The many faces of the living room...

The first picture with the white sofas and black coffee table is what the place looked like when we first went to check it out before renting it. The other 2 are some different styles we played around with. In all honesty, I think there's way too much furniture in both layouts of the room, but we had such a small space that we needed to utilize it in such a way.

New bedroom decor

Although we have since moved and changed the decor AGAIN I feel the need to update through all the stages of our decor growth. In our "old" bedroom before we moved we finished the "wall of square ikea mirrors" and got a fun and retro inspired geometric bedding set from jysk for $50. Brown throw and pillows from jysk as well. It was very tranquil and relaxing and one of my favourite rooms.

New decor one year later...

So I just realized it's been a WHOLE YEAR since I posted on this blog! occasionally I get an awesome and encouraging comment from someone who has stumbled across this, and so I hope this time I can keep up with my blogging. Since my last posts, I completely redesigned and refurnished the living room and updated the bedroom as well, and then moved and completely decorated and refurnished a new place. I told you I'm compulsive! Before I get to the new place I'll update you on the changes made to the old place. I found a chaise sectional on craigslist for $700 and with the help of a jysk credit card bought all new furniture. Glass and chrome coffee and end table- $180. Sideboard/buffet used as TV stand- $225, adjustable desk $200, puzzle bookshelf- $150. Faux fur rug from zellers on sale for $45! All of this added up of course, but I sold all the previous furniture on craigslist so was able to put that money towards the new stuff. I know I shouldn't be condoning credit card debt to the public, but I happen to be one of those people with a great track record, so when I pay off the total of the credit card before the "1 YEAR NO INTEREST" prom expires, I will have an excellent payment plan (about $25 a week) with absolutely no interest charges. Works for me! Now if you weren't to pay it off within the year, then BIG trouble because the interest rate is HUGE!

More Vinyl Peel and Stick Backsplash Pics

Vinyl Backsplash! Before and After

Finished with the backsplash!

After many hours of peeling and sticking, my easy, cheap and temporary backsplash has materialized, and all in time for the in-laws! I must admit it's absolutely GORGEOUS! It worked out better than expected and it honestly looks like a million bucks! All I have left to do is find some trim, which honestly I'm having a hard time doing, and it will be 100% complete. I'm going to create a word document with all the instructions on it for anyone who is interested in trying it for themselves. I'll post some pics tomorrow ;)

Starting the vinyl peel and stick tile backsplash!

So I was given the go ahead and I've finally started on my exciting project. It's funny because it feel slike I'm more doing a "craft" as opposed to something for me home, but what can you do? I have about 1/3 of the kitchen complete, and if I must say so myself it looks pretty damn good.

I am using corrogated plastic in black to stick the tiles onto, and leaving a few gaps here and there which I use to screw the piece onto the wall and then cover with the tile. I was going to use a contact cement to adhere the pieces on perfectly and securly, but I decided to just go with the peel and stick backing and IF they fall off then I'll reinforce them. They seem pretty stuck on to me though.

It takes a lot of time and patience to get this done...the cutting has to be precise, but no matter how precise you are the squares will still be a little varied from one another. That means when placing them on the backing you need to make sure all the squares in one row are generally the same size so that you don't have overlapping edges. I just have a stack of 10-20 beside me and I try each one until I find the perfect fit.

The only thing left to buy is some vinyl quarter round inch trim that hopefully is self-adhesive. I guess I'll just have to go back to the hardware store and take a look.

Anyways, for all those who might consider this option because they're in a rental, I DEFINITELY reccommend this technique. Yo're making practically no commitment because it costs under $100 and all that you have if it doesn't work out is a few screw holes in your wall! And honestly, I'm really damn impressed with myself because I think it looks so good! It makes my kitchen pop and the colours just complement everything! I will take pictures later on this week when it's all complete! The inlaws arrive tomorrow so hopefully I get er all done!

The Perfect Chandelier

I want this!!! The green goes really well with the green on my canvas above the dining table It also has a classic whimsical look without being too frilly. All of the other crystal chandeliers scared the nuts off of the man, so maybe he'd be okay with this one. Only $24.99 from Urban Outfitters. Once again.....CANADA....grrrrrr. I might just have to get this shipped to the states and go across the border to pick it up.

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=28233&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=336&iSubCat=593&iProductID=28233

Removeable Wall Decor

I really like the idea of these artistic wall decals that can be put on any walls in your rental. Inexpensive, and best of all, not permanent, they offer a great solution for any blah-white-wall apartment. These are from Urban Outfitters. Man I wish we could get this stuff in Canada. SO not fair!! The red ones are only $19.99 for a set of 6!

Kitchen Backsplash Plans

Our landlady came by today to look at the plans and tiles for my tentative kitchen backsplash. This project is true DIY and I'm sure most people will shake their heads once they hear my plans.

