I moved!

I posted the before pics. And here are the after pics. There are a few things on my "to get at some point" list, like a chair for the living room, and a few things on the "to do" list, like plant flowers and organize the balcony a bit, but overall, it finally feels like an apartment.

Ava loves the balcony

To do: do something with that microwave cord

Den or Study or whatever you want to call it...

I know those last 2 pictures were barely different...but the whole thing wouldn't fit in one frame!

Hall

Final 2

I am so sick of looking at rugs, so this is it. I'll explain my dilemma and then am open to thoughts.

I like this rug:

But it is expensive compared to this rug:

I worry that the first one might not go with my couch, and I worry about finding the right greens to go with the second rug. So neither one is perfect. When I started this whole rug thing, I wanted something that would give me a bright pop of color. Both of these will do that, I think, although yellow can sometimes come off like a neutral. But maybe that's ok? I really love the style of the pattern on the grey/yellow rug. Simple, modern, but with a natural feel. The green one feels more whimsical and not as sophisticated for some reason.

That said, this is a big price difference. $390 versus $564 (after a 25% off discount). If I was certain about the first one, then maybe it'd be worth it, but I'm not sure...

So - what do you think?

I don't own a rug...

Remember when I wrote about rugs? Well, I bought one. The first one. They shipped it to me. FedEx delivered it...to the "side door" according to their door tag. Of course, I don't actually have a side door to my apartment. The building has a side door, but that side door faces Santa Monica Blvd, which is much busier than my side street. So certainly they wouldn't leave it there, right? Well, I actually have no idea. But it's gone. Fortunately both FedEx and the company I bought the rug from were great and the company reordered a rug for me at no charge. Yesterday, I was notified, however, that in between the time that my first rug shipped, was stolen, and had to be reordered, the rug had been discontinued. I tried to see if any other vendors might have it in stock, but nope. It's unattainable. Even through eBay, which I thought was a goldmine for discontinued rugs.

So that's out. And it means I need a new one. So the old options are still on the table. Well, except I don't really like #2 and 3 anymore, so let's just focus on the green swirl rug and these new options.

1. Lulu rug

Apparently it's a brighter apple green than this picture depicts. They offer swatches for $2, so if this ends up being the front runner, I think I'll get that to be sure I like the color.

2. Safavieh Dhurries rug

3. Floral Yellow/Olive Rug

4. Stream Rug

5. West Elm Andalusia Rug

6. Argonne Rug

7. Pottery Barn Green Swirl Rug

I own a couch!

Ok, basically this blog has become a music/decorating blog. Pretty congruent with what's going on in my life lately.

To follow-up with the progress of my apartment decor, here is my new couch:

I had it custom made from Custom Sofa Design. It's a modified version of Jonathan Adler's Butterfield sofa. Mine is slightly shorter and with 2 instead of 3 cushions. Espresso wood finish and Linato fabric in color Cafe.

Mr. Clean is my hero!

I have talked in person to a lot of people about my love of Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser, but last weekend, I cleaned the linoleum floor of my new apartment with it and am in love again. I took photographic evidence of the amazing-ness of this product. You know how linoleum has those grooves in it where dirt gets trapped? You can mop all you want, and it's not gonna get that dirt out. Well, Magic Eraser? No problem. See below.

Before

After