When I was getting ready to move into my apartment and deciding on a decor vibe, I knew that I wanted cozy glam. I didn't want to go overboard but I wanted pink, gold, and some other deep tones to make it feel like me. I didn't want a minimalist look with white and grey, I wanted it to feel super cozy and comfortable. 

I knew I was going to get a pink couch and a fireplace TV stand, so those were no brainers but when it came to the other pieces I knew everything had to be cohesive and go together in a way. As I was searching the internet for the furniture that spoke to me I discovered a brand on Wayfair called CosmoLiving. 

It's Cosmopolitan Magazine's home collection and it is exactly what you would imagine a Cosmopolitan home line to look like. Everything is sophisticated, chic, and glamorous...everything that I was looking for in my home.

It's been two months and I'm finally pretty settled into my apartment. As I mentioned, I moved into my own apartment in July and it's been an adjustment, but a really positive one. I feel so good in my space; I feel like an adult (sort of) and I feel like I made a really important step in my big girl life.

For the past 9 years, I've felt really displaced and have had a really hard time. My mental health has been in the toilet, I've gone through so many different phases, a lot of tumultuous life changes, and what feels like hundreds of panic attacks.

As I entered my 30th year on earth, I knew that I was going to have to make some sort of next step. I wasn't in a relationship, nor was I in a place to enter a relationship, and I already have my dream job, so the logical next step was to live on my own.

The perfect apartment opened up (literally in the same building my mom and sister are in) and it felt incredibly meant to be. The first two weeks were really rough, the first weekend being the hardest, but now that I have all my furniture and decor in its place, I feel like I'm home.

I walk in every night and feel completely overjoyed to have my own space. It's honestly everything I've dreamed of.

This is the first post of a few where I'll showcase my apartment and give you a play by play of where I bought my furniture and decor, and why I chose it.

First up is the living room because it's my favorite room and has my favorite pieces!

I am someone who thrives in an organized environment. Ever since I was a little girl, I was always very neat, tidy, and organized. I love having a space for everything and making sure everything is in it's place. Of course I can always let my space get a little messy but there's something so special about an organized, perfected space. 

My home doesn't look like something out of The Home Edit (even though I wish it did) but I try to keep things as organized as possible. I live with my mom and sister, and storage is very limited in our home so things aren't as perfect as I'd like but I have my ways. 

For the home itself, I don't necessarily use any of the following items. For the kitchen, we have plenty of cabinet space and everything has it's place. Our linen closet is filled with towels, sheets, blankets, and a few other miscellaneous items like back up hand soaps and tissues... plus our Crock Pot. In our living room, we recently converted an empty corner (it was dead space) into a storage area with the addition of a gorgeous folding screen. 

The items I'm going to talk about are how I organize the items in my room. My closet is small so I utilize the space under my bed for my out of season clothes and other items like sorority memorabilia that I don't want to display and don't want to get rid of.

My closet holds my clothes, shoes and some handbags but everything else has it's space... and these are five must-haves for organizing your belongings in a small space. 

Stoney Clover Pouches

Trays

Command Hooks

Drawers & Shelves 

Decorative Boxes and Baskets

The best storage system for a small space? Decorative boxes and wicker baskets! I have Kate Spade boxes that hold chargers, phone and iPad cases along with bunch of random stuff that I need to throw out... so I'm using this as a reminder. I have a larger basket next to the boxes that I used to use as a hamper but then figured I could use the built in hamper in my bathroom, so now I store my weighted blanket in it! You can also use baskets to store hair products, makeup, bags, really anything! I'm considering getting another basket for the corner of my room, or even my closet just to throw stuff into... but sometimes the more storage I have, the more stuff I collect.

My room is fairly large, it's probably larger than the master bedroom, and I have it filled. Sometimes I get self-conscious that I'm a hoarder or that my room looks like a store but as long as I go throw my belongings every few months and clear out space, I'm usually good. Also, the key to not feeling cluttered is to make storage easy! It's definitely possible so I hope this post helped a bit.

What are your favorite storage solutions?

xoxo
B

I know this week has been filled with '2020' posts but this goes hand in hand with my 'Low Buy' post from Monday. I mentioned in that post that I had been decluttering my possessions and it has been making all the difference in my life and mental health.

I've wanted to possess less stuff to have a cleaner room, a clearer mind, and just more peace in my space. I started to get really overwhelmed with everything I had and felt like I needed to really clean things out, get rid of what I don't wear or use, and prepare myself for a low-buy.

