The last room in the house is the bedroom, that has the bathroom connected to it. We don't have much on the walls just yet, but it is definately a work in progress. It's funny how there is a bit of a paisley theme in the place, it was completely by accident, but it seems to work as long as we don't go overboard. I got the thick, flanneled drapes from second mile again, when I just popped in on my way to the grocery store! The wicker basket is set on the back of the toilet. I saw the idea on home and garden, and already had hemp lying around the house. I'm not sure how Buddha got in there, but he seems happy enough. I got the duvet set and shams off of Overstock.com, and the sheets are pretty old, I think I might have found them stored away in my closet? The knitted pillow was a pretty cool find at a this place called The Garmet District on a trip we made to Boston over Thanksgiving. The 2nd floor of the place has some pretty funky consignment items, but the bottom floor is where the real treasures are. You're able to get on your hands and knees and rake through a ton of clothing at only $1/lb.!

Regency Paisley Duvet/Pillow cases-$40 Overstock.com

White Knit Pillow-The Garment District, Boston priced $1/lb.

Gold flannel Drapes-$5 for 2 Second Mile

Shower curtain-$8 Burkes Outlet, Murphy NC

Whicker Basket $.50 from Salvation Army in Asheville

The jars were actually baby food jars.

On to the kitchen. What you see is, basically, what you get. For the first time ever I am cooking with a gas stove, and coincidentally, for the first time ever I burned rice. But, I am getting used to it, though I still have the boy light the oven for me. One of my favorite parts of the kitchen is the new burlap rug that we have just under the sink. It's actually from Hawaii...a gift that the boy's brother doesn't know he's given us yet :)

Tiffany Blue Vase-$2 Deckers/Fosters Flea Market, Murphy, NC

Sugar bowl and creamer-Gift from Mom, Yard Sale $1 (Four sets for $4.)

Salt/Pepper Shaker-Macy’s a gift from the boy's parents

Ingham Marsala pic-$.50 Salvation Army, Asheville

Knitted oven mitts-Gift from Fanny, Bulgaria

As you already know, we originally bought a set of dishes from Macy's. While they were nice, once we finally got a set home in one piece, they just weren't us. We did find a set, however, that we felt really good about! I decided, instead of getting perfectly matching dishes, I would make a sort of "fiesta" as the boy's mom calls it. I got all of the dishes at thrift stores in the area, except for the strainer, which came from a sort of dollar store on Market St.

Stack of dinner plates-$8.08 Second mile

Playing card salad plates- 3 for $1.21 second mile

Saucers-Asian design 2 for $1.21 second mile, Other two- free with purchase from Toviah Thrift

Strainer-Discount Dollar $1

Bowls-3 for $.90 AIDS thrift store, south street (link)

Glasses-4 at $0.50 Second Mile

Mugs-$0.50 at Toviah Thrift

On a completely random note: If you are ever in Macy's and know of a couple who have registered there in the past 2 years, you can get a 25% discount if you mention thier names!!! THANKS COLLEEN :)

The other piece of furniture that I came with was this incredible wingback chair. It's white and quilted, and looks great with one of the two blue paisley print pillows that I already had. This chair was a real find! If you're ever in Murphy, NC riding down Highway 64 look to your left at the "Yard Sale Store." I saw the chair sitting on the side of the road, and the owner gave her to me for $20! The end table wa a real find as well. The legs match about every other piece of furniture we have, and we were able to walk her down the road to our place from the Second Mile Center. The two standing mirrors were from the second hand furniture store on Baltimore Avenue, right down the street (same place we got our table!) and the chair is just the fourth from the set. I've had that metal wall hang for years and can never figure out what to do with it. Keep it in the chair, or hang it on a wall?

End table-$9 Second Mile Center

Lamp and pictures were bought at some point during college. I want to say at Ross?

Wingback chair-$20 on yard sale day with G-ma, store on highway 64 in Murphy

Meet Walter. The newest addition to our home. It's not that we were already getting bored with each other's company or anything, let me explain. As you can see in the pictures below. I have a pink couch. I fell in love with this couch about a week before I left for Peace Corps. It sat in my parent's basement for 2.5 years and I vowed to use it in my next place. Thank goodness the boy was game, too. It actually looks really great as the biggest piece of furniture in the living room. I threw on a couple of decorative pillows that I already had, but I will probably be rotating them as the seasons, and my moods change. I am in love with these pillows. But, I'm wondering if I can't just make some once I get my sewing machine. Pillows are pretty easy to sew up, I think. Anyway, we were looking for a coffee table. Most all of our furniture has antique wooden legs, so, naturally we were looking for a dark, wooden coffee table. While we were in The Second Mile thrift store looking around, the boy found this beauty. It's a vintage ironing board made of what looks/feels to be tin. The color is magnificent. The next day, while I was shopping there alone, I found Walter. I think I heard him tell me to take him home, and it turns out, he really ties the room together. So, here is my price list for this side of the living room!Couch-$40 Episcopal yard sale @ the DepotIroning Board/coffee table- $4.94 Second Mile Decorative Pillows- TJ Maxx set for $12, 4 years ago. Trophy Man- $0.90 Second Mile

If you know me you know two things about me, I love spices, and I love fresh herbs. It kills me to buy these in grocery stores for recipes when I've lived the better part of the last 2 years predominately using the fresh stuff. So, I found these little pots that Mom had bought years ago and never used. They were probably really cheap, though I don't know how much exactly. My idea is to plant (at least start) some fresh herbs in each of these...I have at least two in each window. Our apartment gets a lot of natural light, and most herbs only need sunlight for a bit of the day. Here I found a list of the best indoor herbs to grow. I am wondering if I should try a bunch of different ones or stick to a good 3 or 4? I know I want Thyme, Basil, and Rosemary for sure. Does anyone know about growing mint indoors???

On to our yard. I was really delighted to find out that we would actually have any sort of yard at all! In the back we discovered that someone has been chopping and storing wood (for what?! Oooh, a mystery!) and one of the neighbors has put up some Christmas lights and a table outside, which might be fun in the summer. We ALSO discovered that we are able to start a garden if we so fancy...which we do. I've been looking around for some good seed stores in the area. While I know how to dig potatoes and wrap bean vines around wooden posts, I don't know too, too much about things that grow well in this region.I did, however, find this for some starter information and local stores/farms.

So, one of our first wonderful finds was in a 2nd hand furniture store only a block or so away from our apartment. I'm not sure where the vendor gets his goods, but he is super nice and repairs them right there in his store. We got the table, and 4 chairs for a total price of $89. While the boy was at work I walked the four chairs over to our apartment one at a time. What else is an unemployed girl to do? Once he got home we walked the table over together. After much deliberation, we walked the table up our fire escape and wiggled into our kitchen entrance. To both our surprise, no damage was done to the table. Because of the shape of our kitchen, and the placement of radiators, we are only using 3 of the chairs, with the 4th as decoration. The table runner is from Thailand (a gift from a wonderful friend) and the center piece a mixture of Bulgarian, Morrocan, and American souvenirs that are merely in rotation. Enjoy the rest of the pictures!