Over this past weekend, I got to visit my best friend, Rebecca, in her brand new apartment. We spent the whole time shopping and exploring her new city and style. Let me be the first to say, West Des Moines is amazing. The buildings are beautiful, the stores are huge, and everything I could ever want was within a mile from her place. I don’t know how I’m ever going to go back to my Target after experiencing the luxury of hers.
Making the Trip
I already want to go back, but to say the trip was easy would not be an accurate description. I’ve been to Iowa before, but driving alone to Iowa is a completely different story. Holy cow. I was not prepared for the emotional trauma I endured on the way there. Okay that’s a little dramatic, but still. Lol. Driving on unfamiliar highways, to an unknown place, by myself, in the most desolate, rural area around is not my idea of fun.
I completely panicked that I would run out of gas or hit a deer and total my car and there would be no one around to help me for hundreds of miles. I was also very aware of how many abandoned farmhouses there were and felt a little like I was in a horror movie for a minute. Not to mention, it poured rain for the entire five hour drive home.
Finding Her Style
Obviously, I made it there and back in one piece, so let’s talk home decor. In the weeks before my trip, we tried to get a sense of her style. Rebecca likes the neutral color palette of modern and Scandinavian style with clean lines and a minimal feel. White, black, simplistic, leather. She also really likes the texture and funkiness of bohemian style. Chunky knits, wild patterns, pampas grass. I was a little nervous to mix the two styles, but it actually wasn’t hard at all. She even came up with the perfect name for her personal style: Boujee Bohemian.
Since I was only there for about two days, we tackled the main living spaces: living room and kitchen. The living room takes the cake. Prior to this weekend, she purchased the most comfortable and beautiful couch and matching chair to fit perfectly in her space. The chair hasn’t been delivered yet, so it isn’t pictured. The main goals of our shopping trip were to find an end table, coffee table, kitchen bar stools, and smaller decor pieces for the living room.
Living Room
She has a very large, open living space and an insane amount of natural light that pours in– adding to the vastness of this room. I am so obsessed. Despite my fear, there is still a look of cohesiveness in the space, even though we mixed styles. The color of the couch, with the pouf and end table, gives me all the heart eyes. It’s really cool that even though Rebecca’s style is not the same as mine, I can still love and appreciate it so much.
Kitchen
We really didn’t do much in the kitchen. She has a massive island, that was screaming for some decor to break up the space, so I thought a tray would be pretty. Since her counters are a little busy and cabinets are dark, I wanted to bring in lots of white. This tray caught her eye immediately, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the way it turned out. The fun pattern really plays into her bohemian style.
I would love to do a console table and round black mirror on that wall in the left of the picture above. I’m worried about the placement of the thermostat, though. We will have to tackle that at a later time. Even though we didn’t have time for much else, we have more plans in the works for her bedroom, office, and a few other items in the main living spaces. I wish I could be there for it all, but we’ll have to see if I’m up for the drive again after healing from the trauma. Lol.
I hope you enjoyed seeing a little behind the scenes of her apartment and, as always, thanks for reading!
