The Saga of the Sofas

I'm calling this post "The Saga of the Sofas" because that's what it has been for us. A long, drawn out search to find the perfect sofa.
Let's begin.

This not a good photo, but it's the only one I have. It's our very first apartment (aw) and it actually wasn't ours. We rented second-hand and it came partially furnished which is why everything is covered in white. The actual owner of the apartment had awkward taste like the coffee table which had semi-precious stones under a weird glass table top. Or the oriental, fake silk curtains I took down the first night we moved in. The couch, a black IKEA couch, was hers and covered in dog hair (G is allergic and even after cleaning it he'd still have problems, hence, the white cover). The apartment was a whole 43 square meters, I know, it was a true test to our relationship, but it was very central and had a great view.  The couch was comfy and huge. I fell asleep on it more times than I can count.
When we moved to our current, bigger place, we thought the owner would want all of her furniture back. Turns out, she could've cared less and we could've kept the dog-hair couch and bought a proper cover for it but by that time we had already purchased a new/old couch...

This little mid-century brown couch. Here he is in our new, bigger apartment. He's a cutie and was much more "in-tune" to our styles than that the IKEA couch was. But despite being cute, he was small. We've spent a lot of time arguing about whose taking up more of the couch (it was usually me, I'll admit that now) and it wasn't that comfy of a couch. We spend a lot of time on the couch, so after a year of cutie couch we decided it was time to get something bigger and comfier...

I call this couch The Beast. We bought The Beast second-hand last week. We read the ad (sits six people!) and negotiated the price and decided to buy this HUGE couch. When we went to go pick up the couch I felt my stomach churn, "this couch is really, really big," I thought, "but maybe it'll be perfect, after all we wanted a big couch." Plus, we had already rented the trailer, G's parents were down with their car, and we drove out in the middle of nowhere to go get it. And we brought The Beast home. Do you see the weird back space? I hate that weird back space. I think if the couch didn't have that weird back space I would've like it. It's a standard, big, really big couch. But that back space made it unnecessarily big  and awkward. It was too awkward for us.
So we decided to trade couches with G's brother who has a nice, manly bachelor bad complete with a projector screen and a comfy leather couch. The Beast would be perfect for him. And now we have the most comfiest, snuggliest couch...

I don't know you guys, but there is something so fantastic about worn out leather. In theory, I don't like this style of couch, but because it's so worn and so loved, I'm smitten. It's so comfy and plushy. I love all the little cracks and imperfections. It's just how a couch should be.

It's big enough and wide enough for the both of us, without being too big or too wide. I think this guy will look really good with this rug underneath and a different coffee table (see the photo of The Beast, it's for sale if you're interested!). I'm planning on re-decorating our living room and we're trying to get rid of all of our brown stuff. I basically want this couch and our side-table to  be the only brown things in the room.

So that is the Saga of the Sofas and we lived happily ever after, The End.

PS. I'm looking for cheap but stylish throw pillows- any ideas? Any?

slow kitchen makeover

I think, besides everyday life, I am going to try to focus this blog a bit more on design and stuff like that. Considering it's all I'm thinking about right now, it'll be nice to put my ideas in one spot.

I mentioned before that we're trying to trade our apartment. Well, the process is quite slow and I realized that we'll probably here for another few months. Since I'm kind of tired of where we live now (which is not really the reason we want to move, the main motivations are: lower rent and a more central location) I thought I can at least redecorate while we wait to move.
The problem is, we're students. With low, low incomes. So most, if not all of our stuff is second-hand. The new stuff is almost always IKEA. When we first moved into this place we were moving from a small 43 kvm apartment which we were renting, half furnished, second hand. Then we got a first hand contract on this apartment, which is huge (68 kvm) so we had A LOT to furnish. I've really liked our apartment but when we started talking about moving I realized just how much I wanted simplify everything. How much I wanted to focus on good design vs just having something to fill the space. And with a new move comes a new start.
But why not start now? Everything I'm choosing to do right now to our current apartment will transfer nicely to any other apartment we move into. And it's all budget friendly, easy changes.
So let's start with the kitchen, which is still a work in progress.
Before:

We have a huge kitchen! We put the white floors in ourselves when we first moved in and it made a world of difference (the previous floors were an ugly brown/orange color). The chairs we got second hand for about $14 total. The table is really, really nice (and extends to seat 10 people) but unfortunately I damaged part of it this summer with some water so we've kept it covered with this nice Laotian table cloth. The light is IKEA (duh). Since we're on the first floor we put up those lead glass windows you see in the back. I really like them and the warp the image a bit so we have some privacy.
I wanted to take out all of the color in the kitchen and focus more on the white, black, and rustic wood.
Here is what our kitchen looks like now:

We sanded our table this weekend to get the water stain out and then oiled it like crazy. It's as good as new. We also replaced our IKEA light with a simple globe bulb. Buddy, our deer, moved from hanging over our bed to hanging by our bar. Eventually, we'll trade the green chairs for white ones. Oh, and I moved the huge poster you see in the first photo to our hallway. So it's just a blank white wall now.
My inspiration came from these photos:

From Sköna Hem

From The Brick House

thanksgiving in stockholm recap

We went to Stockholm for Thanksgiving and got back really late last night. We left on Wednesday afternoon to snow falling all over town. I love the first few snows of the season.

