Refurbished and Reused: The Dining Room

Because our first floor has an open floor plan, I paid extra attention to which photos I published in my last blog post... making sure not to "reveal" the dining room prematurely (ridiculous, I know).

It's not that I think that our dining room is anything spectacular, it is actually pretty basic, but the room is filled with DIY projects (tutorials to follow) and truly lives up to this blog’s name... Particularly the kitchen table.

The entire room was put together for less than $50, The table/chairs were free, the shelves are made with scrap wood and L brackets, and the dresser has been in every apartment since the inception of this blog, we just re-purposed it as a buffet. 

Living Room Revealed

I'm acting like you guys are living each day in anticipation of my blog posts. Trust me, I know that's only true for some of you :)

Regardless of what camp you belong to, I am really excited to give you a peek into our apartment...starting with the living room

I tried incredibly hard to make sure that it was our space, not a manifestation of my Pinterest boards 

and feminine decorating tendencies...

The room is bright and open, everything that my NYC studio was not. I wanted to infuse the space with the character it was lacking and personalize it to our needs/living habits...no white area rugs, no fancy furniture. I wanted it to feel comfortable and lived in.

I made the mantel and the white floating shelves, but overall DIY projects were few and in between when completing this room. I had toyed with trying to reupholster a chair, but then I found the blue gem you're seeing in these photos for $35 at a local antique shop, that idea went out the door. 

We bought the sofa new (coming right in at our $1k budget) and the coffee table was a floor model at pier one that we snagged at a deep discount.

And the rug...oh the rug....we went through 5...yes FIVE different 8x10 rugs before deciding on this one. Buy, drag up 3 flights of stairs, unroll, re-roll, carry down 3 flights of stairs. The 6th and final rug was not returnable and, in part, purchased because of that fact. 

So, while this room was certainly not "paid with pennies" it is my favorite room in the apartment...enjoy!