The Apartment: Living Room

Hello all and welcome to my humble abode! As I've mentioned in my previous post, I have moved into a new apartment in my hometown and with new apartments come new territory to assess and decorate to your liking! Moving into my first solo apartment, I was (and still am) excited for all of the many possibilities that home decor has to offer. I admit that I have a Pinterest board for every room, period, and favorite old film in relation to home decoration! I believe the home should reflect the individual! In every aspect of my life, I like to buy every day things that matches me. I love for people to step into my apartment and tell me, "This is very YOU!"

With new apartments needs to come lots of patience because you cannot buy everything at once---especially when it comes to vintage items! But trust me, 9/10 you end up finding things at the perfect moment and buy them to fit your needs. In this post I will show you my living room as it is my favorite room in my apartment thus far. I spend the most time in this room and have managed to decorate it exactly to my liking!

My living room is the biggest space in my apartment and thus fits the most furniture pieces! When thinking of the style I wanted my apartment to embody, I knew I did not want to stick to one period. Similar to the way I dress, I love creating fresh ideas by mixing different periods together! The first items that I purchased for my apartment are the light wooden 1950s mid-century modern end tables and coffee table. These were purchased on Craigslist in a lot with a matching credenza for $150 which was a STEAL! Mid-century modern furniture is VERY popular right now! So if you like to buy your furniture new or simply do not want to hunt for vintage items, retailers from high-end (West Elm) to cheaper (Walmart) sell reproduction mid-century modern everything (sofas, credenzas, clocks, the list goes on and on)!

Of all of the items I purchased, the sofa was the HARDEST item for me to buy as a vintage/retro lover. I loathe the plain, beige colored sofas that seem to be popular on the market today (retailing at $400+). I found my sofa at a local vintage shop, Flower Child, for $199. While yes, it has some worn spots and areas that need some small hand tacking, this was a sofa that I could NOT for the life of me pass on. It is a gorgeous 1950s emerald green silk dupioni 4-seat sofa stuffed with goose down feathers making it the most comfortable sofa I have ever laid on! Photographs doesn't do it justice. I still cannot believe I was able to find these sofa! A very similar sofa in peach tone can be seen on Mad Men pre-Betty and Don Draper's divorce!

These side table lamps I snagged are probably my most prized vintage possessions! They are the pricier of items I bought for my apartment--coming in at $280 for the pair. Again I purchased these from Flower Child. I am unsure about when these lamps were made, but they read 1960s. The lamp stands are made entirely of glass with the prettiest pink floral detailing on the inside and matching glass fennels at the top to tighten lampshade. The cream colored shades themselves are simple but very French looking. As soon as I laid eyes on these lamps, I knew I had to snag them! Pink and green make for a wonderful color combination and I knew they'd pair well with my sofa. The bonus with these lamps are the fact that they can brighten 3x the 1st setting (which is a dimmer)!

On my end tables, I like to keep items that I know will keep my apartment smelling nice--vanilla scented candles and Glade fresheners are the way to go for me. I also like to have cute vintage knick knacks on display such as my white vintage poodles, my 1930s gilded hair brush and matching mirror, as well as a 1940s mint colored ash tray that I will use as a candy dish.

In the corner of my living room is my dining nook and bar area. This is where all of the "magic" happens a.k.a. where I eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

Since this is an apartment for one, I figured my dining area should be concise to allow more space for my apartment. I picked up this 1950s diner style formica table for $100 and these gorgeous early 1960s matching plush burnt red chairs ($89 for the pair). All of these items were purchased at Flower Child (seems to be a running theme here!)

For table decoration, I keep a plain small vase (79 cents from IKEA) with fake pink carnations that I picked up at Dollar Tree (I wish I had the patience to care for real flowers). I also like to keep vintage magazines around my living room for decor (and sometimes for reading)! Vintage magazines such as these Life magazines provide great decoration for dining tables, coffee tables, or end tables because magazines were made a lot bigger (and sometimes glossier) than modern magazines so they serve being both eye catching and conversation starters if guests are over!

My bar cart was purchased on Amazon Prime for $79. It is a modern cart, but is clearly influenced by the sleek and unique Art Deco style. I love the black glass in contrast to the silver metal as well as the unique shape of it! On the top of my cart is a wine corkscrew (of course!), vintage ice cube holder, and vintage glass high ball cocktail maker with a long stirrer--perfect for Tom Collins! The bottom of my cart has a vintage white and gold champagne holder and two bottles from one of my favorite wine brands 19 Crimes which comes in pretty vintage style packaging of old- world British rouges! (Also apparently the packaging of this wine is interactive with phones using the 19 Crimes app!) Even when these bottles empty out, I like to use them for decorative purposes!

I am a modern girl and in this day in age, one needs a TV stand for say a flat screen television, Roku box, cable box, WIFI routers, and whatever other technology one needs! But who says you can't combine modern and vintage! I love the juxtaposition of my modern television with my 1950s light wood credenza (these came with the set from Craigslist). Next to my television, I keep my modern pink Crosley suitcase record player on its stand which is essentially just a record holder (again from Flower Child) that was bought a couple of years ago!)

This is definitely the entertainment portion of my apartment!

This rug is the last item that I bought for my living room and really ties everything together! It is a modern faux zebra skin rug purchased on Wayfair for $149. I had to have at least one Breakfast at Tiffany's reference in my apartment and this was the perfect one! Reminiscent of Holly Golightly's zebra skin rug that laid near her bathtub sofa, I thought this would be the perfect way to tie print into my living room. It is bold without being distracting, which was important to me. Who knew zebra print could be a neutral!

This nightgown that I'm wearing is a 1960s pale pink Christian Dior gown that was gifted to me by my wonderful friend (who has taken many photographs for Gal Friday Vintage), Henrietta Audu. This is a go to gown when lounging in my apartment because it goes with the decor so well! The bodice has marvelous white cotton lace detailing that forms a V mimicking the plunging V-neckline. It is an empire waist with soft gathers under the cleavage that can be tied into a bow to tighten or loosen the dress. The ruffling at the bottom of the hem is the perfect finishing detail! One must have the perfect gown to match the decor of the room one spends the most time in!

Hope you enjoyed my living room tour! There will definitely be more of these in future posts.

See you next Friday darlings!

Photographs of me taken by Ashley and Briana Young.