It seems that there have been a ton of McLinky parties with “Show us your holiday decor!” and “Give us a tour of your home!” and I have been wanting to participate. Very much so. Problem is everytime I’d get the apartment camera/blog ready (as in, it doesn’t ever truly look like these pics, but I wanna lie to you and make you think it does), I’d start another project and it’d become total chaos again. And again.

And again.

I’m sure you can relate, right? Oh please tell me I am not the only one who let’s bags and bags of random purchases pile up on the sofa. Am I?

Finally, tonight I decided I need to get everything put away and camera ready. So, you ready for a tour of my humble little apartment?

I had debated about whether or not to even post pictures since I know (really, I do) that they do not compare some other people’s homes. They have 10 foot tall trees (real ones even!), majestic staircases, and glorious kitchens to decorate. I have a living/dining room combo and a bar area that serves as my “mantle”. Yeah, nothing too impressive, but if you’re out there reading and you have a tiny apartment or home, you too can have a gorgeous home. And hey, it’s less to decorate which means less to put away in January.

And off we go! Right when you walk to in our front door you step immediately into our living room. Like seriously, you do. No foyer, no grand hallway, you’re in immediately.

You turn to the left (robbers, take notes) and you see our lovely beige sectional and my white Goodwill coffee table. It used to have pumpkins on it, but now it looks like this:

The silver/grayish hurricanes with scrolly patterns are from Wal-Mart, $5 each. The big glass bowl is a wedding gift and it’s by Mikasa. The 2 silver candle holders were a major score at Dollar General for $2 each. The runner is from last year’s Kohl’s holiday decor, and it’s silver with a flocked, black damask pattern. I paid $13 for the runner, and I lurve it! The jewels scattered on the table are from Target- they come 24 to a pack for $6.99 and they’re technically supposed to be ornaments. Finally, the ornaments in the bowl are from Dollar Tree & Wal-Mart; the colors are black, silver, blue, and red.

Now, if you’ve ever seen my wedding pictures, you know I am obsessed with black, red, white/silver, and damask. You also know that I tend to, ummmm, hoard things, so I had a lot of wedding stuff leftover that I wanted to use to save money. But, I also have this obsession lately with the teal/aqua/blue color, so I added that to the mix and it worked out just lovely.

Or so I think.

Anyway, more pictures of my coffee table:

Next, if you keep walking forward, you’ll end up in the dining room. Except that it’s not it’s own room, it’s more like an 8x8 foot space. I always love tablescapes, and I like using what I already have. If I don’t already have it, I’d like to buy it somewhere cheap like Dollar Tree.

Here is my dining room tablescape- I wanted something romantic, retro, but modern…and I used leftover damask wedding stuff. Swoon.

The damask candle holders are from Dollar Tree and I wrapped sparkly blue ribbon from Michael’s around them. I also did this to the vase in the center, which is also from Dollar Tree.

Down the center of the glass vase, I have a string of clear/aqua beads. I just used the cheapy plastic beads from Wal-Mart that I had on hand. The red candle holders are from a set of 5 that I picked up at Garden Ridge on clearance 2 years ago for $4. Resting on top of the red candle holders are ornaments from Wal-Mart. Runner is from Hobby Lobby, table cloth is from Garden Ridge, plates are from the Target Shabby Chic collection, and the red chargers are from Kirklands. The red pomander is made from 3 bunches of red roses from Dollar Tree inserted into a pomander from there as well. Easy peasy.

And if you move to the right you’ll see my awfully outdated, ugly, tiny kitchen, so we’ll just skip over that and mosey on over to the “bar” area. Which isn’t even big enough to serve as a bar area, so mostly it’s a stupid window above the sink. Oy.

During the holidays, I use it as a mantle, since, you know, I don’t have one. The lighted garland is 9 feet long and I bought it from Target for $10. On it are random ornaments I strung on using some floral wire I had on hand. Four red and aqua snowflakes (4 for $1 from Target) hang from the IKEA black shelf that holds the garland up.

This year we splurged on NICE stocking holders (no more thumbtacks!):

  The top 3 are from Target- the sparkly ones are by Shabby Chic, $12 each; the bone, $10 each. The cardinal is from Hobby Lobby and that stocking holder belongs to my mom who will be spending the holidays with us. Doesn’t my husband look FABULOUS in his pic? He’s a cutie, and he’s mine, all mine. MINE!

And I look pretty hot in my pic. I really shouldn’t have chopped my hair off. Why do I do such things? WHY?!

But I digress.

I would show you our fabulous stockings, except that someone stole them. Or that’s my story. We each had a CUTE (super CUTE!) stocking- mine was black/silver damask, Pee Wee’s had a cute dog and bone, hell if I know what Daniel’s was, but the point is they’re gone. I have torn this apartment upside down looking for those @!#$*&! stockings, and I give up. I just know I am going to find them on January 4th. I just know it.

And now we all have generic Dollar General crappy stockings that I refuse to show you.

Moving on.

 

This cylinder is left over from our wedding (what a novel idea…) and I just filled it with random ornaments. I love it!

While it’s not a real mantle and it’s not big or grand…we like it. :-)

And now comes the star of the show. Well, actually, I think our tree kinda sucks. I am always so impressed with other people’s trees, and I think ours is just eh. I’m not even going to tell you it’s obviously crooked. Wait, I just told you. And now you’re going to be looking at how crooked it is.

Crap.

And now without the gaudy flash:

Here are some of the details on the tree:

That Texas ornament is honor of the future BCS National Champions. January 7th, it’s on.

And finally, the real reason I decorate is for my child.

