Keeping Up the Apartment

Jeff and I have a habit of only cleaning our apartment when guests come over. Which makes me think that maybe we should invite people over more often. Anyway, we always promise ourselves we would maintain the neat look of our home after the party but never succeed in doing so. Well, four days after our birthday part for Jeff's Grandmom, the apartment is still looking decent. If the maintenance man knocked on our door and wanted to come in to repair something, I wouldn't go into a passive-aggressive mood about the cleanliness of the apartment (like I usually do). It's really worth it to keep the place clean when it has things in it that you love. And after going through our January budget it's clear to me that we spent too much money on buying things for our kitchen and dining room. But at least everything looks great, right?

 

One of the biggest purchases we have made is this rug that we found at Home Depot, of all places. Jeff pretty much fell in love with it at first sight. He said it reminded him of a Van Gough painting. Coming from someone who knows little about art I felt his connection to the rug was romantic and sweet. So we went well over budget and made the purchase. I then found this welcome mat one aisle over and since it was only $12 we decided to get it. I love the two pops of orange and yellow! 

 

 It still amazes me how much of a difference a 5 by 8 rug makes. Since our kitchen-dining-living room is one open floor plan it was a bit difficult distinguishing one place from another. With the rug placed down under the dining table there is a proper and lovely separation of dining room and kitchen. Even though it doesn't necessarily match the wall color, it doesn't clash with it or detract from it.

While there are no immediate plans to make any more purchases for our apartment, I remain on the lookout for a great deal. The more put together and lovely my apartment feels, the more put together and lovely I feel. 

Hopefully our next get together/party is just around the corner. I have invited my mom, grandma, and uncle out to celebrate another birthday: my 29th. I wouldn't even mind cooking for it!