Let's Spruce This Place Up

The weekend before last, motivation struck hard as I noticed three very tiny, but much hated, ants crawling about the apartment. This invasion of personal space was all I needed to jump into a cleaning frenzy. Nick did not seem as concerned about the ants as I did, but I think that was just because he didn't want to spend the day cleaning.

Beyond all the scrubbing and washing we did, the main project I undertook was to remove the half dozen stickers from our table/desk. As much as we love some of the little personal touches previous owners have left in the apartment, we could live without the old, crusted metal band and skater stickers plastered all over the glass top table. So, I went to work.

Not the most comfortable workspace.

But along with my trusty knife, and window cleaner - I went to work and was on a mission.

After I removed the easiest stickers I wanted to give up, but Nick didn't think this was a better alternative to the original.

One of my biggest annoyances is poor quality stickers used on products. I understand from a marketing perspective that these are thought of as essential, but if I choose to remove the poorly placed sticker I do not want to be left with a sticky residue much like the images above. Maybe this is my life calling... to save consumers from idiotically placed stickers made from horrible quality adhesives!

After nearly two hours of picking away, I finally defeated the stickers and am proud to say there is even no sticky remains. To lighten up the table a little, we decided to put a map under the glass. For how much time Nick spends at the computer, I expect him to have all the country flags memorized by the end of next month.

Now that the apartment was clean, my creative juices were flowing. Through inspiration found on Pinterest I went to work on my next project. From the bookstore by work, I picked up ten cheap clip boards (approximate total: $20) to use as place to hang photographs, artwork and the like. Although I did upset our neighbors by nailing into our concrete walls late on a Tuesday night, I am very pleased with the result and can't wait to have fun changing up the collection.

All of the images are from the KTX (a train line) magazine I picked up on our way back from Seoul. It was the quickest way to fill the space but I was actually quite impressed with the photography. Can't wait to see their spring edition!