Jennifer shares many of the common woes of renters everywhere: beige walls she's not allowed to paint, beige wall to wall carpet and a sense that, because it's a rental, you don't want to invest too much, but you do want to like where you live. So with a small budget, an eye for repurposing, and time she's making her house a home.
We love the simple interiors and the bold use of color in the dining room, the books that become art in the living room and the smart ways that she's been able to incorporate DIY's and thrift store finds in a throroughly modern interior.
Some of the tricks that have brought style to Jennifer's rental without forcing her to spend a ton:
• The books in the living room were a thrift store find. Fill a bag for a buck, and we did, about 3 of them.
• The lines and dots canvas above the fireplace mantle is a painting I made-inspired by Jenna Lyons' dining room painting and Eames fabric pattern.
• The giant black jack next to it is vintage that I painted black.
• The TV console was purchased at a yard sale for $45 and spray painted.
• The headboard and bedframe were diys's
• The dresser in the bedroom is another thrifted piece that I painted.
• Our son's Eames was thrifted and then upgraded with a new rocker base.
• His bedding was made using a linen shower curtain found at Target. e.
Keep up with Jennifer and her pursuits in style on her blog: A Merry Mishap.
(Images: Jennifer Hagler)
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Where is your dining room table from?
well done! love the dining room furniture and wall color
that dog looks awfully plump and squeezable
Ralapack-the dining table is from Target, about 3 years ago.
I love how the books are displayed. Also, therapy4me, that's possibly the best AT comment I've ever read lol.
Where is your couch from?
is that the target pintuck duvet? or west elm?
The books-by-the-bag-for-decoration thing put me off big time. But Jennifer's got an eye for stylish design and has created a lovely home.
how is a $4000 womb chair "thrifty"?
I like how simple this is, but it isn't boring to me. I LOVE the sofa :)
The sofa is from Ikea and we got an amazing deal on our womb chair-ended up paying less than $1000 for it.
I think your place looks great - very modern and uncluttered.
Your place looks great. I, too, really like your dining room set up.
And, in general, I love seeing "beige boxes" that people can make look personal and cute. Way to go.
I would love to see more tours/house calls like this! Here, standard apartments are the very blah, white wall, tan carpet, no charm or detail kind of places. I'd like to see more inspiration for how you can make that feel more elegant and homey instead of like a cookie cutter rental. Seems like all the house tours always have wood floors--it looks gorgeous but it's just not realistic for most rentals (except maybe in NYC) and the look of wood completely will change any room for the better, so it's great to see how you make a room beautiful when you are stuck with carpet and white walls (well, obviously, some here are painted).
You've done a great job with your home and it's very inspiring! Who did you kill to get a womb chair that cheap though?!
Can you tell me what color you bought the Eames LCW in? I love the chair but the birch color is a bit bland for me. I like the darker color you chose.
Inmod has the womb chair (obviously a reproduction) on sale right now for $700. It does not come with the ottoman though.
Can you tell me what color you bought the Eames LCW in? I love the chair but the birch color is a bit bland for me. I like the darker color you chose.
Inmod has the womb chair (reproduction) on sale right now for $700. It does not come with the ottoman though.
The duvet is from Target-I'm sure the one from WestElm is better quality but this was less than $50 and it's actually a comforter set and not a duvet.
We got pretty lucky with the womb chair, I searched high and low and ended up finding it on ebay.
Thank you for all of the lovely comments!!
Oh! The LCW is a walnut stain, I didn't like the birch either.
Where are the two metal chairs in the living room from? I know I've seen them somewhere before but I can't remember where.
They're wire chairs-not Bertoias, reproductions from Modern Dose.
Wow - awesome! I LOVE your TV cabinet.
Your space looks GREAT!
Where is the round white end table from?
Thank you, I thought it was walnut! Inmod is having a huge sale on those LCW too (and pretty much everything else). At $200/pop you could probably spring for 2.
did your landlords let you paint that one wall in the dining room, was that their paint choice, or is it removable wallpaper?
Please tell me what brand and color the paint is on your dining room wall. We NEED that color! I've tried multiple greens and none of them is right and I'm pretty sure we need the one you used! It looks fantastic!
Very pretty apartment. How is it "all" beige??? That green ain't beige!!!!
I like the organized by color floating book shelves. they look like art and balance the heavy credenza. (with my cr@ppy monitor the third photo looks like a vitra miniature!)
love the womb chair, it's on my "list".
Um, I wouldn't exactly call this thrifty. Its not like she got her furniture at a thrift store. Looks like she bought everything new.
I want to see more of this place!
We were allowed to paint the bedroom and dining wall because they had a few "bruises".
The dining room color is Katydid-not sure what brand, we bought it from Walmart since this isn't our house.
Very cute place. Where is the Volcano artwork above the heart pillow from?
It's from Studio Violet.
Hello Jennifer: I simply love the sofa and poof in grey.
Where did you get it? It looks expensive!
And the invisible book shelves?
Thank you!
The sofa is from Ikea and the floating books are just stacked on "L" brackets we bought at the hardware store.
Thank you: brilliant idea with the brackets!
PS: hooked on your blog right now :)
beautiful!
i love your house...very much the look i'm going after.
May I know what the color you bought for the Ikea sofa? I assume it is a Karlstad but cannot find this light gray slipcover. Thank you.