Our kitchen is nice. Just nice. It's obviously much better than a ton of other rentals out there, but it has absolutely nothing unique to offer. A beigey colour laminate countertop, white cabinets with brushed nickle hardware, white appliances and a fairly convincing looking tile-like vinyl floor. It's not awful by any standards, but being stung by the home decor bug, I'm itching to do something to it. And truthfully, the only thing I can really think of doing is a backsplash. My original idea was to buy some peel and stick small wall tiles and create a mosaic. This UK company seems to have a really great product: http://www.stickandgo.com/. I was also looking at some neat aluminum tiles with the same idea: http://www.mileskimball.com/mileskimball/Shopping/ProductDetail.aspx?CID=Home&SCID=Decorative+Home&CollectionID=DC0000138&SiteNum=0&SourceCode=3560100&Affid=1&scid=M058PNE

My problem with these options were a) I don't want to be spending a couple hundred dollars on a kitchen I could only be in for 6 months and b) I don't want to start sticking tiles to the wall of a rental for fear of completely ruining walls that don't belong to me. I started researching vinyl peel and stick floor tiles for use on a backsplash. I found a couple places where it had been done (HGTV has a couple articles on it: http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_design_kitchen/article/0,1793,HGTV_3375_3378755,00.html) and figured I might as well give it a go.

I headed to the Home Depot and ended up choosing 2 remarkably nice stone-finish vinyl tiles. One in a rustic brown, the other in greyish beige. The colours worked together and best of all tied in both the kitchen floors and the counters. I bought 24, 12 of each colour, with the intent to cut the into 4 inch squares. The cost about 1.50/ sq foot. I ended up renting a vinyl tile cutter and got straight to work on many hours of precise tile cutting. After taping some up with scotch tape to create a mock mosaic of how it would potentially look, the man and I decided that 2 inch tiles would work better. Yay! More cutting for me.

The man, having endured many hours of marathon HGTV-watching, has developed some pretty good taste. The 2-inch mosaic mock up looked much better than the 4 inch, but there was something missing. I myself realized this right away but after putting so much effort into creating this two-tone masterpiece, was just happy to settle with what was already done. He, of course, didn't quite have the personal attachment I had, and suggested we incorporate one more colour into the mix. A darker colour. This was great advice, and of course I'd already thought of it myself, but the rustic brown I had selected was the darkest colour they carried at Home Depot.

The next day I made my way to Rona and found even cheaper vinyl tile ( 60 cents each!) in a glossy black finish. Total contrast from the matte faux-stone, but I figured with such a low price, might as well buy some and see how they work. They ended up looking stunning beside the earthiness of the other tile and really created a nice balance of traditional and modern. I only bought 6 of the black tiles because I didn't want the black to take over the kitchen. It ended up being the perfect ratio of black to earth-tones.

You're probably wondering how the hell I'm going to put these tiles up if I don't want to wreck the walls. I DO have a plan, this is for sure. Whether or not it will work is another story. I originally wanted to find some really thin plexiglass that could be cut with an exacto knife. This way we could fit and cut it to our backsplash, screw it into the wall, and cover with the peel and stick tiles. This way there would only be a few holes to fill in the wall when we leave and IF the peel and stick tiles don't work out, then we can just nix the whole idea. Unfortunately plexi is not only expensive but it's also much thicker than I was looking for.

Plan B: That plastic corrogated cardboard like stuff. I don't know what it's called but it looks like plastic cardboard. The stuff that you find at ikea. It's sold in massive sheets at Rona for about 20 bucks. It should be relatively easy to cut to size and they sell a bunch of colours so we might use black or brown. The tiles might not stick as well on this surface so I'll just use contact cement. I REALLY hope my landlady okays my plans so I can start soonbefore the inlaws arrive! I'd love for them to see my creativity materialized. For now, I'm going to get to taping the rest of the mirrors to the walls in the bedroom!

P.S I don't have pics of my backsplash mosaic, but above you will find the images I used as inspiration.

The Bedroom- Pictures

The Bedroom

Our "master" bedroom has a neat shape, but very little room. Fortunately for us, all we had was a double bed, and no bedroom furniture, so we were able to start from scratch and get pieces that fit our needs. I really wanted a classic looking warm bedroom with espresso furniture, but that cost mucho $$$. I wouldn't sacrifice my dream, so our DIY selves came out to play. Instead of a bed frame or platform bed, we used 4" mattress legs that screwed into the boxspring. Perfect low-profile bed, for only $10!

Our headboard is probably the piece in the room I am most proud of. We bought a $14 piece of MDF shelving, had it cut to size, painted it, and literally screwed it into the wall like hanging a picture. It looks great and someone we know who has the Ikea Malm bedframe (one that I love but could not afford) thought that was what we had! We ahceived a very similar look but for so much less. I was also happy about this because we might upgrade to a queen size bed soon if we can fit it, and we won't have all the hassel of needing a bigger bedframe.

