Home Tour

I really love our apartment. A lot. I really hope we stay here for more than a year, as I haven't lived anywhere for more than a year in almost 5 years. That's a lot of moving! I am settled in here and I want to stay. As I mentioned earlier today in this post, I went on a cleaning frenzy Friday and the apartment is spotless. I literally walked around for probably far too long, admiring my handiwork. I'm not a cleaner, so this was a big deal for me. Well, us, as I live with two guys. I showed pictures of our apartment when we moved in in October, unfurnished, so I thought I'd share an update since the place was looking spic and span!

Welcome to our home! As I looked through the pictures, I realized I have a ridiculous amount of crafts in the apartment. I hardly have any store-boughten decorations. I'm actually pretty proud of that. I thought I'd link up to the posts of my crafts if anyone is interested.

(Yarn Wrapped Wreath)

As you walk in, you will see the living room, dining area, and kitchen. I should have probably shut the TV off for these, but I'm not ashamed to admit I was watching Boy Meets World.

 (Spray-Painted Vintage Magazine Holder)

I love how open our living space is. It feels very big and it is the perfect size for all of us. It's always so bright and sunny, too.

I love what we've got going on our coffee table. I have been loving the mustard and teal color combination as of late. I love all the vintage-ness going on there. I'm planning on using that suitcase for cards at our wedding, but I just think it's so cool and I wanted to find a nice place for it in the meantime without hiding it away in a closet.

(Thrifting Finds- Suitcase)

(Fabric Candle Votives)

 (Yarn Bouquet)

I love our fireplace! It kicks off so much heat in the winter and make our apartment feel so cozy.

(Sock Monkey)

(Yarn Bouquet)

Kevin has a thing for beer signs, and I will admit I like them, too. He's gonna have a badass man cave someday. When we were originally trying to figure out where to hang them all, he wanted them all over the apartment, which was a little much to me. I love them clustered in this nook, though, it's not as overwhelming but it balances out all the crafts and stuff I have strewn about.

And this is my little craft corner. Those drawers are all packed full of crafts. I can't wait to have a spare room/guest room/office to store all my stuff in! I used to have all my craft stuff stored in that green bucket there, thankfully mom got me some organizational drawers for Christmas.

Here is our dining area/crafting area/office. I do my sewing and crafting here, and the boys do a lot of work here. Nobody ever eats here! HA. The only time we've eaten there is when Kevin and I cook "romantic" meals for each other, like when we're celebrating Valentine's Day or anniversaries. I'm still not happy with the yarn balls over my crayon art. I'm thinking of switching the grey out for white to match the yarn flowers on the table.

 (Crayon Art)

(Pom-Pom Garland)

(Yarn-Wrapped Bottles)

(Yarn Bouquet)

I love our kitchen! I hope someday I OWN a kitchen that's as great as this kitchen. So much cupboard space and countertop room. It's a little dark for my liking for a kitchen, but it's just so fantastic, I can't complain.

This is the rest of the kitchen area, with our breakfast bar area. Nobody actually eats here much either. Sometimes I'll eat breakfast or read the paper here. We should work on not eating in the living room for every meal, huh? Mostly this is where we keep all our mail or food when we entertain.

You also get a glimpse of the giant light up beer bottle in the hallway. I guess I allowed the beer signs in the hallway, too :).

(Thrifted Shutter)

(Paper Tree) 

Here is our room! I love our room a lot and spend a lot of time in here when the boys are watching ESPN or something equally un-intriguing. I just got that-I don't know what else to call it other than fabric--at the end of the bed. It's a very pretty vintage fabric that is becoming the color inspiration for the room--pistachio, mustard, brown, and aqua. I am planning on making some throw pillows out of it soon.

(Burlap Framed Letters) 

Here is the other side of our room with my newly hung shadow boxes and thrifted mini shutter.

(Hanging Shadow Boxes and Shutter)

(Thrifted Shutter)

I am also infatuated with our big closet and I hope I can OWN my own walk-in closet someday. I recently reorganized it to allow for better storage to free up space in our room. 

