Dreams and Realities

Reality.

My husband and I live in a small, one bedroom apartment on the north side of Fort Wayne. It isn't a house, it doesn't have space for a studio, a desk, or an outdoor grill, but it's our first little space, and we've made it home.

I posted some unedited photos of Josh's and my apartment on facebook awhile ago, but it doesn't really do our cute little space justice. So here's some justice.

The heart of our home is our kitchen, and it's spacious for an apartment. We didn't bother painting this room, but we took special care in our wedding registry so that all our little knick-knacks go together, and our towels have the wine red and olive green we both like pretty well. We also hung the three pieces of small wall art above the cabinets.

We have a side-by-side washer and dryer behind the folding doors in our kitchen. It can be inconvenient at times when the kitchen has to become the laundry room, but all-in-all we schedule out our tasks, so we don't have to use the room for both purposes at once. I'm really glad to have my own washer and dryer at all, and side-by-side is a big bonus...so no complaints.

We also have a bar behind our sink, so we have a desk of sorts. Say hello to my hubby. :-)

You can see behind him into our living room a bit, so let's continue our tour there.

We did paint this room, and I hung curtains. The color on the walls is kind of a dark chocolate brown. Josh painted it for me one day while I was at work. The curtains are an ivory color and they're a rough silk material. Got 'em at Wal-Mart on the cheap. We had wedding photos printed and framed (three 5x7 and an 8x10). Our friend Michelle gave us our wedding invitation, matted and framed for a wedding present, and another friend designed a monogram for us, which he printed, matted, and framed as a wedding gift. So we hung the wedding photos, invitation and monogram above our entertainment center (which we got at Target with wedding gift cards!)

The white bookshelves are family heirlooms (I love them!), and the mirror is from Wal-Mart.

On the other side of the room are our second-hand sofas (Craig's List), and we hung some white shelves. The one has my wedding bouquet on it. The mini ottoman's are from Bed, Bath, and Beyond (another wedding gift card) and they open, so we store our blankets in there. They're probably my favorite pretty/functional purchase since we moved in.

The next stop on our tour is the bedroom.

We were given the bedroom suite by Josh's parents. The white and green quilt was a wedding gift from Josh's cousins, and all the white linens were Macy's purchases. (Can you guess? Wedding gift cards!) The side table lamp is another favorite gift. My grandma bought it for one of my bridal showers. Crate and Barrel is my favorites for lamps!

We painted this room green the weekend we moved in, right after our honeymoon. We did it together and it was GREAT fun. We also hung silky curtains in here on a stainless steel curtain rod (both are from Target).

One of the nice things about our apartment is the bedroom closet. Even though there's no other decent storage in the place (read about my bathroom storage woes here.) We haven't done anything in here except fill the thing. ;-) This is the last stop on my tour.

This is where I live (plus my dining room and bathroom which you've seen in other posts). It's not a lot of space, but like I said, we make it home. It doesn't stop me from dreaming though. Now and then hubby and I drive around town and happen upon places like this! This is the dream!

Dream. (Just ignore the yellow caution tape.)

*Drool* There you have it. My dream and my reality. Neither are too bad, but let's just think for a second about which one is more appealing...

That's it for today. Last thought...this would make a perfect lunch today, would it not?

XOXO - Maddie