Our 3 4-drawer dressers cost us $35 each at Jysk (which must be one of my favourite places ot go in the world). The dressers themselves aren't the greatest quality but they'll do us fine in the short term. We painted them with the same espresso melamine finish that we did the headboard with.

FInishing off our painting extravaganza, we bought 2 unique looking stools from Ikea for $20 each and painted those as well. They've made really great end tables and help tie everything together.

Our bedroom is finished off with a great microfiber ottoman that we got for $50 at the Real Canadian Stupid Store, a striped duvet($30- Jysk), a few mirrors from Ikea (which will eventually cover up the whole wall when we get around to it but currently only expands one line) and a game table a family friend built for us.

In total we spent UNDER $300 on this room!!! Pretty incredible if I must say so myself.

The Living Room- Pictures

The Living Room

Our small living room was the first place we tackled. Being on a budget, we obviously has many restrictions as to what we could do with the space. I personally would die for a chaise sectional and some bold furnishings, but the money and space we had to work with were both limited. All things considered, we did a pretty great job making the most of both. The room feels a lot bigger than it did when the previous tenant lived here, and we did it all on a modest budget! One of the reasons I created this blog was to help other people like myself, who have small spaces and not a lot of money to work with. I searched all over the internet, and continue to do so, looking for tips and advice on decorating and design that are not only suitable to my budget, but suitable for a RENTAL. This is key, because in all honesty there's not much you CAN do. Creativity is key when you can only really change the furniture around. Anyways, point being I am going to detail everything as much as I can because I WANT people in similar situations to understand you CAN make a place look great with a very limited budget.

Like I said before, we have two layouts for our living room. The first we had for about a month consisted of 3 ottoman cubes arranged in a bench like style, an arm chair and 3-seat couch. All of this was purchased off of craigslist for a total of $210. I already had the Klubbo coffee table, but it sells really cheap at Ikea for $69. We got the matching nesting tables which we use as side tables for an additional $79 (which we actually didn't pay for as they were a gift) and an entertainment stand (XBOX 360 stand, really) for $40. The fabric for my pillows and inserts cost $40, the 3 Ikea mirrors painted black were $14, and the 3 small canvas pictures $7 each (Unbelievable I know!). Everything was finished off with some $30 Ikea lighting and we were set to go. All for under $450!!

I created art above the couch by stretching fabric over canvas frames. I had left over striped fabric from the pillows and spent an extra $10 on complimentary coloured fabrics. I was really happy how they turned out because I was having difficulty finding artwork that work with our colours and the striped pillows.

The most recent layout includes the addition of a $175 sofa bed from ikea (which has the EXACT same fabric as the arm chair) as well as two Rian side table that we use pulled up against the couch to eat on and work on. Although these additions cramp the room a bit, they add much more convenience and function to it. With these included, our total expenditure on the living room was $650.

The Furnishings

Being our first place we had very little in the way of furniture. We had a coffee table, a bookcase, and a double mattress and boxspring. Craigslist, of course, came to the rescue! I bought an Ikea armchair and matching cube for $60, an Ikea Klippan couch, cover and two matching cubes for $150 and our glass kitchen dining set for $55. We then bought 3 small dressers at Jysk for $35 each and painted them, as well as a $175 small sofa bed from Ikea. We originally used the 3 ikea cubes to create extra portable seating. It looked great because it incorporated the 2 colours in the living room (ransta gray and white) as well closed off the room a bit. Once we got the sofa bed we demoted the cubes to the corners but it's nice to still know they're around in case we need them. Here are some EARLY pictures of our decorating as well as some before pics.

The Apartment

It all began with my first apartment ever. Well, it's really a basement suite but I'll refer to it as an apartment. It's in a brand new house in an amazing little area. It's close to everything and feel really homey. The unit itself isn't huge, but we have our own yard, a ground level entrance and our own parking spot. It was truly the layout that won me over. The kitchen was OK- plain white appliances, much unlike the stainless and modern appliances many other places had to offer. The bathroom, small, without even a single drawer for storage and only a small below counter space for my abundance of toiletries. Despite a few downfalls, the place instantly felt like home to me. It has a laundry room and neatly laid out master suite as well as berber carpet! All this being said, a lot of work needed, and needs, to be done to make this place feel like home!

In the beginning...

There was a one bedroom, plain and uninspired basement suite. In the end, there will be a cool and creative masterpiece that we call our home. From inexpensive furniture off of craigslist, a ton of DIY projects that make the most of our master bedroom, to an amazing kitchen backsplash for under $60 total, watch and read as the transformations continue. Welcome to my decor journal and hope you enjoy!