Easy but they've been scattered here and there and don't really get used. This is just one of those items that we need to keep food fresh, especially when we bring leftovers home from Jeff's parent's house (which is quite often!).

EZ-Serv Dry Food Dispenser from Target

To be honest with you, Jeff thinks I'm silly for wanting this. But it is perfectly reasonable to have fun items in your kitchen/home! We eat a lot of cereal and store the boxes on the counter (since we're short on storage space). This would be just a cute visual to have in the kitchen and a great way to keep track of when we need to buy more cereal. And one would be solely dedicated to Reese's Puff cereal. 

White Queen Upholstered Headboard from Target

Moving on to the bedroom, one item we are sorely missing is a headboard. Right now our pillows tend to fall in the space between the mattress and the wall and we often find ourselves stuffing other pillows in the space just to keep our pillows propped up and neat. It's very annoying! So imagine my surprise when Jeff not only agreed that we needed a headboard, but expressed an interest in the very same kind I want! I love the tufted, upholstered look (think of Don and Betty Draper's bed from Mad Men) and found this very lovely and super affordable version from Target. It's an off-white white that may not be the best as far as collecting dust and dirt is concerned, but it's the bedroom, not the kitchen, and shouldn't get too dirty. Just imagine how beautiful it would look against a painted wall!

Uptown Dining Chair Black & White Chevron (set of 2) from Target

The final piece we are looking to invest in is new dining chairs. We currently have an oak dining table that used to belong to Jeff's parents and some matching chairs he found on Craigslist. I'm not a fan of the chairs at all and they are mighty uncomfortable, so I've been looking for a reason to get rid of them! As soon as I saw this set of black and white chevron chairs I wanted them. It's a bold print to have at the dinner table and wouldn't exactly match the oak table (which can be remedied with a tablecloth) but they are so beautiful to look at and I feel would definitely add a chic element to our dining-slash-kitchen room. It might look really beautiful with our bold colored Fiesta ware, too!

So those are the items we're looking to add to our home. I'm also on the lookout for some nice nightstands for the bedroom but so far haven't had luck finding something I like. That will likely require going from store to store to find something perfect, and I have a feeling I'll find that something perfect at Home Goods or World Market.

If you haven't had a chance yet, be sure to Like Apartment 54 on Facebook! There will be so much more to come in 2013!
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Television Shuffle

A short time ago we somewhat impetuously purchased a new television. The TV we've had for a long time is the one Jeff bought off of Craigslist in undergrad, and it's a 55" rear projector that was a near disaster to move into our upstairs apartment. It's held up great over time but we were starting to notice some digital wear and tear. So I randomly spotted a sale for a TV in Target for a really great price, and when we went to one of our Targets that night we found another TV that was also a great deal but on a better TV. It had a better refresh rate, was LED instead of LCD, was slightly bigger, and originally much more expensive. Even with the sale price it was more than we had anticipated purchasing. So we signed up for a Target Red Card to take off an additional 5% and bit the bullet.

And then we came home and realized we had nowhere to put it.

Since the weather started cooling down, and because I tend to need more space than my desk has, I'd been using the dining room table as my work station/office. However that afternoon I had cleaned the desk up and was preparing to move back to it so I could have some peace and quiet again.

Well, plans change. The new TV went on my desk in the bedroom and when we realized how stunning the picture on it was, we started to forget about the old clunker sitting in our living room. Soon we came to realize that we were using one more than the other and that it was more difficult to sit and watch movies/shows on our bed than it was on our couch, and so began the great TV migration.

Yes, this was actually my idea. And to be honest, I didn't really think Jef would go for it. But he did.

Thankfully the TV is on wheels so it was easier to slide it into the other room. There was a tough corner to navigate but that went surprisingly smooth. 

The couch became the temporary home of everything in the living room. I have never appreciated that sometimes you have to make a mess before you can clean. 

The new TV in the old place. Once we got the big one out we saw just how spacious our living room is. When this TV (which is 40") was in the bedroom we were so close to it that it seemed huge. Now in the living room, with us sitting on the couch several feet away, it seems really small. But now it has the Bose sound system installed with it, and it's pretty kick ass.

Trust me, you don't want to see what the big TV looks like in our bedroom. It's a black hole that sucks all the light out of the room. And I don't even think it is plugged in right now. We're discussing ways to get rid of it so that we don't have to move it ourselves once we move next summer. It was a ridiculous feat to get it upstairs in the first place and short of taking it out piece-by-piece, we have no idea how it's going to move out. I'm thinking a piano moving service, or selling it on Craigslist with the caveat that the buy has to move it him/herself. We shall see.

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Finally

Ektorp in beige and some throw pillows from Ikea.

Ikea Inspiration, Part 8: Let There Be Light!

Years ago I made my first trip to Ikea as an adult and bought this lamp (among many other purchases):

I still use it today as a low-light source when Jeff is asleep in bed or sometimes even as a night light. It's not bright enough to light a room all on it's own but works great for a specific work area. Lighting in general is an issue in our apartment as we never seem to have enough of it. Ironically we've spent most of our summer with the blinds closed to keep out the 100+ degree heat. But we still need light for when we aren't just blocking out the blazing hot sun, and that's where these come in!

They're a bit in the same style as the desk lamp I purchased years ago but are also chic looking at the same time. I think these would look great next to our new couch! While I prefer the off-white shade, there's something about the darker shade that is really appealing to me. I'll have to see how these look in person before making a final decision.

Coming up next: A desk option

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Ikea Catalog Shopping, Part 5: a great coffee table

Our current coffee table is made of the same uninspired black material as our one bedside table... so naturally I don't like it. Shortly after we moved in and Jeff's parents bought us our much beloved bookshelves from Target, we found a nice little coffee table from the same collection that we would have loved to buy. If only it didn't exceed $100. I've kept that table in the back of my mind for when the times comes we can purchase it, and then I saw this great little option from Ikea.

At less than half the cost of our original dream coffee table, this option would not only match our current decor but would also create a bit of a fun centerpiece. I really like the glass top and the built-in shelf beneath it - great for magazines! We have a really pretty bowl that's currently sitting on top of our ugly table that would like nice on either surface. 

Coming up next: Kitchen seating and cooking!

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Ikea Catalog Shopping, Part 4: Side Tables

Our apartment is furnished with secondhand purchases and cheap buys, so it is very important to us that anything we buy not only represents our joint style and aesthetic, but also has some meaning to it (and is a great price, of course!) Fortunately, we've received a lot of great gifts from our families that have helped steer the design direction in our apartment and we're taking cues from them. While Ikea furniture is typically not known for superb quality and durability, it is inexpensive and stylish, which means we can pick up things we like now on our grad school budgets and worry about making the bigger, more quality purchases later down the road. We'll be purchasing our very first couch next month (likely the Ektorp from Ikea) and what would a couch be without some great side tables?

Ikea PS 2012 side table, $49.99 

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Sure, they're advertised as being for kids (or indoor plants) but for people like us who have a lot of little things lying around, these are great! I just love the built-in pocket compartments for all the little items that just don't seem to have a permanent home. Remote controls, extra batteries, pens and pencils, and so much more could fit inside these. Maybe even an indoor plant or two!

If room permits I'd like these by the couch... but they'd be great as bedside tables! Right now we have exactly one side table - an uninspired piece of black table (material unknown) - and it's not exactly a great fit with the design of the room. I'd love to be able to just tuck a few loose items in the beside table pockets, a book or two in the built-in shelving unit, and call it a night!

Coming up next: a great coffee table!