mtv cribs

Drew and I moved into our first ever apartment together as a married couple three months ago, and I'm finally getting around to this long overdue post about it. To be honest, I don't really care for this post and I'm already a little bored writing it...but I promised too many people that I would post pics of my new digs so you are literally the only reason I'm not backing out. So UR WELCOME.

We found this place thanks to one of Drew's friends in the film program who used to live here with his family. I was immediately smitten on our first walk-through. It has all the furnishings and charm of an old, historic house, but none of the gross, decrepit feels or smells of an old, historic house. I keep saying historic because it really is one of Provo's historic sites! The mayor of Provo used to live here some hundred years ago! There's a plaque on the front porch and everything. Later on it was remodeled and built into eight different apartment units and the front little one on the right is the one we call home.

The living room is easily my favorite spot in the apartment. Everything from the stained glass to the bay windows, to the chandelier, to the mantel makes my antique-loving heart sing. Thanks to KSL we were able to furnish this little room all fairly cheaply! The artwork and most of the décor were things we already had on hand. I'd be lying to you if I said I hadn't been picking things up here and there from thrift shops, even before we were engaged, with our future apartment on my mind. Tell me I'm crazy. We even have an "entertainment corner" equipped with TV, posters of some of our favorite bands and movies (all Drew's contribution), record player and stand. We loooove our Crosley and Urban Outfitters stand so much! We bought it a little presumptuously considering our collection of vinyls is a bit sparse right now, but we're slowly but surely adding to it and have used it a few times already! Turning it on and just chilling in the living room is one of our favorite rainy day activities. 2hipster4u.

 

If I was a legit blogger, Cavallini Papers & Co. would have probably sponsored this post because they contributed to about 70% of the décor in here. Those vintage posters you see in the living room, our bedroom, and in the kitchen? ALL from Cavallini. If we're friends, I have most likely told you about this place before because it is my #1 store for all things crafty, vintage, and cool. I buy my stationary, postcards, wall posters, and cards for all occasions from here. I cannot rave about this place enough! Thank you Cavallini, for making all my decorating dreams come true.

Despite the many quirks about living in such an old house, we absolutely love it. Storage is non-existent, our kitchen appliances may be from the 50's, and our bathroom is barely big enough to move around in, but it's ours. Even though we may not be here for a very long time, we put so much of ourselves in it because we wanted to truly make it feel like our home. So come check out our crib! We love having visitors!

vintage, so adorable.

"All these things are pieces of ourselves. I've built a future by rummaging through the past."

One look at my tumblr page is enough for anyone to see my obsession with home décor. Ever since I moved into my first apartment last year, I developed a love for decorating. More specifically, I love decorating with art and random oddities I find at vintage markets and thrift shops. I'd say more than half the fun is finding stuff, the other bit is figuring out where to put it. There's nothing like scouring aisles (or piles) of antiques and finding gems from over 40 years ago and thinking of how you can revive them in a different setting. I used to cringe at the idea of buying old, used clothing or items, but in the past the few years I've branched out and discovered how much I actually love it. 

Lately, Utah county has been on point with the vintage market scene. In the past few weeks I checked out two fantastic markets, one in Provo and another in Pleasant Grove. The first one in Provo was hosted by Unhinged, my favorite store on Center Street. The vendors were all so fun to talk to and I loved hearing their stories about how they came across what they were selling. You could just tell how much they enjoyed doing this. I thought to myself that one day I'll be like that, and travel all over, buying random things as I go to share them with people like me. Not pictured are the frames, keepsake box, antlers, and globe bought there as well.

Remember how much I love globes? No surprise that maps were a hot item for the both of us. Geography, man.

Guys. GUYS. I just about died when I saw this artist setting up shop on our way out of the market and caught a glimpse of some of his crazy artwork. Good thing we caught him when we did because Drew snagged these two portraits of The Fantastic Mr. & Mrs. Fox. We chatted with the artist who goes by Bacee about his clothing and art brand: Panda Propaganda. Check him out!

 The second of the two markets took place in Pleasant Grove this past Saturday. This one was even bigger, held inside a massive warehouse that was absolutely stuffed with antique furniture, art, clothing, housewares, you name it. I found the most perfect deer skull (see above) which I have been on the hunt for for AGES now. I also scored a few more gold frames I've been needing for my room, as well as another map. Of course.

Story behind this jacket? It was a team jacket for a women's bowling league in Alaska. So rad. Also globes.

Drew found himself a polaroid camera that still works!! He will need to buy more film for it but I am very excited to use it in the future :)

In my element. Give me a donut and antiques and I am content.

