Chez Mobley!

I have to admit, I envy my friends who are buying, building, remodeling, and decorating new homes.  I have an little a board on Pinterest dedicated to furnishing and decorating my future home and the house of my dreams.  That reality isn't too far away, but as you all know....that means moving out of New York City...sigh.  Until the Mobleys are ready to trade in martinis, $10 cab rides, and unlimited delivery options for walk-in closets, then apartment living it is for this little family.

Our New RUG!!!!

But that doesn't save me from the re-decorating itch that comes with almost 3 years in the same little 400 square foot apartment.  Or the itch that comes along after you spend almost a month traveling, and your apartment becomes consumed by partially unpacked suitcases and piles of laundry.  Yes, we are limited by the fact that we don't own our space, and don't have unlimited options for demolition, molding, and painting as we'd like, but we CAN get creative.  We made some quick little updates to our living space last weekend that definitely brightened up the place a bit and satisfied the nesting bug that bit me over the last month.  Here are some of the changes we made to our humble abode to make it more comfortable for us as the winter months are approaching, and we spend some more time enjoying being home.

Hallway before

During our renovation

1.  A BRAND NEW RUG!  It's amazing how much a rug can change the space in the room.  Mike's parents gave us this beautiful Persian rug that we are in love with, but I'm a little scared with Mike's tendency to spill, Winston's tendency to drool, and my tendency to do P90X, that this rug is too valuable to keep in our tiny apartment.  I can't wait until I have a large place to display this beauty one day, but for now, we are getting it cleaned and preserving it for when we move into some place bigger, and with less traffic.  We bought this rug on RugsUsa, and I LOVE it.  I have to tout the site as well, because they had a wonderful selection and shipped it in a little over a week!

I even got some new matching cushions

A happy new yellow wall!

2.   A NEW WALL!  Ok, I didn't do any demolition, and I didn't do a "convert" as they say in New York, but we updated our entry way to be a little bit brighter and a little less cluttered.  One of my friends was raving about how great tempaper is as a solution to apartment living.  I was so excited to try it out, but when we got to Benjamin Moore...I wasn't thrilled with the colors they had available.  So 15 minutes later, I came home with a gallon of yellow paint and went to town on the wall instead of going the Tempaper route.  Entry ways are hard because they are such a high traffic area, and after 2.5 years of all four seasons and a bulldog, the chalky white paint had taken a beating.  Not only is the sunshine-y yellow a happy welcome to our home, but we were able to cover the dark marks that no amount of Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser can fix. Now all we need is a brand new runner and my hallway will be completely transformed!

3.  After almost (on Thursday it will be exact) 16 months of marriage, we had yet to buy towels together!  I know, it's weird.  Mike brought his turquoise green towels from bachelorhood, and I had the same towels that saw me through 3 years of LA living with 2 other ladies.  We registered for some, but when we did not get any, it was probably the last place we wanted to spend an extra buck (especially, when there is fish artwork to buy, we definitely have our priorities).  I'm now happy to report that not only to we have huge, fluffy, white, cozy towels...they are monogrammed...the first thing we have of ours with our combined monogram!

4. Some festive summer bedding - Buying linens for your bed is a huge commitment, almost as huge as who gets to SHARE that bedding with you!  It's something you have to deal with every day, and there is nothing worse than uncomfortable linens.  We love the bedding we registered for when we got married.  It's a perfect blend of Mike and I...and I promised him that I would never make him sleep in floral decorated sheets or duvets. But the summers in New York are just too hot, and we needed something brighter and lighter to keep us cool from May - October.  It was a bit of an impulse purchase, but this summer bedding definitely screams "Mobleys", if I do say so myself.

I'm not sure when our lives will take us out of the city and into the burbs, and I know that we'll one day have our dream home, and I can see my Pinterest and Houzz creations come to life.  But for now these little updates make our Manhattan apartment just perfect.  If it weren't for the fact that we're literally bursting out of each and every closet and storage space between the 3 of us (yes...believe it or not, Winston does have quite a bunch of stuff that takes up room!), I could stay here forever!  Just because we don't "own" our little space, doesn't mean that we can't "MAKE it our OWN" or that we have to settle for anything less than the perfect haven for our little family.