Dorm & Apartment Essentials
Tuesday, August 22, 2017Back To School Essentials
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Oh, the Places I've Lived
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Hopefully some of you picked up on the title of this post being a play on the classic Dr. Seuss book, Oh, the Places You'll Go ;) Over the past 8 years I've lived in a lot of different places. From my first college dorm experience in Seattle, to my on-campus housing apartment my sophomore year of college, a basement apartment junior year, then a downtown loft in Los Angeles my senior year, I saw it ALL in college. After college I moved home to live with my parent's for a few months, then moved to Michigan about a year later and got my own apartment. Now I'm living in my first place with my husband! It's been a whirlwind, to say the least. I think this adds up to 7 moves in the past 8 years. Holy cow!! Even I can't believe it.
Since I've lived in so many different places over the years, I thought it'd be fun to show you a snippet of each place!
1. First up, my first college dorm room, which I worked so hard on with my roommate! We both LOVED purple, as you can see ;) I had my bed raised up so our fridge would fit under the bed and double as tons of storage. We had a little sink in our room, which was nice! We had pictures GALORE because we couldn't quite let go of our high school days ;) I thought this was just the best room ever and now looking at it, I can't help but laugh.
Hopefully you like my bedspread, because there's a lot more of it to come...ha!
2. Sophomore year, on-campus apartment. I'm not even sure I can say it got any better?! This is the year I began my blog (2010!) and I did start doing a lot of DIY projects (the cork board calendar days were a really popular project of mine!) I thought the curtains in our living room were awesome...yikes. 4 girls lived in this 3 bedroom apartment together and it was...very interesting, as you can imagine with 4 different personalities living together. Enjoy this hodgepodge, ha!
4. Senior year I moved to Los Angeles to do a transfer program with FIDM, in which I got my AA degree in interior design. By far my favorite place I lived, because it was a really cool industrial loft! My roommate and I worked with furniture that her dad had in storage and it was fun to put together. Finally I got rid of the black and purple flower bedding. PRAISE the LORD. This little place was featured in Rue Magazine!
photos above: monica wang
5. After college, I moved back to my parent's house in the Bay Area, CA. I think here I was finally connecting the design dots. Thankfully ;) I did a little room makeover there and this is how it turned out:
one of my favorite pictures from my bedroom reveal shoot:
photos: emily scott
6. My first apartment in Michigan. This was the first time I ever lived alone, and to be honest, after all my roommate situations (thought some were fine!) I was really happy to be on my own. This was also the first time I actually furnished an entire place by myself. The process was so fun and I ended up learning a lot about myself, my style and that I should stick with my style, instead of falling prey to popular trends I saw on Instagram ;) (Turns out you'll never love you home if you do that!) This little bachelorette pad of mine was featured on Style Me Pretty Living!
photos: ashley slater photography
7. Our first place as a married couple! We absolutely love our little home we've made together. Though you'll notice it's most of the same stuff from my Bachelorette Pad, we reworked it a bit and I tried to tone down the feminine side by adding more wood pieces. Still working on that!
Wow, this walk down memory lane has me a little sentimental! Each place is full of both joyful memories and memories of challenges I was facing during that particular season of life. Hopefully this peek into my housing over the past 8 years has made you laugh a little, but also encouraged you to make your living space truly feel like home, no matter where you live. I loved my dorm room with everything I had, even though now I look back and think it was a little ridiculous :) The common theme I see through all these pictures is that I tried my best to make wherever I lived a place I loved to be. Investing your time and energy into THAT is always a good idea, because your home should be your haven.
Have you taken a peek at old places you've lived?! I encourage you to pull out some old pictures just for fun!
xoxo
Since I've lived in so many different places over the years, I thought it'd be fun to show you a snippet of each place!
1. First up, my first college dorm room, which I worked so hard on with my roommate! We both LOVED purple, as you can see ;) I had my bed raised up so our fridge would fit under the bed and double as tons of storage. We had a little sink in our room, which was nice! We had pictures GALORE because we couldn't quite let go of our high school days ;) I thought this was just the best room ever and now looking at it, I can't help but laugh.