That is one of the major reasons for my low-buy as well: I just had too much stuff and I didn't know what to do with it.

Now, after this little de-clutter, I feel so much better. My space is easier to keep neat and tidy, I appreciate my bags and clothes a little more, and know exactly what is missing from my possession, which is basically nothing.

Clothes

Usually a few times a season I will go through my clothes and donate everything and anything I don't wear doesn't fit or doesn't fit my style anymore. I have a local charity come pick them up so I have a pretty good system when it comes to decluttering clothes.



However, I recently did a few major cleanouts; even as I type this on Saturday night, I went through my closet and draws randomly this afternoon to reorganize and I ended up filling an entire black garbage bag to donate... that is on top of the other garbage bag I already have ready to go.

I realized that I have a lot of clothes, especially winter clothes like sweaters so I needed to get rid of the stuff that I had been holding onto, like cardigans. I gave away three or four cardigans today because I know I don't wear them anymore and I don't need to have them in my wardrobe to just 'have a cardigan in case of something'. I threw out old jeans that I had been wearing and were a little too stretched out and old formal dresses that I knew I wouldn't wear again. It felt so good and now my closet is a little lighter, my drawers are more organized and I'm ready for the rest of the season.

Books

I don't buy a lot of books but occasionally I get sent books in PR. I end up reading them all but once I've read a book once, I'm most likely not going to read it again unless it's a self-help book, Twilight or Harry Potter. I will keep my 'favorite' books that I've read but if I read something, didn't love it, I'm going to give it away. I've had a bunch of books set aside for months (and even more books to be donated in my car) and finally, before Christmas, I took them to my local library and donated them. Over the years, whenever I want to donate books I bring them to the library. To me, it's the easiest way to donate gently used books mostly because I know the library needs them and because it's right down the street.

I love real books so much but right now, I don't have space for them. For now, until I have more space, I'm going to stick to e-books and taking out of the library, just as soon as I get a library card!

Beauty Items

This is a big one. I have a lot of beauty products and until recently, I was holding onto a lot of stuff that was old, expired, or held some sense of sentimental value. One night I got super fed up with my collection and just threw everything out. I kept the things I used, threw out the things that were too used/expired/old and whatever was new or gently used I put aside in a bag for friends and family.

I threw out so many powders, bronzers, highlighters, lipsticks, and anything that was kind of random and I didn't need/use anymore. I downsized my lipstick collection significantly and seeing space in my lipstick tower makes me feel awesome.

This entire process made me see that I really do not need any more beauty products and I need to be a lot more selective in what I buy, receive in PR and also bring home from work.

In the declutter, I got rid of some skincare but I really need to do that again because my skincare drawer is out of control at the moment. That will be my next project!

Bags and Accessories

As of three weeks ago, I had over 25 bags in my collection. I wasn't using them all and was a little overwhelmed by the collection. I have never felt like that about my bags before; I mean, they are my babies! I love them all so much and most of them, equally. However, I didn't need them all.

I knew I wanted to sell all my tote bags because I decided that I only wanted to use my Neverfull MMs from now on. There is a reason it's called a Neverfull -- it's lightweight, never seems full, and is the most comfortable to carry to work. I decided to sell my totes and save up for the Damier Azur MM Neverfull so I could have a complete trifecta collection.

That turned into my mom sitting down with me and telling me I needed to sell certain bags, that they weren't as nice as I thought they were and to really downsize the collection. I started throwing bags aside that I would never consider selling but in the end, I knew were the right decisions. I even threw some makeup bags that were in the decent condition into the box.

I didn't want to sell these on my own because truthfully, it takes a lot of time, effort, and I never seem to get the price right. I sent them all to TheRealReal which I've sold to before and have an incredible experience with them. They priced everything perfectly and I'm excited that my bags will have a wonderful new home.

I'm vowing to not buy any bags this year. Right now, there's nothing I really love or want, or fit into my budget. I'm pretty confident in this so we'll see what happens!

The most cluttered areas of my life have been de-cluttered and I feel 100 pounds lighter. I'm excited about this new step in the right direction, and I hope I can keep it up!

What areas of your life need decluttering?
xoxo
B

I always used to think of candles of a Fall and Winter item. I never burned candles in the Spring and Summer because I didn't like the scents as much and obviously they gave off more heat than I needed.