Decorating Our First Home Together

moving into first apartment

Moving In With A Guy?!

I knew moving in this apartment started a new chapter for me. Of course moving in with a guy is different but something just felt really different. Usually in my apartments I can see myself being there for about 1-2 years, in and out. This time I knew it was going to be our home for at least the better part of three years and more than likely the last one we will own before we purchase a home. There’s such a difference than living alone or coming together with a friend/roommate combining your stuff. Moving in with your s/o, you’re kind of on a team to create a home that represents you together and separates. Santos and I picked out furniture, how we could put our offices together, and what we wanted our bedroom to look like to start. It was probably one of the first things Santos and I really worked on to create something together.

Bedroom

Our bedroom was the first area we dived into. Specifically, choosing our bed. I had this idea in my head of a black and white bedroom to continue the colors throughout the home. To start, we knew that we were going to upgrade to a king bed to fit our new Purple Mattress. Of course with any new thing a woman wants to do in life… gotta check Pinterest! I looked up some B&W bedrooms and found a gorgeous room with all white bedding, black bed, and a strong accent wall painted black. I knew it was going to be bold but I couldn’t keep my mind off of it. So I had to get it out of my system and just do it. I got Santos on board and we went to Home Depot, got the blackest of blacks, and painted the damn thing. I was a little scared painting a wall black, I’m not going to lie (and I think my mom thought this was one of those live and learn lessons, lol!). But WOW! I love it more than I ever thought I would. It’s such a shocker when people come into the room like, “woah you really painted a wall black? that’s like… uh… crazy” and 5 seconds later they consider what wall in their house they could do the same! It’s bold… but I’m so happy we did it!

Living Room

Our living room was next on our list to tackle and… we have an oddly shaped living room to say the least. We have a large kitchen over looking a sizeable room in the shape of a half circle with 8 tall windows along the walls. It was a bit of a challenge working with a round room but it turned out looking like a normal living room and doesn’t feel oddly shaped at all. We purchased an all white couch from Ikea, mounted our TV, and added a narrow table behind our couch to separate the right from the left side. In left side of the circle we created a his and hers kick ass office. His desk and chair is black while my desk and chair is white. I can’t lie, it’s one of my favorite parts of the house to overlook the windows while I’m working next to him. It’s really motivating sitting next to someone just watching you both working hard, knowing you are shaping your futures as you sit there. Okay, that was cheesy. But I’m serious haha!

Office Space

The office space is super important to me because it’s where I spend most of my time. I wanted it to be clean, crisp, and motivating. I wanted to look at it and WANT to sit down. Now I usually have at least 4 screens on my desk (the ADHD is real) and the middle table I usually have my notebooks laid out keeping track of dates and ideas. Surprisingly, we keep this place pretty clean. Maybe because it’s in our main living space but I think my desk almost always displays a picture of my mind. If it’s messy, I’m scattered mentally. When I keep it clean and organized, I feel more put together and confident in my work.

Kitchen

You may notice we live in a more tropical environment so I really tried to bring in the blues and green to add a pop of color to our black and white theme. In the kitchen, we have these gorgeous counter tops that are made out of sea glass from the beaches in Florida and we really wanted to have that be the colors that stands out. I went with lots of palms and blue accents to keep that tropical feeling throughout the home!

Adding to our black and white theme, we put a round white kitchen table on the side and chrome and white leather bar stools. This room has such an open concept so I love how it all comes together and matches with all the black and white in the rest of the house! Our laundry room is closer to the front door off the entry way (which was a bigger laundry room than what I’ve ever known) so we invested in a quality Samsung washer and dryer. Which we are so thankful for because I hate how adult this sounds… but the size of load it can fit, the quality of wash, and the different choices of washes is life changing! Now with two of us, I might as well be running a load every other day so it’s been put to work but we love it!

~My Favorite Room~

Last but not least, in our second bedroom we spend a long time deciding what we should do with it. We were conflicted to have it as a guest bedroom or something we both could enjoy. Ultimately, came to the conclusion that paying for that room for however many nights of the year someone would be in there was too costly. We brainstormed what is the best way to make use of the room on a more daily basis. In other words, Santos said to do whatever I wanted in it. But he already knew what I wanted. (Get you a guy that looks at your Pinterests boards every now and then, life changing.) I’ve always wanted a room for a exaggerated closet and have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to it. We sold what we had in that room and I created my dream oversized closet. This room will probably change ALL the time, but I purchased a few white shelves to hold my favorite accessories and shoes, and a large mirror in the center. In the corner I have a few clothing racks that are newer or sponsored items that need to be styled or shot for a post. It’s super dark in this room so I added some photography lights I found on Amazon to brighten the place up! I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out and love being in there surrounded by infinite outfit options all around me. I also think Santos likes it because it keeps it a little more contained when I’m getting ready. I guess you could say I like clothes.

As any home we are always improving, saving up, rearranging, and I love seeing how far it’s already come. What is most important to me is coming home to my best friend and having a place that’s ours. I love living with my boyfriend because it’s like a sleep over with my best friend I have a crush on. Whether it’s date night and getting dolled up, movie night, cooking in the kitchen, having dance offs, laughing until we cry, it’s such a safe place to be. It’s different but I can’t wait to continue to grow into this place and share what it looks like along the way! All the items in our house are linked under the pictures, which you are able to click on and shop!

XOXO,

Comments

  1. KIM DUNAYER says

    OMG!!!! your apt is amazing!!!!!! so beautifully decorated. I love it. and that giant closet? yep. good call. so fun. love your blog…

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