Cribs, blog style

My parents have recently decided (with a little pushing from their children) that they need to redecorate their house. They live in an late 1800s home which they decorated to their style in the early 80s. And it's nice. But outdated. If you remember the 80's, wallpaper was the way to go. So every room has some sort of of country-kitchy wallpaper. Recently, with the purchase of some bedroom furniture (their first in 32 years), they have finally decided to let go of the old style and move into new. And for this, they have entrusted me. Yep, that's right, me.

Now, many might wonder what exactly qualifies me as a decorator worthy of trusting. Of course, the first qualification is hours and hours of watching do it yourself TV. How did we decorate before we had Trading Spaces, Design on a Dime, Flip that House, etc? But, more important that my TV viewing, is actual design history. Basically, they like what I've done with my apartment. Even though I'm more modern than they would ever dream of being. So we've been doing the home decorating conventions and picking out paint colors and fabric schemes for the last few weeks. Hopefully, I'll be able to take some photos and do a nice before and after for you all to enjoy.

Which leads me to this post. I realize, that with the exception of a few readers, most of you will never have the joy of visiting my apartment. So why not bring it to you via the net? Of course, this is mostly a post to commemmorate my digs as is, since eventually one day I will be living elsewhere and this will only live on in my memory. Also, if you could care less about any of this, please feel free to look away.

My decorating theme is mostly discount department store chic. You know, Target, Walmart, TJ Maxx, Meijer, and Value City Furniture for the big ticket items. The paint is all the Kilz one coat stuff from Walmart. Hey, it's what I can afford. So now, I show you, my humble abode:

First up, the Bedroom: It's kinda a Chinese inspired theme.

Bedspread set is from Steinmart. Metal thingees above the bed were from TJ Maxx and the headboard is custom made from a board and fabric I found on clearance (total cost around $16). The side table is from KMart. The gold stripe was my attempt at a custom paint job. I mistakely taped it off and painted the grey, then realized I couldn't tape the edge of the grey without peeling off the grey. So I had to paint the gold stripe by sponge brush. It took me a year to get it done.
My Chinese art is from Burlington Coat Factory.
The fan is tied for favorite piece in my room. I got it from ebay.
These shelves are my other favorite piece in the room. These were actually part of a bookshelf I bought from Meijer for $25. Only, when I was opening the box, I dropped it and the side pieces both broke. So, I decided to be innovative and bought some wall brackets and mounted them alternating on the wall (to hide the unfinished edges). Also, you may not see it, but for some reason the electrical box is in the middle of the master bedroom. My mom thinks I chose my paint color to match. I didn't, but it is a nice touch.

Next, the bathroom:

There's nothing spectacular about the bathroom, except that I picked the paint color before I ever found the shower curtain.

Next, the Kitchen. It's kinda got a french/italian chef theme:

I got these words at TJ Maxx and the wine bottle holders at Meijer.

These wall plaques are from Target. I bought 1, then found out there were 4 in the set, so then I had to keep my eye out for the other 3.
Again, there's nothing spectacular about this art, except I bought them while in law school at Steinmart because they were on clearance, and forgot I had them. I had already decorated my entire apt before I found them and realized they went perfectly with my apt

Next, is the dining area and the one reason I thought I'd fail the bar exam. I moved into my apartment on July 1 and had to take the bar exam at the end of the month. Since I hated staring at white walls and hated studying, I ended up decorating instead of studying for much of the time. And for some reason, I decided to do a unique wall design.

I did this by taping off squares with painter's tape. The taping took me about 4 days. Then paiting the squares took another 2 days, and then scoring the tape so that it didn't remove the paint was another full day. Yeah. I love the wall, but it was a lot of work. And, I mimicked it above the washer/dryer area. Then I wished I had used black instead of brown. The vases were clearance from Meijer at $1.25 a piece. Part of me wants to repaint them, part of me doesn't

And finally, the living room:

The furniture is from Value City. If I had it all to do over again, I'd buy it in black. But then, I didn't have my decorating ideas in mind when I bought it. It's ok, but black would have worked better. The shelves above the couch are my mom's favorite thing. I bought those from target in packs of 2 and then bought some cheap dishes at Walmart for about a buck a piece. It took me a month of laying these all over my floor to figure out a pattern. And then about 4 hours to map out the nail holes to make sure that it was evenly spaced.

And that's all she wrote. Yes, a long, long post. But I feel like you all know me better now.