Dining Area and Kitchen

I am finally almost settled into my new apartment. The kitchen is ready to be used, although I have yet to use the sad little electric stove and oven and I have been living here for 15 days.

The Dining Area

Dining Table and chairs and cart (with microwave on top) - IKEA (The table was a great deal, it's less than $200 for the entire set. I really liked the look of the unfinished wood).

Curtains - World Market

Chair cushions - Anthropologie (the chair cushions don't match because I got two of them on clearance and the other two a while back, but I like the mismatched look because it's more affordable).

Shelves - Planters from Home Depot garden section mounted as shelves. They were only $15 a piece!

The Kitchen

The kitchen is a really important part of a home for me, unfortunately, now that I am living in a rental there is not much I can do with the kitchen-- including the yucky stove. The shelves in the kitchen were boring and kind of ugly and since I can't paint them I pasted on these decorative leaves. I hope they stay on!

Falling leaves decal - Urban Outfitters (where I originally saw them) but you should get them from Amazon for a much cheaper.

Towel hooks - World Market (the hooks look a lot like hooks sold by Anthropologie but at a third of the price).

I bought chalk board shelf liner and covered half of the freezer. I have no idea why there would be a chalk board shelf liner but it's worked well for me to jot down things I need to buy. You can get a chalkboard decal from Urban Outfitters, but again, you can get the shelf liner from Amazon for a fraction of the price and more material.

I am finding it a little difficult to decorate a rental but I think it is worth decorating and making it your own even if you only plan on living there for one year. I like to be able to come home and enjoy being at home. 

I have been doing most of my frame hanging late at night. I forget my neighbors are at such a close proximity and I have been using an electric drill. They are probably facebooking about me, their noisy neighbor.