We love decorating our walls with fun and meaningful custom made pieces that tell a story or are interesting to look at. A majority of these pieces being trail maps from our favorite ski mountains. I'm always on the lookout for fun items to frame which is why I bought this awesome hometown puzzle from L.L. Bean (shocker!) a couple months ago with intentions of glueing it together and having it framed.

Our home, which is represented by a house shaped puzzle piece, was extremely accurate, honing right in on the street that we currently live on. The rest of the puzzle features miles of surrounding terrain using detailed topographic map data. I'm really glad that I ordered this puzzle with our Boston address, as it encapsulates the "heart shape" that Boston looks like from a map, and the many rivers, wharfs and the Boston harbor that surrounds the mainland. It took maybe two days to complete thanks to the details of the water making it easy to sort and put together. Along with the North End, Beacon Hill and Waterfront, I'm really glad that the puzzle also includes the airport and Charlestown as well, two places that we frequent... often! 

I've never glued and sent a puzzle off to be framed before, so I decided to document the process and make a short little "how to" film out of it to help anyone who is looking to do the same thing!

Products Used in the video:

• Hometown Map Puzzle
• Mod Podge Puzzle Saver
• Scraper
• Foam Brush
• I used Framebridge to frame this puzzle. 
• Frame Name: Sonoma
• Mat Color: White

I've attached pictures and directions below for you to reference to as well.

Transfer your puzzle onto parchment or wax paper to protect your work surface. 

Use a puzzle glue to affix all of the pieces together. I used Modge Podge Puzzle Saver.

Start in the middle and work your way out.

 Use a "scraper" to spread the glue out over the entire puzzle. I used a scraper similar to this one.

Use a foam brush to smooth out the glue and fill in the cracks between the pieces (try to keep all of the brush strokes going in the same direction).

Let the front half of the puzzle dry for 30 minutes before starting on the back.

Once both sides are dry it should be sturdy enough to hold without breaking.

Package the puzzle up to get framed.

Your puzzle should arrive 7 to 10 days later and ready to be hung!

This is such a great custom made gift to give as a housewarming gift or to keep for yourself. 

We will certainly be making more for any future moves!

Apartment Updates

I realized the other day that my "home tour" pictures were from the very first day and month that we moved in, so I found myself determined to get some updated pictures up for ya. Not a WHOLE lot has changed, but enough for it to not look like a college dorm room. We got rid of a few pieces of furniture like this chair and this wardrobe and bought all new rugs, and pieces for each room. Without further adieu, here's a quick tour! (AND hopefully these pics will make it up to the "home tour" tab as well... we'll see how productive I am today on my SNOW DAY!
Our kitchen/living/dining multi-purpose room is very open concept like it was in our last apartment which makes it convenient for lounging around and having everyone in the same place.

At this point, all of our furniture is the "screw it together yourself" furniture due to the difficulty of moving it up and down three flights of stairs. We scored a killer deal on our jute rugs from Rugs USA, bought some floating shelves from IKEA which we decorated with acadia wood frames. Our little accent table and TV stand were from Target, and out futon was something that we reused from our old apartment that we threw a cover over to blend it into our color scheme a little better. We would like to get some frames hung on the wall, however that's something that I've been dancing with for awhile.

The other half of our "multipurpose" room is the kitchenette area which consists of our table and "bar cart". I would love to get some new chairs for that table, but I think that that is going to have to be something that wait until we have a little more space. 

Our bedroom "theme" is very crisp and clean with white furniture and bright accents. Our bureaus are from IKEA and our nightstands are from Target as well... and that mirror... IKEA. I love that store. Once again we scored our rug from Rugs USA and please don't mind our Christmas sheets... I'm still stuck in December with all of this beautiful snow!

Right off of our bedroom is a bathroom which I really don't think you guys would care to see... and we also have a smaller room/office on the back end of the apartment which is currently my Monica Geller closet... will have to share pictures later. It's an eclectic mix of extra furniture, clothes and boxes. 

 We did end up getting a handful of snow last night as predicted and are spoiled rotten with a snow day today! Everything is closed and people are cross country skiing through the streets of the North End, and sledding where they can. 

Last night L and I chased down the CNN news crew and now I'm off to go spend the rest of my day playing the in the snow, drinking hot cocoa, and making snow ice cream! 

Home Update

Now that this place is filled and beginning to look like a home I thought that I would touch base with you and give you an updated tour. A couple weeks ago I left you with this - an empty skeleton. Here's how things have been looking lately now that we have furniture, wall hangings and a cat in there!   Entrance There's nothing much here, and all we've done so far is lay down a rug. I think that in the future, we may possible hang some cute hooks for umbrellas and jackets on one of those walls by the door.  

