home is a 1970s apartment | kimberly ah

Aug 29 2013

crafty adventures, home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking, summer manifesto

Paper Weaving Party

I mentioned here that I had some ladies over on Sunday night for a casual evening of paper crafting. We all worked on paper weaving projects, both big and small. I’ve been wanting to do some paper weaving for awhile now, and the stars finally aligned for all of us to get together and try it out. We each tried something different… Linda did a weaving with a vacation picture and a journal page, Jackie worked on a fabulous sushi weaving and a huge weaving of British-themed papers, Karen practiced with some old craft papers and I was aiming to finish a small piece of art for the bathroom. My creation is one of the three DIY art pieces that I mentioned during my Summer Manifesto. (“Summer” is going to extend into September around here!) The weaving is made from four different 12×12 scrapbooking papers, all shades of grey of course. I am going to put in into one of these frames (I have an extra) and hang it in the master bath. I added the shiny silver at the end and I quite like the little shine it adds to the otherwise monochromatic (aka DULL) weaving. (For the record, I like monochromatic…and dull.)I’m waiting until after our vacation to frame it and hang it. I’ll share that with you when it’s all ready. Perhaps when that is done, I can actually show you the bathroom?

For today, I am dealing with a broken air conditioner (nothing like shelling out money for that right before vacation!), cleaning our apartment and trying to get our ducks in a row with cat/house/garden sitters and packing. I can’t believe Japan is just a few days away!!

Tagged crafts, decorating, diy, home, home improvement, homemaking, summer

Aug 28 2013

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gardening, home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking, summer manifesto

Shamrock Revival

This shamrock plant was “dead” in the spring. It had been sitting on my kitchen window ledge and on my desk since March 2012, and over the winter, it kind of gave up. I think lack of water and limited sunlight were contributing factors. I almost threw it out, but the book clubs ladies encouraged me to keep it and move it to more sunlight. I dug around in the soil and found the little oxalis bulbs. They still looked healthy, so I planted them in a fresh pot with some fresh soil and stuck the pot in the north corner of our balcony and forgot about it. (Forgot about it=rarely watered it.) The next time I noticed it, several leaves were popping up…by the end of July (when this picture was taken), the plant was thriving, bright green and full of flowers. Lesson learned…it needs more light. I have two other oxalis sitting on my kitchen window. Their leaves are purplish green…I’m thinking about moving them outside for the rest of the summer, too.

When we get home from Japan, I have to start thinking about the plant plan for the cold weather months. I have brought more indoor plants into the apartment this past year, and finding a place for both the houseplants and the balcony plants (the ones that come inside for the winter) is going to be a challenge. I’m a little sad just thinking about it.

Tagged garden, gardening, home, home improvement, homemaking, summer

Aug 02 2013

3 Comments

gardening, home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking, summer manifesto

The Summer Balcony

The balcony is in full summer mode right now. Everything is blooming like crazy, even my old geraniums! (They started blooming in mid-June and have been going strong ever since!) And, I’m happy to report that it’s August 2nd and ALL of my plants are not just alive, they are thriving! I think this is only partly due to the fact that I’ve been diligent about watering, but mostly due to the mild weather and the fact that I picked pretty easy going plants this year.

In the spring, Naoto and I relocated the bird feeder to the north end of the balcony. We also decided to stop filling it during the summer. The birds can find plenty of food in nature right now, and the birdseed makes such a mess on the balcony and blows into my flower pots, starting weeds in my flowers. We’re happy to fill it up again in the winter to feed the birds when they need it most and (more importantly) to give Presley back her birdwatching pastime. Once we created more room, I made a little conversation area on the south end of the balcony. It’s hard to work with the space, since it’s only five feet wide. There’s not much room for walking (as you can tell by the fact that the chairs are soooo close together!) It’s not perfect, but it’s fine for small gatherings. We’ve had our neighbor friends over quite often lately and it’s been wonderful to take advantage of the mild summer nights out there. On the north side, we have our little bistro table and the “potting area” (the pile of pots in the corner). In the morning, this area is nicely shaded for early morning letter writing, reading and crafting. (You know…the things I should be doing instead of watching the TODAY show!)

I’m a little nervous that August is going to be sweltering since we’ve had such a perfectly mild summer so far, but for now, I’m just going to try to soak up as many hours as I can outside.

Tagged decorating, garden, gardening, home, home improvement, homemaking, summer

Jul 15 2013

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Forest Park, Oak Park, home is a 1970s apartment, summer manifesto, thrifted

Saturday on the Balcony

Saturday was the last of a string of perfect summer days–low 80s, no humidity, sunny skies, gentle breeze…

Naoto and I had grand plans for the day, but we ended up lounging around on the balcony enjoying the weather and soaking up the rare gem of a summer day in Chicago. While Naoto caught up on reading the Japanese news (hence the laptop), I watered the plants, caught up on some letter writing and worked on cleaning my thrift store typewriter. It was a nice feeling of lazy productivity. While we were outside, this was happening inside: After lounging all day, it felt good to put on a dress and walk down to Cafe DeLuca for drinks and dinner. They make the best limoncello martini…a perfect drink for summer.Today, when I walked outside and into the thick-as-pea-soup, heavy and hot air, I decided that we made the right choice on how to spend a summer Saturday.

