DIY Saturday I: Refinishing an Old Mirror

This week I decided to take an old, ugly mirror and make it pretty enough to fit in with my gorgeous new apartment. The mirror was bought by my mother over a decade ago because she thought it would match the decorating scheme of my teenage bedroom. It didn’t. It continued its streak of not matching anything I own through a couple more bedrooms until last week, when I figured that enough was enough and went shopping for a replacement. After not being able to find anything suitable (and non-ugly) at a price I was willing to pay, I came to the cold, hard realization that this mirror was going to follow me to the ends of the Earth. This is when I decided that I would try painting it, because chances were slim that it would come out looking worse.

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My Nautical Bathroom Decorating Scheme

At the end of the month I will finally be moving from my small one bedroom apartment to a sprawling two bedroom in a converted 150 year old mansion, which, where I live, means an old Victorian house that is maybe the size of a new build, if you include its many additions. I am very excited for the new apartment; it has a few features that I am not accustomed to, like hallways, a pantry, proper kitchen ventilation, windows in every room, heat in the bathroom and a nearly formal front entrance-way.  But most importantly of all (for me at least) is that it has two bathrooms, which is a first for me, meaning that I only have enough items to decorate one bathroom. It gets even better, one of those bathrooms has navy tile in the shower that just beckons me to decorate it in a nautical theme.

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Wedding Planning IV: The Reception

The most important and expensive stage of planning a wedding is not ordering the dress, choosing the wedding bands or booking the photographer – it’s selecting the reception venue. When you pick your venue, you’re not only choosing a location, you are choosing the chef/caterer, co-ordinators, and theme that come with the venue. It’s a grand decision, and it’s going to consume the largest portion of your budget. Continue reading

Green Apartment Living

When living in an apartment you can’t exactly install a solar panel, which is just about the grandest gesture of environmental responsibility someone can make right now, or buy energy efficient appliances. This hindrance doesn’t mean you have to forsake Mother Earth during this stage of your life. There are countless options still available to the green apartment dweller. Continue reading