3 Tips for Renters

Happy Friday, friends! Today I want to share with you three things I've learned from renting. A lot of people in our life stage are renting, and it can sometimes feel like a drag to not be able to do exactly what you want with your place, but there are definitely ways around that, and even bonuses to renting as well!

1. Put stuff on those walls!
Nothing says "renter" like empty walls. So one of the quickest and easiest ways to make your rental feel like home is to hang stuff up! It's super easy to take down when you move, and there's not a whole lot (if any) repair work before you leave. Photos, paintings, prints, and other various wall hangings can do wonders to an otherwise empty or disorganized feeling space. You can share stories through your wall hangings. You can convey style and mood. You can create a color scheme or a theme. Wall hangings are important, people. Need some inspiration? In case you missed it, awhile back I posted about 5 ways to fill your walls. I'd say that's a pretty good place to start. ;)

2. Embrace the awkward
Pretty much anytime you rent, you're going to have something about the place you don't love. That's probably true of when you buy too—but then you can just demolish, re-finish, or otherwise completely change that little bit of awkward going on. But when you're renting, your best bet is to embrace it.

Check out the creepy sweet angel shelf going on in our bathroom... once paired with a little bud vase in similar colors it's not quite so weird. And see that cut-out in our kitchen? Yeah, it's a window into the second bedroom. Why is it there?? We have no idea [although I speculate it was to pass food through to a prisoner, buttttt....]. So we put up some scrapbook paper and use it as a shelf for cookbooks. Boom. Awkward embraced.

3. Become friends with your neighbors!
Okay, so this tip obviously doesn't have anything to do with decorating, but it has tons to do with making your apartment/rental feel homey! The great thing about rentals, is that they are often apartment complexes or duplexes, or if you're like us, a four-plex! This means you're living super close to at least a few other people, if not a whole building of them. I think this is the perfect time to practice making friends, since seeing someone in the hallway is much easier than walking across the street and knocking on someone's front door.

And take it from me, becoming friends with your neighbors can be so much fun! We just had our upstairs neighbors over for a game night last night and we had a blast [hey K&M if you're reading this!]. The best part? You don't have to bundle up and brave the cold to hang out! :)

What tips and tricks have you learned from renting? 

Home Manifesto

It can be really easy for me to get caught up in decorating, organizing, and making things pretty in our home, all the while forgetting the reason behind doing these things. I always seem to get distracted by one more project, or rearrange, or tweak, without really enjoying and using the space to its fullest... and isn't that the whole reason I wanted those projects, rearranges, and tweaks in the first place? I forget that although I love decorating and it is a continual process, sometimes it's ok for it to be a means to an end.

So I decided it was about time that I took some time to sit down, brainstorm, and come up with a manifesto for our home. A roadmap of sorts, to guide us to where we want to be when it comes to our home. To come back to when we I get caught up or distracted.

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Vision
We want our home to be warm and inviting, fresh and invigorating. We want people to feel loved, accepted, and inspired in our home. We want our home to be a place where people can come as they are and where deep connecting happens. We want our home to radiate the joy of Jesus and convey care for all who enter.

Mission
Our home is a place of acceptance. Our home is a place where truth and love are spoken and beauty is seen in the imperfections. Our home is a place where things look pretty because that's fun, but if they don't, then that's ok—you're still welcome. Our home is a place for deep conversation and laughter, tears and cheers, parties and quiet times. Our home is a place where people are more important than things, good stewardship is more important than the American Dream, and authenticity is more important than self-protection.

Values

People > Things
Our home and our stuff helps us serve other people and serves the needs of our family; we do not serve our home and our stuff. We will not be mastered by things and instead will use them for God's glory in our lives and the lives of those we touch.

Good Stewardship > American Dream
We will not go in debt or spend excessively in order to have the newest this-or-that. We will steward our money in a way that is honoring to God and will give our first fruits. We will not succumb to the American dream, but instead will be creative in the ways we use our money to create a home that reflects our vision and mission.

Authenticity > Self-protection
Rather than putting forward a fake version of who we are, our home is meant to display our genuine selves. Our home will reflect who we are and where we are at. We will not cover up, apologize for, or otherwise make excuses for our home, but instead embrace the season that God has us in. Our home should be a place where others feel comfortable to be real as well.

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So there you have it. The Douglas family home manifesto. Our hopes and dreams for our home, no matter where we live. What about you? Have you ever thought about what your home conveys to others, how you want it to function, your vision, mission, or values?

5 Ways to Fill Your Walls

Happy Tuesday, folks! Today I want to share with you some of the ways that we have filled the walls in our apartment... and let me tell ya, we have filled the walls.

Blank walls can seem intimidating at first, but armed with some good ideas, a few pretties, and a hammer and nails, you too can have beautiful, meaningful, and even useful(!) wall decor.

So without further ado, here are 5 different ways that we have filled our walls.

