The Coffee Darlings' Holiday Apartment Tour

 Hey there!  Today you've been invited to come to our apartment for the holidays!

I've had a few requests to see some of my individual decorations in context of everything else, so now you will see how we've decorated our home for Christmas!

If you were to come over, the first Christmas decoration you would see would be this wreath my mom made me last year.  We'd planned to put other decorations outside, but since we didn't this will be your first glimpse!  (That is, if you are not distracted by looking at our neighbors' blow up Santa, snowman and tree in front of their apartment.)

Then the first thing you'll see when you walk in is our lovely Christmas tree.  Then, if your squeeze is with you at the time, you might notice that soon you'll be standing under a kissing ball!

This Christmas tree holds all of our sentimental ornaments from family and from each other!

In the window between the livingroom and kitchen is a snowy village scene, with stockings hung under it.

The sterio system holds some little Christmas novelty things, and I especially enjoy turning the candles on!

I was particularly proud of myself for this idea!  I love how it looks, sadly I put it in a place where it isn't often seen.  Next year I may move it to the coffee bar.

If you missed the kissing ball on your way in, then surely this free printable sign will encourage you to look around for it!

Then if you sit on the couch, you'll probably look out the window to the pretty pond outside with all the mallard ducks swimming about, and you'll see the pretty bow and garland hanging with cheer!

Then you'd probably think about how pretty the window would be at night when you could see the tree's reflection.

Then, if I were having you over, I would most definitely have our "makeshift-fireplace" going with some warm Christmas tunes in the background...

 Then if we venture over to the dining room, you'll undoubtedly see the coffee bar all decorated for Christmas with so many of the ornaments I've made and put on the blog this year, like the Chalkboard Ornament, Starbucks Garland, Starbucks Cup Ornament, Burlap Ornament, Twine Ornament and probably more!

On the coffee bar we have a little Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, and a few more village buildings.

 It just seems perfect to have the Christmas blend coffee sitting in the basket, right?

I thought the black and gold bow I made a few years ago went well on the top of the coffee tree.

Thanks for visiting our Christmasy home!  

Merry Christmas, you lovely coffee readers!

Making Our Apartment Our Home: Craft Corner

Since my craft area is also the shared space with our office, I've decided to call it my "craft corner."  

 Earlier this year, my mom found two big tables at a yard sale for $20 and gave one of them to me.  Mine is bar height, so I can store things underneath it as well.

 Off on the right side of my craft table, I have some storage and decorations.  

I hung up a picture of me and some girl friends at the wedding, since this is my side of the room.

 I recently made a collage frame with some of the flowers Tyler has given me over the years.

This bamboo storage shelf holds lots of different craft supplies...and generally never looks cute since there is so much stuff.  Did I mention that the craft corner is never as clean as it looks in these pictures?  A mess is the sign of true craft-making.

 The table is really pretty big!  That is nice, because I can use the back for storing frequently used items, and the front for actually doing things.

One of my favorite aspects is the colored pencil jars.  I absolutely adore my colored pencils (thanks to my high school art teacher for giving me a great set as my graduation present!)  I had three jars that worked about right for the amount I had, so I separated between neutrals, warm colors and cool colors.

I used vanilla flavored coffee beans in the bottom of the jars, so every time I pull out a pencil, they smell great!  Plus, let's face it, coffee beans are cute.

We had some bed risers that we could no longer use, so I put a wood flooring sample on top of two risers to create some vertical storage.  

 These pretty colored tins used to hold cookies, and now I'm hoping to use them for additional storage.  The only problem is I don't know what to put in them.  I'm open to suggestions...

 Under the table, I have an additional black shelf where I keep glues, markers, glue guns, and other supplies.

I love that for the first time in my life, I have a designated craft spot! 

The next and last apartment tour post will be the remainder of the office, so check back later!  If you've missed any of the other post from this series you can see how we've made the rest of our apartment our home HERE!

Making Our Apartment Our Home: Kitchen

Today's post on our apartment tour is the kitchen (aka pain in the butt).  Okay, so agree with me that all apartment kitchens are kitchens from hell...they are all so small and crowded!  However, in comparison to my apartment kitchen when I was living in university housing, this is much better.  We at least have three sets of outlets, a bit more counter top space, and more cabinet space.  But after all the wedding gifts, the storage just wasn't enough.  That's why we implemented the coffee bar (which is just to the left of our stove in the dining area). 

We were able to stack a candy jar and the panini grill on top of the microwave - I'm sure we use it much more often when it is in sight than if we packed it away every time.

Above our cabinets, we hung one of the signs our friend made for my bachelorette party/wedding.  Those came in handy not only for wedding decorations, but for home decorations too!

Our friends made us the spoon hangers that we hung and currently have pot holders on.  Haven't decided what else would hang well on there, unless we get some oven mitts.

Oh, and did I mention that I love the orange and red poppy towels?

We asked for the tall glass canisters on the left for our wedding registry, and are really glad that we received them!  They are super helpful for keeping our often used dry ingredients such as flour, sugar, and brown sugar in.  Then of course we have the coffee pot (which is not on the coffee bar because we didn't want to worry about spills staining the carpet).

By the sink, I put some large rocks in a mason jar to hold our cleaning brushes.  Every once in a while I toss the jar and rocks in the dishwasher to sterilize them.

I'm really a fan of hanging things in the kitchen, so we have our measuring cups and spoons hanging from the cabinets.  One day when I have our own house, I'll definitely be implementing some exposed hanging utensils.  Maybe on a copper pipe?  Maybe I'm just dreaming now...

All in all, for an apartment kitchen, it works pretty well.  Behind the red curtain is the laundry area, as well as where we keep a utility shelf and the trash can (super crowded in there).  But hoping one day will allow for a larger kitchen!

If you missed the other posts from the Making Our Apartment Our Home series, you can see them all HERE!

Also, don't forget to check out the coffee bar post, as it is adjacent to the kitchen and offers us some extra storage space!

Making our Apartment our Home: Bedroom

Today, I'm showing you our bedroom!  

We really wouldn't have much of a bedroom if it weren't for our families - kind of like we would similarly not have living room furniture without them!

Hand me downs are really great - especially for newlyweds just getting started!  The entire set of dressers and night stands are a set that Tyler's parents gave us - which has helped out tremendously!  

Below is the bed and our wedding quilt!

The above quilt was our wedding gift from Tyler's parents - made by his mom!  As you can imagine, she spent a lot of time working on the quilt for us!  

Here is the night stand - part of the set Tyler's parents gave us.  The lamp was also given as a wedding gift - we've really enjoyed it!

I made a recent change over our bed with pieces of burlap put into picture frames to spell our family name.

I hung this shelf on my side for my scarves, and on top I have (left to right) a gift from a Chinese friend, one of my favorite pictures of us, and a wooden grasshopper toy that I played with as a kid.

I found this mirror at a yard sale recently!  I've been wanting a self standing mirror for a long time, so glad I finally got one!  Below the mirror I have several keepsake boxes, the 150 Days Away book for Tyler, and my three favorite stuffed animals!

Ladybug and Frog were my best buds since I was little!

 The mirrored dresser set and the necklace hanger I recently made from a wood sample (far left) - it works like a charm!  I just nailed the toothed hangers on the back.

Love being able to display my antique tins on this!

Missed the last part of the apartment tour? Keep up with the series here!