Decorating On A Budget: Christmas Edition!

          Being a student, I am always on a budget and Christmas time is no exception. Whatever the occasion, I need to find thrifty and inexpensive ways to decorate my apartment for myself and my boyfriend! As I have finally completed all I'm going to do for this year, here's a look into the Christmas decorations in our apartment, including where I got them from. Get ready for lots of pictures!

I am a huge fan of Bath and Body Works, so I was thrilled to see these Christmas themed liquid soap sleeves for this season, as opposed to the original silver that just go over the top. Both these and the holiday themed liquid soaps are an inexpensive and easy way to dress up your bathroom for any occasion or season. Surprisingly, I haven't seen these holders for sale online, but they should be available in most stores. I would highly recommend the soap that I bought with it, which is the Enchanted Evergreen Luxury Hand Soap. It smells amazing, definitely the best one I tried that day. They had a buy 3 get 3 free deal that day, so I was able to get 6 items to complete my Christmas gifts and decorate my apartment. I also had a coupon for $10 off on top of it, so you definitely can't go wrong with those prices. I ended up paying $10.70 for the soap (which is actually pricey for their liquid soaps) and $8.10 for the soap sleeve. 

I purchased this Snowflake Nightlight last year from Bath and Body Works as well, and they still have the same one online for this year. I prefer the nightlight wallflowers by far, as they are so convenient to light up any dark area of your house/apartment or to have in your bathroom, while making the room smell great. Even when I run out of fragrance bulbs (which I did here!) I still keep them plugged in as nightlights. This nightlight currently retails for $8.50.

I had bought an extra string of lights to put on our tree, but because the tree we bought this year was so small, I decided it didn't need anymore. So, I just ended up stringing them over our bar stools! With these lights in one end of the apartment and the Christmas tree lights in the other end, it makes the apartment feel really festive and cozy. I bought this small string of lights at the dollar store for $2.00.

These were new this year as well, and another really good deal! We bought this 6 set of Christmas candles at Homesense for $10.00. They are all scented, and look so nice on our island area. 

This sparkly Christmas candle is one of my favourite decorations in our apartment, also bought this year. I believe it was $7.99 at the most from Homesense as well. I don't think I'll burn this candle or the candles in the previous photo, as they are just going to be for decoration.

When I saw this porcelain manger at my parents house, I asked my Mom if I could take it, as I thought it was so pretty! It used to belong to my great-grandmother, which makes it even more special. I'll definitely be bringing this out for years to come.

This swan isn't particularly Christmassy, but seeing as I love swans and didn't want to put it away, I cut some red fake flowers that I had gotten from the dollar store and put them inside to dress it up a little. I bought this swan a few months ago at Value Village for $2.00.

We bought this snowflake candle holder from Homesense once again, for $9.99. We've had these hooks on the ceiling of our kitchen since we moved in, so I've finally found a use for them! I have another glittery, silvery star next to it (not pictured) that I got from the dollar store for $1.50.

I have this little arrangement hanging on our kitchen wall. The little canvas is actually from the Dollar Store, and the Christmas pillow is from Value Village, so the two combined were only $3.00! I don't recall where I got the angel hanging above them now, but it's always in our kitchen on the same hook.

When we don't have a million things piled on our dining room table, this is what it looks like! We picked up this Christmassy tablecloth from Homesense for $12.99 at the most. It's super hard to find smaller table cloths at Homesense, but we managed to dig this one up! The snowman and Santa salt and pepper shakers are from the Dollar Store, and the little candy cane plant was $4.99 from the grocery store. The little pine cones were about $1.25 from the dollar store as well.

This mosaic style glass plate from Jysk was only $0.99, which was an amazing find! You can't really see here, but it's red on top and green on the bottom. They actually have 40-80% off their Christmas items right now, so it's a bit dangerous to go in there if you don't want to spend too much! Unfortunately, the Novelty Tin Candle on top of it wasn't the best deal. It's pretty to look at and smells nice, but it doesn't give off a lot of scent, especially for the price. I got it for $16.00 from Urban Outfitters! :( Not the best random purchase. However, it's now on sale on the Urban Outfitter's website for $9.99, which is much closer to what it's worth in my opinion!

