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 tackled how I decorated my room with coffee table books already, and explained how that was on my decorating to do list.

Something else that has been on my decor to-do list even longer, and even more important than coffee table books?

A gallery wall.

It's such a cliche and a typical blogger/twenty-something girl to have but I couldn't help it. A gallery wall was calling my name and the moment I found out I was going to be moving, I started looking for prints.

Etsy is the place to go for prints, in my opinion. I decided to just buy the prints for cheaper, and frame  them myself. I thought it was silly to pay $80 for a print, when I could buy it for $15 and buy my own frame.

I waited until I was moved in and a bit settled to order the prints and frames; I wanted to figure out the best place to put the gallery wall and how many photos I needed.

My mom bought me two regular, but fun photos to hang on my wall, which you can see below:



Because of this, I knew I didn't want too many photos for the gallery wall, so I only purchased four photos from Etsy, from a variety of shops.

There are so many incredible artists on Etsy, and so many prints that fit my aesthetic, but I knew the types of photos I wanted:

Something related to Carrie Bradshaw
A macaroon print
A lipstick/perfume/or nail polish print
A makeup quote
Something fashion related, like shoes or a handbag

Carrie's Walk in Closet Carrie Bradshaw Quote YSL Lipstick Print Macaroon Print

I chose the four I wanted, ordered them, and waited patiently. Etsy, depending on where the seller is, does take a little long so it was a waiting game. Once they did arrive, they were well worth the wait because they were so nicely packaged and well protected.

I went to Target and picked up these frames in a few different sizes (2 black frames and 2 white frames). My mom and I hung the frames within 30 minutes and I had my perfect gallery wall.

I am completely obsessed with the wall; it came together perfectly and really reflects the feeling I wanted. I'm also not mad at the fact that I found a print of Carrie Bradshaw's closet. I mean, she is my idol so it's only appropriate.

Here's what the wall looks like: