Home Tour: Dining, Kitchen and Living Rooms

J and I are saving to buy a house in the next year or so, and it’s easy to want to rush to that next step. But I need to remind myself how much I love our apartment. Sure it’s small and it’s an apartment, but I love the simplicity of it. I know one day I will look back and miss have just three rooms to clean (okay, five if you count the bathrooms).

I always get a little awkward sharing photos of my home, especially since there are so many prettier rooms out there. But I love this place. It’s a mixture of old, mostly used things that are mine and has kind of a newlywed charm about it. And that’s just a nice way of saying, we own lots of hand-me-down stuff. ;)

Anyway, my home was all spick-and-spam before guests came to stay, so I thought I’d take some photos to remember this space later. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) it was right before New Years so there are a few Christmas decorations scattered about.

Let’s get started shall we? :)

DINING ROOM:

^Here’s the view of our doorway that leads to our dining room and a view of the guest room. This little entry way collects all of our mail, keeps Leia’s leashes and towels to dry off when it’s raining, and that blue bucket is where we keep our recycling.

^Our dining room is to the left of the kitchen. I put scrapbook paper in the back of my hutch to give it some color. My grandmother painted that sunflower picture and also gave me the coo-coo clock. When we move to a house, I would like to paint the hutch and the table and chairs.

^Some of my favorite items are in this hutch, including a red vase my dad gave me, beloved cookbooks, my grandmother’s old kitchen timer, and our wedding toppers.

KITCHEN:

^Our kitchen is pretty small but opens up to the dining room and living room. It’s really just one big room. :) We also have a little office nook where we keep our computers.

^We don’t have a lot of cabinets, so I try to store spices, cutting boards, and oven-mitts near the microwave.

^These shelves above the office nook may be my favorite spot. So colorful and cheeky. Oh and some may remember my obsession with these Anthro owls… my parents got one for me for Christmas! I named him Howard. :)

LIVING ROOM:

^All of our furniture is hand-me-downs, which we are so thankful for. Our couch is very vintage — but in the worst sense of the word. Very short, shallow and a hideous yellow/green floral underneath the couch cover. But it works and we are thankful! My mom got me that chevron rug for my birthday this year and it’s amazing how it pulls the room together.

^ Here’s the other side of the living room… ignore the Christmas decor. ;) The green chairs were also hand-me-downs from J’s parents and I love them both so much.

^Here’s a closer look at the floating shelves above the TV. On the bottom shelf has an April 2011 calendar framed (the month we got married), and a photo taken from our engagement shoot. On the top shelf is a picture of us at my cousin’s wedding, a photo I got at the Eastern Market in DC (that still needs a frame), a Seinfeld quote print, and a jumping photo of my family.

^Here’s a glance at the living room from the other side. The bird art above the couch is from World Market.

^Our coffee table tray. We don’t normally have fresh flowers. :) The coffee table was also a hand-me-down, which I painted last summer. Here’s a before/after of the table.

^Here is our patio, which we use when it’s warm and keep the Christmas lights up year-round for when we need a little whimsy in our life. I wasn’t ready to part with our pumpkins so I dumped them in a pot outside.

 

There you go! A little tour of the main area.