Apartment Style: My Living Room and Kitchen

I love to decorate, and love seeing how everyone fixes up their "first" homes or apartments.  I've been meaning to do a post on my apartment, but I just now got around to taking pics to put on here!

Here's the lovely abode Tressa and I call home...
(Click on Tressa's name to visit her blog and see what she's up to!)

Couch, Chair & Ottoman, and Zebra Ottoman:  Ashley's Furniture

Curtains: JcPenny

Zebra Pillows: Ashley's Furniture

Flower and Leather Pillows:  Garden Ridge

End Tables, Tray:  Target

Painting: Store in NLR that's no longer open.

Candle Holders: Kirklands

Vase:  IO Metro

Arrangement in Vase:  Arty Crafty & Hobby Lobby

I'm a very lucky (probably slightly spoiled) girl.  All the furniture was a gift from my parents for graduation last year.  I'm slightly obsessed with my couch and chair.  I love, love the color and can't wait to put them in a room thats not white. haha.

Amazingly the zebra ottoman has not had anything spilled on it yet *knock on wood*.  My roommate and I are pretty OCD about it.  I love the large tray.  It holds all our magazines that we are waiting to read, plus drinks, snacks, and anything else.

I'm also obsessed with my entertainment center.  It was also a gift from my parents.  We had purchased the center piece a couple of years ago with the intention of adding pieces to it.  Well, they retired the style before I could purchase the other pieces and I was so sad.  One day, I happened to be walking through Furniture Row and low and behold they had my other matching pieces.  I called my parents right then and they ordered them for my birthday!  I love the way the finished product looks!

My mom helped me decorate the top and bookcases.  She's amazing at decorating!

Entertainment Center:  Furniture Row

Decorations:  Various places such as Arty Crafty, TJ Max, Riffraff etc.

On to the kitchen...

My favorite thing about our kitchen is the marble looking counter tops and our raised bar.  It's the perfect place to sit and chat or do homework, while the other is in the kitchen.  Right now our counter tops are a little crowded due to my roommate and I's disagreement over the best coffee maker, so we just have two out.

My favorite candy jars from The Container Store house a variety of granola bars and special K bars.  Perfect for grabbing on the way out the door.

Top of fridge.  We like wine here.  The sign came from nowhere else but Fayetteville's very own Riffraff.  The BEST home decor store, if you haven't been there click on the link and go there now!  They ship to anywhere and have the best prices!! The wine glasses also came from there, but as I am typing this Tressa just dropped the white/red wine glass.  My mom got me that cute wine holder from Kirklands a while back.

More wine, a little Don Perignon, and cute sign from Riffraff.

My mom helped me decorate the top of my cabinets.  Most of the decor came from Arty Crafty, but the plates I found at a little antique store last summer.

Part of our entry hallway.  A friend helped me paint the canvas several years ago, it's my favorite verse from the Bible.

Now you know where I spend the majority of my time!

Decorating Inspiration

It's no lie that I love to decorate.  Blame it on growing up in a home where my parents constantly rearranged our furniture on a monthly basis, and I was allowed absolute creative design of any bedroom I ever had.  I enjoy decorating so much more now that I have my own apartment which I can experiment with on a daily basis.  Through in a roommate who works at quite possibly the greatest decorating store in Northwest Arkansas, Riffraff, and our apartment is never lacking in decor.  In fact, we are known to put decorations in the trunks of our cars when we grow tired of them and have nothing else to store them in.

I'm not shy to use tons of color and patterns in our apartment, and my roommate has a love of words.  I'll save a peak at our decorating style for a later post, since currently our apartment is in shambles due to a sick roommate, and an emergency trip to the E.R in the early hours of the morning.  For now, I'll let you in on some of my inspiration that stays in a little folder on my computer.

I love raise bars and islands.  Our raised bar in our apartment is one of my favorite things.  It's a great place to sit and talk while one of use is cooking dinner, or working on schoolwork, or even blogging :)

I also love, love see through cabinetry.  Of course, I should probably never have them since my own cabinets stay quite messy, but they would be great for someone who is super organized, like my friend Christi!

I adore white furniture and white walls.  When paired together, they create an element of cleanliness and modernity.  The base of the table adds a rustic element, which is in stark contrast to the contemporary design of the chandelier.  Throw in some aqua accents, such as the picture and the vase of the table, and you have a very simple, yet put together dining area.

This kitchen screams my name.  I love the varying patterns that all correlate to each other, along with the different colors of wood.  I've always wanted a breakfast nook that has a bench.  This kitchen allows for lots of seating to be sure that the kitchen is the heart of the home.

How I love this armoire.  It's very modern, yet the design is very antique.  I love the matching lamps and bright yellow to add a splash of color.  This would look great in an entryway or hallway.

I imagine this little seating nook in a master bedroom.  A perfect place to read, or have a quiet time.  

I adore this kitchen.  It has a very European feel.  I love the sunken stove/oven area.  The island is large enough to have plenty of space for preparing food, and I love the open shelves in the background which house a variety of cookware.  I think a shelf for hanging copper pots and pans would make a perfect finishing touch to this kitchen.