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Decorating Help: Renters

I totally related to this article I found on the domino mag website this morning..."Decorating for Renters." When you are not allowed to structurally change your living space the obstacles are a little more frustrating when it comes to decorating. Since I will probably be living in such a space a little while longer--I'm going to keep these ideas handy when we move.

1. Finding petite yet attractive bedroom furniture to maximize square footage
2. Kitchen Storage...we have this problem now. The folks at domino have put their silverware in a caddy and have hidden it behind the cute curtain and found a snazzy container for utensils. I'm also loving the exposed shelves with stacked dishes.3. (Another problem we currently have) Nasty laminate kitchen floors. Here they have covered the floors with flor tiles..perfect!
4. An oversized paper lantern to bring a little pop and dimension to the room (I have about 40 of these left over from the wedding!)

5. As a renter, I'm not sure how I feel about this project - but if you could find a small wall to wallpaper--that could really add a visual element to your space
6. Paint--of course (if you are allowed)!

Curtain Love: UO

Inspiring curtains and patterns from Urban Outfitters.

Studio Makeover: Pink Loves Brown

Nicole from Pink Loves Brown has completely renovated her lovely studio space. Oh how I love pretty organization....and look at that bamboo floor! You can check out more pics on her blog, Making it Lovely.LOOK at the before...major upgrade from the dragon's den![all images by Nicole Balch of Pink Loves Brown]

Our own "before & after"

Inspired by our recently upholstered chair, Dustin and I took on a bland footstool to get our feet wet with upholstery. Above is the footstool in it's original form.
We took off the fabric and with the seam ripper, separated all of the fabric pieces so we could have an exact pattern to go by.
By using the original fabric as a pattern we cut our new fabric accordingly and then started sewing. On the above right image, I'm sewing in the edge piping.
After sewing the three pieces together it was time to recover the padding and then staple it in place.
Ta-da! Much, much better :)

Newest Addition

There is an advantage to living close to a major state college - the university surplus: a place where all old university furniture is dumped and resold at a ridiculous discount. So far we've scored a filing cabinet, typewriter table and now our most recent addition...a chair!
We picked up this little (I say little, but no, it would not fit inside our compact car..another story there...) for only $5! With a quick upholstery job while we were gone on our honeymoon, we could not be more satisfied.

I am kicking myself for not taking a before photo. As soon as we got this chair home we had to toss it outside because of it's awful smell. Right when we put it outside the rain came and we had to cover it up. Needless to say the new fabric is a major upgrade.

Polaroid Bookshelf

I decided to pin up my polaroids...a bookshelf just happened to be the perfect place.

Flickr Group: Fresh New Spaces

I've been in a decorating mood lately so it should come as no surprise that the flickr group I am highlighting this week is all about interior spaces. Check it out, "Fresh New Spaces."
[images are from t-b: chez larsson, mamichan, ninainvorm, resputina1, ninainvorm]