the month of the crazies!

So here's the deal. The apartment I thought I was moving into, I did not. Lets just say it was not as was expected. I have the most amazing and supportive parents in the world, so they moved me to this gorgeous apartment complex. My apartment is quite a bit bigger, but I will still show you how to decorate an apartment on a budget! Here are my NEW before pictures...

living room

dining room

view from living room

kitchen

I love this apartment so much. The complex has so much to offer. It has a big lake in the middle and paddle boats to rent and a gym and free tanning beds and a pool! My favorite part is the mile path that goes around the whole lake. I walk Bentley on it every morning! I'll post some pictures of what I've done so far on the next post. Really excited :)

thank you small pod

The pod to move all my stuff arrived yesterday!

We thought it would be a lot bigger but its barely fitting everything! We went to the lady's house we bought everything from on craigslist and I am so excited.

For $1400 I got:

• Bed with mattress and box spring
• fuschia comforter with matching shams, dust ruffles, pillows, ets.
• vanity table
• big tv table
• side table
• lots of accessories like candle sticks, vases, etc.
• pots and pans
• dishware, glassware, knives, utensils
• my favorite item: a big red chair! cant wait to post those pictures
• lamps

It was an AMAZING deal. A lot of people on craigslist are looking to unload all their stuff, and find the right one and you can practically furnish an entire house!

Everything is almost all packed away, except the clothes, which will mostly go in my car. Yay!

project coasters

I came across this AMAZING blog and decided to make magazine coasters. They show you how here.


These are my coasters!:

I chose to do them in different themed colors. I'm going to make a yellow one too.


While I was on my coaster train, I got some oilcloth and made some outdoor coasters. Since oilcloth does not fold well, I just wove it in one layer and wrapped it around some cardboard using glue.

mmm diet coke.

project jewelry frame

I have seen a few of these jewelry frames on other blogs and decided to make one for myself, with a few of my own additions. 

1) I had an old unfinished wood frame and spray painted it.

2) I took a plain white piece of fabric and used the fabric stencils to paint the flowers with different color fabric paint

3) I went to a hardware store and bought a big roll of wire mesh. I used wire cutters to cut it into the shape of the frame. Then I spray painted that too.

4) Using a hot glue gun, I attached the fabric to a piece of cardboard that was backing the frame. Then I stuck it into the frame on top of the mesh.

5) To secure it into place, I hot glued all around the back.

I think it looks really cool! But since I have more necklaces than earrings, I think I'm going to drill some holes in the bottom and add little hooks to hang them. I'll post that too when I get around to learning how to use a drill (?)

table time!

today I'm going to explain to you how I made a lovely side table.

One of the fortunate things about living with your parents is acquiring free things. My parents no longer wanted this ugly dark brown side table, so I of course wanted it. But dark brown is not something I do, so I chose to make it yellow!!

When repainting furniture they tell you to sand the piece down. If you are like me and either do not know how to sand or find it creepy, you might want to choose using a PRIMER instead. I love this primer. No sanding necessary!

Once it is primed it will look like this:

so pretty!!

Now you could go on to just spray paint the dang thing a pretty color. But of course I have to make things wayyy more interesting. I decided on adding a stencil! I already had it from another project (that I shall post about next) and I could reuse it by only using the middle pieces.

I bought the stencils at Michaels and chose these:

they are technically fabric stencils, which is great because they STICK! Sweet!

It is kinda tricky getting the inside part of the stencil in the right place but it doesn't have to be perfect:

Once the sticky stencil is in place, it is time for the fun part!! SPRAY PAINTING!!!

My finished product :)

So pretty.

my apartment - BEFORE

Few weeks ago I got to go to memphis to see Josh (the boyfriend) and my new apartment. They let me in to see it so I could see what I had to work with. The rooms are quite small, but I was actually pleasantly surprised! There is a fireplace and new carpets and a porch. The only thing I was disappointed with was that it smelled like smoke from the last tenant.

Here are some pictures for my before and after :)