Blending our styles on a clean slate

There are certainly some benefits of living in a 700-square-foot city apartment.

• You can vacuum the whole place thoroughly without ever changing the plug to a new electrical outlet.
• Nearly everything you own is at your fingertips within a couple of steps.  There’s no excuse for being too lazy to get the item you need — it’s just in the other room.
• Monthly power bill = super low.  There is no AC in city apartments in San Francisco, only heaters.  If you need some breeze in the summer, just pop open a window.  If you need some warmth, turn on the space heater in whichever room you’re in.  All of this means our utility bill is just a fraction of what it was in Orlando … and I mean a fraction.

It does take a bit of adjusting to move into a smaller space, but part of starting over is the chance to get some new stuff — another benefit.

Since we had to get rid of all of our furniture from our condo in Orlando because it wouldn’t work here, we’ve ordered new living room, bedroom and dining room furniture (well, actually the dining is the same room as the living).  It’s been quite fun to start with a clean slate and shop for all new pieces.

When I first moved in with Dave, we meshed our respective furniture and belongings together.  While our Orlando place looked pretty good, it wasn’t a joint effort from the ground up because Dave had lived there alone for so long before welcoming a roomie.  I certainly made it homey the best that I could, but it wasn’t exactly how we wanted it.  That’s one of the great things about our new place in San Francisco — it represents joint decisions on nearly every piece, as well as joint decisions on the overall atmosphere of each room.

Dave is partial to contemporary, urban pieces like you would find at Crate & Barrel and CB2.  I am partial to classic, embellished pieces like you would find at Pottery Barn and Pier One.  We were able to find furniture that took a little bit of each.  There is still more to do (this weekend we’ll be adding some color to the walls), but I think we’ve successfully blended our styles.

Yesterday a new addition arrived, which I’ve had my eye on for some time.  This large, brown, leather, mirror (shown below) is designed to lean on the wall without being hung.  It’s huge.  It’s reflective.  And it’s nice to see a full-length view again.

I may not have been matching my tops to bottoms for the past few weeks, but now I’ll have to no choice but to own up to that.