decorate the apartment the way it deserves to be decorated

...Emily and I got a bathroom mirror.

And promptly hung it incorrectly.

Oh yeah. Glitter unicorn stickers framing the pantry.

I finished the bookcases! They look STELLAR, and when I add the crown molding, they really will look like built-ins.

OK seriously I’m freaking out re:bookshelves.

I thought it would be fine, that I’d be able to locate ubercheap bookshelves a la the ones my mother and father had for twenty years; I’m talking the cheap-o particle board sort. Well, they aren’t anywhere to be found, at least not for super cheap, and I’m thinking that a house with two women who were not only raised in the Church of Literature but who have Bachelor’s degrees in fucking poetry will need three bookshelves, no question.

Does anyone have any advice or tips on seriously low-cost bookshelf options, alternatives, etc.?

Remember that time Mom and I bought an antique couch and decided the Hell with it, we wer going to upholster that motherfucker ourSELVES; how hard could it be? And then we spent lots of money on fabric and supplies and we half-assed it to death? And then I was in the middle of that when I left Russ so it went not only to a back burner but a back burner on a completely different STOVE?

Fast forward four months.

I bit the bullet and sent it off today to be repaired and reupholstered professionally. It will cost $400. Worth. Every. PENNY.

This is our doormat.

We’ve taken a design inspiration from our new shower curtain and decided to go the bathroom in brown and white (the red will come only from the shower curtain.)

Yesterday I bought our bathmat in the vein of this style (but with thicker “noodles” and in brown) and our shower curtain.

Apparently, Mom has had these really, really heavy lined curtains (like 80 pounds worth of curtains) worth about $2,500 that we’ve never been able to use; they are off-white and I am praying Em and I will have the luxury of being able to use them in the bordello. They will save a bundle on the energy bill if we can as they’re so insulated.

I bought bedsheets on sale at Old Time Pottery.

I went to Tony’s Fabrics today to check out swatches. I am thinking I’d like to do my bedroom in a palette of greys and lavenders, but upon seeing how I reacted to the fabrics in the store, I realize now that super soft blues might be more what I want_{. My mother is a talented seamstress and is going to be making Emily and me curtains and duvet covers.}

the peach fabric matches a color in my couch upholstery, which is why I got it; do not associate it with the bedroom palette.

Yesterday, I put down a deposit on the most perfect apartment I’ve ever seen: two bedrooms in a quad “within stumbling distance” of downtown. Hardwoods. Stainless steel appliances, french doors leading to a covered balcony with a porch swing…

seriously.

Emily and I will be living here for the next however long of our lives, and I get the keys April 1. I am SO excited. It will be the first time either of us have lived alone (not in a dorm room) and I couldn’t be more proud.

The thing is, with a place as awesome and unique and beautiful as this, it deserves some SERIOUS decorating skillz. We’ve got to really make this thing fabulous.