Little things in my apartment

So it finally happened! We moved!! 

It took a really long time for us to find a place that we love and can afford which proved to be almost an impossible task. But somehow we did it!!!

Although I know that this is a Kloset Space and not an interior designer web-site I'm so excited about our apartment that I would like to share some affordable items we have here.

I would like to begin with the hallway, mind it though that ours is a NYC apartment and size is usually nothing to be proud of and one room might turn into another one in a blink of an eye.

These picture frames are from IKEA. My girlfriend and I rented a car one day to make a trip to Brooklyn. There is also a free ferry from downtown that will take you directly to the mall in case you don't want to spend money on a car. These frames were only $5 each so I got three of them. We took some pictures ourselves to make it more personal, printed them in black and white and now have a little picture gallery in the hallway. I also would like to mention that my boyfriend took a task of painting ALL the walls in our apartment which I consider very courageous and worthy of a medal. Paint really made a huge difference so I would always recommend painting at least one or two walls in the apartment if you are planning to stay there for at least a year or two.

Another item that was bought at IKEA is this dresser. It's very spacious and was only $179. A nice Tiffany-style lamp and a couple of pictures will be a great addition to it. Hopefully we'll have furniture from  more respectable establishments than IKEA (some day) but for now it's perfect since we'll most likely be moving at least a couple more times and usually furniture gets damaged in the process.

Next to the dresser we have this hamper. I wanted to have it so badly for years and for some reason never got it. It's a perfect storage space for dirty laundry and it can be in the middle of the room and actually add some character to it (as long as there is nothing too smelly inside). There are different kinds sold in Bed Bath and Beyond for $40-$50.

This painting was painted by my boyfriend's grandma and was given to us by his family (I'm lucky to have a boyfriend from such an artistic family). This was a perfect picture for us since we wanted to have something special there and had a hard time finding a good paining at a reasonable price. Paintings or pictures really make a difference and a great one would make a bedroom special and different from any other. I would recommend having an abstract painting or a black and white picture in the bedroom. If it was up to me though I would have a huge portrait of Marylin Monroe there :) 

Since we have a limited space in the apartment, all my vases and a couple of photographs went on top of kitchen cabinets. I saw it done this way in some magazine and decided to try it. Now I recommend everyone to do the same. It gives kitchen a little touch and frees up the space on the ground level.

We were so lucky to have three huge windows in the living room with 2 balconies/fire escapes. So we planted some flowers there right away as well as dill, basil and tomatoes. For some reason seeing these plants growing and blooming makes us happy and definitely provides a little more color to our apartment (not mentioning a nutritional value!).

Surely, we couldn't go without a huge tropical plant! This one is from Home Depot and it was so inexpensive that we couldn't resist. If you ever go shopping for plants please check Home Depot first because prices there are at least two times less than at any other store. Plus they have a return policy on plants as well! So if you don't like something about your plant down the road just bring it back and get a refund. In addition, when you buy plants from them they replant it right at the store and also deliver (for a small fee). This plant cost about $100 with the pot and delivery compared to $150 just for the plant at a regular flower shop.

The lamp. We found this lamp in Bed Bath and Beyond, it was sold in a set of two for $40. A bargain! Besides I like its library look and it goes perfectly with a brick wall.

One of my favorites is a leaning book shelf from Crate and Barell. We all know how expensive that store is but I have to admit that it's not without a reason. The quality of their goods is a top notch and it looks like they have the best designers. However we went to craigslist for this shelf and got it for a mere $50! It's so elegant and fits a good amount on stuff on it, among them books and just some decorative items like a sand watch. I simply love this thing, although there is no real use of it but it just looks great. Little things like that add charm to the apartment and I always look for them in department stores. This one I found at Home Goods (one of my favorite home stuff store) for $20. 

You can also see a window curtain hook on the same picture, this also is just a little touch to have our windows look organized but at the same time add a little detail to the window design. A set of two hooks was about $4 at Bed Bath, simply a bargain! Another thing to mention about this store is that you should always always have 20% coupons when you go there. Makes shopping so much more fun and less guilt!

I'm still working on decorating our apartment, always looking for little things to add here and there like another picture on the wall or shelves or pillows. And surely, can't wait for the Christmas time when we can decorate it for the magical time of the year.