This is a close up of the sparkly pine cone candle wreath that I got for our coffee table, also from Jysk. I thought it was so pretty and unique, and was only $5.00.

This is our little Christmas tree! As you can see, it's a little frazzled looking from being knocked over and picked up again so many times, (the joys of having a kitten) but we really didn't need one much bigger than this for our apartment. It's a real tree, and we bought it for $14.99 at the grocery store. I think next year we'll opt for a slightly bigger plastic tree, but it's fine for this year! As you can see, I went for a light blue and white theme for the decorations and the wrapping paper this year.

What kind of cat lady would I be if I didn't have stockings for my kittens? I've never gotten my pets stockings before, but I actually saw these at the dollar store and thought they were way too cute not to buy, especially for the price. These were about $2.50 each.

Last but not least, some Christmas teddy bears for the couch! The one in the green sweater we actually have all the time, as that is our Ireland teddy bear. I didn't buy any Christmas themed pillows this year, so these bears work just as well. I got the Ireland teddy bear from Value Village for about $2.50, and the smaller teddy bear I borrowed from my parents house.

And that's it! Thanks for taking the time to look at this loong blog post, and I hope it gave you some ideas!

xx

Starting Out: Decorating Your Apartment

             When you're in your 20's and starting out in a new apartment, chances are you're not going to have a lot left over in the budget for decorating. Unless of course you're one of those young people who gets everything handed to you, in which case I hate you. Kidding! (Kind of) But yes, while starting your first real job, making it through school and/or paying off the massive debt you've accumulated whilst in school, decorating is not going to be your number one priority. However, you still want your apartment to look nice and presentable and have a homey feel to it. This is what I've been trying to achieve since moving into my apartment with my boyfriend, and I've picked up a few tricks on how to do it without having to spend too much. Not everything is going to match right away, and some furniture may not go with others, but you do the best you can!

Everything in this photo are things that we've picked up over the years, with the occasional new item we've bought for our apartment. If you have an island area like we do, it is essential that you pick up some bar stools, as they make the biggest difference. I believe these were about $30-$40 each from Canadian Tire. They're comfortable, really sturdy and are a great way to add more seating options to your apartment.

I never thought I'd be one to buy fake flowers, but I LOVE these! These cost $10.00 altogether from the Dollar Store. It's a great way to always have seasonal looking flowers without constantly having to repurchase. Just fill the vase up with water and it's hard to tell the difference between real and fake!

Let me just say, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dog. This is the Bulldog Decorative Figure from Urban Outfitters, which I got on sale for $27.99 from their website. Unfortunately he's no longer available, but I think he's such a cute addition to our apartment. He's quite heavy, and has little grips on the bottoms of his feet. This dog was originally $59.99, so I couldn't complain about the price.

This is another recent purchase from St. Lawrence Market. This was from one of the souvenir stores on the first floor, and was the only one there. I wasn't originally going to buy it, as it was on for $34.99 and the very top was broken off. However, I managed to bargain down the store owner to $20.00 and he fixed the top for me. 

The best thing about this by far, is that it's a tea light holder! Once I realized that I couldn't just let it go. (That may look like dust around the edges, but it's not!)

This is the Bonjour Multi Hook in silver from the Urban Outfitter's website as well, which hangs by our doorway as a key holder! It really couldn't be much of anything else as it is quite small, but it's a nice touch as you walk in the doorway. This was not expensive at all, I purchased it for $12.00 at regular price.

There are all kinds of prints going on with our dining table, but that's okay! We actually got the table and chairs for free from someone who was getting rid of them in our building, so that was a bonus. However, the top was fairly scuffed up, so we purchased a tablecloth from Homesense to just throw over it for now. The elephant LED light was about $10 on sale from Pier 1 Imports in Guelph, and the seat covers were $12 each from IKEA. IKEA will become your new best friend when you're starting out in your apartment.

Last but not least, at any given time you will find about 5-10 items from Bath and Body Works in our apartment. This is the Birdhouse Mini Candle holder, which you can't get anymore. I need to go purchase a fall one! I have 3 Wallflowers in our apartment to keep it smelling fresh, and numerous soaps. You can always get amazing deals at Bath and Body works, and it's a great way to find little decorative details for your apartment. 

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND! xx