1. Large Scale Photography
Yes, I'm going there. BIG. Big seems expensive, right? Wrong! [Well, it can be, but it certainly doesn't have to be.] There's this little big thing called an engineering print that you can get at Staples for a couple bucks. Really. The only stipulation is they are black and white and can turn out a bit grainy or with a little white line running down it. But can you even tell in mine? Nope! They will definitely try and talk you out of it, but stick to your guns on this one, because it is just too good of a deal to pass up! This engagement photo was the first thing we hung up in our new apartment and I love it! It's a great above-the-couch statement piece, and at this price, a great way to fill a big wall! I picked up the frame at a goodwill for 7 bucks.

Total project cost: $10



2. Small Groupings
I think this is one of my favorite ways to display photos... in small groupings that tell a story or show off related items. Here we have four prints from our wedding... two portraits and two detail shots. I love how it shows how we looked on our wedding day. The gold frames are leftover from our wedding and were from the Dollar Tree.

Total project cost: $5

3. Gallery Walls
The ever famous gallery wall! All the frames and objects used in our gallery wall are thrifted or Dollar Tree purchases. You would be surprised what sweet frames you can find for a dollar at thrift stores! I'll be doing a more in-depth post on some gallery wall how-tos and tips I learned along the way, but until then, start collecting frames, photos, and special cards or prints. Or just go ahead and do it! My biggest take-away was that it doesn't have to be perfect, because let's be real, I don't have 10 hours to measure everything out and cut templates. That's what the back of your hammer is for.

Total project cost: $15



4. Miscellaneous Decor
Here's a way that you can get really fun and creative with your walls! Ribbons, lights, chalkboards... the sky is the limit here, people. Have something you love that's semi-flat and hangable? Put it up on a wall! See what it looks like. Take risks!

Ribbon backdrop [from our wedding] total cost: $45

5. Shelves & Storage
Last, but not least, let's talk about killing two birds with one stone in your wall decor. Have an empty wall that also happens to be near a place where some extra storage would be handy? Great! Add a shelf or other type of storage in lieu of a pretty picture or painting. For weeks I was trying to decide what kind of wall hanging I wanted above our stove. Then I realized we had this extra shelf and it makes for AMAZING storage in a place where we really needed it [and didn't even know it]. Plus, the shelf fills in the space and adds some color and pattern to the once blank wall. Win-win! The mason jar holder is from Target and was a wedding gift, and the mail/key holder was made and gifted to us by Loverboy's sister for our wedding as well.







So, there you have it! Five different ways that you can fill up those empty walls that have been staring you in the face the last weeks, months, or years. Decorating your walls doesn't have to be expensive or intimidating... you just have to get started. So grab your hammer, and get to it!

It's In The Little Things

Welcome to the random shelf in our bathroom. The one right above our toilet paper roll (left that out of the picture... you're welcome) and slightly above and to the right of our toilet (if you're sitting down that is).

I wasn't quite settled with how the bathroom was coming together, but now every time I go in there (which, let's be real, it's a bathroom—soooo multiple times a day) I get a little bit of happiness from this shelf.

Sure, if you went in my bathroom a few days in a row you would have thought I was a crazy person with the rotating decor on our little shelf (it took about 5 tries of different combinations of photo frames, books, candles, vases, and other tchotchkes to finally settle on this). But, I think the end result was totally worth it and it's these seemingly small victories in decorating that keep me going.

I knew I wanted to display a collection of these milk glass vases from our wedding somewhere in the apartment, but they just looked too plain by themselves, so that's when I started pulling apart one of my bridesmaids' bouquets... and about 10 minutes later, wallah! I am so pleased with this little space, and the only reason it came about is that I wasn't afraid to do a little experimenting.

Is there one little shelf or corner or end table in your house that you just aren't quite satisfied with yet? My advice? Do a little experimenting. Let things sit for a day or two to see if you like them... and if not, move on. Be willing to switch things out or "pull apart some bouquets" (whatever that looks like for you). I'm giving you permission to look like a crazy person for a bit. Because the end result will be worth it, and that little area of beauty you've created just might bring some happiness into your home. Because after all, it really is in the little things.

The Nesting Place

This came in the mail this week. And I don't know if I've been this excited about getting a new book in a loooong time.

Myquillyn Smith has a delightful blog at The Nester where she shares all about her home and how "it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." Which for someone who has quite a bit of 'perfect' in her personality, is quite therapeutic to hear [from a "professional", no less], then repeat daily, chant in my sleep, and hopefully get to the point of living it out.

I'm only a few chapters in, but it is SO. GOOD. When I purchased the book I originally thought it would be more of a flip-through-and-stop-when-something-catches-my-eye kind of read, but it most definitely is a start-from-the-beginning kind of book [or maybe that's just the perfect coming out in me?]. :) Myquillyn tells stories so well and I have laughed and cried along with her.

So, my piece of advice—if you are at all interested in decor, good stories, home design, how to make a house a home, renting (she's rented 10 homes!), pretty pictures, or how to make a space imperfectly beautiful you should definitely check this book out! Bonus—Myquillyn loves Jesus and definitely has some great life lessons along the way. I'll check in with ya'll again when I'm done, but from the few chapters I've devoured so far, I can just tell this is going to be a magical journey.