Hopefully you like my bedspread, because there's a lot more of it to come...ha!
2. Sophomore year, on-campus apartment. I'm not even sure I can say it got any better?! This is the year I began my blog (2010!) and I did start doing a lot of DIY projects (the cork board calendar days were a really popular project of mine!) I thought the curtains in our living room were awesome...yikes. 4 girls lived in this 3 bedroom apartment together and it was...very interesting, as you can imagine with 4 different personalities living together. Enjoy this hodgepodge, ha!
3. Junior year, off-campus basement apartment with some sweet friends. This was my favorite living situation due to the friends I lived with, NOT the apartment we lived in. It was so gross, but I managed to turn the dining room into my bedroom and I think it turned out pretty well! Things are definitely starting to look better here... the picture taking skills were getting better, too! You may remember my DIY Chevron Dresser if you're a long time reader.
5. After college, I moved back to my parent's house in the Bay Area, CA. I think here I was finally connecting the design dots. Thankfully ;) I did a little room makeover there and this is how it turned out:
6. My first apartment in Michigan. This was the first time I ever lived alone, and to be honest, after all my roommate situations (thought some were fine!) I was really happy to be on my own. This was also the first time I actually furnished an entire place by myself. The process was so fun and I ended up learning a lot about myself, my style and that I should stick with my style, instead of falling prey to popular trends I saw on Instagram ;) (Turns out you'll never love you home if you do that!) This little bachelorette pad of mine was featured on Style Me Pretty Living!
7. Our first place as a married couple! We absolutely love our little home we've made together. Though you'll notice it's most of the same stuff from my Bachelorette Pad, we reworked it a bit and I tried to tone down the feminine side by adding more wood pieces. Still working on that!
Wow, this walk down memory lane has me a little sentimental! Each place is full of both joyful memories and memories of challenges I was facing during that particular season of life. Hopefully this peek into my housing over the past 8 years has made you laugh a little, but also encouraged you to make your living space truly feel like home, no matter where you live. I loved my dorm room with everything I had, even though now I look back and think it was a little ridiculous :) The common theme I see through all these pictures is that I tried my best to make wherever I lived a place I loved to be. Investing your time and energy into THAT is always a good idea, because your home should be your haven.
Have you taken a peek at old places you've lived?! I encourage you to pull out some old pictures just for fun!
xoxo
My Story, Part Two: College & Starting My Blog
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Photo Credit: Em the Gem
Once I decided I was definitely going to pursue interior design in college, I began searching for schools that would accommodate my career goals, but also one that would fall in line with other things I valued. I toured a bunch of schools in California, because I was certain I would never leave the state. (If you know where I live now, you are laughing along with me!)
I toured FIDM, The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, just for fun with my family one summer. While I thought the school was absolutely amazing and had secret dreams of attending one day, I also just couldn't see myself going to Los Angeles right after I graduated high school. FIDM is not for the faint of heart and in my opinion, it's not suited for girls right out of high school for many reasons.
So, my search continued! One of the guidance counselors at my high school suggested I check out the school her sister went to in Seattle. It offered an interior design program, was a Christian university, and was only a 2 hour plane flight away from home. I checked it out online, absolutely loved what I saw, so my family and I went for a visit to Seattle Pacific University. As soon as I walked on the campus and saw those beautiful, old brick buildings, I knew almost instantly this is where I would go to school. The people were friendly, it was a quaint area of town, there was a ton to do in Seattle, and one of the best churches in the country was down the road. Guess what?! There was a bonus. The head of the design department let me know I could participate in a transfer program to FIDM my 4th year of college, and obtain my bachelor's degree from SPU and my AA degree from FIDM, all in 4 years. I was totally sold!
I remember the day my acceptance letter came in the mail, my parent's had a friend over and I screamed in my room of shear excitement. They were a little alarmed, until they realized what the scream was all about!
