Where I Live

A few people suggested a post about my home when I asked for feedback in the giveaway post. So here it is! Today was such a nice sunny day; perfect for taking a few pictures.

Actually we just visited a bank and are contemplating on buying our own apartment, but we have no hurry to leave this one. It's rented, but really spacious and right in the middle of the city so everything is near.

On to the pictures!

Living room and hallway

First the living room area. It includes the sofa and armchairs, my vanity, an aquarium, and a dining table that we tend to use only for crafts or when friends come over for dinner. The sofa, armchairs and table were bought from an antique shop. They are not that old though, the cushions are made of foam. We also have no less than three bookshelves in the living room and would need one more, because all the books just don't fit on the shelves at the moment! 

The sofa and tons of pillows.

Nana sitting on the aquarium, it's her favourite spot!

A painted plaster angel in an Ikea frame and a small mirror from Tiimari on
top of the dining table.

Mörkö sleeping in an armchair in front of the cd shelves and book shelves.

I'm not good with plants, but a few have bravely survived on the window sill next to the balcony.
We have electric candles for autumn evenings, that way the kitties don't set anything on fire.

Another view of one of the armchairs. A lamb pelt, tons of cds, Wii controllers
and a purple skull sitting on a cool lamp. This kind of sums up the apartment ;P

I had the turquoise pillows in my previous apartment, but luckily they went well
with the red sofa!

My other half's formidable gas mask collection hanging on old bedsprings
on the wall. A real conversation starter ;)

Mörkö enjoying himself on the pelt a little more. He's just too cute!

The hallway leading to the living room. I have collected frames
and mirrors there, since the walls were really plain and boring.
The reindeer antlers are used to hold sunglasses. You can also
see a peek of the dining table, I re-upholstered the chairs when
we moved in a year ago, they used to have fugly beige cushions.

Some of the frames in the hallway. I haven't found nice pictures
in all of them yet, but I'm sure some will come up with time. The
oval frame holds an Amelia Arsenic flyer, the large black one
an old painting by me and the golden one a picture of me I
gave my other half for Christmas. The plastic frames are
from Urban Outfitters.

My vanity is in the living room area also, here's how I store my earrings!

Balcony

Our balcony gives to the west so it's sunny in the afternoon. Last summer we grew herbs there, but I think the cats ate most of them and I forgot to water the rest ;P This summer we got an electric barbecue we can use on the balcony and the waterpipe is there, so there's still much use.

The balcony was so messy I didn't take more pictures! But here's Nivek on the spare cat tree we put
there so the cats can enjoy the view.

Bedroom

Our bedroom is super hot in the mornings, since the first rays of the sun hit the window. And we were so goth we got black dim-out curtains instead of white ones ;) It's a bit small for us, since there's so little closet space and most of the clothes are on racks that take up some space. Then there's the shoe collection...

Möttönen sitting on the cow hide we use for a carpet. You can see my fancy
pantyhose organizers in the back, I covered old shoe boxes with wallpaper I got
from the flea market.

Tons of black clothes! We have two racks plus two closets.

Shoes. There's a shelf just for boots and a pile of shoe boxes for smaller shoes. Needs dusting!

The bedroom curtains. I pondered over buying these for months, but finally got them and
couldn't be happier. The pattern is called Mandariini and the fabric is from Vallila. I love their
large, ornamental designs!

The bedspread and some pillows.

My hat storage! I'm getting more of the stripey boxes from Ikea,
I was just too sloppy last time there and accidentally picked a
packet of boxes that was damaged, so I have to go and exchange it.

The bedroom setup: wrinkly bedspread, a cat on top, some
laundry in a basket and the cow hide on the floor.

Study

The study is one of my favourite places in the apartment. We wanted a two bedroom apartment so we can have a decent study, since both of us work from home sometimes. It's usually messy, so I didn't take many pictures, but basically it has two shelves for random stuff and about five meters of table. There's room for two computers (three with my other half's work laptop) and I can still find space for my sewing machine when I need it. I do a lot of crafts, so decent workspace is essential!

My tiny plaster angels and the corner of my notice board.

Kitchen

The kitchen is nice, but the cupboards are super ugly and the fridge is really old. There was room for a dining table, but since we never eat at the table anyway, we just put a sofa and a coffee table there. Works fine and it's one of the cat's favourite spots!

I got this from my mom, she had seen the post about the A for Arsenic
necklace and remembered this old print she had. It's really pretty! I might change
the frame, but it's nice as it is, also. It was originally my grandmother's.

The kitchen sofa, coffee table and a cat. There's also part of a pink barbecue (a friend's,
it's just stored here at the moment) and my lovely orchid in the back.

The kitchen is the place where I shove all the kitschy stuff! Here you can see
stone cats my mom bought from New York, the remote for my camera (I take my
outfit photos in the kitchen) and vampire fangs bottle opener from Leipzig.

Dried chili peppers. My other half loves spicy food!

Sugar, cocoa, dried mint leaves and chickpeas.

Pretty golden dishes and a tin can with tea bags in it. You can see my other half
cooking in the reflection ;P

An orchid. I got this from the supermarket, it was the last one left and looked
a bit worse for wear, but it really bloomed when I took it in. Usually I suck with
flowers (just look at the pimpernels in the photo below) but me and the orchid
really hit off! You can see earlier pics here!

Möttönen and Nana looking hungrily at my sorry looking pimpernels on the
kitchen table.

That's all! We are not allowed to paint the walls, so they are white and boring. We installed the laminate floor ourselves to cover the horrible yellowed plastic floor the apartment used to have. I'm dreaming of owning an apartment, so we could paint it just the way we want, since I love decorating and am not afraid to use machinery or do big changes. A brand new kitchen would be awesome, my other half could cook even more delicious meals and we could choose any colour cupboards we like! It's good to have things to dream about, and owning an apartment is not a too hard one to make come true :)