One of my goals while Sean is deployed is to decorate our apartment, it's small (our living room and kitchen are a shared space) but I know it can look better than what it does right now.
Currently our apartment is decorated with furniture I acquired when I was in college and living on my own. So..a lot of it is hand-me down furniture from relatives. I'm not joking when I say it looks like a bachelor pad or the only decorating I've done consists of hanging a total of four pictures on the walls.
I'm just kind of at a loss of what I should do or where I should even begin. I will say that I have picked two things out.
One being the bed set that I think I'm going to get. We like a lot of black and white and I like this bedset and so does Sean (which is important)
I'm thinking about a few turquoise or some other bright shade of throw pillows to help break up the black and white.
Also..I've picked out what I want my new dinnerware to be.
Turquoise Fiestaware! If you haven't noticed I'm a big fan of turquoise. I have some green plates from Target that I got for our wedding, but I'm not feeling them anymore and I don't have a complete set of them, so I don't feel so bad getting something new.
So..my point to this whole blog is where did you get inspiration for decorating your home? A magazine? A blog? A website? Martha herself? Please share!
I'm not much of a decorator at all, so I won't be of much help. We've been in our house almost 2 years and we still have some bare walls!
ReplyDeleteI love the black and white bedding!
I bet it would look so cute with a red throw pillow.
I LOVE interior decorating. I was going to go to school for it, but it is such a "fad" thing and you have to be in just the right area to get clients that I found it impractical.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on a horse farm, so I tend to go towards shabby chic or country/western chic, kinda combined. And I am a sentimental wuss so everything we decorate with has meaning to us... my first horses bridal, my cowboy hat from 4-h days, ect. It means more when it actually means something!
I love looking in Real Simple and Ikea catalogs. I also love just browsing stores!
ReplyDeleteOh I love Fiestaware! Usually I'll go through Pottery Barn and see tons of set ups that I like!
ReplyDeleteI love looking through pottery barn catalogs for ideas. There are a lot of pottery barn-type stuff you can find for much cheaper elsewhere, but I love their general style. A few things I've actually broke down and bought (their dishes) because I loved them, but it's a great place to start!
ReplyDeleteIKEA catalog. Live it, love it :)
ReplyDeleteI love those plates!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI pick up things from everywhere! Magazines, blogs, just anything I randomly come across!
I love the black and white bedding. Easy to modify with seasons and holidays by adding accent colors.
ReplyDeleteOh God I suck at coming up with creative ideas so I often browse through home magazines or even go to stores like Lowe's to look for ideas. However, with my living room, I used our giant rug as my inspiration for decorating. So maybe finding one big piece and going from there. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI'm just like you. We just bought a house, and really ALL of the furniture is hand-me-downs so nothing goes together. I don't necessarily want to go out and buy everything new know, but I'd like to figure out something small I could do to attempt to tie it all together.
ReplyDeleteI L.O.V.E fiestaware! Actually, I want to register for the turquoise for our upcoming (big) wedding.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, for decorating tips I look at a lot of other blogs to see what other real people do. Because lets face it- catalogs are great but its kind of a let down when your place doesn't look as perfect as what they've got going on. I also like to look at sites like Apartment therapy and country living. At least they give you tips to recreate looks and how to make them your own.
I love Apartment Therapy and the Selby. There are alot of great design blogs out there, but you'll find what you love by scouring all that you can and really learning what it is you love. If you just 'like' it, don't do it!
ReplyDeleteI'm not much of a decorator myself either. We just moved in December so I'm still in the process of getting our apartment together. I get a lot of my inspiration from Target, JCPenney, and Bed Bath & Beyone. They normally have a lot of matching sets that look great for reasonable prices. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI go to hgtv.com. They have a "rate my space" page where people put pictures of their homes and it gave me a ton of inspiration for my dining and living rooms. You can even search by typing colors or rooms that you want to see. I love it.
ReplyDeleteA great site for TONS of DIY/budget friendly options is younghouselove.com. Many of their ideas involve Ikea items, which is great considering Ikea's close proximity to Vicenza :) But if you're not into Ikea, no worries...they have tons of other ideas. And I wasn't sure if you've been to Nove yet (near Marostica), but they have a few stores with Fiestaware-like dishes. La Ceramica VBC is a personal fave. Hope this helps :)
ReplyDeleteomg - i have been feeling the need to decorate soooo badly lately!! we went to ikea and target over the weekend (spent too much $$), but our house is finally starting to feel like home!! the navy exchange is selling fiestawear right now, is your exchange? you should check it out!
ReplyDeleteWe watch a lot of HGTV and get our inspirations from there. I also follow decor8 - an amazing blog! :)
ReplyDeleteI love the black and white bedding!
ReplyDeleteWork from home India