Here is our bathroom, where Kevin proposed :). Another reason I want to stay in this apartment for more than a year. Such great memories!! I am planning some fun crafting for that boring green shower curtain that we inherited from Kevin's last apartment.

(Burlap Jewelry Display)

(Kevin's Proposal)

(Peas and Carrots Embroidery)

There you have it! Hope you enjoyed this little tour of our home. Believe it or now our apartment is still immaculate. (I left out Brian's room and his bathroom, I'd feel a little stalker-ish taking pictures of his room! I also left out our half-bath off the living room. It's nothing exciting.)

We spent the weekend in Webster City visiting Kevin's cousin Curt and his wife Kari. They just announced they are expecting, so it was exciting to see them and be excited about the baby. Our roommate Brian also came with us, as well as two of our good friends Matt and Emily. It was a really fun weekend just hanging out, enjoying the weather, and celebrating St. Patty's Day. The weekend flew by, I can't believe it's already Sunday night! Luckily for me, it's still spring break :) I have lots of crafts planned as well as productive grown up things, like cleaning out our cars and applying for more jobs. 

What did you do this weekend? Are you on spring break? Make this week a good one! :)

Thrifting Finds

 I took a trip to the antique Kevin and I went to a few weeks ago, this time solo (which means I spent more money than I should have.) BUT I found a lot of awesome things and most are for our wedding.

My favorite find is this vintage suitcase! I have been searching for the perfect one for FOREVER (ok, since we got engaged) for guests to place cards in at the reception. This one is a pretty blue/green and in excellent condition. I can't wait to put it to use! It was a little more than I wanted to spend ($20) but after comparing prices, this was a good deal.

I love this mustard colored shutter I picked up for $4. I don't think I will put it to use like I did our last shutter find, but I think it will be a good decoration on a tall skinny wall.

More vintage handkerchiefs! I have decided I will use these handkerchiefs I've been collecting as part of the centerpieces on the tables at our reception. I saw them in this wedding Andrea sent to me and I love the look.

I also found some more vintage brooches. I have had a hard time finding ones I like for a decent price, and started to doubt whether or not I really wanted to do a brooch bouquet for the wedding. But, I found a few good ones today and decided I'll keep collecting.

From left to right:

Ok, the first one is kind of a joke, but appropriate nonetheless. It's a carrot. Now I just need to find peas!

The second one didn't photograph as well, but it's a very sparkly silver with bright blue jewels. I needed to add a little sparkle to the bouquet.

I love the bow!! I will wear it often until I have to put it on my bouquet.

I also thought love birds were appropriate (though hard to see.)

I decided to lay out all my brooches I've collected so far to see how far I still need to go. I have more than I thought, but I still have a long way to go! I think I need some more color (not orange) in there!

I also decided to take a look at my handkerchief collection. They look so pretty all laid out. I'm excited to see how they will all come together at the reception.

I must admit, I'm watching Hoarders right now and feeling a little guilty. At least I have a wedding as my excuse, right??

P.S. I'm doing the "Photo An Hour" challenge today and will be back later tonight with a glimpse inside my day!

Thrifting!

Hey guys! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I had a relaxing yet productive and exciting weekend. I ate lunch with my dear friend Stephanie who was in town for a bit. It's always great catching up with friends you haven't seen in so long. I had nearly every class in college with Steph so it was nice to catch up with her. Thanks, Steph!! :)

This afternoon Kevin and I spent a couple hours perusing a new antique store. It was a GIANT antique store (for those in the area, it's called The Brass Armadillo) with lots of vendors and a wide assortment of goodies. I brought a few treasures home with me, and found many others that I would have LOVED to purchase if I had a bigger home.

Here are the items that didn't make it home with me...today:

A very cool feather hat that would have made awesome wall decor in a closet or bathroom

So many cool *overpriced* handkerchiefs in this basket

Words cannot describe how much I loved this lamp! However, I wasn't willing to pay what the price tag was asking.

I loved these colorful pastel dishes. Maybe someday.

