co-op life, year 2

My second year living in a co-op on the south side of Chicago.  Loving my house, loving my city, and I am well.

I am breaking my blog-silence over nothing in particular.  It seems like a good place to start, right?  The beginning of my second year in the Windy City, at a moment of no particular relevance.  Which isn’t to say there isn’t a lot going on, because boy, there is a lot going on.  A trip to Chincoteague last weekend, a move to the 2nd foor (same house, just a new room), some changes afoot at work, and my cats are still delightfully fuzzy.  There may be something of note in personal relationships, but as I’m typing I’m realizing I may not be ready for full public disclosure.  Suffice to say that things are good.

So let’s just skip to my new room.

It should not shock anyone to know I like my edges a little neater than this.

I live in a co-op, so the rooms aren’t always maintained by people that are super-concerned with aesthetics or that have training/knowledge in proper paint application. And this house was built in the late 1800s.   So the state of my walls leaves something to be desired.

The photo here shows two problems.  The one that makes me most twitchy is the really poor edging.  The other one which I’d like to fix is how uneven the surface of the wall is.  There are other places on the wall where paint is peeling off, in large strips (you can see this in the last photo in this post).

So basically this means that this will be a fairly major renovation project.  I think I am going to scrape off as much paint as I can, sand the edges a little and just re-mud the walls.  Then I should have a nice fresh surface to start from scratch on!

The other major project?  This room was originally a living room.  That means it is nice and big and even has a great bay window with a giant window seat (that the cats LOVE).  What is also means is no closet.

I have too much clothing.

Right now I just have a clothing rack/bar thing, a cool little shelf thing from IKEA and a bunch of piles of stuff.  I have purchased an actual wardrobe (again, from IKEA), but it is still living in my car because it is HEAVY and I don’t really have a place to put it at the moment.

i am so organized.

Anyway, so I have the outlines of a plan there, but really my room is still just piles of stuff.  I’m trying to give myself a break since I just moved last week, but I would really like the space to feel a little more together already, even if that is unreasonable to expect of myself.

Please feel free to share if you have any smart tips on painting and or clever I-don’t-have-a-closet ideas.  We’ll consider these my “before” pictures and I’ll keep you updated on how the “after” is coming!

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