Making Our House a Home

Boy is this long overdue!  We have been enjoying the fruits of our DIY labors for just about two weeks now, and just in time, too, because school is happening, folks.  It's happening with ferocity.  But that's for another post.

Last time we spoke I mentioned that we were eagerly attempting to do all we could to make this apartment feel like us.  To give it character and make a place we wanted to be.

First step: painting a wall in the living room.

It was relatively fast and really quite fun (partially because we watched Doctor Who while the paint dried...) and it has made the world of difference.  The wall really adds some character to the room.

We FINALLY got some photos printed!  This has also made a huge difference.

The next task was the pot rack.  After looking online, we knew it was going to be an expense, but we needed to find a solution to the cupboard of cardboard that had up until then been housing our pots and pans.  In the process of looking for DIY curtain rod solutions I stumbled upon a blog called Our Vintage Home Love that provided the answer to our pots-rack problem: in the corner of a picture of something completely different than what we were looking for there was an steal  rod fastened to the wall with pots and pans happily dangling from it!  It was ridiculously simple.  So we jumped in the car and headed to Lowes.

I may have gotten momentarily distracted by the gigantic Halloween lawn decor.

Ultimately we purchased three curtain rods (electrical conduit pipe) and one pot-rack (galvanized steel pipe) for under $80!  A purchased pot rack alone would have been at least $140, and that's before the hooks!

Kitchen  Curtains:

The electrical conduit piping is super inexpensive, and makes for a neat, industrial look.  We're still trying to find a solution we like for the ends of the rods.

The Pot Rack:

A pre-made pot rack.

For some reason, a 10ft steal pipe (cut for free at the store) is the same price as a pre-cut 5ft pipe.  Go figure, and go us!  The most expensive parts were the wall flanges at $6 a pop.  Still worth it.

Our new pretty jars.

While Ben was installing the piping, I worked a project I found on Pinterest (another picture of something that happened to inspire a completely different project) to organize my jewelry.  I'd found cork board at the Hoosier to Hoosier sale, fabric from AZ Vintage, and frames from the UU Church garage sale, all super inexpensive (go resale trail!).

I like how clean and organized it is while managing to look artistic.

This is certainly not the most impressive of our projects, but I was happy to find an easy solution for hanging all our winter scarves.  Curtain rings on a wooden hanger (plastic kept bending).

We still have some fun plans for decorating the bedroom, including painting, but that won't be for another month or so.  I'm thinking Thanksgiving break :)

We do also have the office all set up; though, it's not decorated and my side may or may not be covered in rendering materials... so we'll post those pictures another time.  I will say, though, that I love my drafting desk and have been able to work from home a lot more, which makes us both happy.

This apartment is already so much more wonderful than our previous place.  In part, probably, because we've already experienced so much creative inspiration when looking at ways to decorate and personalize it.  I would even venture to say it's our favorite apartment so far.