Rental Kitchens...Oh how I hate thee!

This week I am going to be focusing on my kitchen. Rental kitchens always pose such a problem since most of the time they are the one thing that can really date an apartment, and there is very little you can do to update it when painting is a big no-no! Plus unless you are planning on living someplace for over 5 years you probably don't want to rip the whole thing out and redo it on your dime!

This is my kitchen how it currently is, lovely oak trim on the doors, simple fixture, and boring laminate counter top. I do appreciate the white tile backsplash and the white appliances but overall this is the only thing I truly dislike about my place.


I drool over white kitchens like these. The pops of black against white really stand out and add an interesting feature!


Cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling are a dream for me since that is not a typical design in rental apartments!

Pictures from : House Beautiful

Now the challenge is to make my little kitchen look like these. Good luck to me!

DIY Pelmet Boxes

I was very inspired by this pelmet box tutorial at Little Green Notebook. I'm impressed with how little effort it took her because it took me from 5:00pm to 1:00am last night to put my own together (but totally worth it!) . So kudos to her!

Here are the BEFORE pictures of my windows.


I was going to use ribbon to accent the box like she did, but I didn't realize (or look at) how much ribbon is actually on a roll. I ended up with 9 feet of ribbon and needed approximately 28 feet. Needless to say, I was a little short!

But necessity is truly the mother of invention, I thought maybe I'd use a marker to outline the pattern I wanted but when I touched the marker to a test piece of fabric it bled all over the place. Till I figured out that black spray paint would work ( have I mentioned how much I love spray paint because I really do!) So I taped out the design I wanted.


Here are the AFTER pictures of my windows. Yes they are night pictures, because it was 1am when I finished!



I love how they turned out, I think they really add to my living room and finish off my windows perfectly!





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New Pillows!

I went shopping with a friend last weekend and picked up these 2 cute ruffle pillows at Pier One
for my bedroom. I absolutely love them! I have a thing for pillows and have a really hard time resisting them when I see one I love in the store.




I also picked up this cute little bird for my living room from Micheals. I know the whole bird trend is supposedly over, but I don't care, I just think they are so cute and I'd cover my entire house with them if I could find enough that I liked.



I snapped this gratuitous cat picture while I was taking pictures of my pillows. Jill with my other little bird statue.


Hope you are having a great day!

Happy Belated Valentines Day!

I know it's really late, but I've been super busy so I'm wishing you all a Happy V-day now from me and my 2 cats. Hope you had a good one!

So I did get my table on Sunday but I still haven't decided on chairs so I decided to share what I found at Winners the other day. I love places like Winners and Home Sense because you can find all these really nice things for good prices!

Like these 2 white candlesticks. I love the curves and straight edges.


Or like this really cute picture frame. I'm not sure where it's going to go but I love the price and shape.


I also found these 2 cute ottomans that my cats immediately claimed as their own the minute I brought them home. I put them by the table for now until I buy chairs for it.

My cats also totally clawed the covered buttons up, this is what they are supposed to look like.

And now they are no longer covered and look like this...


I've stop freaking out when they wreck something though and luckily I actually like the ottomans better without the fabric on the buttons. They are more obvious that way. So it worked out.

Still a very successful trip to Winners.

Decisions, decisions!

I'm very excited, because my new dining table is getting delivered this weekend! Since I didn't have one up until now this is a wonderful thing.

It's this table, the Avalon from Crate and Barrel.

But I didn't like the chairs that came with it so I'm trying to find different ones that I think go better with my decor. I like to mix romantic traditional furniture with modern.

So I was thinking maybe something like this chair from Urban Barn. This chair only comes in this light brown color though but I really like the shape.

Or maybe a transparent chair.
Something with simple clean lines like this would be nice, but I think it would be very hard to match up the different whites.
On the cheaper end of things maybe a chair like this and then add a padded seat in a nice fabric, since I do want comfortable chairs and my butt needs a little padding under it!
I'm leaning towards this one with the light gray fabric and the black legs, I think it might make a good contrast to the curves in the pedestal.

Can't wait to put this all together! Hopefully I'll have some pictures of the final choice by next week!

Till next time,

Coffee Table Makeover

Today I'm posting a coffee table makeover that I did shortly after I moved in. I found this sweet little coffee table on kijiji for $20 and imediatly fell in love with it! Of course it took me a while to get around to finish it and my friends thought I was crazy for buying it in the first place while it was just sitting around my house.

Before

Now remember that I live in an apartment which means no garage or backyard to spray paint in. I do have a balcony but this piece was solid wood and heavy with a capital H so there was no way my puny little arms would be able to get it out there.

So I set this plastic room up in my dining room to create a spray paint area. Which actually work very well and I will totally do it again if I need to.

Which lead to this final product.

After

I absolutely love how it turned out and think it is great in my living room! What do you think?

Bedroom before & after

Hello,


So I'm a little later than the weekend but here is how my bedroom turn out. If you remember this is the blank slate that was my bedroom.

Before

...and after a little furniture and effort this is the outcome.

After

The headboard is made from canvases covered with padding and material in a dark grey color that is a little hard to see from the pictures. Then they are attached to the wall on 3M velcro fasteners so I can remove them at any time if I want to change the color or shape of the headboad.

Till next time!

Bedroom Inspiration

I know it's been a while since I first posted the initial images of my place but it's taken me some time to get things together.

I will post a bedroom reveal this weekend so I figured I'd start with where my inspiration came from for my bedroom.

I love this idea for a head board from the Gossip Girl bedroom. The idea of spanning it along the entire wall appeals to me. Obviously I could never afford what has been done in this room but I can definitely DIY something similar.


My color inspiration came from this photo. I love all the purples and grays with a big chunk of white. Unfortunately my walls are a taupe color so the white wall idea is out but the bedding can be done!
I'll be back this weekend to post what my bedroom ended up looking like!

Till next time!