Decorating!

So, Ryan and I have been living in our apartment for...10 months? now, and I feel like pretty soon it's going to be time to actually, like, decorate.

We are allowed to paint our walls, but obviously we don't have a whole lot we can really change, but I feel like we could definitely make it more homey then it is now.

So, how did you all go about decorating? Did you go based off of what stuff you already had, or did you have an idea in mind and work off of that, something completely different?

We got a really nice set of living room furniture from Ryan's parents when they moved to Florida, so that is definitely not going anywhere, but if I were to have all the monies and start from scratch, they wouldn't be the style that I would go for.

I'd really like to make this place more "ours" because we love it here, and unless something drastic happens, we don't plan on leaving anytime soon...

TIA

Apartment therapy. Kristen Davis Designs (for do-it-yourself stuff).

I bought the furniture I wanted first, then painted, and bought/made/acquired anything else I needed or wanted.

You can always redo what you have. I discovered chalk paint for myself and it has saved our bedroom furniture Granted my pics aren't great..

Before:



After:





When we moved in here, we didn't really have a style, but looked around at catalogs and websites and figured out that we like the more modern beach/country house look. Most of our stuff are steals from "antique" stores (for example, an old trunk as a coffee table and such).

*looks around at boxes and bins stacked around after living in the same place for 2 years*

Um, yeah, I'm not really going to be any help here

I looked at A LOT of apartment therapy.. found ideas and just went from there.

Once I decided to abandon the "theme" (For a while I thought everything had to match or there had to be a general color or theme or something)..my apartment started to feel mine.
I have colorful kids furniture, an all white bed, a desk with a bright red chair, posters/pictures of all colors on the walls, a light up moon wall light, a origami mobile with dragons, books everywhere and it's just.. I dunno.. me lol well, I like it.

So yea, I guess I'm a big fan of letting the home create itself. Buy things you love, don't worry too much about a common theme and your home will come together as it should. Of course hit pinterest and sites for interesting ways to showcase the things you love or change the furniture/walls to more suit you guys.. but other than that, just put things you love where you can see em' and you'll be fine lol

Then again.. I've had people walk into my apartment and say things like
"..I feel like this is what you head looks like on the inside" LOL

We've lived in our house for almost three years and the extent of our decorating has been putting up pictures and painting the kitchen. >.< I'm totally with Fran though, pick out things that reflect who YOU are. It doesn't matter if it's completely random, it's still yours and you should feel happy when you see it.

I would be better at decorating if I weren't so cheap. Lol.

When we lived in our apartment, we started to decorate. For the most part we gave things a country/cowboy like feel. Had quite a few western horse themed stuff, etc. Our couch didn't really match, but it was given to us and we kinda worked with what we had. When we find a house I plan on doing a little bit more with the interior decorating. Right now we have a couple things up on the walls, but nothing is decorated beyond that since this is supposed to be a temporary stay.

I LOVE apartment therapy for ideas - but I usually just go with the flow. For example SO had this cool picture hanging in his old apartment, so that went into the living room, and I just kindof went off that:



Since theres alot of red in the painting, we added a red rug, and red pillows and went with an earthy tone for the wall (you can't tell on this picture) and sofa. We still need to get new shelves (ASAP ), but they'll be the same color as the coffee table.




We still need to figur out what to do with the wall behind the sofa - but we only moved in like 4 months ago...
We ended up adding a bunch of fun stuff too: (this is in the hallway)

Sorry - Chaz just hiccuped on me.

Andddd... again. -.-

When I lived in apartments, I never painted the walls. They always required that the renters painted the walls back to white when they moved out, and that seemed like so much work. Then again, I never stayed in the same apartment for longer than a year.

I'm the type of person who needs to have "my" place decorated in order to feel like home. One of the first things I've always done was put up curtains on the windows. It's one of those small things that brings big results- a home never feels like a home to me without curtains.

For our home, we decided we like dark woods, deep rich colors, and eclectic designs. Whenever we go on vacation, we try to find artwork and decorations that match our home. I love looking at my vases and pottery and remembering Nicaragua, rather than Pier One

Terrible picture and from 3 years ago, but this is our den, for example. There's a fireplace on the wall you can't see. And yes, those are Dexter blood slide coasters :