Hi everyone! I have been so, so excited about this post. Interior design and home decor is one of my huge passions. Every place I have lived since I have been on my own, I have made my own and decorated it to show my personality. I think it is so fun and exciting to put different pieces together to make it a home.

Living in an apartment can be tough sometimes because you really can’t make any crazy adjustments to anything, so you have to work with what you have! I would love for this to be a guide on how to spruce up your home if you are renting. It can be so fun to turn it into something that is yours and shows your personality. You can still make a rental home beautiful without having to make any major changes.

Justin and I have lived in a couple of different places since we’ve been living together. Our first apartment 3 years ago was a 3 bedroom apartment in Laguna Niguel with roommates. Since it was not just our place, we obviously didn’t have full say over the decor. After only about 9 months there, we moved to Huntington Beach. My mom’s cousin owns a few apartment building's near the ocean. He let us know that he had an apartment available and took us to go see it. He is one of the most generous people I have ever met and we were able to rent it for a great price. It was absolutely perfect at the time and we lived there for 2 years.

A few months ago, I got a new job and we felt like it was time for a little change! We found a really beautiful apartment in Irvine and moved a month ago. Natural light and a big, open kitchen was a must for us. I love to cook and bake, so we needed to have a good space where we could see the whole apartment while in the kitchen. When we first saw the apartment, we were already hooked because of the windows. There are so many windows and it makes me so happy. I never have to run the AC because we have the windows open all day, listening to the birds chirping.

I feel like I need to make a disclaimer before getting into the decor: Justin gave me FULL permission to decorate the apartment how I wanted. He knows how much I love home decor and he knows how happy it makes me, so he was completely comfortable with everything. He is the absolute best husband!

I knew I wanted to completely start over when it came to decor and furniture. Our last apartment had very dark furniture, so this time we wanted bright furniture to match the light that the windows brought in.

One of my favorite colors is light blue and pretty much any pastel color. Blue has always been one of my favorite colors, so we wanted light blue and pastel elements throughout the apartment. I found so much of our decor from Target and Anthropologie!

For now, I am only showing our dining room and kitchen! Our living room isn’t 100% done, but I wanted to show the kitchen and dining area before showing the whole apartment.

The Dining Room

At our last place, we didn’t really have an official dining room or dining area. This is such a great space and I was so excited to create a place where we could entertain and have dinner. I found this beautiful table on Joss & Main and I had my eye on it for weeks. I wanted something that had a white top and made the room bright. This table is called “The Brook Dining Table” and it is also so affordable! When Justin put it together, we were pleasantly surprised at how sturdy and well made it was! It honestly looks like it was so more expensive than it was. I know what you’re thinking… “how could her husband let her get PINK dining chairs?” Well… like I mentioned earlier, Justin is the best. He wasn’t totally on board, but he saw how excited I was when I saw the Millennial Pink chairs on Poly & Bark and he was totally fine with it. The chairs ended up going perfectly with the table and we absolutely love them now. They are so sturdy and have such a great cushion!

I have had this bookshelf for almost 3 years! Justin got it for me for Christmas from Ikea and I fell in love with it. I have loved decorating it differently at each place we have lived. I usually decorate it with a few photos, vases, candles, etc…

I know you’re probably wondering why we have magazine covers framed! In December 2017, Vanity Fair released a series of 4 different covers with all of the different characters from the Marvel universe. Now… if you know anything about Justin, you know that he loves anything and everything to do with Marvel. The covers were so beautiful and I had this great idea to get them all framed for Justin. Around Christmas, I couldn’t find them ANYWHERE. I went to probably 5 different Barnes & Noble’s and 10 different grocery stores…nothing. Finally, THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS (so annoying) I found all 4 covers in the front of Target. Although I was happy to finally get the magazines, I was annoyed that I found them after Christmas lol. I am still wanting to get all of them framed, but right now we just have the 1! Last month, Entertainment Weekly did an issue where they re-visited some of the most popular Romantic Comedies and had reunions for the casts. My Best Friend’s Wedding is one of my all time favorite movies and it is so special to me. I thought it would be fun to frame one of mine and one of his!

The bowl vase on the dining table is one of my favorite pieces. I saw it last year at Anthropologie but it was in pink. I was so mad at myself for not getting it because it ended up selling out quickly. I kept checking back every day to see if they were going to bring it back. Then, one day, it was there! This time it was in lavender and I loved it even more. I immediately got it on back order and waited 2 months for it. I wish I could buy literally everything from Anthropologie because I just adore everything. I love the the whimsical home decor, the different patterns and I love how unique everything is.

If you are married, I cannot stress this enough. Do not let your wedding photos only live in your phones and computers! Wedding photographers work so hard, show their work off!! Go to TJ Maxx or Home Goods or Target, pick up some pretty frames and get those photos printed! Our wedding photographers, The McCunes, were so amazing, it was so hard to choose which ones we wanted to print.

Here is everything linked in that I used in the dining room:
Millennial Pink Dining Chairs: Poly & Bark
”Brook” Dining Table: Joss & Main
White Shelf Unit: Ikea
Mia Vase: Anthropologie
Azzure Home Picture Frame (Not available anymore in the color I got, but here it is in black)
Ivory Striped Vase: Target
I got the teal & white serving bowl at Target a few years ago from Anthropologie, so it isn’t available anymore. I found a similar one here!
Love x Style x Life Book
Mimosa Fruit Candle: Urban Outfitters (smells SO GOOD!)
Picture Frames with magazines: Wayfair (On sale now!)
Ice Bucket: Kate Spade
The little marble plaque that says “The Lundgren’s” is from our wedding calligrapher, Pirouette Paper! This was on our sweet heart table and now it is so fun to see it every day in our dining room.
I got the picture frames our wedding photos are in from Home Goods! I am absolutely obsessed with frames, I buy way too many… But hey! You can never have too many picture frames. (Justin might disagree with me on that one…)
We went to Paris & London for our honeymoon and when we returned, my amazing friend and bridesmaid, Jules, gave us these beautiful framed drawings of the London & Paris city skylines. I am so obsessed with them because I look at them every day and I think back to our honeymoon.

