September 1, 2016

The Evolution of our Living Room Space.

I know I'm not an interior decorating guru or anything--nor do I participate in any remote form of Feng Shui--BUT I changed our living room around again. And I think that this arrangement just might be THE ONE. Yes, the one. The one that will stay for months and months to come.

Let's go way back, shall we?

After Jarryd and I got married in June of 2014, we moved into an above-garage apartment. It really did constitute as one of those apartments you "have to have" in your first year of marriage in order to get the full newlywed experience. {That's one positive way of looking at it...Ha!} This is what out first apartment living room looked like:

{July 2014}
We hardly had any furniture, but the beauty of it all was that you're just so excited to be married and living together that you don't even care what your apartment looks like.
But hey, weren't we just so creative with our American Flag casually draped over our rocking chair? Haaaa!
And then we rearranged and decorated for Christmas holidays:

{December 2014}
This look quite bachelorpad-esque, don't you think? Like, it has absolutely no personality to it. There's nothing in there that looks like "Jenny", and that's a sad, sad truth to swallow.

{March 2015}
 And now we're gettin' somewhere! We finally had enough money to buy a coffee table (which was much needed), and an area rug. And I painted our "tv stand" and end tables white! And we finally put up some wedding photos on the wall! (I sure do miss all of that natural lighting coming in through all those windows!)

{August 2015}
This was right after we moved into our current apartment! Yay! Just gettin' settled.

{October 2015}
We bought a futon for our second bedroom, but because we needed more seating available in our living room we decided to move it out here...

{February 2016}
 Put up some nice pictures on the walls and organized the tv stand! In regards to this arrangement, even at the time we weren't crazy about it. It just felt too crowded.

{April 2016}
There was even a short time where we put our desk in front of the window. That was quite nice, but the room STILL didn't feel right. (Perhaps I am more into Feng Shui than I thought?!)

{July 2016}
We bought new end tables, moved the desk around, put the coffee table by the window, and replaced that horrible dirty "floral" rug with a beautiful white sheepskin rug. {Let's see how long we can keep it white for!}
These two photos above were the photos that I had just showed you in my "One Year Apartment Anniversary" Blog Post (that you can click here to read), and literally the week after I took these, I changed up the living room AGAIN!

Are you ready to see what our living room currently looks like right now?? YAY me too!

{September 2016}
Because I knew that my family was coming to visit soon, I wanted it to look more put-together. So I went on a huge IKEA and HomeGoods haul. Well, I don't know if HUGE is the correct word to use because I didn't spend a crazy amount of money or anything, but I did buy a noticeable amount of home decor {just enough to spruce things up a little!}.
Also, at this time when I went to IKEA, I arrived just under an hour and a half before they closed. Talk about PANIC MODE. A person needs at least 3 hours at IKEA, right?! There's so much to consider and ponder {and admire}!
 Yep, we finally filled that empty wall!
 The two silver frames and the world map in the middle are all from IKEA. The world map definitely wasn't an impulse buy, as I had been eyeing it online for awhile! ;) The photo to the right is my FAVOURITE photo from our engagement shoot. We even had it on the back of our wedding invites.
 And this lovely photo was taken at, duh, DISNEYWORLD. It's where we took our honeymoon and I wouldn't have traded that experience for the world! It was SO fun!
There is ALOT of IKEA in this photo. The large palm plant was on sale for only $11. I was so hesitant to buy it because, I don't know...I KILL plants. But I thought, hey, as long as it survives up until my parents leave then that'll be fine. And now, almost a month later it's still living!
Also the framed greenery art is from IKEA and so is the cactus, and the two plant holders. :)
So I found this sultry soft sheepskin at HomeGoods for a way better price than the one at IKEA! It was only $16.99 and it feels amazing! I honestly used to loathe this rocking chair, I kept asking Jarryd to just throw it out and get rid of it somehow someway. But once I laid the sheepskin on it, I've been totally smitten and now it's my favourite place to sit. Actually, it's where I'm sitting RIGHT NOW as I type!
You would not believe how much a room changes once you stick a giant plant in it. Buying that plant was probably the best home decor decision I had ever made!

It felt almost surreal having my family here, in my living room! You get so used to having them live millions of miles away that you just can't picture them sitting in your apartment! And the awesome part is that both of my parents said that we did a great job with decorating the place! Yay what a compliment! :)

Anyway, I love our apartment and I love coming home to it after a long day at work {especially when it's clean! haha!}. SO, what do you guys think?? I'd love to hear your opinions! :)

2 comments:

  1. Very impressive Jenni!!! Coming home from work with a haven like that is worth it.
    To stick to a color theme is something I find most difficult.
    I think you are right, that palm plant clinched it all. I don't know much in caring for that kind of plant, but I imagine over watering would probably kill it.
    I think I will incorporate that basket idea for blankets and such.

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  2. I love it!!! You are waaaay better at decorating than I am!!!!!! 😉

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