Rural Simplicity

I've had around 10 or so paying jobs in my short 25 years of life. Many of them part time and summer jobs. But one thing every single one of them had in common was that I had to learn the skill of the job; whether it was cashier, or babysitter. One of the first "real" jobs I had was at a fast food joint. I went through multiple training videos and at first had a manager helping me through the buttons and requirements of the register. When I finally got it down I officially started working on the front counter taking orders.. .and then I added people. Another job I've had is office manager for a small apartment complex. It took  several days to learn where everything was, memorize the phone reel, and be able to walk someone through an apartment. I got the hang of it pretty quick and felt pretty comfortable except maybe for the phone schpeel... and then I added people. I worked at a summer camp 3 years in a row. Every year you had assignments to fill out befor...

Welcome to part 1 of a mini series on "How to Make Your Apartment More Homey". If you have a house, don't ex out of this post, there are tips here for anyone living anywhere. Sure it's geared toward those of us who can't paint or put nails in the walls, but sometimes you need a little bit of unconventional artistry in your home (no matter what kind of home) to give it a fresh look.  Today we will be focusing on Buy Big - Buy Quality.  Your first thought is probably, "But I have a tiny apartment!" I'm glad you mentioned that. It doesn't matter what size apartment or home you have to use this trick. Yes you have to buy furniture that proportionately fits your home, but you don't have to buy knick-knack furniture just because your space is small.  1) Buy the biggest piece of furniture that looks right for your space. When we think rich, large house, lots of money, etc.. we think BIG. So in order to give your apartment a sophis...

Thank you for joining me on this short journey through my apartment. I've enjoyed sharing my ideas on "How to Make Your Apartment More Homey". This is part 6 and the last post from this mini series. Today we will close with the topic of - The Largeness of Cleanliness. I tip toed into this topic a little bit in part 2 already but I find it to be too important and neglected that I've dedicated a whole post to it. A clean and tidy apartment can be more inviting, homey and spacious than a large home full of clutter and chaos. "There are two ways to be Rich, one is by acquiring much and the other is by desiring little." - Jackie French Koller "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." - William Morris Do yourself a favor and at least think through the following list and see how it might change the way you live. 1) Purge Purge [v] 1. to rid of whatever is impure or undesirable; cle...

Welcome to part 5 of my mini series "How to Make Your Apartment More Homey". Once you get a grasp on the first four topics you've really got something going for you. These last two steps are definitely not the meat of the problem.  Today we will focus on - The Color Palette. A little bit of color theory wouldn't hurt anyone. I realize that we are alway feeling the need to try something new and be a little different. It's called fashion, and that's okay. Be different! Make a statement! It's good to try something new. But if it's ugly just say so, don't lie to save your pride. Your pride has already been painted all over that new yellow couch!  You can google a basic color wheel and the different ways to pair the colors or most people have an eye for what looks good together. It's usually a good thing to stick with the same hue (bold with bold, or pastels with pastels, and burnt colors with burnt colors) but even that isn't alwa...

Welcome to part 4 of my mini series "How to Make Your Apartment More Homey". Today we will be focusing one of the most challenging things apartment dwellers come up against. Walls. Today's topic - No Paint, No Nails! The white wall epidemic is a hard one to beat unless you have a very specific decorating style. And many times we wish we could paint just because the walls are so bad. Really, apartment walls are the worst. Think of all the abuse those poor walls have gone through. Every personality, age, and gender has probably made an impression on those walls, and I'm not just talking about a mental impression either. You can only fix holes so many times. We look at nail pops, sheetrock seams and opposing textures. A bold paint color could fix a lot! But for the thousands of people who can't paint that bold color or any color at all here are a few tips on how to get past the white wall epidemic. First you have to start with 100% your flavor, style and likes...

Welcome to part 3 of my mini series "How to Make Your Apartment More Homey". So far we have discussed buying the best that you afford  and buying the largest your apartment can afford! Also we talked about how less is more and how that doesn't fit the American dream. Today's topic is - Don't be a Half Mover. For some people it's a no brainer. They can't live with boxes sitting around them, they can't live out of a suitcase permanently. But I've seen or heard many times of people who have an apartment packed full of boxes with only a small path from necessity to necessity. Folks, that's NOT living...that's existing. No one wants to live that way, and no one wants to visit that. That is an extreme situation, although not as uncommon as you would think or hope, and I hope you are only dealing with a "junk room" situation. I remember when I was growing up that for a time we had a room we called the "junk room". Whic...

Welcome to Part 2 of my mini series "How to Make Your Apartment More Homey". I'm glad you're back because today we have a great topic that most people just don't get. We try and try only to find that we've failed again. Failed at what?   Today's topic is - Less is More. I closed out yesterday's post with this short but piercing quote. In all honesty it took me longer to figure this quote out than it should have. That's how badly I misunderstood the concept. And as I look around me I realize I'm not the only one who misunderstands this concept. Or at least doesn't care to understand it. We've failed at applying it to our lives. We spend much, buy much, consume much. But the more we have the more we desire.  So how does this principle work within our homes? If you have 900 sq. ft. to work with in your home and you ask for and receive for Christmas a blender, salad spinner, microwave, coffee pot, and a new skillet would you ...

This hotel conference room just went through a make over! We transformed this boring whitewashed room into a backyard I Do BBQ party! Conference Room BEFORE... ...Conference Room AFTER! Coffee Can with Plaid burlap ribbon and weeds! Chalk boards and small canning jars for bbq sauce. Various sized Mason jars filled with dirt and red tea lights. Also several jars filled with brown crayons to doodle on the brown paper table cloth.   The table cloth is brown paper (bought in a large roll) The star was painted on with a large stencil. Wood slabs for texture and height.  We had a large white wall to decorate... it became the "note to the couple" wall  Using a plate and a cup we traced each person's placemat and laid their silverware nearby for convenience.  Lanters filled with Apples were each tables centerpiece.  More chalkboards to decorate the bride and grooms's chairs. The bride has a...