I really loved this radio! It was bright teal and worked! I even had Kevin thinking it was cool. But the $28 price tag scared me away. I was on the hunt for some DEALS!

A very pretty serving plate!

I was looking all over for canisters for flour, sugar, etc. and this one ALMOST made the cut. I had plans on purchasing it but after walking around and coming back, I changed my mind. I still may go back and get it someday. Four sturdy canisters and matching salt and pepper shaker for $25. Did I make a mistake passing it up?

I really liked this coat but Kevin said it looked ridiculous on me. I couldn't find a mirror anywhere so I had to take his opinion.

Alright so I didn't really have intentions to buy this dresser but I did love the colors on the drawers!

If I had a house and a full-time guaranteed job, I really would have considered buying this one. It's a refurbished corner cabinet for about $200.

Now that I have tortured myself again showing you things I didn't buy but wanted to, here is what I actually did bring home:

A pretty peach towel with some lovely embroidery for $2

Some very well priced ($1.50) vintage handkerchiefs for our wedding (use still to be determined!). The photo is a little dark, but the purple is very pretty with crochetted edges. The yellow is see through with tiny white polka dots. And, the blue one is a very pretty bright blue with a floral design. Anyone have any ideas of what I should use these gems I've been collecting for??

This might have been my favorite purchase of the day! I can NEVER find vintage jewelry I like but I love this turquoise necklace. For $1.50!

This was another favorite. I have been wanting to start collecting kitchy salt and pepper shakers but have had trouble finding a good set to start with (there are always HUNDREDS of salt and pepper shakers at antique stores). How much more perfect does it get than MASON JAR salt and pepper shakers?!

They are smaller than they appear in this picture, about 3 inches tall.

Kevin found lots of goodies, too, but nothing he "had" to have. When we purchase a home antiquing will be much more fun, and dangerous, for us. His man-cave will be well stocked with old beer signs.

Do any of you go to many thrift/antique stores? Anyone in Iowa have any recommendations? I always love finding new places to go. I also was looking forward to this post so I could spread the love of thrifting! There are so many AWESOME things out there and it's a great way to spend a few hours on the weekends.

Thrift Store Finds

When Kevin and I were in the Amanas with my family back in November, we revisited our favorite antique store. This is where we found a bunch of mason jars. We also found an old shutter and small plates for our apartment that I haven't shared with you yet. 

Our shutter is hung by our kitchen. Right now it's holding engagement cards. :) I made the paper tree next to it. See how I did it here! (Aaand another collection of mine, wine corks. Hanging onto them until I come up with something awesome to do with them.) The shutter was $10. We didn't paint it or distress it or do anything to it. However, it could probably use some dusting.

These tin plates caught my eye amongst a bunch of junk and I fell in love with them. I love the mustached man and the colors. We're using them as a drip-catcher on our stove for placing spoons when cooking. Only $2 for the set!

This was another thing I bought at the thrift store in Des Moines with Andrea (where I bought this magazine holder and these vintage handkerchiefs). I don't know why but I have been wanting to buy a jar of buttons for awhile now. It's weird, I know. I found this one for $3. It's keeping my sewing machine company. 

There you have it! I love antiquing and thrifting. That's all there is to it.

Wedding Inspiration: Vintage Handkerchiefs

While Andrea was visiting last week, we visiting a thrift store where I found this vintage magazine holder. I also found another gem that I had been gravitating towards for awhile now: vintage handkerchiefs (handkerchiefs is a very strange word that I don't believe I've ever typed in my life before now). I think these would be a great addition to the vintage feel we're going for for our wedding. I love the colors and the details and the finishes around the edges. I'm just hoping they weren't used handkerchiefs. :)

It looks like I'm adding another vintage goody to my collection of mason jars and brooches. All you friends and relatives out there-- keep us in mind :)

Here are some ideas I've found on Pinterest. I don't imagine these handkerchiefs will play a large role in the decorations, but I do think they will be a nice touch.

Love that last one :) So sweet.

(I also took some pictures of some more vintage finds around our apartment. Check back later today!)