Home Sweet Home!

Hi lovelies :) I hope you all enjoyed your Mother's Day weekend!

I'm going to get right to business today...last week's Smell the Roses task was to redecorate something in your home. If you have NO clue what I'm talking about, no worries, you can read up on Smell the Roses right here.

I've been living in my apartment for about 6 months now, and I still have a lot of room for improvement when it comes to interior decorating. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on knick knacks when I was moving in. I just bought what I needed...a couch, a TV, side tables, kitchen appliances. This is my first apartment that I've had to completely furnish, so I had a lot of catching up to do. But now that all of the needs are taken care of, I can have a little bit of fun and start to make my apartment more homey. 

I'm so grateful to have a roof over my head, cable/internet, hot, running water & of course A/C. This week's task was meant to make us appreciate the place that we call home, because not everyone is blessed enough to have a lovely place to come home to every day.

I chose to redecorate a built in shelving unit, which is the first thing that people lay eyes on when they set foot in my apartment. The shelving acts as a divider for the living room & dining room. I remember when my grandma & I walked in my place for the first time and we saw these shelves, we both squealed with excitement, because nothing like that was in any of the model apartments that we had viewed. That being said, I didn't plan on having to fill 9 additional shelf areas, which is why they have been so bare...until now :)

I went to Target and stocked up on a few cheap little knick knacks, found some cute (free!) printables to use, and I got to work! This is what is looks like now:

It makes my apartment feel a lot homier, and the best part is that each shelf represents an important part of my life. Okay, maybe with the exception of the giant metal ampersand. When I was buying that at Target, the man at the register gave me the weirdest look and asked me why I was buying it. I told him that I was drawn to it and didn't really have a legit answer for him. He laughed and said, "Well I guess your life is complete now that you own a giant ampersand!" I couldn't agree more ;)

The top left shelf is where I keep all of my old planners & journals. Oh, and my little collection of wine corks! The shelf below that is the giant ampersand that I couldn't live without & a delicious smelling candle.

The middle top shelf has a framed quote that reads, "Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it. -Julia Child" (You can find the printable here). For me, that passion is health & fitness, which is why the "Nutrition for Dummies" book is also on that shelf. One of the mason jars is filled with rocks to represent my love for the outdoors & the other one has my favorite quotes folded up inside of it.

The lower middle shelf has my favorite flower, sunflowers, in a large mason jar filled with coffee beans...smells SO good! The quote that is framed on this shelf says,"Enjoy the little things for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." (You can find the printable here). And the last thing is a picture of Adam & I on one of our bike rides :)

The top right shelf has another mason jar (is my love for mason jars apparent yet?!) filled with coffee beans & a picture from when Adam took me on a surprise beach trip :) The lower shelf has an Eiffle Tower figurine, because Adam & I met in French class back in high school (awwwww, I know).

And here is the finished product all together! Now when people walk in my apartment, they actually have things to look at rather than being greeted by a bunch of empty looking shelves. Yay!

Did you redecorate something in your home? I'd love to read about it :) Grab a (new!) button & link up!

<a href="http://www.lovelylittlethingsblog.com/p/smell-roses_24.html" target="_blank"><img alt="Lovely Little Things" border="0" src="http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp143/jessicavenoy/LLT.png" /></a>
This week's task:Write a letter to your younger self.
You may be thinking, "Ummm what?" But if I could go back to when I was 16, knowing all that I know now, there is a lot that I would have to say to myself! I wouldn't change a single thing, because it all brought me to where I am today. This task is meant to make you appreciate where you've been, where you're going & where you are. You feel me?
I hope you all have the best Monday that you can possibly have!
P.S. I usually center all of my posts, but I'm trying out this whole left justify thing to see how I like it. Apparently it's supposed to be more appealing to the eye. What do you think?