Apartment-alizing

One of my “project” goals for the new year is to get things up on the walls and shelves of this apartment. I mean, it’s been a year. Especially in this large blank area. When I first moved in my son in law hung a few large paintings on the wall and I have a few hangers for small quilts. But especially since the walls are now white instead of turquoise, there is a need to do some wall filling and decorating.

Part of the delay was simply not knowing what I wanted to do. I also still haven't found the perfect larger wall piece to replace the “bakers rack” I am using against this wall. So now I  am now looking for a couple less than perfect ones to replace the shelves I dragged along. Meanwhile though, it’s time to do the decor thing, leaving wide space for where I believe any new wall units will sit.

My hope/goal is to do these as much as possible with things on hand. I always keep my eyes out for affordable art, especially large pieces or those in sets. But I now have some of my own art work and am creating more (I guess some kind of a show is due soon). I have many, many good pictures both of family and places visited that I can order in larger sizes to frame as needed. I have quilts of all sizes and really want to install one that is fairly large on a wall (and perhaps change it out seasonally). I also have at least four or five pen and ink watercolor sketches of various places visited (some more colorful than others). And there are some mini quilts worthy (in my opinion) of frames.

My plan is to use what I have and re-use what I have and see where that gets me.  To start, I ordered a good set of quilt hangers and will have my son in law install them if need be when they arrive (they may just use nails). For my quilty readers, I much prefer this alternative to a dowel and or a curtain rod installation on my wall. For one thing, I don’t then have to make hangers or tabs on all my quilts). 

Then I decided I wanted to make “picture displays" on two walls. I’m still working on what will go in them.  I pulled all of my picture frames already on hand and decided that I wasn’t concerned if the two sets of frames matched exactly, but just if they were dark, light, or medium wood, since my aesthetic in life tends to be the imperfect and mixed and not matched one. Some of my picture frames have been damaged in the various moving processes.  I was able to order both replacement glass and sets that had replacement glass and the backing as well.

In some cases these may be close to the price of the original frames, but hey, I simply can't see throwing out good frames if they can be repaired and used in some fashion. My goal for the year is to be as sustainable as possible. In fact I foresee Frugal Friday and/or Thrifty Thursday becoming about sustainability as much as money in the long run.

So that's the plan as of today. We'll see how much if any I need to change it going forward.

I’m also throwing some new pillow covers together (which did require some small fabric purchases to get the colors I wanted to use). And coverings for my coffee and side tables.

In other news, my 32 year old son has Covid. Even though he’s been vaxxed (not boosted, that appointment was scheduled for the eighth) via J&J, uses a mask at work, masks to the table when he goes out and went to a Christmas event where everyone else was masked. He has an app and he got texts about exposure. So far he seems to be doing okay although he says he feels like he was hit by a truck.

Our local activities on site and through other organizations slowed down during the holiday week and are not back to normal yet. When they become so I will go out but continue to be cautious. This week I might have lunch and a knitting group, depending. I did order NK95 masks but they are not arriving until the 20th so I may need to check Amazon and see their turnaround. My daughter suggests purchasing an at home kit or so, but honestly I am not sure I could do it properly. We’ll see.

Today I hope to get close to an hour of exercise in, even if it’s divided up multiple times throughout the day!