our cozy little city spread..

My roommate and I could not be more different. I'm into painting my toenails, doodling on our message board, and finding a creative way to hang all my scarves in my sorry excuse for a little closet.  She plays rugby, has like six pairs of shoes, and isn't at all phased by the fact that her room doesn't even have a closet. She is as calm as a cucumber when it comes to just about everything, and I am a dramatic, anxious, control freak. She prefers 'The Office' and JETS football to my OC reruns and SEC Saturdays. Oh, and she loves vegetables.. SEE? I'm telling you, we are night and day. 

One night after we moved in to our apartment, I went in her room and tried to organize her purses on the back of her door and tidy up her make-shift closet thingies (read: me and my OCD annoyed the heck out of her). We got into a discussion about things we love to buy and we started sharing our materialistic weaknesses.. 

" Roommate: Everybody has that thing they love to shop for.. You know how some people buy shoes? Well, I like to buy purses.

Me: Oh yeah I like to buy home furnishings.

Roommate: ..........

Me:  You know, like, I'd rather save my money up for a new vase or something.. "

She laughed and laughed and laughed and she could not wrap her brain around the fact that I like to buy home decor. I, on the other hand, didn't understand her laughter (or how on earth she was so unbothered by her lack of closet space... it makes me nervous just thinking about it) Doesn't everyone like to shop for homey stuff? New towels? Throw pillows? Picture frames? candles? OH, BE STILL MY HEART! I can think of few things better than a tall white mocha and an afternoon sifting through an antique store.

I grew up in a home that had funky Mose-T paintings on the wall and family heirlooms for furniture. On Saturday nights, our family would watch HGTV and plot our next redesign. My dad is an amazing craftsman and sometimes he would let me work the circular saw or hammer away on some of his projects. My mom and I love shopping for goodies.. I think I spent half of my childhood in a Waccamaw, TJMaxx, or the local fabric store. I really do get it honestly. 

When my roommate and I were looking at apartments last spring, I would check out the wall space and the floors and my brain would bubble with all the creative things I could do. I literally couldn't wait! When we finally found and moved into our little nest (and I mean litttttttle), we were smack dab in the middle of summer semester and midterms. We barely slept between unpacking boxes and writing papers. We didn't have much time to decorate and our apartment looked so sad. I kept thinking of all the things I wanted to do, but couldn't find the time or the money. For the rest of the summer we didn't really touch our space. I found a (FREE!) couch from craigslist, picked up a mirror from someone's trash on our street, and Amy bought a bookshelf. We got hand-me-down dishes from our parents and that was about it. Nothing in it was ours. It was such a miserable space.. all empty and cold and unlived in. The walls were white and stale and everytime I walked in, I would all but close my eyes until I made it back to my room. Since it is a converted two bedroom, one wall in our living room was mismatched from all the others. It has to be the ugliest thing you've ever laid your eyes on (just click on the picture below.. VOM.). We didn't enjoy sitting in the space so we certainly didn't want to invite people over. This dark, gross feeling just hung over the room. 

After visiting Alabama for a few weeks in August, I remembered that feeling of 'home' and I knew I needed to put a little loving touch on my apartment. Little by little we began adding to our space and it (all 584 square feet) feels like home more each day. We read in our living room, we eat, we laugh, we cry and dance in our living room. We blast music and play board games and tell secrets in our living room. Now we are living in our living room. And it feels really, really nice. 

My once dreary living room is no more! Now there is furniture and cute pillows and fresh flowers and the smell of a really awesome pumpkin candle burning on the bookshelf. It is warm and cozy and our little couch just begs to be curled up on! The ugly wall is now flanked with a curtain (or sheet.. shh! my mom is a genius!) and we have comfy seating for guests. You know what that means? It's time for you to come see us!