Tagged cocktails, forest park, garden, home, mail art, snail mail, summer

May 24 2013

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adventures, Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening, home is a 1970s apartment

It’s GROWING!

It’s been a rainy week here in Chicagoland, so gardening has been put on hold…the rain takes care of the watering, but we need to get in soon to pull weeds! BUT, we visited the garden quickly last night before the sun went down and I’m happy to report that WE HAVE PLANTS! And not just weed plants (hmmm…you know what I mean…) we have daikon and watermelon radishes, lettuce and cucumbers peeking out of the ground! Many a high fives were exchanged in the car after this picture was taken. I know we have a lot more growing to do, so don’t think we are getting over-confident around here, but it’s good to see things popping up. Thanks to Mother Nature for all of the good rain to help things along!

We have a busy, busy weekend planned. Tomorrow my parents are bringing my grandma up to see our apartment for the first time! I’ve been trying to clean and get our place into “show mode” and failing miserably. So the rest of my Friday night shall be spent mopping floors and dusting and trying to pretend the guest room looks okay (even though it is the retired furniture graveyard and full of Honor Flight Mail Call stuff!) I haven’t seen my grandmother in so long and we’ve never hosted her in our neighborhood, so I’m really excited to see her and my parents, too! We’re taking them to see our garden and to Portillo’s for an Italian Beef. Then Sunday we both work, then we are going to a potluck BBQ at the community garden and then we are hosting cocktails for our friend Karen’s birthday. And on Monday (Memorial Day here in the US), we both work (boo)…

I’m looking forward to a quiet week next week. Our wedding anniversary is coming up and I still need to finalize my plan for Naoto’s gift. I am wishfully thinking of making something for him…something out of wool or copper. (Those are the traditional gifts for the 7th anniversary.) I’ll keep you posted.

Have a good weekend! I’ll be back Monday

Tagged adventures, food, forest park, garden, gardening, parents

Mar 21 2013

5 Comments

home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking

Slow Productivity

We are having a little party on Saturday night (Fondue Fun Night!!!), so naturally I’m busy hanging stuff on the wall, checking out Jell-O molds and planning menus instead of doing what I’m supposed to do (finish cleaning, finish the spare room, finish painting the bathroom door…)

I’ve had the square Ikea frames for almost a year now. I originally had another idea for them (I actually own four), but that didn’t work out. I’m not sure this worked out either. I’m not in love with it. It’s fine, but not great, but I can’t decide if it’s the placement, the papers, the colors or just the whole thing that’s bothering me. (If you’d like a closer look at the papers–you know, without the camera glare– the left one is similar to this Lokta paper, the middle on is this Japanese paper, and the right one is this Lokta paper.) I love the papers…I took the colors from my chevron pillows…I love the gold, I’m just not sure if it all looks a little too matchy matchy..maybe it would look better with only one paper design in all three frames? Maybe I need a new lamp? (I definitely need a new lamp shade!) Also, this whole set-up doesn’t help with that awkward hold between the side table and the television…

In addition to hanging some lame frames, I finally got up the nerve to hang the bathroom mirror yesterday! I was very nerve-wracking, lots of measuring and leveling and math (the math part I can handle…it’s the stress of holding the measuring tape and the level and the drill and the screw that is the hard part! Home improvement is not a solo gig!) So, the mirror isn’t hung perfectly, but it is centered and level, so that’s perfect enough! You should have seen all of the hang-wringing and sweating that was going on in there as I held my breath and prayed for a straight outcome!

Hopefully next week, I can be back with some pictures of the finally finished bathroom. I am still searching for an elusive frame for my artwork (and I have to paint the door still…can’t forget that.)

In the meantime, any ideas for the living room?

Tagged decorating, diy, home, home improvement, homemaking

Mar 12 2013

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home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking

Sidetracked: Fondue Forks

I’m in the middle of tidying up the kitchen drawers and the pantry. I’m in the middle of trying to convince Naoto that we need to get rid of our steamer. We’ve only used our steamer once AND we have a steamer function on our rice cooker AND we have a huge pot with a steamer tray…why keep it? (I’m losing this fight. Does anyone need a steamer?) I’m in the middle of replacing our three incomplete sets of measuring spoons with the one complete set from my parents. I’m in the middle of sorting through our pantry and thinking that we buy too much food that we don’t finish. We need to make better choices at the grocery store.

This morning I was sorting through the drawer that has the “infrequently used” things…things like summery serving trays (a gift) and tiny vases (and pretty bottles that I use as vases) and fondue forks. These fondue forks were a re-gift from our coffee-shop friend Madonna. We used to drink coffee with Madonna when our friends owned the bakery near our old apartment. When Madonna learned we had hosted a little fondue party, she brought us these fondue forks. They had been a gift to her in the 70s.

In case the picture is unclear, it says:

Dear Madonna,

Sorry we were late that night. We were looking for a place to buy a liqueur to “warm” your house. As it turns out, maybe you’ll get more and longer enjoyment from these.

