my humble abode...

Above is one of the 4 entrances to my building. I love my apartment in Lincoln. I live above what used to be a coffee shop, but it has since closed and been turned into a thrift store. And since I've been meaning to post pictures of my wonderful new couch, I thought I'd share a few others from the place I call "home."

My apartment building is obviously an older building that has been renovated by my very talented landlord who has turned the upstairs of our building into 6 amazing and very coveted apartments in this town. Three of them are loft apartments and three are not. Mine is not, and it may be the smallest or second to smallest apartment in the building and it's still quite large. They have incredible character--original hardwood floors, exposed brick walls, beautiful crown molding, and very cool Tiffany-esque lighting fixtures. The apartment I have here would cost about 3 times more than what I pay in any other city I'm sure. It will be hard to move someday!

But what I love about this place I call home is the way I've made it my own. I love being able to decorate and get creative on a limited budget. My absolute favorite thing in this apartment (now second to my couches, however...) are these:

Before I moved in, my mom and I were going to garage sales and searching for bargains...something I love to do. I found these amazing cabinet doors--5 of them--for 25 cents! ALL 5 for 25 cents!!! I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but I cleaned them off and ended up blowing up 8x10 photos from my trip to England and lightly nailing them onto the doors.

One of my other favorites bargain finds is this wine rack I found at a garage sale for $5:

The wine rack was originally from Crate & Barrel and had a scratch on the brown wood on top, so my brother-in-law sanded it down and spray painted it black for me. I love it.

If you're a fan of living inexpensively (or if you're not a fan but you just have to...), I am telling you...GO TO GARAGE SALES!!! You have no idea what you could find. I love finding something old and turning it into something new. I love telling people about my great deals, because too often people spend way too much on things that could be found for much, much less. And I'm more than willing to hunt for a bargain when I have the opportunity.

However, my new couches are not so much one of these bargain finds. But they're worth every penny spent. I love these things. I haven't slept in my bed since they arrived this past Monday. There are basically 3 massive chaises and an ottoman, all shaped like jigsaw puzzle pieces, that fit together in various ways as a sectional. I'm still deciding on accent colors...I'm thinking yellow and green or turquoise...but that could change. I just like bright colors. Anyway, here are pictures...but you won't get the true feel until you see them for yourself. I now have plenty of places for people to sleep over! I can put all 4 pieces together and it's basically like sleeping on a king size bed. So come on over!!!