{ Sources-My Kitchen }

Good Morning! How are you all doing today? I started the morning off with a cup of french pressed coffee in bed. Today is my day off, and so far I'm enjoying every moment of it.

But enough about me. Let's move on to the good stuff. The Kitchen. If you're just now joining us, I'm going through the sources of where I got everything featured in my home tour for The Everygirl.  Hope you enjoy!

Table: An antique gifted to me by a family friend that I used to nanny for, because she had just moved into a new home and didn't have a place for it. I loove this table. First of all, it's on casters. My mom says that I love anything on wheels. She's right. This table is actually a full length, six person dining table. However, I just could not fit the darn thing in my apartment. There was no place for it. After going back and forth between selling it or sticking it awkwardly in a corner somewhere (because I really wanted to keep it) I decided just to tweak it a little work with the space. See, there used to be a leaf for this table, so the two ends of it were actually disconnected, and only attached by a piece of wood and some screws underneath. So, I unscrewed and pried the piece of wood off to detach the two pieces, giving me two separate tables. I use one of them in my kitchen (pictured above) and the other as my desk (photos to come soon!) The beauty of this arrangement is that it will be really easy to attach them again if I move and am able to fit a large dining table in my home. Phew.

Shelf: The actual shelf is from the "As Is" section of Ikea. I'm actually not entirely sure what it's use was supposed to be. It was just laying there with a bunch of other pieces of wood, but it was way cheaper to get this than to get the other shelves that they had in the regular section. I did pick up the brackets in that section though! I think overall the entire shelf probably cost somewhere around $10-12.

Pear Art: My mom found this at a garage sale back home in Texas, and I snuck off with it at Christmas :). Is it not the most precious thing you've ever seen?! I love it.

Latte Mugs: Originally from Pottery Barn, but I picked them up at a local thrift store down the street for around $2 each. I love them.

All other white dishes: from Ikea.

Ceramic Vase: Big Lots

Good Morning coffee mug: World Market ( I don't see it on their website anymore though :( )

Gold Bread Knife: This is actually the cheapest knife set that Ikea has to offer (you know, the ones with the plastic, colorful handles?). I just spray painted the handles gold!

I hope you guys found these posts useful! I've still got a post with tips and tricks up my sleeve, along with some examples of sources that I bet you haven't considered yet! Stay tuned :)

Thank you all so much for stopping in today. lovelovelove.

-C

All photos by Arielle Elise Photography for The Everygirl

See the full feature of my home tour here.

{ Sources-Living Room }

Why helllo there. Welcome to my living room. Have a seat. Stay a while. We're going to dive right in here because we've got lotsa ground to cover.

Couch-$399 Ikea Ektorp Sofa with white slipcover. For many people, this is a cheap couch. For me, it was the most expensive purchase I made for my apartment. I planned/saved up for it all summer, and I'm really happy with it. It's so comfortable, and being able to wash the slipcover is such a live saver. 

Rug- $35 at Big Lots. I know. I think it was literally the luckiest find anyone has ever found in there. A lot of people were surprised that Big Lots would have anything worth while, but I'm here to tell you, keep an open mind when you're looking for inexpensive furniture sources. You will be surprised at what you can find and where you can find it. More on that later.

Coffee Table-bought from a local consignment shop in Houston called The Guild Shop. Listen up Houston friends: If you have not been to The Guild Shop YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU'RE MISSING. It is my happy place. You can't really tell how neat this coffee table actually is in pictures, but  the top of it is this neat, aged herringbone wood pattern. I was totally fascinated when I saw it, and knew it had to be mine.  

Round side table-thrifted and and painted white

Bistro Chair: taken off the street by my boyfriend and given to me because he knows I have an obsession with bentwood chairs. We sanded it down a little so that it would be less glossy and have a bit more of a raw finish, and then recovered the ugly vinyl cushion in some pretty toile fabric on sale at JoAnns. I'm in love with it. I'll probably take some additional photos of it and do a separate post soon so you can see the fabric and details a little bit. Total cost of this chair=$7.

Small chest in the corner nook-Picked this up during some dumpster diving. At the end of the school year, everyone is moving out of their apartments and they just throw everything they don't want on the streets or around the dumpsters. When I moved in I had very little furniture, so when I saw this little guy I felt like I could use him. I'll probably still paint him one day, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. The bottom drawer was missing when I found it, so I put in a brown wicker basket in its place and it works great! 

Okay, lets talk accessories:

On the coffee table: Striped tray from Ikea. Round mercury glass candle holder was gifted to me by my best friend since 3rd grade at Christmas- she purchased from Home Goods. 

