Things You Need Right Now: Couples' Closet Must-Haves

Sharing an apartment with your significant other can be as challenging as it is fun when it comes to incorporating two apartments full of stuff into one (see my tale of woe for girly home goods here). Sharing a closet is a whole other animal.

Tips like "hang hooks on empty walls" and "use empty floor space creatively" are great for people who have all of this sprawling empty space to work with. However, if you are 24 (ahem, or newly 25) and live in NYC, this likely is not your situation. Nick and I have given our closet a few edits since moving in so I wanted to share our lifesavers (and relationship savers) in case you find yourself in a similar scenario any time soon.

Weekend Snapshots

It's been quite the shitstorm around here lately - in the very best way possible - which has kept me on my feet and away from my keyboard. To catch you up on a few things, I lost all self-respect during this heatwave and bathed in a public water fountain, wore more top knots than Nick could handle and less clothing than appropriate for work. Or for ever.

Also on the clothing topic, I'm fairly certain there are no good outfits for falling down stairs, but I had the distinct privilege of finding out what falling down an entire flight in a bathing suit is like. It was at the Empire Hotel rooftop lounge and it was graphic. Thankfully, I had an onlooker verbally rush to my aid with an "oh god!" before sauntering back over to my friends with both my pride and bikini misplaced. 

I did, however, get to see some of my favorite beauties this weekend which reminded me to post this batch of overdue weekend snapshots from our Central Park picnic:

Happy Anniversary NYC

After a questionably sober post-bachelorette flight home from Miami Sunday, I shared a ride home with a gal who reminded me of a much younger, adorable and less jaded version of myself from two years ago.

Hey girl, are those bangs? A feather headband? Street hot dog?  Ok, cool.

After pointing out everything we passed (no offense Queens, but we were in Queens) and asking where all the skyscrapers were, I felt obliged as a super experienced New Yorker to ask this person if she was here visiting or here for good - because she needed to learn her some stuff right away. She said she was staying for two months for an internship and asked if I had any suggestions for things to see other than the obvious. 

DIY Shabby Chic Thrifted Chest

I love Housing Works. Most economical NYers have been to a Housing Works Thrift Shop or Bookstore at least a few times during their journey to furbish bare apartments on non-existent budgets, perusing the rows of personal treasures past their prime. Although, some may not know that Housing Works is actually a much larger operation whose real purpose is providing advocacy and services to end homelessness and AIDS around the world - their thrift shops are simply an arm of their fundraising efforts. And I am a tireless supporter in that I almost always find something amazing to bring home with me. 

The first piece of real furniture I bought up here (real like not made of whatever everything in IKEA is made of) was from Housing Works.

It's the only large-ish item that made the move from girl apartment to co-ed apartment. I was shopping alone, it was heavy as hell, a hideous dark wood riddled with scratches and I needed it. I recruited Nick to come meet me in Chelsea to help me bring it to the curb and taxi it on up to the Upper East Side. 

This is a flattering picture. It was ugly.

DIY Pretty Blue Planter

In honor of Mother's Day (love you Mel!) I decided I'd post one of our projects that would make momma proud: our pretty DIY terrace planter. 

After touring 50+ apartments in the search for our place, we decided an outdoor space, no matter how small, was a necessity. Turns out, ask and you shall receive sista. Our outdoor space is indeed a small balcony, shared with a nosy elderly neighbor and made luxuriously private by a hip-height transparent diamond-weave divider. And I mean nosy neighbor like weekly risking her life to lean over and around the divider to see what's up over here.

After having a few stare-offs from the comfort of my couch with said neighbor, we decided to install an ivy planter on our divider in hopes of creating a nice little privacy wall that gradually obstructed the view. We had been wanting to try our hand at urban gardening anyway so this was a great excuse. Here's how we did it:

Starting Now

A little blog about a Floridian trying her hand at a bit of everything in New York City. Especially life, love...and the pursuit of pretty things, DIY projects, furbishing the tiny studio apartment I share with my main man and other adventures.

As a new baby blogger, I would love feedback and comments - I need all the help I can get!

Till next time...

-Amanda

p.s. Happy Cinco de Mayo!