Hi, friends! As I mentioned recently, I had a photographer I so admire, Reema Desai Boldes, come over and shoot my Arlington apartment so I can share it with you before I move to Dupont in September. I’ve shared my apartment in several home decor posts before, but since I don’t have a wide-angle lens, it can be hard to capture everything at the room level since my lens does much better with detail shots.

If you’ve been reading here for a while, you know that when I moved into this apartment last August—how has it been a year already?!—I was determined to stay here more than a year. I absolutely love the apartment itself—it’s nearly 800 square feet, has great morning light, and has been a very happy spot for me over the last year. That being said, I miss being a little bit closer to the center of the action and am excited for a new adventure in a new neighborhood. This will be my third move in as many years, so after this, I’m hoping to stay put for a while, but, clearly, do not have a great track record of following through on that.

When I sat down to pick out which of the photos Reema sent over I wanted to share, I realized it would probably be best to break up my apartment tour into three posts—kitchen, living area, bedroom—so as to spare you from a true photo overload. I thought I’d start with my kitchen since it’s the room you walk into from my front door.

The kitchen in my current apartment is absolutely amazing—there’s a ton of counter space, there are more cabinets than I know what to do with, and the island has been so fun for entertaining. Ironically, despite having such a great kitchen, I don’t cook that often, but I know I’ll be missing this kitchen once it’s no longer mine. One day I’ll have a gourmet kitchen again—and maybe I’ll actually cook then, hah!

So, without further ado, welcome to my kitchen!

When you first walk into my apartment, the first thing you see is this 42 Pressed Washington, DC Map and this adorable Z Gallerie umbrella holder, which is both practical and cute. If you turn to the left, you walk into my bathroom and laundry room, and if you turn to the right, you’re in my kitchen.

When I do cook, I typically move the glass jars off my island and meal prep there, so I promise these photos leaning against my countertops are not just for show—this is where they actually live! These two above are two of my favorites, the one on the left is a painting I purchased at the Charleston City Market and the sketch on the right is of my childhood home. For Christmas this year, I gifted everyone in my immediate family a copy. You can read more about the artist here.

I framed both of these via Framebridge, which is my go-to framer. The one on the left is in their Valencia Frame and the one on the right is in their Richmond Frame.

My fruit stand (bread basket? I don’t know what to call it!) is from Target, and the oranges are 100% faux—a very popular question visitors ask me all the time!

Over my sink, I found an amazing Etsy Shop, Majesty Writes, to handwrite a part of my favorite Bible verse, Isaiah 43:2. It’s such a great reminder to look at often when I’m home! Her calligraphy is beautiful, and I would absolutely order from her again.

One of my middle-aged tendencies is that I love a themed dishtowel. I picked up this Let’s Get Fizzical dishtowel from Target’s new Opalhouse line for just $3! It’s super cute and I love that it adds a pop of color to my oven.

The picture on the left is the first Inslee print I ever purchased—while she doesn’t sell it anymore, she sells similar ones on her website and is super helpful via email if you’re looking for anything specific. She’s also hilarious to follow on Instagram!

On the right are some of my more cutesy kitchen utensils. They’re stored in this marble utensil holder from Target. The whisks I grabbed on Amazon, though, in hindsight, I wish I had snagged these. The rose gold and white utensils are the Felix line from anthropologie. I have the pasta fork, the solid spoon, two slotted turners, and the spatula. I’m a big fan of the Oprah line of thought when it comes to using your good stuff, so I cook with these on a regular basis. anthropologie recommends you hand wash them, but I throw them in the top rack of the dishwasher all the time and have never had an issue.

On the other side of my oven is this pineapple cookie jar that I use solely for decoration because I don’t trust myself around an endless supply of cookies when I’m the only one around to eat them.

I then have the three cookbooks I own out on display—it’s a week collection, but I find most of my recipes online when I do cook! The Martha Stewart Cookies and Martha Stewart Cupcakes cookbooks I’ve had since high school, and my family has quite a few tried and true favorites from her recipes. I was lucky enough to receive a signed copy of the Bryan Voltaggio Home cookbook at the Priceless Table Event I went to last fall.

On my island, I keep three glass jars filled with a few of my favorite things—wine corks, citrus fruit (it’s faux too, hah!), and restaurant matchbooks. When I was looking for the glass jars, I looked around online, but ended up going to my local Home Goods store, and am so glad I did. They had a huge selection and you seriously can’t beat their prices. I picked up these three for under $20 total.

I’ve been collecting matchbooks for two or three years now, and so wish more restaurants had them! I have found that some restaurants don’t put them out, but if you ask for them, they have them. So when in doubt, definitely ask!

You may remember that when you first saw my bar stools, I had custom slipcovers made for them. When I purchased a rug for my dining area, I ended up switching out those colorful slipcovers for the white ones to create a more unified look with less competing patterns. I am really happy with how things turned out, and since the slipcovers are easy to wash, the white hasn’t been an issue despite heavy use.

Because those bar stools are so comfortable, I find myself eating a lot of meals at the bar or setting my computer up there for an afternoon of blog work. Sadly, I don’t have room for them in my next apartment, so I am going to sell them soon, but hopefully one day, I’ll have a bar again!

I thought it would be good to end on this shot, which kind of gives you context of how my kitchen bleeds into my living area. I’ve loved having such an open floor plan—it makes it feel less like an apartment and more like a real home.

I’ll pop back in to share my living area soon, but, in the interim, if you have any questions about where I purchased something, please don’t hesitate to reach out: katie@atouchofteal.com! x