My favorite rental kitchen ideas!

rental kitchen upgrades

After living in quite a few rentals, I feel like i’ve done it all when it comings to sprucing up a rental kitchen, so I wanted to put together a list of practical and chic rental kitchen ideas. This is also one of the top requested blog posts I’ve gotten from viewers, so I decided it was time to give the people what they want! But really, there are so many ways to spruce up a rental kitchen, and it doesn’t have to break the bank. The cool thing is, you can apply any of these tips to your kitchen even if you aren’t in a rental. It’s a quick and inexpensive way to spruce up your space without having to do a total makeover!   Peel & Stick backsplash You all already know my love affair with peel and stick tiles. I put them in my rental kitchen and loved them so much that I put them in my kitchen (part of my $400 kitchen makeover). They are relatively inexpensive for the impact they have. A lot of people are afraid to use them because they feel they may damage the wall – I am here to tell you, if you do it right, they will not damage the wall. To remove them simply apply heat from a hairdryer, and they peel right off. I’ve tried a lot of brands – but my favorite is Tic Tac Tiles – Premium Anti Mold Peel and Stick Wall Tilefrom Amazon. TIP: If you […]

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Best things to buy at IKEA

How do I know what are the best things to buy at IKEA? Well if you’ve been keeping up with me on Instagram, you know I’ve got a lot of love for IKEA. Many people think of IKEA as a starter store – people shop for dorm furniture, first apartment stuff, “cheap” goods for the house. Let me tell you a little secret, half of my designer friends who have plenty of money to go elsewhere still swear by IKEA. Why is that? Well the potential is endless! Not only does walking through the store ignite your imagination for how to use their items in your own home, but their items rarely have just one use. They are affordable, and their furniture is very customizable! From painting, to completely over hauling stuff, there are about a million posts out there on how to customize IKEA furniture – they are dubbed “IKEA HACKS”. But that’s for another day! I’m here today to tell you WHAT to buy from IKEA – where you will get the most bang for your buck, because let’s be honest, when you’re walking through the ginormous home goods store with your big yellow IKEA bag, and things are labeled $1.99 or $5.99, you end up wanting it all. So I’m going to give you a list of my favorite tried and true items that are truly worth getting on your next IKEA trip.   Low on storage space? You MUST buy a Wardrobe! This is something I […]

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DIY rattan pendant light

When I told my mom I was making a DIY rattan pendant light, she laughed. Not because she thought it was stupid..but because she grew up in the 70’s and thinks it’s hysterical that I spend my time looking for rattan chairs, macrame and crafting while I blast Fleetwood Mac. What can I say, I was born in the wrong decade, I’ve thrifted and DIY’ed most of my house, other than things I can’t, like bedding and rugs. See..my loom is broken. Just kidding, I just really can’t make things out of fabric, I do not have the patience for that. Bless those who can! So I just assumed lighting was up there with things I could not make. I mean, sure I can spray paint a light fixture and wrap some sisal rope around an existing lamp, but when it comes to pendant lighting, I decided I would just get my check book out (my credit card because it’s 2018 and I never even owned a check book) and just buy a light for my basement. So there I go..Googling my life away like everyone else and these are the results I get when I search for a rattan pendant light.   The prices are not horrible, but I also could not find the type I really wanted. Discouraged, I just pushed it out of my head. Later that day, Brian (the boyfriend/handyman/super human) and I went shopping, and I found this at Five Below. All it is is […]

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What I learned during my 1st year working from home: Tips for success!

work for self, working from home, self employment

  It’s been a year since I made the transition to working from home full time. To say it’s changed my life would be an understatement, and I think it’s now safe to say that I will never return to a 9-5 outside the home. If that makes me a home-body, so be it! It all started last spring when my boyfriend and I decided to bring a little wrinkly pup into our lives; Wilbur! He was undeniably the cutest thing I’d ever seen, and from all the people who would stop me to take a picture of him, I know I wasn’t alone in that belief. Having a puppy is a full time job, anyone who tells your otherwise is lying. At the time I was working 40 hours a week at a design office, and would rush home to take Wilbur out, spend an hour training him after work, and then have little time to myself. I didn’t like it, and I knew my job was a dead end, so quitting is was a no-brainer. When I landed an at home part-time design job, I was thrilled. I also did a lot of freelance interior design work in my city, and consequently got to be a stay-at-home dog mama [ dream come true right there ]. It wasn’t without much trial and error however that I learned how hard it can be though to work from home, especially when your hours are flexible. I realized I had been […]

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My DIY gallery wall hack: Modern Boho

When I started to makeover my basement living room, I knew I wanted to keep my modern boho style going down there, which meant keeping things light and airy. I love gallery walls as much as the next home decor enthusiast, but I was also wanted to see something new above my sofa; a simplified version of a gallery wall. The walls in my basement living room were dark wood paneling when we moved in. They were dark, had a tiny of orange, and were oddly shiny (Why did anyone think this was okay to ever put in a house?!)  Needless to say, the first thing I did after getting keys was slather the walls with as much primer as I could manage to put up until the paneling was out of sight! After I put my furniture in the space, it still felt like it was missing something. I still need to change out the light fixture, and have future plans to add hardwood flooring, but until those items are done, I continue to decorate with smaller and budget friendly tricks that make the space feel cozy. This brings me to my modern boho gallery wall. I wanted to keep it simple and use muted colors. I’ve been drooling over cactus art, and photography of Joshua tree that is currently  sweeping the modern boho decor scene (that IS a thing). But there are two issues there; I’ve never been to Joshua Tree National Park, and the photography I do […]

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