Dates, decor, and other grown up things.

At the beginning of this year, I was set up on a date with a guy who was in his thirties. He had been well out of college, owned his own company, drove a sleek black car, sported some really awesome facial hair; you know, super impressive and totally had his crap together. I, at the time, was a soon-to-be college grad and emotional wreck, with my crap very much not together. Needless to say, it didn't work out. But that's besides the point. 

While on that date, I asked him if he had any advice for someone who was about to graduate college. He sat on the question for a cool minute, before giving a response that was completely underwhelming:

"Don't buy furniture."

Half disappointed, half amused, I just took it. And it wasn't until the moment I was standing in an IKEA, deciding between the Fürgendürgen and the Hügendögen for my first unfurnished "big girl" apartment, that I realized what he meant; If I buy this, what am I supposed to do with it when I want to move out? Does buying this mean I'm stuck here? Will I ever get out of Utah? What's the meaning of life?... And that is precisely how a quarter-life crisis is born. In the middle of a Swedish superstore. All because I didn't listen to the thirty-something beard guy with his crap together.

Though the permanence that comes with buying furniture is still what keeps me up at night, I've actually grown to really enjoy decorating this little space of mine since then. So much so, that I posted this picture on Instagram, and a few of you asked if I would talk about it on the blog. Eventually I'll give you a glimpse into my whole apartment, and maybe even take higher quality pics. But this is what you get for now.

So let's start with my desk.
I work from home a lot so creating a space that was actually comfortable and enticing for me to work at was at the top of my priority list. I ended up finding this one from Target, and at the time it was 30% off (currently it's $109.99). I originally saw it in the natural wood finish and fell in love, but Target only had it in white and I was too antsy to order online. The square shelves on top of my desk are also from Target and a similar one can be found HERE.

Art Prints 
Once upon a time I worked at The Gap and in a sad twist of fate, the store closed. The plus side to that- we got to raid the store's visuals, where I found that black and white print above my desk, framed and everything. The other prints are just ripped from an old coffee table book about Missoni I found at a thrift store for $4, mixed in with a few black and white photography prints from yours truly. The moral of the story here is that you can find cool stuff in the least expected of places, so always be on the look out! Expert tip: black and white washi tape is really great for the effect, but horrible at keeping your pictures up. Use mounting putty in addition to the tape so your pictures don't fall down in the middle of the night and give you a damn heart attack.

Letters
Aside from making your parents think you're really into drug culture, this is also a cheap, easy way to decorate your walls. I chose the word "DOPE" because, well, it's dope. But the possibilities are endless. I bought mine at JoAnn's and used the app to get 40% off my purchase.

Almost everything else (rug, fur pillow, cork board, succulents, picture frames) are from IKEA, because, duh. My chair was $5.00 from DI (holla), and the shelving unit was inherited from a friend.

Bonus!
The desk lamp was actually from my freshman year of college. It used to have this giant ugly plastic thing at the bottom where you could store pens and pencils, so I was about to throw it away until I realized that underneath the plastic eyesore was a cool, chrome base. I just took a hammer to the poor thing, and there you have it.

I still don't know what I'm going to do with all this stuff when I move out, and I still don't know when that will be, or what my future holds, but what I do know is that I finally feel happy and comfortable being home, and taking the time to put a personal touch into your space makes all the difference.

So take that, beard-guy.

xo
Lo