One thing I strive to do on this blog is show you what my life REALLY looks like… I think that in today’s society of picture-perfect instagrams & Pinterest ideas, we tend to feel like we can never live up to it…  that we have to have the PERFECT outfit, styled room in our home, proposal story, wedding… the list goes on & on. And while I LOVE perfectly styled décor, we don’t always have the budget, time or means to make it happen. And, that’s OKAY!! It’s OKAY to decorate your home with family heirlooms & hand-me-downs rather than the latest-and-cutest at Target… because in the end it’s not about the décor, it’s about the love that’s already IN the home!

I think it’s really important to be PRACTICAL with your décor, especially in your home. You want it to be stylish, functional and fit who you are as a couple. I firmly believe you can be creative & have a wonderful décor theme even if you have a smaller budget; It’s just not financially responsible to spend double-digits on home décor if you’re a newlywed trying to save to buy a car & a home!! You need to have things that are functional for the room, show your personalities AND fit your budget!

After we got married, I wanted to buy EVERYTHING! I desperately wanted our home to be Pinterest & blog worthy. But, we’re newlyweds on a budget and that wasn’t practical. (My husband is an excellent saver; and I’m an excellent spender. We definitely butted heads about how & where to spend our money; and the Contentment Challenge really helped me to realize that our home IS amazing, even if the décor is clearance-finds & the furniture is hand-me-down.)

So, this is a new blog series that focuses on decorating on a budget… free furniture, clearance décor & a whole lot of love! Welcome to Our Home!!! (My friend, Ashlee, has a similar post series. Check out her sweet baby girl’s nursery here!)

A little background info: Right now, Matt and I are renting a 3 bedroom, 2 ½ bathroom townhouse. We love the space it gives us, the fenced in backyard for Knox & the price was just right. I actually lived here for 2 years with roommates before Matt and I got married. When Matt moved in and we had the entire place to ourselves, I was so excited to make it our own. With the help of my parents, we painted a LOT, hung a ton of pictures and slowly but surely it started feeling like “us”.

When Matt and I decided to continue rented this townhouse after we got married, I was both relieved and nervous. I was relieved because that meant I didn’t have to actually MOVE; I just had to move things around the house itself! With the wedding getting closer & closer, I knew throwing a move on top of that would just add to my stress. But, I was nervous because I had already lived here for 2 years with 2 other girls; I really wanted the place to feel like OURS and not feel like he was moving into MINE. My goal was to decorate differently with him in the house; giving it a look and feel that showed who WE were as a couple (and I was given strict instructions to not have pink in any public spaces, ha!). We painted the entire house, and it’s amazing how something as simple as changing the paint color can really make a room feel different! I switched up my decorations in various rooms, but I didn’t want my old things to go to waste. (With our tight budget, that would not have been very efficient of me!) So, instead of throwing out the old, I just moved it around!

Today’s post is all about our Guest Room.

Before Matt moved in, the living room was a color scheme of light green, cream & yellow. When I redecorated our living room, I had green curtains, a few throw pillows and wall décor that needed a new room to call home. When I found a reversible yellow & grey comforter on sale at Kmart ($20 for a queen size), I decided to decorate our guest room in yellow & green.

The furniture isn’t necessarily our style, but it was a free gift from my old roommate so we happily took it! She was moving to Maryland and decided it would be too difficult to move her furniture up there.  The queen size mattress-set is practically brand new; it was giving to us by a family friend who was also moving & needed to get rid of it (we are so blessed!!).

This room also doubles as a “music room”. Matt’s guitar & the keyboard are kept in here. (He’s incredible talented & I love coming home hearing him playing the piano:). The closet is also “his closet”. My amazing husband allowed me to have the master walk-in closet all to myself (what a keeper!), so he uses this space for his things.

The B&W ocean over the keyboard was a wedding gift from my aunt & uncle. The canvas above the bed is a Home Goods clearance find ($12); and the green basket on the dresser is also from Home Goods ($10). The black wall frames are from Walmart and were in the old living room décor; they’re filled with green & yellow fabric (also from Walmart a few years ago). The green frames around the room are from Target (old living room décor) and now hold wedding & honeymoon pictures; the hanging plant is from Michael’s clearance ($8). The candles and candle pillars are from Target clearance ($12 for all 4); and the lamp is a gift from my dad when I was in college. The You Are My Sunshine canvas is from TJ Maxx clearance ($6) and the B&W quotes are from an online shop years ago. The throw pillows & curtains are from Target (old living room décor); and, like I said before, the comforter is Kmart clearance (I NEVER shop in Kmart but happened to look there when I was searching for a comforter & couldn’t find one in our budget).

The guest book on the bedside table was a wedding gift from Matt’s parents; I was happily surprised when it just so happened to match the room! The mattress is really tall on the bed frame, so even when the comforter was on it, you could still see the box springs. Needless to say, it really annoyed me! I brought a Pinterst idea to life by buying a green fitted sheet & putting it over the box springs (Target $15); I love the pop of green it adds to the room.

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into Our Home … all together, the room cost about $90 to decorate and furnish. I’m so thankful for free furniture, reusable decor & clearance items!!

xo! kat

(( all photos by V.A. Photography ))