Love,

Jessica & Terry

I love the wooden handles and the gold Roman numerals on each fork. I think the handles could use a bit of oil, but it is really such a lovely set. I love that Madonna thought to give them to us–it’s nice to have a little but of her history in our home since she was a big part of our life when we lived in Oak Park.

I think a little fondue party might be in the making!

Tagged food, home, homemaking, memories, vintage

Mar 05 2013

3 Comments

home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking

Another SNOW Post

It’s SNOWING again! And it’s a downright snow day for many people–schools are closed, church BINGOs are cancelled, people are going home from work early (or not going at all)…I, on the other hand, will be heading out to work later. But until then, I’m happy to curl up on the couch and watch the snowfall.

Yesterday I spent a good part of my day digging around in the guest room. It’s gotten to the point where I need to take another trip to drop off a carload of donations (yay!) and I really need to get rid of a chair and three desks before I consider things DONE, but as far as getting the stuff organized, I’m almost there.

I also have this little plan going on in the living room. I have three handmade papers all ready to go in frames on the wall.

Yay for progress…no matter how slow it is!

Tagged decorating, home, home improvement, homemaking

Feb 25 2013

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home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking

Another Procrastination Project

The spare room is still a disaster. The bathroom still has no mirror or towel hooks. The floors need to be swept. Am I taking care of those things? No. I’m hanging up kitchen art.

I spent Saturday framing a bunch of old family pictures. My plan (eventually) is to make a family photo wall on the open wall in the dining room. (You can see a bit of the wall in this post.) I would have hung everything up on Saturday (I’m feeling very hammer happy these days.) except I realized I have zero pictures of myself. Grandparents, parents, and a young Naoto, yes…but no young Kimberly. I’m going to have to see if I can come up with some good choices (hint, hint, Mom!) before I start making holes. I’d love to do something like this by Young House Love, mixing my photographs with other sentimental things but, let’s be honest…at the rate I’m going it would take a lifetime to fill our wall!

Since I couldn’t hang up the stuff I’d framed (and the bathroom details are on hold until Naoto can help me lift things), I decided to finally hang two more doughnut pictures in the kitchen. The top one is a letterpressed greeting card that I found while cleaning and the bottom one is the picture (the sprinkles are police officers) that has been sitting on my kitchen counter for a long while. It took two minutes–no templates, no measuring, no level…I just eyeballed it this time. It’s a small improvement, but it feels good to get two more things on the wall (instead of on the floor!)

And while we are talking about the kitchen…when the weather got colder, we brought in our wicker loveseat from the balcony. It just happened to fit on the little wall in the kitchen. (We kept Presley’s food and water bowls along this wall, but she moves them around so much that pretty much the whole kitchen floor is her food and water bowl.) It turns out that the loveseat has been a useful little addition to the kitchen. We hang out there when we’re cooking and Presley takes naps on it every day. It’s kind of the perfect place for her. She can get her snooze on and be aware of what is coming out of the refrigerator. She can hear the sound of the cheese drawer opening and yogurt containers opening from anywhere in the apartment…being close gives her the advantage of seeing if the food choice is worth the effort of getting up to beg for it.

So, that’s what’s going on around here in the recovery house. Naoto is probably going back to his day job soon…Presley and I are going to miss him as we’ve gotten quite used to him hanging around with us during the day!

Tagged decorating, home, home improvement, homemaking, letterpress

Feb 07 2013

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home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking

Project Distraction…

You know those little home improvement projects that you finish and then say, “What took me so long??” Yeah, this was one of those. The Great Clean-Out unearthed a whole lot of art gathering dust in the closets and on the floors of our bedrooms. This week I decided to tackle the desk art.

On a giant piece of kraft paper, I tested my layout on the floor first (with Presley’s “help” of course) and traced the frames onto the paper. Then I cut out each “frame” and hopped on my ladder and taped them all up, readjusting a few times until I got them all where I wanted them. Then I measured for the picture hangers and hammered and hung each picture one at a time. I readjusted things as I went, based on tiny mis-measurements. It wasn’t an exact science (for instance, I’m not sure how I feel about the tiny cat floating away from everything at the top) but I’m pretty happy with my little collection up there. Eventually I’d love to take down my twine-o-postcards and have art hanging up across the entire desk unit, but I’m okay with this for now.

Finishing this was a nice distraction from the Great Clean-Out (which is still sprawled across the dining room table and the living room floor). Now back to putting things away and plotting the rest of the art in the apartment. Right now, I’m loving the haphazard collage look and I’m thinking I might need to “build” another one with some old family pictures in my stash.

Clockwise from the top left: Cat–postcard purchased in Japan//Girl on a Swing papercut–Tina Tarnoff//photo strip–taken at Fitzgeralds a few summers ago//You Are My Sunshine–purchased at Renegade a few years ago, but I can’t remember the seller//Presley–one of my first Instagrams, developed by PostalPix//Iron Head collage–Vivienne Strauss//Lord Byron Letter Writing quote–Bison Bookbinding & Letterpress