TA-DA!!! This stupid wall is finally finally done and it only took me two months to do it. This is the reason I have been collecting so many gold frames. I either found them, spray painted them, or friends donated them to me. My favorite element is easily the white elephant head with gold tusks, which is the one thing on here that wasn't thrifted, but found on White Faux Taxidermy. They have EVERYTHING. I also bought this gold velociraptor skull that I keep on my desk. The more glam the taxidermy, the better.

I've discovered my happy place and it is at a vintage market, searching for hidden treasures to display, use, read, wear, or simply admire. I love that each item has a history behind it, and have all been around much longer than I have. I love that each item I find is unique. I know for certain that I wouldn't be able to find this stuff anywhere else, and I am ALL for that one-of-a-kind style! I am thankful I found a guy who appreciates and enjoys this stuff as much as I do :) I would never consider myself an expert on this by any means, but I would be more than willing to tag along with you the next time you want to venture to a thrift shop or flea market or need any decorating ideas. I'm your gal! I am not kidding when I say it would make me the happiest to do this all over again.

"The joy of junking comes not only from a great find, but also from that moment you figure out how to breathe life into an old piece."

oh Martha, oh Christmas!

Tired of pictures of my apartment yet? Well you soon will be. SORRY but in the words of Aly & AJ...it's the greatest time of year, and it's here, help me celebrate it! Right now, few things in life make me happier than Christmas decorations, Christmas music, and the fact that I will be home for Christmas break in 10 days. SO, now that I have time in between classes and finished my homework, I am writing this post. Even though I already dedicated an entire post to my apartment, it is now more festive than ever and includes a few more non-Christmasy additions that I am too excited about to not share.

lil baby tree

our Holiday Cheermeister

festive. leather. triangles. game over.

Updated kitchen! A few weeks ago we bought these fabulous wall patterns from wallsbymur.com for our kitchen's backsplash. They are simply adhesive stickers and come in tons of different shapes and colors. We ordered one pack of 45 and it was exactly enough, so if you want to decorate an entire wall (which I would LOVE to do if I had the space), you might need to buy 2 or 3. They are easy enough to apply and remove, but fair warning...it is still a pretty arduous task. But this was only because we were extremely nitpicky with the proper spacing and measurements for each one. It was SO worth it though and I would highly recommend them if you are looking to spice up a backsplash, wall, or ceiling in your home.

Updated hallway! Remember when I said I was done buying décor/furniture? Funny joke. Bijou Market was a few weeks ago in downtown Provo, which is a market for local vendors to sell all of their handmade crafts, clothes and other goods. It comes twice a year and me and my roommates had been looking forward to it since we went in April. We just HAD to have this painted wooden sign by Salty Bison. Distressed wooden signs are sOoOo trendy right now, so you should definitely check out their Etsy shop! This sign was the perfect piece for our hallway and considering we have no room for anything else, I am confident in saying we are ACTUALLY done this time. Pinky swear.

snow head of a goblin

Oh, and for some actual news, last night after building snowmen/snowheads, we warmed up by hosting a lil hot chocolate bar at our place for some post-snow partying. The main event was a special screening of "12 Dogs of Christmas: Great Puppy Rescue," a fantastically cheesy movie (think ABC Family original movie status) starring the one and only Skyler Holman! That's right, I'm neighbors with a movie star. So that was super fun watching a new classic Christmas movie and cozying up with some friends for a relaxing evening before the madness of finals begins. Thanks to all of our neighbors for coming over to enjoy a Christmas-cocoa-comfy-come-together with us.

woodland heights' very own celeb

Now that our apartment is full of holiday cheer and my Christmas playlist is on 24/7, I am even more excited to go home than ever before!!! I would recommend listening to 'NSYNC's, Sufjan Stevens', She & Him, and Justin Bieber's holiday albums to get you through finals week and just think...only 15 more sleeps til Christmas! Happy studying and happy holidays!

it's fall y'all!

Last night we threw a fall party for our friends and neighbors. Fall décor is just so much cuter than Halloween décor amiright? Also, we had no desire to compete with the many Halloween parties happening within the next two weeks. Maybe next year... I promise people actually came, I just realized I never took any pictures once more of our lovely guests arrived. Sorry guys, I still love you and think you're all cute. Thank you to everyone who made it out and a special thanks to my fellow hostesses: Abby, Cori and Desireé. You girls are fab and I am so happy we like to host fun shindigs like these together. I just love living with ya! Who else would I have a post-party yoga sesh + mcd's run with? No one. You rock and every day I think about how lucky I am to have met you all. Whoever said rooming with your best friends isn't a good idea was seriously disturbed. Ps let's never move out and/or away, cool? Cool. Cheers to apt. 307. Here's more pics from the party:

Why yes that IS a rose gold pumpkin. Hella glam right? I'm obsessed.