After a whole summer of preparing my dorm room decorations with my roommate, we moved in to our dorm in the fall of 2009. After the initial excitement faded, I realized it was tough to be away from home. As a true homebody and a gal very close to her family, moving away was much harder than I expected. The first few months of school I would call my mom a few times a day. One time I was so homesick, she flew up to Seattle and surprised me after I got out of class. My mom is the best :) After months of calling home, missing everyone, being "trapped", as I called it, without a car, and getting a little seasonal depression over all the rain and gray days Seattle so kindly gave me, my dad made a suggestion for me.
"Michaela, maybe you should start a blog! You read blogs all the time, so why don't you start one and just blog about your design projects and things you're learning in school."
I thought about it for a while and at first thought, who would read what I have to say?! But after a few months of trying my best to design my own blogger template (ha!) and reaching out to some of my favorite bloggers for advice, I finally hit publish on my first post in July of 2010. (I can't believe I'm linking to it, but if you want to read it, here it is!) I began chronicling my journey through school, a lot of my design projects, my apartments and college houses, outfits I would wear, random design musings, baking recipes, Seattle adventures (or posts about all the rain and how no one uses an umbrella), and my post popular and most pinned post to date: Almost No Heat Curls.
This really did get my mind centered on why I was there in Seattle, braving the rain and being away from family. Blogging reminded me about my passion of design every single day. I was and still am, continually inspired by other blogs I read, and hopefully I have inspired some young gals to pursue design as well, or just encouraged someone out there to create a home they love. Blogging regularly has also done some other incredible things and presented unique and amazing opportunities along the way.
I will be sharing those next week in Part Three of my story!
How did you decide which college to go to?
Happy Wednesday!
xoxo
Dorm Room Decorating
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
When it comes to dorm rooms, moving, and decorating your tiny space for school, I'm your girl. Back in college, after living in the dorms for one year, I moved into a little apartment with 3 other girls, and from there moved into a duplex house with 2 other girls, then moved to Los Angeles and got to call this studio apartment home. Throughout my 4 years in college, I lived in 5 places, all with different looks, space, rules and regulations. One thing remained the same, however, and that would be the amount of space. All of them were tiny!
I know a lot of my readers are young girls who may just be going to off to college this year, or who might be moving into their first apartment or small house. I have a few pieces of advice, as well as my favorite places to shop for decorating your dorm room and / or apartments for school:
- We'll just get this out of the way first. Even though we want to focus on the design of the place, function comes first. Namely, storage. Large containers, boxes and baskets to shove under your bed or in a closet for extra storage is KEY. You can get creative by getting inexpensive ottomans / seats with storage under the seat. This way it does double duty by providing extra seating for guests and storing more sweatshirts, shoes, toiletries etc. I like these items for storage:
Storage for under the bed
Ottomans with storage
- Because the walls will most likely be white or neutral in color, it's all about the patterned bedding and fun wall decor. I came to college my freshman year with a bulletin board I upholstered in coordinating purple fabric {that matched our bedding!} We loved putting up our pictures there as it was personal and went with the room colors.
- Decorate with cute prints for your walls, hung with washi tape:
- Get a cute lamp for your desk to do homework with at night if your roommate goes to sleep and turns off the big light. Try Target or these from Pottery Barn Teen.
- Favorite places for dorm bedding (don't forget to buy Twin Extra Long if you're living in a dorm!):
*Urban Outfitters
*Pottery Barn Teen {This is where I got my black and white bedding you see above. They have great deals for bedding bundles}
*Target
*West Elm
- When you can't paint or hang much on the walls, simple and colorful or patterned curtain panels are a great way to make the ceiling look taller and to spice things up a bit. Try the same places as listed above for these things.
Hopefully this helped a little bit!
If you lived in a dorm already, how'd you decorate and what was the most helpful information you learned for small space living? If you haven't lived in a dorm or small apartment but are moving away this year, tell me all about it! I'd love to hear. If you need help finding special pieces for your dorm, I'm here to help and would love to send you my quick fix e-design packages.
