Decorating dilemmas

It's amazing how different moving was when I was in school compared to now when I'm working. During school, I'd move into a new place and have all day and night to unpack and get settled. Now, I get home from work, exhausted after the long day, and want to do anything besides cleaning and organizing.

Luckily, now, the unpacking part is finally done and I've moved on to the fun side of moving - redecorating. However, for some reason, this time I've found decorating to be more stressful than anything else. I can't decide on what direction to go with for my new place. I want it to be more mature-looking than my apartments have been in the past. I want it to look like the pictures from Living, Etc. magazine (new favorite read from the UK). But, I can't quite focus and get there. Sigh...

This is my ideal. A muted palette with accent colors. A clean, pulled together look.

This isn't my favorite but I do love how there's no real standout direction for the room, yet it still all looks cohesive. This is what I'm struggling with right now.

I really want to do a photo wall, but am a little intimidated if I could pull it off and be 100 percent happy with it...

Looooving this fabric wall. It's an ingenius alternative to wallpaper. I just wish I had more wall space in my studio; I would totally do this if so.

Lastly, the feel of this room is what I'm striving for in my home. It's so cozy and warm. I also adore all the different textures used. I'm trying to do this with pillows, throws and with my bed's duvet cover.

We'll see how it all turns out. Wish me luck!

P.S. All images are from {the gallery over at Living, Etc.}

Posters fit for a palace

Moving weekend has officially come and gone, and yet, the real work has only begun.

Somewhere, buried deep in the mountain of boxes that now fill my new studio apartment, is a box of collected treasures that I'm excited to share with you in the coming months. But, since I couldn't even uncover a bowl for cereal this morning, my pot of blog gold is going to have to wait. In the meantime, however, I want to share an awesome find I came across last week.

I was browsing through some photos from the Silverlake Jubilee over at Drink Eat Travel and happened upon this one of all these rad looking prints.

I did some digging and found they came from The Poster List. Beautiful prints at an affordable price...What more can a girl ask for? I can't wait to get some of these for my new pad. I already know my first purchase will be this beautiful chandelier one. I'm obsessed with chandeliers right now.

Pre-bed tease

I am completely exhausted after this week and, sadly, it's only Wednesday...well, technically Thursday.  I have the problem of going, going, going until I'm burnt out.  Then, I end up spending an entire day on the couch, watching shows like "Mall Cops" and "Parking Wars."  Though I'm looking forward to a night free of plans tomorrow, I have to say I had quite a blast with tonight's itinerary, which was this Blog Out Loud event.  Pictures and details to come tomorrow!  

For now, though, it's off to sleep I go!  I would love to walk into this bedroom right now and drift off to dreamland.  I love everything about it, especially the skyline photography lining the window.

All it needs now is this furry blanket.

And some twinkle lights!

All bedroom photos found via {indierocket's photostream}

Too pretty to dry with

My mom loves dish towels.  In fact, she often asks for them as birthday and Christmas presents.  I suppose I can't really talk though since last Christmas, I wrote down bath towels on my Christmas wish list.  It's funny how the things we desire changes as we get older.  Now, at 24 years old, I get excited by beautiful dishes and fun kitchen gadgets.  

I haven't yet gotten into dish towels, but I think I would if they all looked like the ones on "To Dry For."  Don't these look like art instead of towels?  I kind of just want to frame them and hang them on the kitchen walls.  

Book love

I haven't been able to get books off the mind.  I love this site called "book lovers never go to bed alone."  It has beautiful, fun, inspiring pictures of peoples' book collections.  Plus, how fun is the title itself?

Someday, I want an entire wall bookshelf like this one.  It would take a lot of time to fill it and a lot of energy to get it looking right, but I love the appearance of it!

This one may not be a complete wall, but I adore the photo.  The objects the person mixes in with the books paired with the purple wall are awesome.  There's so much to look at.  I want this in my bedroom right now.

Fred Flare steals my heart

Something bad happened the other night.  I don't remember the exact course of events, but, somehow, I stumbled upon the Web site for an amazing store in Brooklyn, New York.  Immediately upon perusing the shop, I became so very thankful that I no longer live in Brooklyn because if I did, I would be dropping so much cash on goodies from this store.

They have such awesomely funny and one-of-kind products like Rubik's cube peppper grinders. 

Magnets that look like pre-chewed gum.

A jumbo cake cutter that's sure to steal all the attention away from even the yummiest of desserts.

Quirky band-aides.

Even flowers in a can, which I saw while touring Europe.  I was kicking myself for not buying one in Amsterdam, but it looks like I now have another chance!

An array of really fun USB drives.

And, even the cheeseburger phone from the movie "Juno."

Seriously, I could create my entire Christmas wish list from this one store.  What I need to do, instead, is stop looking at the Web site!

Blast from the past

Well, folks, next time you hear from me I will no longer be a resident of New York, but, instead, will be back in Sunny California. And, in just a week and a half, I'll be back in "the OC." I'm looking forward to moving into a new apartment and having a fresh space to decorate. Although I already have all the furniture I need, these pieces from Jellio are so fun! I would actually want to buy a gummy bear lamp, but too bad they're over one hundred dollars! A girl can still dream, I suppose...

Have a spectacular weekend, everyone!  

XOXO, Amy

Sexify your place

I cannot believe I leave New York in less than 48 hours.  Though I know it's not for good, and I know I will be back many more times in my life, it's still sad nonetheless.  Luckily, I got to see something amazing on one my last days here - Carrie Bradshaw's iconic stoop from my favorite show "Sex and the City."  I felt like such a tourist, snapping tons of pictures of this mere porch.  With Carrie in mind on this Thursday night, I thought I'd share this fabulous post I found on how to recreate her apartment all for yourself.

Check out Bandelle for a more detailed description on how to get your own Bradshaw look-a-like pad, or take a peek at some other apartments from the big and small screen that you could copy for yourself.