On the round side table: Design Sponge at Home book, and Ikea Lantern

Pillows on the couch: (from left to right) Ikea, Big Lots, Home Goods, Target, Pier One 

On the chest of drawers in the corner: Two Champagne Glasses from West Elm (gifted to me by my boyfriends amazing sister and boyfriend), two books (The One Hundred by Nina Garcia and Nate Berkus' Home Rules) Lamp from HomeGoods. Peachy/Pink Ceramic Cannister from HomeGoods.

Wall Art: Made by Girl I Love You Blogs and Coffee Print (gifted to me by my awesome cousin!), silver and gold mirrors were purchased from a thrift store for a dollar each (real fast: I LOVE the way it looks to combine the silver and gold. lends a playful touch. have fun with your decorating!) The New York City Map print on the other side of the wall is from Ikea, but I couldn't find it on their website so they may not have it anymore.

Okay, lovely readers, I think I may have underestimated how much we had to go through here, so this series is going to continue into next week. On Monday we're going to talk kitchen, and then I have a whole special post coming your way with my favorite surprise sources to find treasures, and what suggestions I have for you to find your very own budget finds. Stay tuned. It's going to be a good time.

I'm off to work. Thank you all so much for stopping in today. lovelovelove and a happy weekend to each of you!

-C

All photos by Arielle Elise Photography for The Everygirl

{ Sources-My Boudoir }

Good Morning, ladies! (and gents...if you're out there)

I'm sharing sources for my bedroom today. I have to say, when I was about to move in, my bedroom was the room I was most nervous about. It's teeny tiny and there was really only one option for how the layout could go, so I knew I had to make it work. There are actually some additional nooks and crannies to the bedroom that I'd really like to share with you guys, so I'm going to have another post on this soon. I think it'll provide some good tips on working with small, awkward spaces.

But enough chit chat. Let's get to it!

Bed-the bed is actually this bed from Ikea. However, the only place for the bed to go was in front of these windows and I hated how high the headboard was against them. Lucky for me, it was removable. So, I took off that piece of the headboard so it was just a plain white frame. The posts on the bed looked unfinished because the white finials (that were on the additional piece of the headboard that I took off) couldn't fit anymore. So, I bought four unfinished finials from Lowes for about $2 each, and spray painted them gold. I thought at first about just doing white, but I knew it would drive me crazy if the spray paint didn't match up with the white that was already on the bed.  I'm actually really glad I chose the gold in the end. It gives it a little somethin'. After spray painting, I literally attached these to the bed with some hardcore super glue. It's an $89 Ikea bed, so I didn't think twice about it. And now, it works so much better in the space. 

Bedding- Duvet is also from Ikea. To me, there is nothing like clean white bedding. It's perfect for every season and you can switch up the look of your throw pillows as much as you want. It's a staple for me.

 End of the bed throw- Purchased from a local consignment shop. Don't worry, I washed it! But isn't it darling? It cost me all of about $6 and it adds a great pop of color and pattern to the otherwise pretty neutral room.

Throw Pillow- This was on clearance at Pier One. Originally it was $24, and I can't remember exactly how much I paid for it but I think it was somewhere around $15. I love it! It's great quality, and the other side of it is a neutral fabric with a subtle shimmer. I like to mix it up and use both sides. 

Bedside Table-thrifted and painted white by my talented mother. 

Bedside Lamp- Ikea. I like it because it breaks up how girly the rest of the bedroom is. I felt like I needed something to balance out all the pink and feminine details so it wasn't all on one note. I actually "stole" this from my boyfriend. It used to be on his desk. Hehe. He doesn't mind. Too much.

Small glass vase with flowers-A few cents at the thrift store (you can never have too many of things like this, I've used it to store pens, make up brushes, flowers, etc) 

Sparkly, vintage cigarette holder- I do not actually use this to store cigarettes. I don't even smoke. But it was given to me by a family friend when she was moving and getting rid of some things she had lying around. It's pretty and sparkly so I keep it on my bedside table and use it to store packets of aspirin or any other unsightly things that can fit into it, since my bedside table doesn't offer any concealed storage.

Tomorrow is gonna be a big day around these parts. We're going through the kitchen and living room, so make sure you check back. I'm going to wrap up with a second post tomorrow (thats right, two posts in one day!) with my best tips and tricks to scour for treasures. Stay tuned ;).

And thank you all SO much for stopping in this week. I'm so happy to have you here. You are making my week with all of your sweet comments and emails. Have a great Thursday. It's almost the weekend! lovelovelove.

-C

Photos by Arielle Elise Photography for The Everygirl