Two things old and two things new

So I made a few minor additions to my apartment decor that I wanted to blog about, and then I decided I wanted to post a couple of my favorite things already in my apartment that I don't think I've posted on here before. So first the older things.

Most of my furniture was either stolen from my parents house or purchased from Kmart or Big Lots. I think I've accumulated some great pieces, and I don't think the things I bought look as cheap as they were. But last January I decided I wanted a chair for my apartment. I saw a couple I liked online, but wasn't finding much at my usual shopping places. And I had also decided I wanted something a little bit different to add some character.

I ended up at a furniture store in town and after much debate special ordered a chair to get the fabric I wanted. I felt like this was my first real piece of furniture because I didn't walk out the door with it that day and I didn't have to put it together. I agonized over this chair so much, but was so happy with how it turned out. I just hope I like it in my next home.

Onto another favorite piece of furniture. My maternal grandmother had a display case in her apartment that I remember seeing every time we visited. She kept various knick knacks, all breakable, in it. I don't think she ever changed anything in it, but I always loved to examine (with my eyes only!) what she had in it. When we moved her to an assisted living place when I was in high school, I asked that my parents keep the case until I could have it for my own apartment.

So several years later, I moved it to Georgia with me. In its original form, it was green, the kind of green that looks good in my grandmother's apartment with her other older, traditional furniture. But this green would have stood out against my white walls, beige carpet and dark wood furniture. Red was my "accent" color for the living room -- if your first apartment can have much of a decor, much less an "accent" color when you can't paint or even remove the wallpaper. But anyway, I picked out a red from Home Depot and started to work on this piece. I had to sand it and sand it some more before I could actually paint and then paint another coat. All of which took several months, fortunately I had a small porch where I could hide my project.

But I did finally finish and get to put it in my apartment. I didn't have a lot of knick knacks to display in it the way my grandmother did, but I had another gift from her. Every year for Christmas she would give my siblings and I a set of matching decorative plates. After she died three years ago, we split them up and all got one from each set. When I was younger, it was hard to act excited about getting a plate for Christmas. But now I love that I have all these plates to remind me of my grandmother and the way she loved beautiful things. The case is in my bedroom now, but it's still something you see when you come to my apartment.

OK, on to the new additions. When I was hosting people this fall for Bible study and other stuff, I wanted a way to have more seating. I thought floor pillows would be a good plan, but I couldn't find any I liked and I wasn't really willing to spend the money on the ones I kind of liked. But now I have a sewing machine, and I can make things like floor pillows. I found the fabric and the pillow forms on sale, and it was really quick to make them. I think they are going to hang out on my cedar chest when not in use to stop using that as my clutter-zone (of course now I'm in need of something to organize the clutter I moved). But I haven't decided if I like them flat or standing up. Thoughts?

Last thing (I didn't realize this post was going to become so long), my mom has a good friend who is an artist and every year paints scenes from our small town for a calendar. For Christmas, my mom got an original framed for each of us.

I had to show it to you before I could tell you about it. But if you look close, I'm the blonde-headed one with a bow and a blue dress. My mom's friend painted this from a picture taken at an annual craft fair in my hometown when I was much younger. It took me several weeks to actually put the nail in the wall to hang it, but I love it, especially that there is a story to it.