  Kitchenette/Dining area We hung my beloved framed ski mountains, filled our cabinets, and plopped down a table and chairs. I used to have a small counter-height table with bar stools, but according to my father it was not comfortable or large enough for card playing, so he upgraded us with this four person round table with expandable leaves. Thanks Dad!  

 

 

  I do love that we have a larger table now, however it's a little roughed up. I think I'm going to reupholster the chair seats, paint the chairs, and possibly sand down the tabletop and re-stain it. We also need to lay down rugs under the table and against the cabinets, as well as maybe find some more wall art. I'd also like to see a cabinet of some sort against the wall underneath the ski mountains to help store some more food/dishes.     Living Room While it's still very open concept, and attached to the kitchenette area like in the old apartment, it is nice to be able to carry on a conversation with someone while sitting down at the table. So far, this room has made the least amount of progress. We are temporarily using an old bookshelf to house all of our DVDs, and hold the TV. I really dislike how you can see that eclectic mixture of everything. We also have the old futon hanging out in this room and it's just awkward. If I could, I would ditch the futon and pick up some of these KARLSTAD sofa's in Isunda gray. However, I know that's not going to happen because we are going to work with what we already have.  

 

  Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to suck it up and buy a futon cover that makes this big, dark blob blend in a little better with the bright room. I also need to find a rug to put in this room, as well as an entertainment center that is easy on the eyes and hides everything with drawers. I want to put a big fern in the corner of the room to bring in some bright color, as well as hang white Ikea frames above the TV. In a perfect world I would add a slipper chair of some sort to accommodate more people but I don't know if that's going to happen. We're very limited on space. It would also be nice to have an ottoman or coffee table of some sort, if it fits of course! Because none of these rooms have any ceiling fixtures, we may need to invest in a few more lamps as well. We would also like to potentially see some curtains hung in here - maybe.     Master Bedroom This room has made the most progress thus far thanks in large part to our new bureaus that we picked up for half price! Yay Craigslist! We moved in L's beloved desk which currently houses a ton of office supplies and junk, as well as my attempted wing back chair project. More on that later. The lamp was given to me when I bought my mirror, and I found the headboard with a free sign right outside of my old building, score! It also just so conveniently happened to match our bureaus. The wooden nightstand was a handmade treasure built by L so we found a spot for it next to the bed. The retro Coors sign is an oldie but a goodie that was given to me when I left my Applebee's job in Ohio over a year ago.   

 

 

 

  We have yet to pick out a floor rug for this room, as well as some matching nightstands and lamps. We would like to get some sort of closed shelving unit to house a printer and our books as well as maybe a new chair or ottoman for under the curved window. We would also like to potentially see some curtains hung in here as well. Did I mention we need a box spring as well?     Master Bathroom The bathroom is pretty much where it's at. I want to keep it simple, clean and white. With that said, if I put too much in there, it will look too busy and cluttered. So far I have just filled it with white spa like towels, and small pops of color.   

 

  I may add some wall hangings on the wall that is directly across from the toilet, but that is about all that I can see happening in there right now.   Second Bedroom/Office This room is pretty empty right now. There's not really a difference aside from the boxes upon boxes so I'll leave you with this clean slate. Let your creative juices flow! All we have going on in there right now is a bed and a bureau with a TV.  

In the future, this room will have a Boston theme with framed Bruins posters, black furniture, and lighter accents in the bed comforter and frames. The colors are going to be based around a black and white color palette with pops of bright gold/yellow for the Bruins.     Second Bathroom Same with this room, it's just not quite there yet. This is the ONLY room in the apartment without natural light so we are trying to decide what the best color scheme for it would be. While the white floor and wall tile brighten it up, and the mirrors enlarge it, we don't know if we should do bright spring colors, or maybe work with a blue color palette to bring more darker shades to the already very bright apartment.  

   

Welcome to my new home!

 Hello!   Real quick, I want to share with you some pictures of the new apartment.  They're terrible quality iPhone photos, but hopefully you'll get the gist.   Once things begin to start looking more homey (as if this place isn't fabulous enough) in here with furniture, rugs and frames I will post a much more fun and detailed apartment tour.   In the meantime, please work with these...   Kitchen/dining/living area - there's a dishwasher!!

Larger bedroom

Bathroom that goes with bedroom #1

Smaller bedroom/office

Bathroom that goes with the smaller bedroom/office

Can't wait to share more pictures once this place is all filled and decorated! 

