I’ve always liked these apartments. There’s plenty of room for one person. The ceilings are high, the walls are white and bright, the kitchen is equipped with everything I need (including a working dishwasher, which I don’t have at home) and Company Management is extremely accommodating and helpful.
Heck, the apartment is three to four times the size of some of the studio apartments I rented over the years. It’s positively spacious. Believe me when I say that I know small. I’m always amused when I read blog posts about ‘cottages’ which are really large houses, or small apartments that have a separate bedroom, kitchen and walk-in closets. There was a time when an apartment that size would have been nirvana for me! It’s all relative, of course. If you’ve downsized from something larger, your new space will seem small. Anyway, all this is to say that I appreciate this space provided by the theater and feel perfectly comfortable here.
A little tour with some commentary on things I’ve added:
This is the hallway. The apartment door is at the end. The bathroom is on the left, the bedroom on the right. The floors used to be carpeted, but they changed them out to laminated wood a few years back. I like the look of them, though when Scout was here with me I had to put rugs down so she wouldn’t slip.
The kitchen counter. Some of the apartments have stools on the other side of the counter because there is a nice overhang. The table and chairs are new to this space. There used to be a round table and some mid-century looking chairs that had seen better days. A nice improvement.
You’e seen the quilt before. The Christmas Tree will remain on the table through Saturday.
The desk and the weird hooks hanging high up on the wall. They’ve turned out to be quite handy for hanging the wreaths. I’m contemplating what to do with them when the wreaths come down at the end of the week. The little table on the right holds my Bose speaker and my new on-the-road Canon printer. I bought a USB cord and now it’s working perfectly.
I use the McCoy planter to hold all my charging cords. When did life become so complicated?
The living room. The quilt on the wall is the newest addition to the space. I made it when we were living in California and the fabrics used are batiks. I’m partial to that orange and, as must be clear by now, I like purple.
Amazing that the bark cloth remnant fits the top of the coffee table so perfectly. Who would have thought? Since all the tables are black, I used some fabric to break things up. I also grabbed that pillow from our bedroom at home (Don never puts them on the bed when I’m away, so he won’t miss it) to add some color to that big, brown sofa.
This little lamp I bought at Target is rather small. When I get back home, it will go on Don’s desk. So I used some books to give it some height. That’s another fabric scrap on the black table. Looking at it in this photo, I think I should give it a pass with the iron!
The bedroom is too dark to photograph, but this quilt is on the bed:
Yes, it’s a bit of a hodgepodge, but these touches make a basically blank space a home-away-from-home. I’m fortunate, I know, that I can load the car up with all of this stuff and drive to Hartford. But I did the same thing when I worked in San Diego for 10 weeks at a time (we were living in the Northeast.) I packed three big boxes with things I knew would brighten up the apartment space and make it mine and sent them out to California. It’s worth it for me. When I walk in the door after a day of rehearsal, I feel I’ve come home. It’s a temporary home, of course, but making a little nest makes a huge difference in the quality of my life on the road.
Happy Wednesday.
It really is a nice apartment. I love that you make it your space while living there. You bring color and pattern to such a basic space and it is comforting. I’m so ready to start the cleaning and editing of my home. I must wait until I’m well though but I still do little bits here and there. Annie is such a sweet girl and I’m so glad I brought her into my life. Enjoy your day! Don is coming when? Hugs!
I have so much more purging and arranging to do back home, but it will be a while before I can do any of it. I’m so glad you have Annie. Scout has been on mind a lot – really missing her. Not sure when Don is coming. We were planning on NYE, but we’ll see how things go.
If I’m reading the room layout correctly…you have dueling quilts? With one in the dining area and the other in the living area? Fortunately, your love of orange and purple compliment your love of turquoise. Nice happenstance. I’m sure Don’s gonna love it! ;)
Yes, I have dueling quilts – but they actually get along very well!
You have the truly magical gift of making any space into a home. Blessings to you and Don for the New Year
Thank you so much, Lesley. Happy New Year to you and yours!
You’ve transformed a basic apartment to your special get-away at the end of the day’s work. Nice quilts!
Thank you, Wendy. It feels more like me here. The irony is that I have no available wall space at home where I can hang these. At least I get a little time with them when I’m in Hartford!
You make the apartment look so nice with the homey touches! I hope your work is going well.
Thank you, Doris. Work is going well, right now there’s not a lot for me to do. Darko is finishing up staging the play and then I’ll be able to get an idea of what needs work.
What is it with men and pillows? All my boys say I have way too many. Everyone, everywhere in the world wants to put their mark on whatever space they find themselves in. So, of course, you would want to feel at home while you are away. The apartment looks very nice and clean and updated.
Well, Don doesn’t seem to need to put his mark on a space when he’s out of town. I bet there are lots of others who are the same way! In this kind of case, they’d think of it as temporary, like a hotel room, and they’d maybe put out a few photos and call it a day!
Men and pillows. One could write a book about that! When I went home for the Christmas, Don had flung the decorative pillows on the bed but I know he didn’t do that at all until the morning I was to come home!
I always love how you fix up your space in Hartford. Are you always given the same exact unit? If so, that’s got to be an advantage. You know exactly where you’ll need something on the walls, and what kind of furniture you’ll be dealing with etc. I’m very partial to white kitchens too, so I love yours. I’d give a lot for white cabinets. My own kitchen gets very little natural light [late afternoon only] so white cabinetry would be brightening. PS – love that bright yellow ginger jar-ish lamp too. Really draws my eye. 🕰
All the apartments have the same layout, though sometimes it’s flipped: kitchen on the left, living room on right. I asked for this apartment because I had it last year and liked it. The Company Manager made a note of it and I will also have it in the spring when I come back to work on Saint Joan. Though, this time I thought I knew what furniture would be here and it had all changed! That’s why the Company Manager is going to change out the sofa, because she knows I’ll be back and she wants it to be nice for me.
The yellow lamp is always some place other than on that counter, but I move it over there because it picks up the yellow in that quilt.
Your patchwork and barkcloth patterns really soften all of that slick black furniture that can be so austere and uninviting (to me and to you, at least). Makes it a much nicer place to come home to in the evenings, I’m sure. I love what you’ve done with it.
Very uninviting! It would drive me crazy if I didn’t do something to soften it. Thanks, Shanna.
Wow Claudia, I think you’ve done an awesome job of making the place feel homey with just a few things. I think that’s great and I’m sure much more welcoming when you return after a day of work. Well done . Thanks for the idea and love that you sent those things across the country. Happy New Year!
Thank you so much, Noelle!
I love your quilts, especially the final snowball one. Gorgeous!
Thank you, Lindsey!