Enjoy your day!
xoxo
Pray for SPU
Friday, June 6, 2014
As many of you know, I graduated from Seattle Pacific University just last year at this time. Yesterday, a shooting took place in SPU's general education building, a classroom I had many classes in. Upon hearing this horrifying news, I couldn't even fathom it. Confused. Angry. Upset. How could this happen at the safe, beautiful, brick lined campus, that I attended for 3 years?! I have never and will never understand motives behind violence and terror like this.
My heart is sad and heavy today for those who were involved, for the family who lost their 22 year old son, for the teachers and faculty, and for the current and graduated students of SPU. Our school's motto is to "engage the culture and change the world" and so today, here we are presented with a tragic situation where we have the opportunity to do just that. We don't know why this happened, but we do have hope in Christ. We are thankful that this earth, full of ugly violence, isn't our forever home, but a much better place is waiting for us. All we can do is pray for those involved and trust God's plan for his people. Unfortunately, the culture engaged our campus in an awful act of terror and now it's our job to change the world by proclaiming the hope we are offered in Jesus.
It's been an amazing thing watching my old classmates come together in this time of mourning what our school has lost. I'm proud to have graduated from a university where there are so many loving, genuine, caring people. Seattle will always have a piece of my heart. Will you join me in praying for Seattle Pacific University?
Back to School & Dorm Room Decorating Ideas
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
*my bedroom from my house in Seattle
When it comes to dorm rooms, moving, and decorating your tiny space for school, I'm your girl. After living in the dorms for one year, I moved into a little apartment with 3 other girls, and from there moved into a duplex house with 2 other girls, then moved to Los Angeles and got to call this studio apartment home. Throughout the past 4 years, I've lived in 5 places, all with different looks, space, rules and regulations. One thing remained the same, however, and that would be the space. All of them were tiny!
I know a lot of my readers are young girls who may just be going to off to college this year, or who might be moving into their first apartment or small house. I have a few pieces of advice, as well as my favorite places to shop for decorating your dorm room and / or apartments for school:
- We'll just get this out of the way first. Even though we want to focus on the design of the place, function comes first. Namely, storage. Large containers, boxes and baskets to shove under your bed or in a closet for extra storage is KEY. You can get creative by getting inexpensive ottomans / seats with storage under the seat. This way it does double duty by providing extra seating for guests and storing more sweatshirts, shoes, toiletries etc. I like these items for storage:
Clear boxes
Long clear box with wheels to roll under your bed
Ottomans with storage
- Because the walls will most likely be white or neutral in color, it's all about the patterned bedding and fun wall decor. I came to college my freshman year with a bulletin board I upholstered in coordinating purple fabric {that matched our bedding!} We loved putting up our pictures there as it was personal and went with the room colors. Finding inexpensive wall art and prints to tape up with washi tape is a great way to decorate the walls without making permanent holes in the wall, or sacrificing style. Check out how my friend Stephanie did just that here:
- You can find some cute washi tapes here.
- Get a cute lamp for your desk to do homework with at night if your roommate goes to sleep and turns off the big light. Try this Target one or these from Pottery Barn Teen here.
- Favorite places for dorm bedding (don't forget to buy Twin Extra Long if you're living in a dorm!):
Urban Outfitters
Pottery Barn Teen {This is where I got my black and white bedding you see above. They have great deals for bedding bundles. Pssst-- they're having a bedding sale now!)
Target
West Elm
- When you can't paint or hang much on the walls, simple and colorful or patterned curtain panels are a great way to make the ceiling look taller and to spice things up a bit. Try the same places as listed above for these things.
Alrighty! Hopefully this helped a little bit! My last tip? Bake chocolate chip cookies on your first night in the dorms. You'll make friends really quickly. That's what I did :)
If you lived in a dorm already, how'd you decorate and what was the most helpful information you learned for small space living? If you haven't lived in a dorm or small apartment but are moving away this year, tell me all about it! I'd love to hear. If you need help finding special pieces for your dorm, I'm here to help and would love to send you my quick fix e-design packages.
Enjoy your day!
xoxo
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