The Apartment (Before)

With less than 40 days until I move into my new apartment I finally have some pictures to show! Although I'm paying rent on the apartment I won't be able to move in until school starts due to the internship I have on the other side of the country right now. However, I am lucky enough to have parents and a boyfriend who check on the apartment for me and even moved in some of my furniture! So thanks to them I have a couple of pictures to share as "before" and in just over a month I'll be posting the "after"!

Disclaimer: my parents are by no means photographers and were mostly just sending these pictures to ease my mind that the apartment was still in one piece.

Kitchen:

Although the kitchen is very small, I'm only one person so I'm not too concerned. And I was lucky enough to move in the year that they installed new cabinets and flooring! 

Bedroom: 

This bedroom furniture is the same that I used last year, and I completely love it. The bed frame, mattress and box spring are from Ikea and are holding up well so far. The dresser is the one that I found on the side of the road and fixed up with the help of my dad (see my Past Creations post). The white desk is from Target and the chair is an old one that I found in my aunt's basement (who was glad to get rid of it as it was collecting dust). Overall the room just needs the rest of my decorations from last year and it should be perfect!

Living Room / Dining Area: 

The living room / dining area is definitely where I have the most work to do when I get back. My parents were kind enough to drop off the furniture for me but clearly it needs to be moved around and organized, and I still need to buy a futon! I've already chosen the Kebo futon in charcoal (sold at Walmart) because it's cheap and small, which is the college student's dream right? I'm not sure where I'll be living after college and having to move a giant sofa possibly hours away isn't ideal so the Kebo will give me a solid year out of it and then I can either throw it in my parent's minivan at the end of the year or I can sell it to another student for $50 at the end of the year and not have lost much money in the long run. Thankfully I have Teddy to help me move furniture around when we get back (as much as he may hate it) and then it's time for the decor!

Furniture in this last picture: Grey armchair (from a former student: $15), side table (from a neighbor, free), TV stand (from my dad, free), bathroom over-the-john storage (from my neighbor, free), rolling cart to be used as a bar cart/ storage (from my aunt, free)

Overall I've been blessed with giving neighbors and family members and have collected quite the collection of furniture to work with. Now if only these next few weeks could go faster!


Wish me luck,
Elizabeth

Past Creations

    

Before I start posting new DIY's and crafts I figured that I would make a quick summary of things I have created over the past year and a half. Of course, not all are included since that would make the post impossibly long, but here's a few of my favorites.

Fraternity Cooler, May 2013

This was my first cooler for Teddy, and only the second cooler I'd ever made. I labored over this thing for weeks and unfortunately the sealant didn't hold up as well as I'd hoped but in the end it's still one of his favorite things I've ever made, so that's a success in my book.

Dresser Revamp, July 2013

Admittedly, this one happened with a little help from my dad, but we picked this guy up off the side of the road in my neighborhood and it looks good as new! Just some pulls from the hardware store, some sanding and painting and I ended up saving over $100 on buying a dresser. 

Graduation Paddle, May 2014

I made this for my Big before she graduated this spring. Didn't take much time at all and she loved that I thought to make her something.

 Fraternity Cooler, May 2014

This is definitely one of my favorite creations so far. Took me about two weeks to do, and most of that time was spent on the free-handed wood grain. It was a huge project but I absolutely loved the way it came out in the end.

& More

Of course, this is just a quick glimpse of the things I've done and if you're interested in the rest feel free to follow me on instagram @elizabethcip. If you have any questions on how any of these are done just email me at diyelizabeth@gmail.com or post in the comments! 

Wish me luck, 

Elizabeth

About Me/About the Blog

About Me: 

My name is Elizabeth and I'm 21 years old. I'm currently a senior at the University of Delaware studying Wildlife Conservation. I'm an avid cooler painter, interior decorator, knitter, crafter, and pinterest-er. I have a wonderful boyfriend of one year named Teddy who is the recipient of many of my crafts. This year for the first time I will be living alone and having my entire apartment to decorate myself. I also am taking the semester off from work to focus on school so I will likely have even more time to craft!

About the Blog:

This blog will be where I keep track of all of my apartment decorating and crafting over the next year. Hopefully somewhere along the way I will inspire someone else to craft and fall in love with DIY'ing the way that I have. Not to mention, I also hope to save some money. My goal is to post at least one DIY or apartment update per week to keep myself busy and to keep readers inspired!

Wish me luck,
Elizabeth