Moving In
Earlier this month, Josh and I moved into our new apartment in Greeley, CO. We actively made the decision to travel, explore and experience as many places as we can while we try to start a family. Greeley is the first of many since we have already lived in Colorado Springs, Aurora, Littleton and Wellington, among some other places outside of Colorado. After Greeley, we are definitely trying out some new states and maybe some new countries. 🙂
The apartment we moved into is a cute little 2 bedroom with only one closet in the entire unit. It’s a large walk-in closet but the only storage space for the whole apartment. This past weekend, I finished unpacking and organizing everything other than our books. Looking at our new space, we realized we needed to come up with some creative storage ideas. Effective storage was needed for: under the sink in the bathroom, the walls of the kitchen, shelves for tech in the office, and shelving for books and frames in the living/dining room. We checked the local thrift stores and department stores for stuffs, then went to IKEA for lunch and browsing.
Bathroom
For our new bathroom, we decided to go with a Denver Broncos theme (GO BRONCOS!). We acquired the shower curtain, the bath mat, the trash can, a toothbrush holder, soap dispenser, a poster and towels… complete with an official NFL football for added effect. The thing about the bathroom however, is that it has a large vanity, one sink, no medicine cabinet and no storage under the sink. Obviously, we like the blue and orange motif so we kind of wanted to stick to that. We saw several ideas at IKEA that would have worked and we ended up choosing the VESSLA crates that fit under the sink perfectly. They roll out when you want to grab something, then roll back under for efficient storage and the blue compliments the rest of the bathroom. We will probably add more storage to the counter at some point but for now, the bathroom is complete.
Kitchen
For our new kitchen, we needed super efficient storage. The kitchen in the unit is super small and can only allow one person at a time. One of the activities Josh and I truly enjoy is cooking together. We like to go out for our morning walk, come back, exercise, and then cook breakfast together. Unfortunately, for our time here, the kitchen only has room for one person while the other can sit on the other side of the counter and chat. There are a total of 1.5 cupboards above the counter, one cupboard under the sink, and only one tiny drawer that is too small for the silverware caddy. So naturally, we decided to go with a space efficient style for storage. Anything that would sit on the floor against the wall would make an already cramped space feel smaller and that wasn’t what we were hoping to achieve. We found a shelving unit that mounts right up against the wall. We decided to go with the VÄRDE shelving unit for optimum storage and clean appearance. We installed the shelving unit high enough to add items underneath and against the connecting wall. On the wall under the cupboard, to the left of the stove, we installed a rail shelf to hang cooking utensils from. We went with the GRUNDTAL and the GRUNDTAL S-HOOKS to hang the utensils from. This allowed me to have all of the utensils within arm’s reach without the added clutter on the counter. And finally, in front of the wall, suspended from the bottom of the cupboard is a drawer that will hold the silverware caddy. So now, we have space on the counter to prepare our meals, without it feeling so confined and everything still there within reach.
Office
For the office, we chose a few of the LACK for our shelving system. These shelves mount like floating shelves so they aren’t overwhelming in the small space. They allow all of the tech necessary to be organized on shelves in a classy, simple and efficient manner. The room now has a very crisp and clean look to it.
Living Room / Dining Room
We decided to see if we can find Box Frame Shelves that we can mount in the shape of two gliders along the center wall. They would have to withstand the weight of the books and appear floating. We haven’t found the proper shelves for this room yet, but the hunt continues.
We are still in the beginnings of our modifications for our time here. We are planning on making some more changes in order to make our time here as comfortable as we want 🙂
Life is meant to be lived, not endured, until the end so LIVE and BE HAPPY <3