Welcome to Grand Rapids! I hope you enjoyed this little picture peak into my new apartment. I am so excited to be here! I tried to snap a few shots of before, during and after. The after isn’t my apartment completed because it still needs quite a bit of TLC but, it’s coming along! I am excited to share this post for a couple of reasons. Most importantly, I have a passion for GR and am excited to share my life in this city with you all. The beginning of this new chapter starts right here in my apartment and now you have all witnessed where it started and how it’s coming along. Secondly, I got quite a few messages over on Instagram after sharing a little tidbit of my moving day. I am excited to report that it’s very possible to move on a budget and my apartment is proof! You don’t need to settle, you need to shop the sales! I will give a little run down of a few big pieces and will save some info for when the apartment is 100% complete (if it ever gets there hahah).
- The Anna Sofa – I’m not kidding, this is actually the name of the sofa set I selected! Meant to be?! I think so! When selecting my furniture, I wanted to keep cost down without compromising on comfort and quality. I started at Furniture Row and wasn’t super impressed so I went to Art Van. Word of advice, start at Art Van! I’m not sure why I even wasted my time looking elsewhere. As we all know, Art Van always has sales going on. I capitalized on the Columbus Day sale and got my set for the lowest possible price they will ever offer it. Because I paid up front, (financing is always a great option) I was able to get an additional % off of my total bill. What I loved about Art Van: 1) The gal that helped me (shout out to Amy) was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. Don’t write off the sales people; I tried to and Amy proved to me that I would have been lost in that big store without her. She was patient and never pushy and helped me to feel confident in my decision knowing full well that I was making a big purchase. 2) Life time fabric protection – need I say more?! For $89 my sofa is protected for life! Red wine spills, pizza sauce, coffee etc; Art Van will come and professionally clean whatever it is I manage to spill. If they can’t get out the stain, they will reupholster my entire sofa! As someone who has shakey hands and spills often, this is the best $89 I have ever spent. 3) Options! Art Van has so many options making them able to accommodate budgets of all different kinds. (I didn’t love the pillows that my sofa came with but that was not a deal breaker! I simply went to Homegoods and selected a few that better fit my aesthetic. Each pillow I picked up was less than $10. Keep in mind, throw pillows are an easy way to jazz up/revamp a space! Can be done super inexpensively.) 4) Art Van delivers. The nicest guys swooped in on Saturday morning and moved, assembled and placed my furniture exactly where I wanted it. The two guys that made the delivery were so nice, they made my moving experience with Art Van one to rave about. All in all, I love my new sofa (I especially love that it’s called the Anna sofa!) and thoroughly enjoyed my experience with Art Van.
Click HERE to shop sofa; Click HERE to shop love seat; Click HERE to shop ottoman
- Target Area Rug – I kept my eye out for area rugs every where I turned. I thought I would end up buying one from Homegoods or TJ Maxx because I think picking out a rug online is incredibly hard! I like to be able to see and touch something such as this but took a gamble with my Target purchase. I love my Red Card because not only was I able to save an additional 5%, I knew I could return it in store if I decided I didn’t like it once it arrived. I pulled the trigger on the rug pictured when my oldest sister texted me and told me that Target was having a sale on area rugs. I was able to purchase mine for 20% off.
- Bar Stools – I wanted my bar stools to tie in the more modern kitchen with my fairly traditional sofa set. I also wanted the colors to mesh. Predominately grey, white and black, I wanted to introduce pieces that wouldn’t clash with the brown hues in the main living area. I searched the sale tabs on Wayfair, Overstock and Target and ultimately landed on these gems from Target!
- Pottery Barn Bedding – I am actually not sharing this purchase as much for the price as I am for the story! You’ll notice that I only have the shams on the pillows and the rest of the bed is white. Not intentional! We have misplaced the duvet cover and are currently still trying to track it down hahaha! This bedding is called the Ana set (another meant to be?!) and comes in two colors. I was able to find this bedding on sale, bringing down the cost a bit.
- Nightstands – I searched high and low for cute nightstands and finding ones that I liked (in white) was much harder than I thought it would be. Wayfair made my search easier. My advice would be to read the customer reviews that are posted. I really took those into consideration when making my purchase. I loved the look of the ones that I selected, I liked the price and I LOVED that they were delivered assembled for the most part. The only thing we had to do was screw on the legs. Super easy and super convenient.
I look forward to sharing more with you all as I make the finishing touches on my new spot. Thank you so much for all of the sweet and supportive messages during my moving weekend, I loved reading them all! A special thank you to my friend Serena who helped me all weekend long and to my Mom who has moved my sisters and I 293801924783742 times and continues to drive our U-Haul rentals with a smile! I don’t know what I would do without such a resourceful, hardworking and loving Momma! I am grateful! I feel very fortunate and very blessed to be in the city of my dreams surrounded by such amazing people! Cheers to this new chapter!
Xoxo, Anna