awesome artwork

Recently Brandon and I have been acquiring lots of artwork to incorporate into our place. There's just something about having things on the wall that make a home more personal, inviting, and lived-in. Here are two prints that we bought at an art party by a local Atlanta artist named Chris Hobe'. I love how graphic they are, and I had been patiently awaiting for something worthy enough to put on either side of our Hallaryd print in the living room. Check it out!

Brandon claims the ape, and of course I like the female. 

The colors are very saturated, and look great with what we already had going on.

Oh, and notice the "C" behind the chair. It's actually a wall cabinet (a funky IKEA one for the bathroom that I couldn't help but snag because it was being discontinued). We love the color and obviously the letter "C" means something to us, so we're hoping to find it permanent home. Anyhoo, Check out the ape, appropriately placed next to Brandon's man chair.

  

I think the living room is coming together rather nicely. Filling blank wall space makes such a big difference.

And in case you were wondering what it looked like before.

 I must admit, I'm pretty proud to see it all coming together. I'm loving our little place!

And we hung one more piece of artwork (if you can stand it). Here is the one that I bought Brandon for Valentine's day. It was hung (very appropriately might I add) next to his record player.

And yes, the the Japanese swords are his as well. Because apparently every man needs a set...

Hope you enjoyed our little updates. Stay tuned for more!

two-in-one

Here's a two-for-one special for ya! First, I hung our mobile in the living room!

I found the perfect place for it, right in the corner.

 Sixteen dollars well spent, huh?

 

 Oh, and I gave my sweetie a cute, little surprise for Valentine's Day. Yeah, I know I'm late.
You can't knock me for trying to get it in!

Who doesn't love a basket of your favorite things? Contents: sketch book kit, Gestalt drawing figure, a cool print to hang over Brandon's record player "vinyl is killing the mp3 industry", the Steve Jobs biography, comic book shot glasses, Twix, and beef jerky. Oh, I also got him the high gloss red Lack table- which I found is great for writing little love messages. Impressed? You bet he was.

And I found the perfect place for Mr. Gestalt ..

I think he's making a wish! :)

sleep tight

Hey Guys! Sorry I've been MIA for a while. I've been working on a ton of things all at once. Here is some progress I've made on the bedroom.

Notice the cursive print curtains. Those are a little project that I've been working on.

 I'll give you a full view once I finish 'em.

Here's a closeup of our little foo dogs. I got them for $6 each in Target's bodega.

Gotta love that old-school tv! I tried my best to frame the screen out with art. 

I thought about getting rid the dried-up roses, but they're so charming, and I haven't gotten any new flower loot from Kroger. For some reason all the other flowers made it to the trash, but we're still living with these. The piggy bank is Brandon's. I add to it when he leaves his change lying around. He eventually raids it for silver change when he's out of omelet money. And yes, 2004 was a lame year to graduate from high school ... just sayin.

Strangely, we don't have any of our wedding photos up, but the left-over engagement photos we printed for our wedding guests made it into frames. This is mainly because I'm lazy, but at least if we ever end up on an episode of Law and Order SVU, they won't raid our place and find no personal photos (which they always deem as very suspicious). Anyhoo, hope you like the sneak peek. As always, there is more to come.

urban chic

It's hard to believe that Valentine's day is just around the corner! Being in the V-day spirit, I though that I would start early and think up some cool things from my favorite stores that would make an awesome Valentine's package (or rather things that I would love to get on a special - or even not so special day). Oh and let's keep it under $50, cause I'm cheap like that. The first one is from Urban Outfitters (sale items of course).

I'm pretty sure any lovely lady would love to have this ensemble. The heart necklace is adorable, and long enough to add some edginess to any outfit. The bust is awesome to hold all those pretty trinkets that are too beautiful to put away. The wallet is pure diva - you can't go wrong with a dash of faux fur and leather! As for the doggie, I've been needing a USB splitter for some time. My external hard drive, wireless keyboard, and mouse are always connected, so there must be other peeps out there like me! And finally, the rhinestone necklace is just plain classy. Any thoughts?

Heart Necklace .............$6.99
Grecian Goddess .........$14.99
Faux Fur Wallet .............$6.99
Dog USB Splitter ...........$6.99
Rhinestone Necklace ... $14.99 

Total: $50.95! Okay, I went a little over my goal by 95 cents, but it would be a small price to pay to qualify for Urban Outfitter's free shipping.

ten dollar flowers

So I have a new obsession. It's called the picking-up-cheap-fresh-flowers-from-Kroger-and-decorating- our-apartment-with-them obsession. About once or twice a month I stroll through Kroger looking for some discounted bouquets and spend a little time arranging them all pretty like. This time I picked up two $3 bunches, and one $4 bunch for a total of $10 spent. Yep, I'm cheap and crafty! Look how many I got!

