A New Shop For Affordable Art

I am a huge supporter of the arts as a painter myself, which is one of the reasons I decided to create a gallery wall over our TV. Wedding planning and traveling has been taking a lot of our efforts these days outside of work and the gallery wall has definitely suffered with a few empty frames since I put it up this summer. As a part of my save the date research I ended up finding the site Minted.com, and their art marketplace that supports independent artists - LOVE.

ONE // TWO // THREE // FOUR // FIVE // SIX // SEVEN

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This is one of my favorite prints I've found on the site and a perfect fit for the currently empty spot over our couch. This brings some masculinity to the room so I can decorate with more girly accents. I am struggling with what color to choose for the frame. What do you think - black or white frame?

Next up is just deciding what to choose for the gallery wall! Here's my first stab:

Apartment Update III

Adding a fiddle leaf fig tree to your apartment is like buying a new piece of furniture, but thank goodness it's cheaper. When fiddle leaf fig trees first gained popularity some were going for the upwards of $200. Nowadays its a bit easier to get on board with the fiddle leaf fig craze with places like Home Depot and Pike's Nursery selling the trees for around $25-35 dollars making the pot the most expensive part of purchase. I lucked out finding this lovely planter for just $20, which was a huge feat for such a large one. Other planters it's size were going for $60+. 

When I found the planter at the store, the sales associate asked me if I was a big Saints fan due to the black and gold colors and fleur de lis.

Adding some white spray paint to the pot, and the pot has a more french/chic look.

In addition to the new fiddle leaf fig, we did some rearranging in the apartment this weekend. We decided to move the gray trellis rug to the bedroom and leave the white cowhide as the main rug in the living room. It makes the room feel bigger and less cluttered, and leaves a space for a Louis XVI chair I've been dying to have, a Moroccan pouf and oversized cork stool.

We also started a gallery wall around the TV to help bring it into the room's decor. Thank goodness great things like the World Cup, Wimbledon and Hook we're on the TV to help entertain me during the gallery wall process. The thing that helped me the most was using pieces of paper to mark where each of the picture frames would be. I moved them around at least 15 times, and am really happy with how the wall's set up turned out. 

Now we just have to choose the art for the empty frames.

Liking these pieces for the apartment to mix traditional and modern for an eclectic look.

1 \\ 2 \\ 3 \\ 4 \\ 5 \\ 6 \\ 7 \\ 8 \\ 9

Help A Girl Out: Choosing A Fabric

I'm taking the plunge. 

This lovely and quite overly used chair from the 80s is getting a make over! 

You gotta love furniture from your parents...

So this weekend, I took my first trip to hunt for fabric to reupholster this chair. I checked out Lewis and Sheron on the Westside, which is an awesome source for fabric in Atlanta if you haven't been. The whole place is filled with rows and rows of fabric rolls like this on two floors.

I went to the store looking for a fabric like the one below, but couldn't find anything in the right material exactly like that. Most of the striped fabrics were made of material that was too thin for a chair in a high-traffic area.

Here are the eight fabrics that I ended up taking samples home of to see how they looked in the room with a few options for stripes, blues and neutrals. 

Right now, numbers five and six are my favorites. I like the texture they bring and five appears to be reversible. In the image above its shown on it's light blue side and below on the more taupe side with the light blue threads showing through. 

FIVE

SIX

As a reminder, here is what the living room looks like:

The lighting is off in this picture, but this gives you a better idea of where the chair will go - it will be in that open space near the snake plant and facing the coffee table.

What do you think? Which fabric should I choose?

Refreshing For Spring

I love that the nice weather is finally here despite last night’s thunderstorm (if you don’t follow me on Instagram you have to check out how amazing the sky was after the storm – pink!) Atlanta’s weather is definitely something to covet, and a quality I love even more about the city after struggling through New York winters. The entire city is really green and blooming everywhere. This week, I bought a plant for the living room and will eventually be adding more once I make sure I can keep this one alive.

I also did some reorganizing of my new gold étagère (DIY here), and refreshed it a bit for spring! I was browsing One Kings Lane's Home Decor Handbook and found this article "Mastering the Shelfie," which I thought was a fun home decor play on the selfie craze. You'd think putting a shelf display together would be super easy, but I was trying to work with what I had and it just didn't look good together. I either didn't have enough books or trinkets or the stuff I had all together looked disjointed and forced.

