4 years later and Jared and I are finally done with this whole long distance thing! Through some strange twist of fate, Jared ended up receiving an offer for a full-time position here in Orlando. At the end of May, he made the trip down and we started life together in the sunshine state. It's been such a crazy whirlwind of a month, but I feel like we are finally settled into our life and our new apartment (which, I think I'm obsessed with, btw). I literally love our apartment. We are on the top floor, with a balcony and a gorgeous view, and we've totally made the place our own.
Luckily, a lot of our furniture, kitchen essentials and decor were "recycled" from our PSU apartments, or were hand-me-downs from our generous family members. I'll do my best to link all of our decorations and furniture below and if not, I'll try to find you guys something similar.
Entry:
We definitely wanted a nod to Penn State in our apartment since it's a huge part of both of us, so we bought a thin, simple Nittany Lions metal sign for the wall and added some blue and grey frames, and a vase, for accents. Of course, both of our family photos are from football games! The PSU sign is from Family Clothesline in State College, but you can definitely find something similar online. The frames are all from Michael's, but Yankee Candle carries something super similar.
Dining & Kitchen:
Almost everything in our kitchen area was given to us and/or recycled from college. Our iron table, lamps and the mirror were all from Jared's parents and his aunt and uncle. We did swap out the lampshades on the console table to create a more modern look.
The kitchen table was Jared's from college. His parents painted the legs and chair backs for us and added in the leaf to make it look as good as new.
Our stools were super difficult to find. We wanted a white or grey color to tie in with our countertops, but we were also looking for comfort since, most of the time, it will be just the two of us having meals at the counter. I snagged these 3 from a super sale at Pier 1. Below is the link to our exact stools (but I, for sure, did not pay full price). We found a bunch of different options at HomeGoods as well, but these were truly everything we wanted!
Pier 1 Barstools || Similar Styles: Hayneedle || Amazon
Living Room:
I'm obsessed with our living room. I have always wanted a sectional so when it came to couch shopping, Jared had no choice but to grant me my wish. We got this one at Rooms To Go. The cream-colored pattern pillows came with our couch, as well as the brown ottoman. The rest of our accent pillows, our rug, our tray, and the beachy painting came from HomeGoods. I've linked similar pieces below!
Sectional: Rooms To Go
Similar Throw Pillows: Crate & Barrel || Pottery Barn || Magnolia
Similar Trays: Stein Mart || Macy's
Our TV stand is also from HomeGoods, but they have a super similar look at Wayfair. I'm also the queen of frames; they're all reused from my bedroom in PA and college dorms/apartments.
Master Bedroom:
We ordered our platform bed from Sam's Club and got the quilt and pillows from HomeGoods. The painting above our headboard added some small pops of color to accent the blue bedding. The frames in our room are all from HomeGoods. I got them when I moved to Florida by myself a year ago.
Our nightstands and dresser are all from HomeGoods. I don't know about you all, but I never find matching sets at HomeGoods. It's hard to find two of something, never mind three pieces. We got super lucky (and the HomeGoods managers were so sweet helping me fit all three into my tiny Nissan). I've always been the type of person who has to match everything in my room to be the exact same color (i.e. white bed, white nightstands, white TV stand), but I wanted to use my style and take more chances this time around and I think it definitely paid off.
Our curtains were on super sale at Bed, Bath & Beyond, and they are blackout curtains. Jared and I sleep like babies on the weekend-- it's near impossible to see the light of day in our room.
Platform Bed: Sam's Club (FYI-- you don't need a box spring for this type of bed frame)
Blackout Curtains: Bed, Bath & Beyond
Color Dot Painting: Target
Similar Night Stands: Birch Lane
Similar Grey Wall Frames: Anthropologie
Similar Accent Chair: Wayfair
Guest Room:
Most of this stuff is recycled from my last apartment. You can find all of the links in my Florida Bedroom blog post!
The accent chair came from my mom; we used it in our house in PA. It's from Pier 1 a few years ago, but here's a similar product.
And there ya have it folks! We've literally had a ball decorating our new home and have already gotten to share it with so many of our family members. I can't wait to keep making memories and hosting trips for our family and friends.
What are your favorites pieces in your home or apartment? I'd love to hear about them in the comments below!
Stay smilin' -- Steph
**Content is in no way sponsored by or affiliated with tagged companies. All opinions/ideas above are my own.