NESTY THINGS / LIVING + ENTRY

good morning! so. since getting back from portland in march, any time i've had a spare second to think i've been thinking about this apartment. after spending so much time at my mother's beautiful home, i walked in the door here and our place just kind of felt like a dorm. you know what i mean? i think too that i just needed something tangible i could work on where i could see immediate results. so, nest fluffing. sometimes it just feels so good, you know?

our place isn't perfect and these photos aren't anything fancy. this isn't some grand reveal. ;) more like an update on what will always be a work in progress. a house is an important family member just like any of us, and she's gotta grow with us, is what i always say. 

it's probably impossible in a small space to really nail the airy, space-y feeling, but that's just what i'm after. our place ins't enormous, though it kind of is, by nyc 1-bedroom standards. this corner of the living room was the worst offender it felt all unbalanced, like it was tipping over. so i moved the small dresser that used to be under the window into the bedroom, and replaced it with this bertoia replica. (i've wanted the real thing for just about forever, but i'm glad i went with a replica because it turns out i'm not as crazy about the bertoias as i thought i was?) i put the record player on the floor for lack of a better option. huck's favorite toys of the moment get to hang out in the basket, and the rest live in his bedroom. the sheepskins are both from ikea, the pillow is from fine little day. also, crayon jar! so, this is how this one is going to go. keep going! if you want!

i found the blue crate at the hell's kitchen flea market, isn't it great? it smelled like polyurethane for two solid months. holy lacquer! it used to hold huck's diapes + wipes. oh sob, my baby! (i buy used records almost exclusively, usually from a seller in grants pass, oregon. i found him on amazon, of all weird things. he has a killer disney collection.)

the black ikea bookshelf that used to be under the tv haaaad to go. it held our books (that we never read) in rainbow order, which i  really loved, but it was just too dark for the room. lulu & georgia happened to contact me just as i was wondering what on earth to do with it, and voila! this credenza. it was a life altering move. so much storage! gorgeous color! the legs! plus holes in the back for our dvd player. finally, charlie and lola are back on the rotation. i missed that soren lorenson. (the shelf is living in my closet now, holding onto mah shoes.) lulu & georgia is extending a special discount to hey natalie jean readers, just use the code NATALIEJEAN20 for 20% off your entire order. they literally carry everything, you'll have fun over there!

i switched the rugs again. sometimes i move the black one to the living room, sometimes to the dining room, this usually happens at 2AM. we got it at west elm but it seems like it's sold out. this one is sick though! (the rug in the dining room i found on eBay.) our drapes are from ikea. the "home sweet home" poster i made myself! just a map, some stencils and white paint. 

i'm trying my hand at becoming a crazy plant lady. so far nothing's fully dead, just a few are mostly dead... we've been ordering our plants online from home depot. it's a little weird when they show up in a box on your doorstep, but i dig it. 

thrift store in idaho. his name is bambi. it's not a terribly creative name.

the living area of our living room. so... how many sheepskins is too many sheepskins? i got the one on the floor on eBay. other than that, i think changing out our throw pillows is the only change in this part of the room. the white pillow is moroccan, from accompany, the red is vintage turkish, from etsy. so multicultural! our couch is from macy's, i get asked that one a lot. it's a great couch, good for sleeping on, so says my mom, it's completely filthy but hides it well. the two baskets are serena & lily and amazon. i have a lot of baskets. i use every stinking one and catch myself thinking like maybe i could need another (i don't need another, holy crap.) the WWII era flag i scored on eBay. it turned into a bidding war last minute and you know how you get roped into those things, so i probably paid too much for it. but i like her! she's not as yellow as she looks in these photos, we just have a hot light situation in the hallway to the right. 

a peek at the entry way and the "north" side of our living room. 

the turkish pillows is another etsy find, the black and white is from fine little day. market basket is from amazon, the chair is an ikea special, and the ottoman is a recent find from target. it's pretty good for target, huh.

i knit that gray throw using oversized yarn from loopy mango. it was so fun, i sort of want to take it apart and start again. (p.s. that alexa chung book isn't just pretty, it's also pretty funny.) (derp derp.)

this bench, also from lulu & georgia, has made the greatest impact in the space for me. i wanted the room to feel airy, bright, and open, and this bench just seemed to open everything up. i get a lot of compliments on those instagram prints. they're on wood, i believe they were from insta this. we found the flag at the brooklyn flea market when i was pregnant with huck. it's a nautical flag named charlie (no, really) that you'd fly to communicate "affirmative" or "change in course." i found that eagle on top at the flea the same day we found the flag, it's plastic. ;)

the full entry! taduh. there used to always be a stroller parked there but then i realized our super was storing his stroller in the bike storage in the basement and a light bulb went off. it's not that big of a deal to elevator down to the basement for it, especially since we don't need it as consistently as we did back when huck was younger. i made that gold H myself, back in idaho. it's just a gold-leafed cardboard H i found at michael's. my horse dude is also an idaho thrifting score.

don't tell me i have too many baskets i don't want to hear it. ;)

this is what our living room looks like most days:

huck.... the wheels on the bus... (most amazingly weird cartoon ever, and only three episodes, so sad.) the gold side table is from target but i can't find it anymore--this one is similar.

huck's pretty much the cutest thing in here, huh.

thanks for letting me share! i'm hoping to share more of our space over the coming weeks. and thank you to lulu & georgia for the generous gifts!