Decorating an Apartment

Since last week's whirlwind of manual labor to pull the deck together before our houseguests arrived we have taken a bit of a break on that particular project.  We'll get back to it in a few weeks to finish the railing, create the back stairs and to stain everything, but in the meantime I have switched gears to an exciting new interior decorating project.  Vivian, a dear, fun, incredibly stylish friend of mine here in Louisville has decided to get a masters degree at a seminary about an hour and a half away, and she'll be living in a student apartment for a few days a week while she's in class.  I couldn't have been more excited when she asked me to help her decorate her new place, especially since she has the most beautiful home you've ever seen, so she clearly knows what she's doing:)  We have had THE best time already working on this, and I can't wait until everything is in place and I can show you the after photos!

The seminary included some upgrades that were a pleasant surprise, like the heavy kitchen cabinets and stainless steel appliances, and these student town homes are brand new, which means the place feels clean and fresh.  Vivian wants to be able to make the space comfortable without being fussy or too formal, and with every piece of furniture or look we consider we're trying to strike a balance of clean and refined (she is an adult, after all:)) with student living.

 The kitchen is open to the living room/dining area area, which makes the whole first floor feel open and spacious.  Because the apartment doesn't have a ton of square footage, we wanted to double check our dimensions and picture the layout before buying any furniture to be sure we could squeeze in both a dining room table and a comfortable seating arrangement.  Marking off the area with paper furniture helped us to picture the flow of the space and what all we could fit together in there-- for instance, we realized we weren't just limited to a love seat like we had first feared but could use a full couch as long as the dimensions were reasonable (less than 85").  When you're buying furniture from antique and second hand places and you can't return anything, taking the time to measure carefully and plan the layout is critical.  I didn't really want to be stuck unloading extra furniture on eBay at the end of this:)

 Stay tuned for more planning, shopping and the big reveal!

xo

Liza