Apartment Therapy

We both have lived/live in Richmond, Va.
I lived in Richmond from 5th grade all the way until 2004. 
That seems like weird way to date things, but I can’t remember the year I moved from Texas to Virginia.
Yes, I live in Austin, Texas for a year as well. 
I get around.
That sounds weird, too.
Okay before I get off track, I saw Laura’s blog and she was posting mad pictures of her apartment. 
I am in love with the exposed brick and the handmade art. 
So I asked her to share her creative juices with my readers.
Because we could all use some apartment therapy.
Take it away Laura!

My name is Laura and you can find me over at Beauty & the Beard - where I share projects, recipes, and little bits of life living with my boyfriend Michael in our new town of Richmond, Virginia. I’m flattered Lauren asked me here today to share a little bit about my experience “getting out of town” and how I’m working to make our apartment a home.

We’re both University of Wisconsin-Madison grads from Minnesota- and about 6 months ago we decided to leave the snow and sleet for some Southern living. Unlike most (smart) people who make a big move like that, we went without a set job, apartment, or even general idea of what the heck we were getting ourselves into. Mature, right?  Well as it turned out, being irresponsible like that turned out just fine, and we’ve loved exploring our new city. 

The South is definitely a new world for us- the pace of life is slower, the sun is hotter, and the “y’alls” are more frequent. Now, I can’t speak for everyone else, but moving to a new city isn’t always sunshine and rainbows- it has taken us the full 6 months to feel like we really know RVA (and feel cool enough to use “RVA” on our return address labels). We finally have a favorite hole in the wall restaurant (Su Casa on West Broad), a favorite outdoor spot (Japanese garden at Maymont), and a favorite place to get a cheap margarita (Baja Bean on Main St). 

As I mentioned earlier, we moved to RVA without an apartment- we spent one night in a hotel the first night we got into town, and signed on a dreamy two bedroom loft apartment the next morning. My favorite part of the place? The huge exposed brick wall in our living room:

 Now, I don’t know about all of you, but apartment living can be difficult when you’re trying to create a comfortable, homey space that you’re proud to call your own. For me it’s usually the fear of doing anything too permanent knowing I’ll inevitably be moving on (and possibly losing my security deposit in the process). I decided that if I was mature enough to move across the country, I was mature enough to step up and hang a damn painting wherever I wanted! Here are some of my favorite projects I’ve done around the apartment to make it feel like home! (Click the links to find the step-by-step DIY on the blog)

—–

1. I have an unhealthy love of pretty necklaces, so I painted a tree on one of our walls upstairs to display them. This is one of the apartment upgrades I made and forgot to tell Michael about before I did it. Oops. Surprise!

2. There’s no way on earth we could afford to buy art to fill the place, so instead I created my own art! Just about every room has either watercolors or canvases painted with acrylic paint.

3. Being far away from home can be hard- so I made sure to make accessories that reminded us of home, like this Minnesota string piece!

 4. Finally, the best way to make a temporary living place your own is to add details that represent YOU! Michael and I are huge Scrabble nerds, so I made some Scrabble coasters with a few of our favorite drinks on them.

 Those are just a few projects I’ve done around the apartment, stop by the blog for more! Thank you to Lauren for having me on the blog today- I loved sharing a little bit of Richmond and showing how I’ve made our temporary “house” a home!