The Kitchen

I have always loved to cook. Always. Both of my parents are such wonderful cooks and I have learned everything from them. Justin is a bit more picky than me, so it has been fun creating recipes that we both enjoy! When we first saw this apartment, the kitchen is what I was most excited about. It has a great, long kitchen island that is perfect for meal prep and entertaining. The kitchen is also in an open space into the living room, so you can really see everything from the kitchen which makes it so welcoming and inviting. My parents have always done such a great job at making a house a home by making the kitchen the most cozy spot in the house. This kitchen was made for entertaining and I am so excited to have friends over frequently for wine nights! We are actually currently planning an Office Trivia night (don’t judge) and I am so excited to host and have our friends over!

The first thing I bought for our apartment was this beautiful, blue kitchen runner. I saw it before we even moved in and I could just already picture it in the long kitchen. I was so impressed when it arrived because the quality was amazing! It was such a great price and it has been so great to have in the kitchen.

Next, I found the bar stools! I love the idea of a breakfast bar and it was honestly what I was most excited for. I searched for probably an entire month for bar/pub height bar stools. It was so hard to find them! Every website had so many great counter height stools, but not for a tall bar. I finally found some on Amazon that were exactly what I wanted and the perfect height! When they came, my dad put them together for us and they are honestly such a great Amazon find. They are sturdy and they have a great cushion. Every single morning, I love making my coffee and sitting at the bar while catching up on the news and social media before starting my day. I love when I am cooking and Justin is sitting at the bar talking to me, it is exactly how I wanted it to be.

We were so incredibly blessed to have such amazing wedding gifts given to us. We have the most wonderful friends and family that are so generous and I am so thankful for everything we received. We were generously given our Kitchen Aid Mixer and I use it for everything! We have the matte white color and it is so easy to clean and I truly don’t know how I baked without it. It is also such a great piece to have on your counter to instantly make it feel like a cozy home. Justin now frequently requests funfetti cupcakes (pictured currently on the counter lol) and chocolate chip cookies! We also received the beautiful Le Creuset casserole bakeware and I use it for absolutely everything. I love it because it will be what I will be using to make our future Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

My favorite parts of the day are waking up, making coffee in the kitchen and coming home to cook dinner with Justin. To me, the kitchen is the heart of a home, so it really needs to be a cozy space the whole family can gather in. Any time we are at my mom’s house or my dad and his partner’s house, we are usually all sitting around the kitchen island drinking wine and having hors d'oeuvre’s.

Here is everything linked from the kitchen!

Bar Stools: Amazon
Kitchen Runner: Unfortunately it is sold out in the runner size, but it’s available in other sizes!
Kitchen Aid Mixer (Color: White Matte)
Le Ceuset Casserole Bakeware
Cutting Board: Williams Sonoma
White Marble Utensil Holder: Williams Sonoma
White Wine Glasses: Williams Sonoma
Marble Dry Erase Board: Target (We use this to plan out our meals for the week so we aren’t eating out as much!)
Flower Vase: Tiffany & Co.
Round Wood Board: I purchased from the Heath and Hand Collection at Target, so it isn’t available anymore. Here is a similar one!
Spice Rack: Williams Sonoma
Faux White Peony
Mugs: We purchased the pink ones from Anthropologie but they are out of stock! Here they are in a mint green color.
Rose All Day Dish Towel
Rose All Day & You Had me at Merlot Sign: My dear friend, Kaylyn of Pirouette Paper, made these! She also made the beautiful “Love You to the Moon & Back” cocktail napkins for our wedding!
"Cravings” by Chrissy Teigen
Platters & Boards Book
Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Products: We absolutely love this brand! We always keep the dish soap, hand soap and surface spray in the house. They have so many amazing scents, it’s so hard to pick a favorite. Our favorites are Peony, Mint, Lemon and Basil! They also have the cutest packaging.
Darth Vader Spatula (Justin loooooves Star Wars, so he was very excited when Williams Sonoma came out with Star Wars items!)
Marble & Copper Board: Williams Sonoma

I really hope you loved everything! I am nowhere near an expert of interior design yet, but I am proud that it feels so homey after only a month of living here. It truly is my passion and I am learning and growing every day. I would love to get to a point where one day I am helping other people design their home, that is the ultimate dream. Justin always says that I am happiest when I am decorating our home. Most people shop for clothes while I am always immediately going to the home decor section!

Our living room is so close to being done! We are just needing a floor lamp, a new coffee table (ours is a little small!), and a new tv stand. I have purchased WAY too many pillows for our couch, Justin has officially cut me off from buying any more right now. I can’t really blame him because I have gone a little overboard… I probably won’t do a tour of our bedroom just because it is a little mismatched right now and has nothing to really to show off yet!

I would love to hear from you guys! Where are your favorite places to shop for home decor? Do you have a certain style you usually stick to or do you do different things??

Do you have any questions I can answer in my Home Tour Part 2 Post? Comment below or message me on my Instagram here!