Continuing the Tour

Well this is the longest apartment "tour" ever.  I shared pictures of my kitchen and my living room in previous posts, and now I'm finally getting around to sharing some pictures of the rest of my apartment.

When you first walk into my apartment, you see my living room on the right.

Straight ahead, you see my coat closet.  One of the things I love most about my apartment is all of the storage!  Having a coat closet is pretty luxurious, in my opinion.

To the left, there's a door into another closet - this one is a walk-in!  Talk about luxurious.  There's also a door into my bedroom from this closet.

If you continue down the entry hall, my bedroom door is on the left, and the bathroom door is on the right.  Also, straight ahead you'll see one of my favorite gifts ever - it's a picture my best friend took at a concert we went to together which she had framed for me.  I absolutely love it.

That's the door to my bathroom.

Here's the bathroom.

It was actually the first room in my apartment that I decorated - it seemed a lot more manageable and less daunting than the other rooms because it was much smaller.

I bought 10 picture frames from a dollar store and had some pictures printed out in black and white to put in the frames.  I love this because it was very cheap, and it's also easy to switch around if I want to.  I can swap out the pictures easily, and I just have them leaning on that ledge, so they're easy to move around, too.

That ledge goes all the way around my bathroom, so I continued the frames around the room.  I have one black and white print from Etsy among my own photographs.  I got the mat and frame from Hobby Lobby, so that was very affordable, too.

The photos I chose are a mix of places I've visited and concerts I've been to, so they all have a special meaning to me and are fun to look at throughout the day.

Leaving the bathroom, you'll see my linen closet in the hall.  I absolutely love having a linen closest to hold towels, sheets, some cleaning supplies, and extra toiletries.  I'm spoiled with all of this storage!

Past the linen closet, you can see my front door.  The doorknob in the right of this picture leads into that walk-in closet I showed above.

There's nothing very exciting about the decor in my bedroom, so I'll just highlight a few things in there.  This is the door from my bedroom into the walk-in closet.

And here's my other bedroom closet.  I told you - spoiled with storage!  It's nice, but at the same time I know I've accumulated a TON of stuff since I moved into this apartment - out of sight, out of mind, right?

This is the view from my bedroom window.  I love it!  I could have cut the curtain rod down a little bit, but since I don't spend a ton of time in my bedroom, I didn't worry about it.  It looks pretty silly in this picture, though!

One of my favorite things that I've done in my bedroom is my jewelry storage system.  (I know, I'm a dork.) I have an earring holder, a jewelry box, and I hung a tie rack to store my necklaces.

I used to keep all of my necklaces in my jewelry box, but it was so hard to see them all and I just ended up wearing the same things over and over again.  This way I can easily see all of them and quickly pick out what I want to wear.  It also prevents them from getting tangled!  The tie rack was about $10 at Wal-Mart, but I did recently see an idea for making your own necklace holder using wood trim and upholstery tacks, which I think would look nicer.  One day I'll try that out!

I love my earring holder for the same reason - I can easily see all of my options at once and pick out what I want to wear.  My parents got that earring holder for me as a present a few years ago, but it could be a fun DIY project, as well.  And now it's a lot easier to find other things like rings, bracelets, and watches in my jewelry box since I don't have earrings or necklaces in there!

The dresser that my jewelry box and earring holder are sitting on was actually left here by the previous tenant.  It's missing two drawers, but the previous tenant had the clever idea of painting the wood where the drawers should be and using that space as a shoe storage area.  Works for me!

Well there you have it - the rest of my apartment tour, with some cheap decorating tips and storage solutions thrown in.

I've got 2 finals in the coming week, and then I'll be finished with this semester.  Only one semester left to go - I can't hardly believe it.  It's scary and exciting at the same time.  I can't believe it's already December!  Along with my studying, I need to get my Christmas decorations up ASAP :)

Song of the day:

"Trouble Ahead" by Little Hurricane.  This entire album, Homewrecker, is really great.

Belated Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone!  Wait, it's November already?  Oops.

My grandma spoils me.  Look at this amazing care package she gave me.  She even included a pumpkin, and a kit to decorate it!

And basically all of my favorite things - homemade sour cream cookies (so.good.), Reese's, peanut butter crackers, Milky Way bars, a HUGE Hershey's bar, hot chocolate, Goldfish, a super cute owl card, awesome socks, and some festive napkins!  So amazing.

I had some friends over in early October, so of course it was the perfect excuse to get some of my favorite Halloween candy.  Luckily not much was left at the end of the night, because I just can't resist it!

I love decorating for any holiday.

Ooh, scary!

I made this when I was really little, and my mom sent it to me in a care package when I was in undergrad.  He manages to still make an appearance once in awhile.

After not dressing up the past 2 years, last weekend I got to dress up in a couple of different costumes.  On Friday I was a "Southern belle" - I wore a dress that my mom wore as a bridesmaid in the 70s :)  I didn't wear the huge crinoline petticoat that would make it even poofier, though.

My friend Josh was a super scary vampire.  Seriously, he was creeping me out!  Pardon my red eyes - I tried to get rid of them in Photoshop but, 1) I don't know how to use Photoshop, and 2) I have perpetual red eyes that seem to just turn gray when they're "corrected."  Josh's glowing eyes work well with his costume, though!

