One way to enhance the look of your apartment, make it feel welcoming and cozy and add some personality to it is to use rugs. Rugs may not sound that exciting, but they can do wonders for pulling together the look in your apartment and make it seem bigger. There are different types of rugs that can be used for different purposes and a ton of different attractive patterns to choose from that can be found at an affordable price.
Area rugs: Area rugs are used to cover a larger floor space, acting as carpet without the commitment. Area rugs are intended for common use and to be walked on regularly. They are especially useful for covering up if you’re not partial to the flooring in a certain room.
Accent rugs: Accent rugs are smaller rugs that are meant to be a base placed under a piece of furniture like a coffee table or secretary desk. These rugs can add a pop of color or cool design to an otherwise ordinary room. Accent rugs are typically more square-shaped than area rugs which are more rectangular depending on the dimensions of the room it’s used for.
Runner rugs: Runner rugs are great to place in hallways. Runners are longer and narrower than area or accent rugs.
You don’t have to spend a fortune on rugs for your apartment. Apartment Therapy has many great suggestions for cheap rugs that are large, nice looking and high quality under $300.
Need an apartment to put your rug in? 1st Lake has many excellent options for New Orleans area apartments!
Getting married and having a baby can both be intimidating, especially if it’s your first time doing either. Registries are a genius invention to take advantage of that will give you a head start.
Chances are, if you’ve never done this before, you probably don’t know where to start. Both wedding and baby shower registries have come a long way over the years, and there are some that exist you probably never heard of.
To get in the know, use our ideas for different types of wedding and baby shower registries to get all the best loot for either getting hitched or giving birth.
Whatever you want: Register practically anything you want, not just china and linen sets, using SimpleRegistry.com.
Honeymoon Registry: Would you rather have an amazing honeymoon instead of a fully stocked kitchen? You can register honeymoon activities like hotel stays, dining out, tours, lessons, and much more with a honeymoon registry.
Wine Registry: If you’re a wino who doesn’t have the money to actually have multiple bottles of wine stored for future consumption, you can register for nice bottles of wine you wouldn’t normally purchase to be saved for special occasions.
There aren’t too many themed baby registries or different types, but knowing what you should and shouldn’t register for will be a huge help in the long run.
What you should register for – Essentials, including outfits, pajamas, socks, booties, hats, crib or cradle, mattress, sheets, baby wipes, diaper cream, diapers, bottles and nipples, bibs, baby thermometer, car seat, diaper bag and stroller. Check out The Bump’s complete baby essentials checklist.
What you should not register for – Some things you should skip that either aren’t necessary and probably won’t be used or are better suited to buy yourself are wipes warmers, blankets, changing tables, bassinet and baby shoes.
Moving in with the new Mr. or Mrs or need a bigger space for the new addition to your family? Check out all the great New Orleans apartments that are available from 1st Lake Properties!
We all know that slaving over the stove preparing a home cooked meal isn’t exactly something you jump for joy to do after a long day of work, school or childcare. That’s why we’re continuing our series of quick, easy and health conscious meals to make in under an hour, or in some cases under 10 minutes! Each recipe is light and delicious with one chicken, fish and vegetarian option depending on your preference. Add these to your weekly dinner menu to have the kind of fast food you’ll be delighted to eat.
Chicken Scaloppine – This dish includes your protein, starch, dairy and veggies all in one for a complete and wholesome meal. The thin pieces of chicken cook very quickly, so besides boiling the pasta, the most time spent is on chopping the veggies and grating the fresh parmesan cheese. Get the Chicken Scaloppine recipe courtesy of myrecipes.com.
Lemon Dill Talapia – This fresh seafood recipe is very fast and easy and the results are delicious and good for you. The only ingredients needed are the fish itself, seasonings and herbs. The only preparation involved is combining all the ingredients and baking them until everything is married and cooked through. Get the Lemon Dill Talapia recipe courtesy of myrecipes.com.
Bowties with Tomatoes, Feta and Balsamic Dressing – This light and healthy recipe consists of a delicious blend of bowtie pasta tossed with a zesty mixture of veggies, spices and sauce. The recipe yields enough to feed four, so it’s enough yummy goodness for the whole family, to share with your roommates, or to save and have leftovers for later. Get the recipe for bowties with tomatoes, feta and balsamic dressing courtesy of myrecipes.com.
Looking for an apartment? 1st Lake has great deals on many excellent New Orleans area apartments for rent!
Setting up and decorating a home is an evolving process. There are always areas you find a need for in every room. Whether you are starting fresh in a new apartment or you are continuing to make yourself more at home in your current space, we will take you through the essentials and decorative touches you’ll need to complete a fully furnished room. Not all of these items are necessary, but can a fully furnished dining room can be achieved by working up the list. Here is a checklist of what you’ll need for a complete dining room design, whether that room is part of the kitchen itself or its own separate room depending on the size of your apartment.
1. Dining room table – This is the most basic piece of furniture you’ll need for your dining room, since the main point of a dining room is to eat! There are many options for dining room tables, depending on what size you need. You can opt for a traditional wooden dining room table that seats several people, or you might want a tall table with stools for smaller spaces.
2. Dining room chairs – This is a no-brainer but you will need chairs to go with your dining room table. You may choose to get matching chairs or go a little funkier with colorful, mix matched chairs. Get creative depending on your style!
3. Table set ups – Accessories your dining room table with table set ups which include but are not limited to place mats and linen or cotton silverware rolls.
4. Glass and dishware – If you are a person who loves throwing dinner parties, you might want to consider getting “fancy” dining room drinking glasses, plates and bowls.
6. Storage – In keeping with the upscale dining room theme, you may want to get a nice wooden standing cabinet it keep your special glasses and dishware in your dining room.
7. Centerpiece – Impress your guests and turn up the volume in your dining room with a beautiful centerpiece. This could be anything from flowers to a sculpture.
8. Wine rack – Keep your nice wine that you want to save in a wine rack in your dining room so you can conveniently pull out for special occasions.
Need help setting up your living room, too? Check out our living room design guide! While you’re at it, see our available New Orleans area apartments with spacious floor plans to accommodate your personal design.
As if you needed another reason to move to New Orleans, the Daily Beast just named the Crescent City the second top Aspirational City in the U.S.
The criteria for the cities recognized in the study was based 50% on the health of the economy, 25% on the quality of life and another 25% on demographic factors. Most of the cities that ranked as the top for attracting ambitious and aspirational individuals and business are located in the South, with New Orleans coming in at number two, just below Austin. They are not huge metropolises or conglomerates, but “culturally vibrant,” and “modest sized,” two characteristics that definitely describe New Orleans.
The factors that the study looked for to designate these top aspirational cities were largely economic indicators including employment growth, per capita income and unemployment rates as well as demographic information such as the “growth of domestic migration and the movement of college-educated people and the foreign born.”
Finally, another major factor that contributed to determining New Orleans as the second most aspirational city was “urban arbitrage,” which The Daily Beast defines as “places that provide not just economic and cultural opportunity but a cost structure that allows them to enjoy their success to the fullest extent.” Furthermore, New Orleans was noted as providing a rich cultural experience and possessing progressive social qualities while maintaining low costs, less regulation and lower taxes found in a “red state environment.”
More and more people are moving to New Orleans from all over the country, and with all the fantastic apartments in greater New Orleans that 1st Lake Properties offers, there’s no reason not to!
1st Lake Properties | P. O. Box 73709 | Metairie, LA 70033 | info@1stlake.com
