A Home is Built in Time

Hey there décor people! I’m currently sitting on my couch with Mr. Rango watching Glee pushing off going food shopping cause this weather is STANKKKKKK. That and I have a butt load of stuff to do around the apartment. Our sink is just about to overflow, I have laundry that is screaming to be folded, a couch that needs vacuuming because Rango decided to shed and create another animal with all his hair…but as I stood in kitchen making a mental list of what needed to be done today, I just looked at our 900sq ft apartment and felt comfort, I felt at home. “Well duh, it is YOUR home, why wouldn’t you?” I shall explain. I have lived in 2 other apartments since being married, and in each one I was so focused on wanting brand new things cause I thought that is what would make me love our home, and when we couldn’t afford them I would get a bit bent out of shape. I wanted new furniture, I wanted a new headboard for our bed, I wanted a new dresser and this gorgeous tv stand that I had my eyes on for some time. You know, if we bought everything I wanted right away it would cost us a good 2 grand, AT LEAST. As newly weds and just starting out in our careers, dropping 2 thousand dollars was not a priority or realistic. And going into debt just because I wanted new things was not something we were willing to do.

SIDE NOTE If you like brand new things, if you can afford to buy high-end items for your home that is great! I have plenty of friends who do and their homes look stunning! I am not bashing that at all, REMEMBER this is a blog aimed towards BUDGET FRIENDLY DÉCOR and making a home beautiful for LESS!

Ok back to business……Soooooo, our first apartment I loved but I was not happy with it because I was not grateful for what we already had. I did not see the beauty in the hand-me-downs. I did not appreciate the things we got for the cheap. I was “OK” with it but was not thrilled. Then we moved to our next apartment. And I became more content. But that “content” feeling was brought about because I would spend way too much money on décor and then a month later not be happy and go and spend more money to replace the stuff I just bought a month ago. Example. I bought some new wall décor because we “needed it”, now almost a year later I have gotten rid of just about all of it. Not because it wasn’t nice, but because we did not need it. I overloaded on buying EVERYTHING AT ONCE and in doing so I bought things I eventually was not happy with. I just got them, to fill our space and it caused me to never feel at peace or comfort in a place that was supposed to be our home because I was never happy with what I already had and was constantly striving to make it better. Fast forward to our recent move to our current apartment. We got rid of A LOT and just kept the things we needed and loved. We kept my husbands dressers that he had since childhood, our couch (that I painted and love) and end table from my in-laws, our nightstands that I got in college, our 15$ book shelf from Wal-Mart that I painted, our coffee table that my in-laws gave me in college and I turned into an ottoman, our metal filing cabinet I found at Habitat For Humanity, our dining table our in-laws bought us, and a tv stand we got for 10$ at a thrift shop.

Our apartment was bare, it was simple, it was a blank slate and I LOVED IT!  I was not in a rush to fill it up and decorate it. I wanted to slowly add things to our home that I knew we would love and want to keep for years to come. My first purchase was an old pea green retro velvet chair. I am in serious love with this chair, like for real I just stare at it sometimes, it’s kind of weird. I found it at an antique mall and was able to bargain for it and got it for 40$. My next purchase was 2 yellow industrial bar stools cause we needed some seating at our bar since we don’t have a dining room in our new place. I was able to get both of the stools for 45$ (originally 90$). Since we got rid of our bigger couch to make more space, our sitting was a bit limited for when we had company over so I was then on the hunt for a chair. I was checking craigslist and different websites but I either found something I liked and it was expensive or I found something that was cheap and I was not thrilled about it. So for about 2 months we held off on getting anything and I kept searching and one day I found a vintage navy blue wingback chair in our neighborhood bulk dumpster! I freaked out! And just to clarify, the bulk dumpster was for furniture ONLY, no trash was in there, EW. I called my husband and told him to get his truck and we loaded the chair up, I sanitized it and now we have our extra seating and we didn’t have to pay a penny for it!

Over the next couple of weeks I collected some old frames for less than 1$ apiece and hung them up for some wall décor, I got some old items from thrift stores, I found some neat little items in Target’s HOT SPOT, shopped around our apartment and took things that we both had for years and refurbished them, and SLOWLY but surely our apartment has come together; in my opinion, BEAUTIFULLY. Every time I walk into our home I fall in love with it over and over again. I feel comfort and cozy, and not just because it’s a small apartment, but because almost every item in our apartment has meaning to it, whether given to us by our families, brought from childhood, from another era, previously owned,  or refurbished and given a second chance. It’s a special place, it’s home.

I have learned that your home does not need to be filled RIGHT AWAY. It does not need to be fully decorated within days of moving in. A home is made a home in time. It is the unique, old, run down, new, antiques, weird, family items that make your home YOURS!



happy decorating