le apartment // living room

first off, thank you so much for all your wonderful and sweet comments on my kitchen post! it's always nice (and reassuring) to receive positive feedback on my kooky sense of style.

today we'll take a peek at the living room. there is a lot (a lot, a lot) of stuff crammed into a tiny space. it's not that i have too much stuff, it's just that i have too small a space. yeah, that's it.

my front door is just to the left of the tv stand/buffet and my office space is just behind the small wall with the mirrors.

this yellow and pink chair is the first piece of furniture i picked up for this apartment. i got it at a local thrift store and because my volunteer at work also volunteers at the thrift store, i got it for $50 instead of $100. it was a haverty's floor sample and is missing one button. i got the needlepoint throw pillow at a garage sale at least ten years ago.

do you recognize the suitcases? i originally left them at a thrift store, but i kept thinking about them and went back to rescue the pair. without consciously knowing so, i've begun to collect ceramic owls.

more thrifted finds! the needlepoint was from the same shopping trip as the suitcases and the daisy plate was from an estate sale a few weeks ago. the print is my attempt at screen printing.

i procured this amazing vintage gooseneck lamp last year from a friend's co-worker who was leaving the country and had to sell most of her possessions. the brass is a tad tarnished (even after rounds and rounds of scrubbing with brasso), but i love its great color and whimsical cattail details.

the larger of the two lady baltimore suitcases is used to display my favorite travel photos: strawberry field (no 's') in liverpool, various beatles stops, and paris.

if i had to choose my favorite vintage needlepoint in my apartment, this psychedelic lady would be it. this is another case of oh, i'm not sure if i love it or hate it, so i'll just leave it thrift store mentality. i obviously came to my senses and went back and rescued it -- and it was 50% off when i went back, so hurrah!

the bunting over the window was made with recycled felted wool sweaters and binding fabric. 

all of the pillows on the couch are handmade because i could never find anything crazy enough for me, i suppose. the floral pillows are reversible and were made from anthropologie napkins. i made the owl pillow from recycled felted sweaters. the quilt is a lap quilt i made last year from anna maria horner's garden party fabric.

the quilt on this side of the couch was my first quilt and it was made with denyse schmidt's county fair fabric. i love it so much -- and so does lola! she can usually be found perched upon the couch pillow, looking out the window. i knitted the little monsters a few years ago using this pattern; they are also a favorite of lola's, as evidenced by one of the eyes coming out of its socket.

this little corner is almost a corner of childhood in a weird, hopefully non-creepy sort of way. the prints are from the amazing catherine campbell, a.k.a. my folk lover. my blue kidrobot display case has looked a bit bare ever since i moved my dunny collection to the office. i'll just have to get a few more, yes?

my mother has recently started a complete home organization makeover, which means i have had to collect all my odds and ends that have been in my old bedroom for years and years. one of those items was my very first big boy in the form of a bank.

this portrait is part of a new collection i've started: random estate sale portraits. i don't know why, but i love coming across old painted portraits at estate sales. they make me sad and nostalgic and i can't bear to not purchase them. i don't know if that's cool or creepy. the clock was picked up at the first estate sale i went to, years and years ago.

a few more childhood memories interspersed with thrifted finds. i love the slide viewer, the camera, and the musical bank - the car moves up and down as the the music plays. i got the white lockers at ikea to store my dvd collection.

i got this art deco buffet at an auction a few years ago and i love it so much. it has tons of storage and charm. please take no notice of how small my television is. it's sad, really.

another growing collection: nesting dolls.

i've been picking up sets of nesting dolls whenever i can find them. i have a set from london, russia, and germany and i've gotten a few more at estate sales and thrift stores.

my favorite set is the circus-themed set. i got these at an antique store in jefferson, texas and paid more than i normally would have, but i couldn't resist.

i got this amazing orange vase/container (?) as a birthday present last year. i love when my friends recognize my style!

above the tv is my colorful board game from 1942. please ignore the thumb tacks holding it up for now - sigh. i almost died when i found the two small needlepoint children on either side of the game.

they have got to be the cutest things i've ever seen! (if it's not obvious, i'm a girl and i live alone. a little bit of cute is okay for now, yeah?)

for now my thrifted $25 kroehler slipper chair is (inconveniently) in front of the tv stand. i'd like to reupholster the chair (is that sacrilege?), but it will have to wait. the hand-hooked rug on the floor was from my grandparents' house.

so, yeah, that's it. my cramped and full and sunny and colorful living room.

thanks for reading!