We took a train up to Stockholm and there is something so European about traveling by train. The train smelled like a sauna and had free wi-fi.

Stockholm was, as always, busy. I shouldn't be shocked by the amount of people strolling through the city, but I always am. I'm starting to learn my way around and recognize places and streets. I'm falling a bit in love with the city and I'm hoping that one day we might move- there for at least a little while.
All of G's childhood friends live there and there is nothing better than to see them laughing together.

We celebrated Thanksgiving a day after the actual Thanksgiving. Our friends Henrik and Sofia hosted all 12 of us and everyone brought a proper Thanksgiving dish. It was amazing and tasted just like home. I am so grateful (and thankful) to all of our friends in Stockholm who celebrated with us.
It's hard being away from home during the holidays so to be surrounded by friends who are willing to celebrate your holiday with it's crazy foods (sweet potatoes with marshmallows) is really really nice.
Thank you guys.

We came back really late last night. That train ride was a lot less smooth and there was some annoying sound coming from our section of the train for the whole six hours. We watched gruesome episodes of The Walking Dead to drown out the noise.

And now it's the First Advent and the snow is falling slowly outside onto an already winter covered ground. I have exams coming up and need to study, but all I really want to do is just enjoy this winter.

Snow and Stockholm and Trains

Right now I'm sitting on a train heading to Stockholm. I think we'll arrive in about two hours. It's dark outside but I think it's been snowing almost the whole time.
We woke up to snow this morning. Covering everything, making it look perfect and clean. Until you walk out to the streets and see the sludge from traffic. But that is besides the point. The point is, it was magical.
I love the first big snowfall. It's encouraging and fresh. It was even better because we knew that in a few hours we'd be leaving for Stockholm.

It's my second Thanksgiving away from home and this year we decided to celebrate amongst friends. I'm excited!
And thank goodness this train had internet!

apartments and photos

Yesterday we cleaned our apartment really, really well. We were supposed to have someone over to look at it because we're thinking of trading our firsthand contact for another's. Through a website called Lägenhetes Byte you can do a direct trade or a triangle trade for apartments all over Sweden.
One of the most coveted things you can have in Sweden is a firsthand contract for an apartment, especially in the bigger cities: Stockholm, Göteberg, and Malmö. It's not easy to come by, I'd imagine it's similar to getting an apartment in New York. You can read about how hard it is to get a first hand contract here - the post discusses apartments in Stockholm but it's pretty similar here in Malmö and from what I can tell, it's getting worse.
Anyways, we were supposed to have someone over who was interested in a trade but at the last the minute she cancelled on us. Since our apartment was really clean we decided to take a few pictures to add to our ad on Lägenhetes Byte. I thought I'd share a few them with you guys. I like our place. A lot. But I'm ready to move. I have a lot of new ideas for our next apartment and I can't wait to have an opportunity to use them.

We took these photos around 3:00 in the afternoon. As you can see, it was already pretty dark outside (for 3:00 in the afternoon!) All of our nice looking furniture is either second hand or given to us. Everything else is IKEA.

moving on and staying put

Sigh.
The thing I was so excited about didn't work out. It's ok. We were disappointed but now we are over it.
The thing was moving to a very awesome apartment. An old building built in 1907 right on the square of one of the coolest areas of town. And it was right on top of a coffee shop. Pretty cool right?
It's ok that it didn't happen. It was just super exciting- thinking about moving and decorating and planning all of that.

In other (good) news, we have a new wireless router. It's very exciting because it's Airport Express. Slowly G is becoming more and more of an Apple nerd. And we are halfway through Dexter Season 3.
Everything is allright.

it's ok, it really is

I mentioned before that I have this whole week off. It's going surprisingly fast. That might have something to do with the fact that at 4:30 it's pitch black outside so the days feel shorter. Last night G and I came home and fell asleep completely exhausted at 6:00 (we woke up again at 7:00). What did I do yesterday? Not a lot. I went to the center of town and hung out with a friend from class. G worked all day. I have no excuse for falling asleep at 6:00 but I think the darkness has something to do with it.

I was totally dreading winter this summer. Like, to the point where I would shudder in disgust when I thought about it. But truth be told, I don't mind it so much right now. Right now. 

The fact is, I'm not working this fall/winter so I get to enjoy a lot more of my day. I get to experience more of daylight (even if it is grey) and watch the leaves fall. I'm not cooped up in an office watching the daylight go as I answer a phone or stare at a computer screen. It really makes all of a difference.

So far, so good.

Right now I'm planning for American Thanksgiving. I am pretty sure G and I will be going to Stockholm for the holiday and I'm super excited to celebrate with our friends.
This year, back in the States, my family is having a reunion at Thanksgiving which we will be missing out on. I also missed Thanksgiving last year.
Planning it right now makes me feel all kinds of nostalgic for the American holidays. I've already compiled a list of movies we have to watch during Christmas.

Yesterday, I took a picture of the leaves falling. It's really nice this time of year.