I think the update that made the biggest difference on the shelf was adding the fresh cut snapdragons in a pitcher on top. I love that they keep the height I was trying to achieve with the boat, bring a nice spring feel to the room, and add color to the shelf without overpowering it.

I moved the pig up to the top shelf and removed the multi-color books keeping just a neutral stack of magazines and two photos following the advice of "the sparser the better." 

One other thing I was struggling with outside of the shelf decor was the depth of the space next to the couch. At first, I had the shelf turned with it's back against the side wall to try to take up the depth. I ended up re-positioning the shelf with it's back against the same wall as the couch, and put one of the tables from my nesting table set to act as the side table. I love this layering affect and it's the perfect fit for the space. I decorated with a sentimental gold owl lamp, gold candle, and my new love poems book to keep it simple.

Outside of the shelf, I added a burlap toss pillow that one of my best friends gave me when CT and I got engaged. It is a perfect fit for our couch and the burlap adds a nice summery feel to the couch. I'm still working on the art for above the couch either adding sconces or small antlers to the picture now or a new painting I'm working on.

I'd love to hear how you refresh your home for spring in the comments!

IKEA Hack Gold Etagere

Happy Hump Day Everyone! In honor of hump day, I'm sharing my latest DIY project. It's one of my favorite kinds, an IKEA hack.

Every now and then a piece of IKEA furniture really blows up among the DIY community. Last it was the RAST dresser, and now the VITTSJO series. The series offers a lot of great pieces to redo from coffee tables to shelving units. I picked the single shelf to redo for our living room since it's the perfect size for the wall next to the couch.

This do-it-yourself project is really simple, and just requires some time and patience. 

Here's what you'll need:

Cost around $25

And the VITTSJO shelf from IKEA 

Cost - $40

The first step is to prime all of the pieces.

Next, spray each piece with the metallic gold spray from every angle and allow to dry. I did about 2 coats with just the one can. I used a painter's mat and wore a face mask to make sure I didn't get any spray paint on the ground and didn't inhale the fumes. You can also wear protective eye wear.

 Once dry, you will need to assemble the piece following the instructions and spray the heads of the black screws that show. Once all pieces are gold, spray all of them with the shellac finish, and let dry.

Here's the color and texture up close.

That's it! The hardest part for me was really just finding the time between a new job and new home to get outside and spray the pieces through all the steps. I love the end product and it fits perfectly in our new space. I decorated the shelves with items we already had and a few birthday presents (see pig and hostess book). I love the look of this kind of shelf with a lot of magazines or books, so I'll be collecting those of the next few months to add to it.

In other news, our building took the sign down from our window and we now have an amazing view of the city!

Apartment Update II

The other week, I shared a few pieces I was happy to find for the apartment, but today I'm excited to share how the living room is really coming together. I had a hard time deciding on what rug to pick, if you all remember, for the living room. So I picked two! 

Ok, but seriously, I went to nearly every store that sells rugs in Atlanta (that may be an exaggeration, Atlanta has thousands of wonderful home decor stores), but let's just say I went to a lot. And I found way too many beautiful rugs. I finally decided on getting a natural rug like a jute (it's softer than sisal), and layering a cowhide over it. One piece of advice I will give to people looking for rugs is you have to actually touch the rug in person. I went to Myers Carpet knowing they'd have a large selection of natural rugs for me to choose from, and turns out I'm allergic to them. So, it was back to the drawing board. I ended up picking this hand-tufted trellis rug that was one of my rug backups. It's soft to the touch and I love it! The double lined trellis print mixed with the different sized patterns makes it unique.

I still loved the idea of a cowhide, so I took two out on approval and tried them over the gray rug. This is another tip I will suggest if you're looking for a rug. Make sure you take it home and try it in the space. If you can't decide between two in the store, take both home and test them in your space. The one I liked in store wasn't the right color in my space. 

The coffee table itself was by far the easiest piece for me to pick for the room. Due to the size of the room, and my current obsession with lucite, it was a great solve for a table that gives the illusion of not taking up space. For the coffee table tray, I felt like the room needed some natural wood to balance out the modern pieces. I picked this tray up at Home Goods for under $20! 

I also found this awesome mini trunk there too for a similar price. I love the copper finish, and may go back for another (fingers crossed it's still there).

Couldn't help but share another picture of my antique rug now that I have my DSLR again. This thing is probably still my favorite piece in the apartment.

And last but not least, my new piggy bank CT gave me for my birthday! I'm still working on finding the right home for this guy.

