Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a nice weekend—I’ll be sharing more about mine later this week, but today I wanted to pop back in with the final installment of my Arlington apartment tour. In case you missed the posts last week, you can see my kitchen here and my living area here.
As of this week I’ve lived in my apartment for a year—it’s crazy how fast time flies! (I signed a 13 month lease, which is why I’m moving next month and not this month.) I’ve always loved my room in this apartment because it has amazing natural light, especially in the morning. I also have a huge walk-in closet, which makes it easy to store all my clothes and not have to switch things out seasonally. Sadly, my new place has a much smaller closet, so it’ll definitely be an adjustment, but I’m hoping to find myself with another walk-in closet one day down the line.
Now that I’ve shared my place, it’s time to start packing things up for the next adventure! I’ll definitely be sure to share the process here and over on Instagram Stories. If there’s anything you want to see in terms of home decor here on the blog, don’t hesitate to reach out!
The above photo is the view of my room when you walk into my bedroom from the living area. On the lefthand wall are the doors to the bathroom and closet, and in between those two doors is a really special painting. In college, the first person I met was my friend Sofia, who lived in the dorm room next door to me our first year. She grew up in Athens, Greece, and we clicked right away. Over the course of college, Sofia spent a lot of time with my family on school breaks since it was obviously harder for her to get home. As a thank you, she brought me this beautiful painting of Greece that I then have framed. I’ve been to Greece once, and looking at this picture always makes me think of a great day I spent there on the water and my friendship with Sofia.
As I mentioned in my last apartment tour post, my apartment decor was a work-in-progress the entire time I lived here. I never found the perfect piece of art to hang over my bed, and in my new apartment, I’m going to hang my art differently so it should be pretty easy to fill in that space with pieces I already own. This empty space used to really bug me, but since I try to be super intentional about the art I hang on my walls, I’m really glad I didn’t just buy something to fill the space.
I bought my clipped nail headboard from Target several years ago, and while they don’t sell the exact color anymore, they do have the shape available. It’s a great headboard option if you’re renting because it is super easy to assemble / disassemble when moving, and it hooks right into one of those cheap metal bed frames you can get at the mattress store.
Around the same time I purchased my new headboard, I also upgraded from a very colorful comforter to the PB essential white duvet cover. I can honestly say it is one of my all-time best buys, and it makes me feel like I’m going to bed in a luxurious hotel bed every night. The fabric doesn’t wrinkle all that much, and it’s super easy to wash.
I wrote about my nightstands in this post, and I’ve been really happy with them. I switch out the books on my nightstands pretty regularly, but on the day of this shoot, I had Slim Aarons Women, 36 Hours: USA and Canada, and a vintage Bobsey Twins book on the bottom shelf, and Five Days in November, Beauty in the Broken Places, You Think It, I’ll Say It, and Sisters First on the top shelf. This is the nightstand I use the most, so I typically also have my Kindle nearby.
The gold frame is from Target a few years ago, and the mirrored frame I picked up at Home Goods, but you can buy it online here. I loved it so much, that I went back the next day and picked up a couple more.
The question I get asked the most is where these colorful pillows are from! They are the Blush Label’s 22″ Bombay Pillows, and I absolutely love them. While it looks like my exact pillows are sold out at the moment, they do have the indoor/outdoor version of the pillow available—just note that the dimensions are smaller than mine.
Like my other nightstand, I chose to decorate this one with books and photos. On the top shelf, a recent addition is The Corner by Cory Barefoot, which my friend Molly gave to me. It’s an amazing collection of old photos of student life at UVA and Charlottesville, and it’s one of my few coffee table books I look at often. I also have Lee Radziwill’s Happy Times and a book my best friend in high school gave me, The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis.
Next to my Candlefish candle on this same nightstand is this beautiful blue + white dish that Monica brought me back from her trip to Thailand. I love using it as a ring dish!
On the bottom of this nightstand, I have a random gold piece of coral I bought from Target three years ago—sometimes you just have to treat yourself, you know? I then have three children’s books because I loved the vintage cartoon art in them—This is San Francisco, This is New York, and This is Washington, DC. I actually picked up the San Francisco one on my trip there last October, and then bought the NYC and DC books on Amazon because I loved it so much.
I’ve given a few of these books as baby shower gifts, and they always go over extremely well! You can see the whole list of places here.
I purchased this vintage bamboo dresser and had it lacquered in green this spring. I wrote a full post about it here. I love this piece so much, and think it makes such a fun statement. I am definitely taking this with me to my new place, and am not going to lie, I am a little worried about moving it! Fingers crossed it isn’t damaged.
Recently, I picked up this glass pineapple table lamp from the Opalhouse line at Target. I’m obsessed with it—the gold lining on the inside of the shade means the light it produces is really warm and welcoming. I have it sitting on top of In the Spirit of Palm Beach and In the Spirit of Monte Carlo. I love the spines of these books, and hope to collect more of them over the years!
I’m still not 100% how I am going to style my dresser in my new place, but Target recently sent over this ceramic striped vase, and I love how looks with some palm leaves. The gold frame on the right is old from Target, but the one on the left is a feather frame from Target’s Opalhouse collection. My jewelry tray is old Target—are you sensing a theme here?!—but they have some cute ones on the market right now, too.
I purchased a set of watercolor flamingo originals from Inslee a couple of years ago. She put them on her website a few days after I had received an unexpected cash windfall, and I just decided to YOLO and buy them. Initially they were framed in these really clunky white frames, but I had them re-framed in Framebridge’s Mandalay gold bamboo frame and am so happy with how they turned out.
These paintings of Charleston are new additions, as I picked them up on my recent solo trip. I was drawn to them on my walk through the Charleston City Market because they were so colorful and slightly abstract. I bought three, and am so happy with the purchase! The artist has a website in addition to her market stall, which you can check out here.
If you have any questions about my bedroom, don’t hesitate to drop me a note in the comments below or shoot me an email: katie@atouchofteal.com.
// photos by Reema Desai Boldes
Love what you picked out for your bedroom! I’ve been on the hunt for new nightstands but can’t decide what style to go with. This is great inspo! Can’t wait to see how you style your new place 🙂
Thanks so much, Rachel! I am excited to get in the new place and have a new space to decorate!
I really liked these bedroom decoration ideas. All these pictures are beautiful. Thanks a lot for sharing this lovely post.