Name: Zoe & Nick
Location: Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts

My fiance and I moved into a recently renovated Jamaica Plain apartment a little over a year ago, and from the beginning we were eager to make the place our own. We were working with a very limited budget, so our plan was to think creatively, look for sales, and go DIY as much as possible.

When we moved in, the walls of the main living space, which includes the kitchen and dining area, were a boring beige, so one of the first things we wanted to do was paint. We chose a linen-white (Toasted Oatmeal by Glidden) to offset the ultra-white trim, and to add a pop of color, we painted the back wall of that room a deep blue/green (Galapagos by Benj. Moore) which paired very well with our Orange Burst Chormalab clock.

Our next step was furnishing. Because our place is small we took special consideration into space-saving pieces. On a visit to our local unfinished wood furniture shop, we bought an eight drawer storage bed, a horizontal bookshelf, and a small desk for half the list price by purchasing the floor models. When we got home we painted the bed a light grey (Wood Smoke by Glidden) and added some new hardware. We painted the bookshelf a dark grey (Wet Concrete by Benj. Moore) and organized our books by color. We left the small desk as is and put it in our kitchen nook to use as a tiny office. Painting the two pieces was well worth the effort for the cost benefit and, of course, the end result of having two beautiful new additions to our home.

Since moving in, the hardest part of decorating has been finding the right art to put on the walls. For us, the art selection process will never be complete, but since moving in we have found some gorgeous works. The first is a monoprint by Chicago artist, Mat Daly. I love Mat Daly's work, so the little extra cash needed to get this piece on our bedroom wall was well worth the dough. The next additions were two, well-priced pencil drawn maps of Boston, created by Studio KMO. We love maps and we love Boston, so this was a perfect fit. Most recently we have reached out to local Boston artists, and have acquired two new paintings and three prints. It feels great to support the artists in our community, not to mention, the art is beautiful.

We have future design plans for our place, but since moving in over a year ago, we couldn't be more happy in our little Boston apartment we call home.

-Nick

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