A few weeks back a member of our Boston Bloggers group approached me about photographing our apartment for Houzz. I’m sure anyone who rents would agree with me, that apartment living isn’t always perfect — you have to work with what you have (in my case, crazy zig-zag carpeting and a kitchen with no cabinets!). Knowing those imperfections can be the things that I dwell on, I was a little apprehensive at first — but Faith from Design Fixation photographed our space and I’m so touched seeing the images that she captured of it. We’re in the very beginning stages of house-hunting (exciting! terrifying!) and I’m so happy to know that this imperfect little apartment where we got engaged, married, and built a pretty cool adult life is preserved. I pulled a few of my favorite details from the shoot below, if you’d like to see more of the images and interview (plus lots of product resources) head on over to HouzzScreenshot 2015-06-25 08.49.11Screenshot 2015-06-25 08.49.53Screenshot 2015-06-25 08.49.40 Screenshot 2015-06-25 08.50.38 Screenshot 2015-06-25 08.50.59 Screenshot 2015-06-25 08.52.08Screenshot 2015-06-25 08.52.47Screenshot 2015-06-25 08.51.41All photos taken by Faith from Design Fixation

 

I love a good high-low collaboration, and right now Jonathan Adler and Conran have just that — two new collections at JC Penney. What’s interesting is how perfectly the two collections work with each other! I pulled together a few of my favorite items below, that couch is a major deal, and I’m eyeing the knit pillow and greek key tumblers (just $6!). What do you think? Time to redecorate?
JCP

Clockwise from top left: Nightstand, Greek Key Mug, Pillow, Bookends, Lamp, Pitcher, Tumblers, Pom Pom Pillow, Couch

It was a delightfully quiet weekend — I parked myself on the couch for a full day on Saturday with a full DVR, some fashion magazines, and a good book that I read cover to cover (Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead — I recommend it!). Sometimes you just need a weekend of nothing to do to get recharged, right?

Mixing patterns from my closet? Bring it on. Mixing patterns in my home? I’m a little less comfortable there. I perked up and listened when Real Simple featured a spread on mixing bold prints in this month’s issue. While I’m probably not adventurous enough to wallpaper my living room with a dense floral pattern, I do think I can learn a lesson or two about adding a few more patterned throw pillows into the mix. What about you, do you experiment with different patterns in your space?

Image via Real Simple, March 2012

After my spark of inspiration yesterday I got to shopping and sourcing some new ways to bring a brighter color palette into the living room. I still want to work around the bigger items in the room, like my upholstered chair in a graphic mustard print, and the gray walls and Cb2 pouf I recently bought. So I decided to mix in some pinks and reds and a litttle bit of blue — fabrics have been ordered and I’m ready for a mini-makeover!

Sources: print, ikat, geometric, chevron, houndstooth

I have another before and after today — this time of the mirror I scored at the Todd Farm flea market. A fresh coat of black paint and this:

…now looks delightful in my living room like this:

After a much needed blogging break to deal with moving, I’m finally back in action. Boxes are almost all unpacked, and I’m onto tackling some projects to make the new apartment feel more like home. The first project checked off the list? Color-coding books and assembling them in my newly acquired West Elm bookcase. (It’s not on sale online, but in the store I got a floor model for much cheaper — it was a steal!)

I’m also very excited to finally have my horse print framed and up on the wall, it fills out the space perfectly!

In my frenzy of leaving for a long weekend, I realized I never posted a picture of my Craigslist score! Meet my new (old) Crate and Barrel couch:

IMG_1244 For $150 (plus a little elbow grease on behalf of my boyfriend who moved it AND cleaned the upholstery with a steam cleaner), I think it’s a major upgrade!

Now I need some end tables…

 
 
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