I thought this time I wouldn't have enough vases to handle my bounty, but I realized that I had some empty vases on display in our Billy, which totally solved the problem.

And how many arrangements did I manage to get out of $10? Seventeen! 

Yes 1-7! I was so delighted to be able to spread them around the house.

Here's couple in our coffee table slot and the side tables.

And here are a few close ups.

 

This one lives in our bedroom on my dresser.

This one went on the occasional table.

Our "Kartell" units.

Our tv stand.

The faux bar

Billy

The dining room table

So what do you say? Is that $10 well spent, or what? I can't wait to do something like this for a party!

better mornings

I must admit, work as an IKEA interior designer has been pretty awesome thus far. Last week I got the opportunity to help out with a project  that my co-worker, Activities Specialist, Michelle  had been diligently working on before I joined the team. Our store was asked to create some cost-efficient solutions for giving your home a facelift for the new year, and the vignette Michelle designed was featured on CBS's Better Mornings Atlanta! 

As you know, no other place on earth takes cost efficiency more serious than IKEA, so you know we rose to the occasion. I delighted to lend a helping hand with executing the build-up and breakdown of the design AND I got to check out the behind the scenes shenanigans! 

The raw space was really cool. It had curved walls and of course, super bright lights. Michelle said that the challenge was creating the vignette within an 8x8 space, and not being able to place anything on the walls. Here are some of the items being brought in and set up.

Here's the finished space. I love fabric in the glass doors and the color pallet is something that is so unexpected, but it looks great - and of course screams IKEA. Besta media storage and the Ektorp sofa were the main players here, followed by Kassett organization boxes, an Isala coffee table, and a Lantliv plant stand, which is shown here as a side table.

So to recap what this vignette teaches us about giving your space a facelift:

• Adding fabric behind glass doors can freshen up your storage
• Adding or changing hardware can breathe new life into any unit
• Storage boxes are great for controlling the clutter
• Coordinating frames can take a sea of pictures and turn them into a gallery 
• Fabric sofas with washable, removable slipcovers gives you lots of options
• If you don't have a slipcover, pillows allow you to change color schemes and add texture
• Don't be afraid to re-purpose your existing pieces (Michelle turned this plant stand into a side table)

And because I couldn't resist myself, here are some cool shots of the camera guy doin' his thang.

I was really grateful for the opportunity to help with a project outside of the store so early on in my position! Here's a link to the clip on CBS if you want to check it out!

life improvement - VOTE

Remember IKEA's Life Improvement Project that I talked about here? Well, now is the time, People! Our project is one of three that was chosen to possibly represent our store. All we have to do is get great people like you to vote for it. I never ask for favors from my readers, but if you could do me a solid this one time I would really appreciate it! And if you can, make a daily thing of it, you know - when you wake up in the morning, vote. And when you see a friend, tell them to vote. And if you see your cousin, your sister, or your grandmother (who definitely knows how to text) tell them to vote too. Think about all the good that can come from it! Thanks so much for all your support! 

good cheer

I hope that everyone enjoyed their holiday season! I just wanted to share some tidbits from Christmas! This year, I decided to get a little creative with wrapping gifts.

Since I was still on my "use what you have" kick, I ending up using brown kraft paper, yarn, and ribbon. Here they are all nestled under the tree.

Christmas was an intimate setting. My mommy and I cooked for Brandon. Nothing special. Just candlelight, family, and food. Everything was pretty low-key, but lovely.

Hope you guys enjoyed yourselves as well, and Happy New Year!

Let's do it EVEN BIGGER this year!

on occasion

Just recently I decided to give the inset in our dining area a little makeover.  I'm sure that you remember the dining situation from our previous apartment.  Well, to say the least, the PS cabinet was a little small for our current living dining area (and we no longer needed the storage because our kitchen is much bigger). So I decided to put the cabinet in the office, and switch it out with something a little more daring and proportional to the space. I measured the space at a whopping 79", so I thought, why not a Malm occasional table... in orange of course.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for a pop of color! 

When my hubby took it out of the box, he asked with a puzzle face, "Baby, is this the right color?"

"Yes!" I said confidently. "It's actually supposed to be orange". 

"Okay..." he replied.

I must admit, it was a tad bit hilarious. (You had to be there.) But he definitely trusts my pure awesomeness.

It was after 6pm when he put it together, so please excuse the dark pictures. I was determined to get a before and after photo. But don't worry, they get better below. As you can see, the table almost fills the space completely. It's also on tiny, little wheels, so it's easy to move around within a moment's notice.

Here's it all lit up. Pretty awesome, right?

I think as time goes on I'll switch up the art and accessories. I also finally found a home for our PS Karljohan stool, which has the coveted job of holding some of my favorite books.

The orange really gives a burst of energy to the space, and wouldn't you know it, Tangerine Tango is Pantone's Color of 2012. Just call me a little color forecaster!