Today easily brings the most beautiful weather Gainesville has see this fall semester, yet I still chose to sit inside and clean. Regretting it already. A clean apartment does mean at least one good thing, more pictures to add to my blog! Today I decided to focus on the dining area and kitchen.
The original plan was to have a cozy, inviting space in which to cook and eat. I’ll admit the kitchen is fairly cozy and inviting, as far as a college student’s kitchen goes, but the dining area turned out much more sleek than I had anticipated. I have absolutely no problem with that though.
I’ll begin with a view of the entire space.
Here is a closer view of the dining area. Brita ended up purchasing Ikea’s “Bjursta” for the table. James and I had a great time assembling it, as weird as that may sound. He and I both enjoy putting things together. There are two leaves that can be added to the table in the middle. We decided that one made the table plenty big for us, but if ever we have a ton of folks over, it won’t be a problem.
Brita’s mom found the gorgeous chairs for a steal from Macy’s I believe. The darker edges of the chair match the table perfectly! Best of all, the suede seat actually makes studying at the table comfortable! (Unlike last year’s chairs…)
I had this vase and the marbles inside left over from my room’s decorations last year and decided to pair them with some yellow crystals and bright flowers to give the space some color. Originally, yellow and teal were not on the interior design menu but after moving in and seeing the space come together, Brita and I decided the two colors look great! The vase and place mats work well to give this sleek table and chairs a more welcoming feel!
Brita and I purchased this gator cork board from PB teen right after we graduated high school. Though we had not planned on reusing it in the dining area this year, I was thrilled to see how well it went with the rest of the space.
Behind the table, we have a small breakfast bar. Before we set the table up, it really came in handy. Although we do still make use of it, I much prefer eating at the table… or the couch.
Here we have our lovely kitchen. There wasn’t a whole lot we could do to add our own personal touch but the place still looks and functions great!
This is what I like to call our “cooking corner”. My aunt gave me this amazing spice rack for Christmas last year. I actually have put it to good use too! We like to keep a few bottles of wine around if we can afford to. Our stash is starting to dwindle. This is most likely my doing. I've also stored a bunch of cookbooks in this corner as well. I’m one of those people who likes to look at my books neatly stacked, not stored in a cabinet.
This is easily my favorite part of the kitchen. After using a Keurig for the first time this summer in a hotel, it did not take me long to realize that I needed one for myself. No not want, I said need. This is the most convenient thing in the world people! It literally takes 2 minutes to brew a cup of coffee. I hit start and by the time I get my cream and sugar out, the cup is ready to go! It’s the perfect thing for those mornings that I hit snooze one time too many and leave myself absolutely no time to get ready. Well I suppose that’s every morning.
This cute little mat has followed us through the years to every place we’ve lived.
In case you’re curious, here is our laundry closet.
Off of our kitchen we have a little balcony. We haven’t made any use of it yet, but maybe now that the weather is cooling off we will.
We set up this table and chairs set to try and encourage us to use the balcony.
Last but not least I wanted to include our window sill. Brita and I like to keep all our cute wine glasses here. Most of mine are from my friends’ 21st birthday celebrations.
And there you have it! Our kitchen and dining area! Now I’ve got to get the Halloween decorations up.