Saturday I went down to Columbus with a group of friends.  I dressed up as "Bad Sandy" from Grease, and my friend Chris was Danny Zuko.  I stayed up pretty late after the party on Friday night to put curlers in my hair in an attempt to make it super curly for an authentic Bad Sandy look.

And I got to sleep in them.  Lucky me!

Buuuut my hair didn't dry by the time I had to take the curlers out the next day, so I was a less authentic Sandy.  Ohhh well.  (Check out my super cool "Academic" high school letter pinned on "Danny's" sweater, haha.)

I'm terrible at taking pictures - this is my attempt at capturing High Ball (a street festival we went to).

I snapped a picture of this scary monster thing.  And that was the extent of my picture-taking!

I also got to eat at one of my favorite places while we were down in Columbus - Northstar Cafe!  I got the Buddha Bowl with roasted chicken, brown rice, peanut sauce, and veggies.  It was really, really delicious.  I failed at using my chopsticks, though :/  Maybe I should try to develop that skill...

Although this pumpkin made a cute decoration, it was even better after it was roasted :)  Stay tuned for my next post, which will be totally pumpkin themed!  (Very original, I know.)

Song of the day:

"Tightrope" by Walk the Moon.  Very upbeat and fun!

Come Into My Living Room

So back in April (was it really that long ago?!) I shared pictures from the kitchen of my apartment.  I've made a few updates recently, so I've added new pictures to that post.  Here's one of them:

I've got two amazing new paintings that my sister made for me, and a newly-painted black table (it used to be blue and pink).  I'll share the pictures of the (long!) painting process soon, too.

And here are the pictures of my living room - furnished and decorated on a student's budget, with a lot of help from family and friends.  If you've read my blog before, you've probably seen quite a few sunset pictures - this is the biggest window in my apartment, and I also have large windows in my kitchen and bedroom.  They all face the same direction, so during the summer and early fall I can see the sunsets from them, and I can also see Lake Erie in the distance.

My rug is from TJ Maxx - I really love it, and it was such a great deal.  The curtain rod and curtains are from JC Penney.  The chair and ottoman are hand-me-downs from my great aunt.

My couch was my first real "grown-up" furniture purchase.  The accent pillows came with it - they're not something I would have picked out myself, but I haven't really looked for replacements.  The table to the right of my couch is a family hand-me-down, and it's pretty scratched up, so I covered it with a table cloth that I got on Etsy.  It'd be really fun to refurbish the table some day, though, because it has a lot of character.  The lamp on the table is also a hand-me-down from my parents.  I've been considering spray-painting the base and either recovering or replacing the lamp shade. but I'm still thinking it through.

That's my front door and entrance hall in the back left corner of the picture.  My coffee table was another hand-me-down from my parents - we had it in the family room of our first house, and in the basement of my parents' current house.  Lots of memories!  And a few scratches for good measure.

This is the view from the window side of the room.  Notice my party lights?  Haha.  The tenant before me told me that the previous tenant put them up, and I thought they were fun, so I decided to keep them.  A girl I baby-sit really likes them, and she was just shocked that someone could leave them behind :)

You can see my "work station" in the back left corner of this picture - I've got a bookcase, bulletin board, desk (another hand-me-down from my great aunt), and floor lamp.  I actually use this area more for just storing things, though, and usually do my work at the kitchen table.  I need to spread out!  And generally make quite a mess.

Please ignore the terribly ugly cords under my TV.  I've been wanting to get some big wicker storage baskets to put under there, but I haven't found any that I love yet.

My parents gave me that papasan chair as a birthday present when I turned 16 - I still love it!  Although I pretty much instantly fall asleep when I sit in it...

And here are some close-ups of my "decor," if you will.  I really love fireplaces, and although this isn't a working fireplace, I still think it's pretty fun.  My mom got me the candle holder as a gift, and I bought candles that have wooden wicks - when you light them, they crackle like a fire!  My cousin gave me that brilliant idea - I love it.  I used an old vase I had from delivered flowers and put some decorative glass pebbles (yeah, not sure if that's what they're really called, but that's what they look like) and a few fake calla lilies from Hobby Lobby in there.  I put some little knick knacks and votives on the mantle.

My best friend gave me these awesome pictures which she took at concerts we'd been to together, and I love seeing them every day!  I think personalized artwork is such a special, amazing gift.

I got those three little frames from the dollar spot at Target when I was in undergrad, and I printed out some pictures in black and white to put in them.  The glass bud vases are from CB2, and the fake gerbera daisies are from Hobby Lobby.  I found that black and white print on Etsy, and got the mat and frame from... wait for it... Hobby Lobby.

I got that floor lamp from Ikea recently, and now I can see to read on my couch!  Only took me two years...  That wall-mounted candle holder is from CB2, and the picture is a vintage-y map of Paris that is actually wrapping paper from Paper Source, which I put in a poster frame from Target.

Upon my suggestion, my mom ordered those flowers for my parents' kitchen after they re-painted it, but they weren't working there.  So I got them instead!  Works for me.  

So there you have it - another peek into my apartment.  And I still need to share some pictures of my hall, bathroom, and bedroom, too.  I promise it won't take me another six months to share them this time.  

And just for fun, here's a picture from two years ago, before I got around to unpacking.  Yikes!

Oh, and happy fall!

Song of the day:

"Live It Out" by Metric.