Some treatz. nomnomnom

Wait how cute are my fellow hostesses??

Artwork table cuz we're children. This was actually the best idea of the night (after Dance Central of course). Our coffee table is now adorned with so many funny cartoons. And like, 40 Deathly Hallows symbols. I don't hate it.

More treatz. All pumpkin all the time.

But seriously, the cutest. I just love ya!

#307

About a month ago, I moved into apartment #307 of Woodland Heights with my three lovely roommates Abby, Cori and Desireé. We're FINALLY done furnishing this place after weeks of decorating and shopping. If I don't set foot in another Target for a year, I will be perfectly content. I'm so proud of how everything turned out and I felt blogging about why I love it so much was the only logical way to share it. So without further ado, welcome to my new home!

living room:

This is my favorite spot in the apartment. My roommates found tons of neat ideas for this once blank wall on pinterest which I supported wholeheartedly, but I actually abhor pinterest and refuse to get an account. Instead, I would just make them show me pictures of all the stuff they found. I prefer to look for inspiration elsewhere. For instance, I love the human body and I think illustrations of it make the most beautiful artwork. If it were up to me, we would have a skeleton somewhere in there too. #dark, I know. I found a picture of a skull in an anatomy textbook and asked my artistic roommate Desireé to re-create a sketch of the heart that I fell in love with on tumblr once upon a time (shown on the left-hand side as the link to my twitter :] ). Those two pictures and the stag head are my favorites. The rest of the wall includes Audrey Hepburn, sheet music, quotes, and other pretty pictures. Also, shout-out to my trendy roommate Abby for donating the majority of those fun throw pillows and that cute lil shelf. She contributed a ton of stuff to our crib which is awesome because the less we had to buy, the better!

Across from the wall and sofa is our entertainment system. Let me first tell you about the day we struck GOLD at D.I. (Deseret Industries, the ultimate Mormon thrift store). We found all the obscure, vintage things we've been searching for and more! This shelf was exactly what I had in mind for this spot and it really brightens up the room after its turquoise paint job. But let's just talk about those RACKETS?! Easily my favorite D.I. find to date. It adds a preppy (plus sporty? ok nope, I tried) touch to the room which I absolutely adore. Next to the TV sits this bookshelf we bought at Ikea. We love vintage-looking globes and maps so naturally, not one, but three globes were necessary. The bottom shelf houses a record player and records for everyone to enjoy. 2 h!p$+3R 4 u. kitchen:

I wasn't too picky about anything in the kitchen when we were apartment-hunting. Honestly, I was just jazzed about the filtered water. The origami crane strands, made by my crafty roommate Cori, add a nice pop of color to the ebony table and kitchen cabinets. Also EAT made the wall because that's what I like to do the most. I just love how spacious the living room and kitchen are. It makes our apartment ideal for parties and movie nights, and we are looking forward to hosting both!

bathroom:

Desireé and I share this bathroom and decided to go with a nautical theme + pink and orange because we already owned those towels so why not? The whale, chalkboard and welcome sign were all D.I. finds. Grand total of $2. Perhaps placing a welcome sign above the shower is a lil questionable...oops. But we just couldn't pass up that anchor. I'm serious when I say D.I. is a gold mine. At one point we were even overcome with emotion in the aisles because of how lucky we were in finding stuff. It was concerning. I am so blessed to have a friend and roommate as crazy as I am who is just as passionate about making our apartment the cutest ever. Love ya dezmillz.

bedroom:

Basically pink, orange and more pink. I am currently in the process of making a cork board collage to hang along one entire wall. On the opposite wall I made a shadow box of the people and places I love most. Congrats if you made the cut! My favorite part of this room is the top of my bookshelf which includes a globe (grand total in our apartment is now six), a Valázquez + easel ($7 at goodwill!), and a pair of my old pointe shoes because I will always be a ballerina at heart.

The majority of the things we bought, and in fact all of my favorite items, were purchased at thrift stores. Who says I don't know how to shop on a budget? (Me. I still say that). There was no way I'd be able to find these gems at home goods stores, and that's what I love most about our apartment. It is entirely our own and the perfect blend of our four personalities and styles. I cannot wait for all the fun times to be had here this year. Thanks for sticking to the end of this absurdly long post about furniture and letting me give you a virtual tour of my crib!