Resources
Sofa: Vanguard Furniture, ADAC Sample Sale (similar)
Coffee Table: CB2 (love this too)
Tray: Home Goods
Candle: Home Goods
Trellis Rug: Designer Rug Warehouse (located on the Westside in Horizon Home)
Cowhide: Westside Foundry
Domino Book of Decorating: Anthropologie
Copper Trunk: Home Goods
Antique Rug: eSaleRugs (Currently have a 50% off sale!)
Piggy Bank:  Bday Present (can be found at Furbish Studio)

Apartment Update I

The apartment is coming along slowly, but surely. When we first moved in, I was dead-set on getting the apartment fully furnished (well, at least the living room) by the time CT returned from China. This gave me about 11 days, which was aggressive needless to say. I've decided to take my time and really find the pieces I love even and at a reasonable price even if that means waiting for the next month to go to Scotts or trolling Home Goods and One Kings Lane. So far, I have purchased my first antique rug for the entryway, which I LOVE. You may have seen my last post about how much I love esalerugs, but I can't say it enough. (Apologies for the crappy photo quality, my DSLR hasn't made it to the new apartment yet).

I also picked up this awesome TV console and a tufted bench at Home Goods. Both were total steals compared to the similar items I found online. Home Goods is one of my favorite go-to stores, but it can definitely be hit or miss. In the past three weeks or so, I have now been to the store about 4-5 times including two locations, and am so happy with what I found.

The guest bath is probably the most complete room in the apartment at the moment, and I love getting ready every morning in this room. The floor to ceiling windows let in a lot of light and compliment the yellow accents for a bright and cheery room.

And, here's my lovely couch that I also got a steal on from the ADAC sample sale.

My next goal is to find a rug for the living room. I have been pretty much all over Atlanta trying to decide on the style I want since I feel like the rug will really dictate that direction the room will go in. I've narrowed it down to three choices.

1 - White/Cream Cowhide Over A Sisal or Jute Rug

Industrial Living Room by Atlanta Paint & Wall Coverings ROMA

2 - Graphic Damask Rug

Nourison Riviera RI-04 Slate Area Rug

3 - Gray Geometric Rug

Modern Living Room by Calhoun Furniture & Accessories Surya

Hoping to finally make up my mind this week!

Choosing The Right Sofa

Yesterday was a big day for us. Aside from being Easter Sunday, CT and I are now officially residents of Midtown! Our move was super easy and the movers from Atlanta Peach Movers were great and efficient (and pretty much the only moving company that would move us on Easter Sunday). They wrapped all furniture to make sure it didn't get damaged and were strategic in how they moved each item in and out. Now that our big items are in the apartment aka our beds...it's now couch decision time. I have been doing my due diligence researching a million blogs out there looking for the right sofa. I've decided on the English Arm Roll Sofa, but need help with which retailer to buy from and the fabric.

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I love the short arm with the extra seat cushion making the sofa arms more of a delicate decoration than a statement. The sofa is pretty deep making it the perfect sink in while you're watching your favorite TV show, but also tough to fit in my somewhat tiny apartment. I've narrowed it down to four stores - Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Bassett Furniture and Restoration Hardware.

Which reminds me, they are building a SIX story Restoration Hardware mecca in Atlanta on Peachtree Street that I can't wait to be done!! The project is insane, costing the company around $20 million, but it's for sure to be 6 stories of beautiful decor.

At Pottery Barn, the Carlisle Sofa is their English Arm Roll Sofa. They unfortunately didn't have this sofa on the floor at Lenox this weekend after their sofa sale, so if anyone has one I'd love to know what you think! Fabric - I am somewhere between Oatmeal Linen and Perennials Performance Basketweave Ivory or Oatmeal.

Bassett Furniture has a few options, but all are custom ordered, which gives me way too much free reign on fabrics, etc. Has anyone ordered a sofa from here? 

Restoration Hardware....I just love everything from this store, but it is SO expensive. Which leads me to if it's worth the price. I love their bedding but have never bought a piece of furniture from the store. Anyone have any experience with their sofas? This sofa is also on sale.

English Roll Arm Sofa

And then there are places that sell the same sofa at a discounted price, like The Home Decorators Collection. They have a deal right now which brings this lovely sofa to under $1,000, and I am definitely tempted. 

Custom Markham Sofa

I've read a lot of articles and forums from Apartment Therapy on sofas, but would love any other opinions!