A tribute to our apartment

If you haven't heard it already, I will be the first person to tell you that the North End is where it's at. Of course other Bostonians may disagree, however each neighborhood in and around Boston is very different and caters to a variety of people in different ways. Luckily, there are several neighborhoods around here leaving plenty to choose from!

Get your Boston's neighborhood poster here!

When I decided to move to Boston I tossed around the option of living on Beacon Hill or in the North End - both are very nice neighborhoods.

 

 I was first attracted to BH because of the beautiful brownstones, and unique buildings that surrounded the area. It's close to the Common, and has Whole Foods, shopping, and anything else you would need right at your finger tips. Win!

I didn't really pour much interest into the North End at first glance because I wanted to be literally right, smack, dab in the middle of Boston (not that the NE isn't).

My main thing was: safety, and close proximity to downtown Boston.

disclaimer: If you don't want to hear me gloat about my love for the North End, then skip this next paragraph.

As I began to look at units in the NE, I instantly fell in love with Boston's little Italy. The location was perfect! Right on the water, yet still right in the city. Quincy market and Faneuil Hall are a stones throw away, and let's not forget Haymarket on Fridays and Saturdays (Fruit and Veggies galore)! The North End is also home to a ton of history including Paul Revere's House (oldest building in Boston) and the Old North Church. This place is chock full of ethnic eateries, pubs, cafes, and ITALIAN RESTAURANTS. They have it all! It is on my "to-do" list to eat at every restaurant in the NE. In the summer we celebrate several feasts days and host festivals right on the main streets where everyone and their brother sets up a tent and serves up their choice of Italian deliciousness. The community here is great as well! I love leaving my windows open and waking up to the sounds and smells of this place. Residents sitting on their benches outside of their buildings sipping coffee, in the winter everyone breaks out their snowblowers and plows away… it's amazing. I feel like I'm living out of a story book. Not to mention, the North End is VERY safe. While we still DO have crime here, the place is filled with police, and is very "cleaned up". The North End is like a little town itself. You have laundromats, grocery stores, general stores… it's perfect. Not to mention, "The Town" (along with several other movies) was filmed right on Parmenter and No. Margin Street! Too Cool!

When it came time to decide whether or not we were going to renew our cute as a button apartment on North Margin Street, we regretfully had to decline.

Why? Well simply because we needed to upgrade. The apartment is CUTE CUTE CUTE! It has a beautiful brick wall, located on a GREAT street and was on the top floor! However, 350 sq. ft. was getting small, and I needed more space.

So I'm here today to pay tribute to this adorable shoebox!

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 Whenever anything was dropped on the floor, it would roll downwards towards the middle of the apartment. No level floors for us.
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I bought some pumpkins for Halloween from Haymarket and was bound and determined to carry them both back to N. Margin myself. Long story short, I once again overestimated my strength and ended up dropping them, rolling them, swearing at them... all throughout the NE. Eventually someone saw my struggle and came to my rescue. The pumpkins sat on the fire escape for a month and rotted away.
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My roommate and I had bought a real Christmas tree, and come time to dispose of it (in January), we were unsure of how to properly do it. In Boston, they want everything in a 2-ply black trashbag. But a Christmas tree won't fit in that! SO, we did the mature thing and drug it downstairs and put it in front of some random building on trash night. The next morning when I was leaving the building, lo and behold there was the Christmas tree. Right back in front of our apartment. How? I don't know. Why? I don't know.
Either somebody was watching us as we dumped the tree the night before, or somebody followed the pine needle trail back to our apartment.

...and in case you were wondering...  the trash did come and pick the tree up.
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The fire alarms in the building were not up to code and would constantly go off whenever they felt like it. This resulted in daily/weekly visits from the fire department. Bless their hearts. One time the FD came three times in the same day all from different units in the building. And when they come, they come! Full on sirens, water tank truck, fire truck, men suited up... snaking their way through the tiny NE streets.
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One morning I woke up to only having power on one side of the apartment. That was strange.

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Sometimes in the middle of the night around 4am, some random guy would yell up/at to our building for some girl. Demanding for his money and whatnot.
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We have a basement in our building, however my roommate and I were both petrified to go down and check it out. Eventually 11 months and 3 weeks later, we ventured downstairs to discover that every unit had a huge storage container to store stuff in. What? Would have been nice to know that a couple months ago.
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All packed up and ready to roll! 

Scored in the moving department!

Living/Kitchen area

Are you jealous of that wall? You should be.

The bathroom was a coat closet.

My bedroom

My roommates bedroom

 Locking up and walking away from our beloved apartment for the last time.

Want to see how we dressed it up, check the apartment tour out here!

Looking forward to the new apartment!! One street over!