Um, mom, why the hell isn’t my ass covered? And my balls? I don’t wanna be compared to Tiger Woods…

Good grief, mom! It’s animal cruelty to cause blindness for the sake of your stupid blog that no one reads. Ugh.

Dad, make her stop. Now.

Can’t you just tell how much he loves the decor?

;o)

Show me pictures of your home! Leave me a link in the comments, and I’ll take a walk over to your home and ooh and ahh at all your fabulous decor, too.

Hope you enjoyed my home tour! Happy Holidays!

This post is linked up at:

I’ve known Rosa a long time, and I was honored when she allowed me to be her wedding coordinator (which is my dream job, hands down, no doubt about it...)

She went to my wedding, and luckily it went smoothly enough that she trusted me with one of the most important days of her life. Below are some of the details, moments, and decor that I took pictures of that day. And unlike event coordinating, I am not so great at photography, but I wanted to share these images with you anyways. Enjoy!

Beautiful pew decorations that Rosa made.

 

Ceremony as seen from the balcony upstairs.

The lovely couple.

One of my favorite moments in the ceremony- the attendees are blessing/praying for the couple. Beautiful moment.

 

Table numbers designed/created by me, and they’re available in my Etsy store.

The head/sweetheart table. I love the beautiful silver chargers.

The Northern Hills Golf Club banquet hall was decorated with many gorgeous trees.

Simple & elegant centerpieces fit the theme and the season.

Centerpiece that was on the buffet table.

Very unique cardbox that I am sure will be a momento of their wedding day.

Seating chart I created that matched their table numbers.

Oh my gosh, the cake was to die for. So delicious.

Very detailed groom’s cake. Love this cake!

More pictures will come soon after Rosa (hopefully!) sends me some of her professional pictures. Congrats Rosa & Mark! May you have a blessed marriage, and have a blast on your honeymoon. Thanks so much for letting me be a part of your wedding day.

Yup, $1.49.

However, I got charged $1.99 for it, but that’s okay since those extra 50-cents go to Goodwill, which I happen to puffy heart. (AKA- Love- a lot)

I hadn’t been to Goodwill in awhile, and that was mainly because I was becoming a pack-rat. And then I have these moments (usually on the weekends, when you know, I’m supposed to be relaxing) where I completely flip out and something like this happens…

Me: Daniel, we have too much stuff. Let’s declutter. (usually I say this at 9 am on a Saturday morning)

Daniel: What do you mean “we”? You’re the one that keeps buying crap.

Me: <Alarmed look> What? What’s that supposed to mean? (here’s the point where my lower lip starts quivering)

Daniel: It means you’re the one that buys crap. <Insert exasperated look>

Me: Bet you don’t mind when she buys crap. (oh, it’s on!)

Daniel: Who’s she?

Me: You know. Her. The other one.

Daniel: What?

Me: I’m gonna pack up stuff to give to Goodwill.

Daniel: Didn’t you just buy that stuff from Goodwill? Who’s she?

Me: Bet you wouldn’t get mad at her.

Daniel: I’m lost.

Me: Me too. Can you help me clean?

Daniel: Um, ok.

I paraphrased, but you get the point. And no, my husband isn’t cheating on me, but I always take the conversation there. He forgot bread at the grocery store? He wouldn’t have forgot it for her. He leaves the toilet seat up. Never, ever would fathom doing that to her. Anyway.

Point being that my own fear of clutter and no closet space has led me to keep my Goodwill adventures in check. Now I go like once a month, whereas before I was going like twice a week.

I think drugs would be an easier habit to break because it made me sad not to go to Goodwill. Very. And apparently delusional as well. (love ya D!)

I went last week, not looking for anything in particular when I saw it.

For only $1.49, I couldn’t pass it up.

And neither could Pee Wee as evidenced below:

Hhmm, I wonder if I could pee on this. I think I could, why not? This is America.

 

It has no green stuff though. Wait, I am colorblind and don’t know what green is. I think I am going to pee on it.

And yes, that is a Longhorn/UT sweater. It’s cold, and it’s my college, so there.

I usually see these types of trees at Easter. They look much the same, except with hanging eggs and bunnies. You know, real creative stuff.

But I had big dreams for my little tree. I wanted a tree for my office that I could decorate without having the husband interfere. This meant three colors: aqua, lime, and hot pink. A truly GIRLY tree that would be ALL mine. And that didn’t require lights because I just don’t have an outlet to spare with all my chargers and gadgets.

I set out to Dollar Tree which is my source for all things great in life (right, Ashley?) and I came up empty handed. They have NOTHING left in the cute and little ornament department. Except those ugly mini-dog ornaments that don’t look like dogs at all. They look like brown mini-rocks with eyes drawn on by a 3-year old.

Next, I went to Wal-Mart, which of course had stuff (helloooo, it’s Wal-Mart) but it wasn’t as cheap as I’d like. But, I am impatient, so I bought it anyway.

I bought white garland, 8 aqua jewels, 6 hot pink ornaments, and 6 sparkly green stars. And for the topper, a starburst/snowflake ornament. I had a blue sweater-ish dust rag from Dollar Tree on hand that I had just washed to cover the base (I didn’t want to spray paint it so I could easily switch out ribbons/colors/etc.) and a snowflake pin I bought for a quarter at Wal-Mart a few years ago.

And here she is:

I love the way it looks in my office when I have candles lit and the light catches the sparkles on the ornaments!

Cost breakdown:

Tree- $2

Ornaments- $7 (20 ornaments + topper)

Garland- $3.50

All other items on hand- $0

Total= $12.50

Not bad for a cute tree that required minimal effort to make into something tres chic!

What do you think?