The Lovely Side

Feminine doesn't always mean painted pink, full of frills, and ultra-girly.  But I do like spaces that incorporate those types of things.  Feminine for me is curvy furniture, vintage accessories, sparkling chandeliers, flowers, crushed velvet, eye-catching pattern, ruffles, pops of color, and an easy grace to a space.  The bedroom above captures my idea of feminine.  The big, ornate bed.  The velvet fainting couch.  The chandelier.  The surprising turquoise of the shutters.  The curio cabinet full of curiosities.  The following rooms capture femininity for me as well:

It's that time of year again, ladies!  Tomorrow is the first day of October and if you haven't already been donning your colorful scarves to campus, now's the time to start.  I'm a self-proclaimed scarf hoarder.  My collection has been steadily growing for a few years and I have a scarf to go with almost any outfit.  However, when fall rolls around it's difficult to keep all my scarves in one place, neatly and wrinkle-free.  So I decided to go hunting for some scarf storage options and this is what I found:

Just made my entry for the Moxii + Threadcase Outfit to Room Challenge.
I started out with Threadcase's Cowboys and Indians dress because I love its toasted gold color.  Then I added the Chic Southern Belle Hat since it's an adorable bad-hair-day coverup for fall. ;)

Toss orange all around your room like in this office---lampshades, flowers, and chairs all show off the crisp, creative color pairing it with antiqued white and creamy grays.

Several of you have been asking how to submit photos of your dorm or apartment to be featured on Lovely Undergrad.  Whether you want to show off your finished space or just get some advice/pointers from me or other readers, there are two easy-peasy ways to share photos.
1. Upload your photos to the Lovely Undergrad Flickr group.  
2. Email your photos directly to me at [email protected].
And that's it. :) 
Can't wait to see your dwellings!

Foliage is in full-swing in the blogosphere.  While I'm definitely a late-spring/early-summer type of girl, I swoon over the changing of leaves every year.  I think autumn would my favorite season if it didn't mean that cold and snow were right around the corner!

Hey lovelies!  Just thought I'd give you a heads up about a fabulous challenge going on right now!  The Outfit-to-Room Challenge is hosted by Moxii and Threadcase.  You should definitely check it out and enter! I'm going to. :)

Okay, so let me start out by saying that I'm not a real cowgirl.  I grew up in Smalltown, Iowa... close to the country, but far enough away that I rode the in-town bus to school and was deathly afraid of farm animals.  In fact, throughout my junior high and high school years I did everything possible to push "country" away.  I wrinkled up my nose at my mom's country music, daydreamed of life in a big city, and insisted (much to my family's laughter) that the one type of guy I would never ever marry would be a farmer.

Gray + Black + Wearied Wood + Soft Textures
An attic bedroom with worn wooden floors, gray walls, and painted black trim is a rustic getaway after a rainy fall day.  A nubby rug cozies up the floor and a soft green blanket is nearby for comfort.  (via re-nest)

I'm an Anthro-phile for sure.  While I can't yet afford the lovely items from Anthropologie (thanks to a college student budget) I haunt the website and eagerly await the arrival of each catalog so that I can be inspired by the styling, the colors, the atmosphere. 

If you read my post about my recent movie binge, I'm sure you picked up on the fact that I'm completely and utterly obsessed with period dramas.  Watching them, alone, curled up in bed, with a glass of wine or hot tea... is one of my greatest pleasures.  
A few nights ago, I added another film to my favorite list.

Like this cute, colorful mail sorter I made for me and my two housemates?  Well, it only cost me $1 and took a couple hours!  

Hey lovelies,

I value your readership and opinions sooo very much and can't thank you enough for supporting the site and leaving your comments.  If you'd like to let me know how Lovely Undergrad is working for you, how I can improve, or just like filling out questionaires...

Please take my Lovely Undergrad Reader Survey.

It's totally anonymous.  No questions are required.  You can answer as much as you want, as little as you want, and say whatever you want.

Be dear and let me know how Lovely Undergrad can better serve you as your go-to guide to making college lovely. :)

Yesterday's post featured a bold, bright, modern apartment.  Now today, let's tour something a little softer, more feminine, with a subtler color palette.  Welcome to alid3y's lovely space! 


 Love this little workspace nook!



She made this chalkboard calendar.
Here's a close up of that desk in the back corner of the living room. 


All photos in this post belong to alid3y; see more of her Flickr photos here.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find any mention of a blog or website... I wish she had one!

Yesterday I shared one of my favorite teeny-tiny apartments from Apartment Therapy's "Small Cool" 2010 contest.  Today I have one more to share!  It's a tad bigger (coming in at 410 square feet).  I just adore how feminine it is.  I mean---that bedroom! Gorgeous! The soft gray walls, breezy curtains, pretty secretary in the corner, and luxurious bedding... lovely.  And I love that color of pink on the walls in the next room...

One of my favorite features on Apartment Therapy is their yearly "Small Cool" contest.  I've been meaning to share this for a while... so here's one of my favorite "Teeny-Tiny" entries from 2010.  I'm pretty much obsessed with Leah and Liam's 285 square-foot apartment in the Upper East side of NYC.

Guess what today is! Today is the day that Missoni's new line hits Target stores! While fashion is all the buzz, you can guess that I'm most excited about the explosion of color and pattern in Missoni's home products. 
1. These scarfs are sooo pretty! Not just to wear, but I could definitely imagine using them for a pop of color and pattern on the nightstand, framed and hung on the wall... or even (dare I say it?!) decoupaged onto a wooden box or chair.

I carpooled to my summer internship with three other Iowa State girls that were also interns.  They're all three very creative and fun.  And we ended up hosting a few crafty nights.  Our first project was to create pretty wall art for our apartments. 

Okay, ladies... answer me this: Who of you have never wished you had an exotic guitarist to serenade you whenever you felt the need to swoon? I know I have. And at last I've found him. Last week an episode of Better introduced me to Milos Karadaglic. He's a young (only 27!), handsome, and very talented man from Montenegro... and he's bringing the classical guitar back to the music scene by topping music charts in the UK.

(Click here to view larger moodboard!)
Dear LU, Hi, I'm in my last year of college and I really want my room to look awesome since it has been pretty boring in the past. My comforter set is white with a plaid pattern of pink, light orange, and blue. What kind of curtains and decor should I get?
Sincerely, Anonymous Senior
Dear Anonymous Senior,
Congrats on starting your last year of college! Plaid can be a tricky pattern when decorating because it can end up looking too childish or too preppy. I created this moodboard to show that plaid can be grown-up and chic.

Jesse Nabers is a painting major at Memphis College of Art and the blogger behind Just Flew the Coop.  She's one of my favorite bloggers and has fabulous interior design taste.  So you can imagine my excitement when she posted on Facebook the big reveal of her finished bedroom in her new apartment. With her chic sense of style and creative diy know-how, Jesse shows how easy it is to pull together a gorgeous apartment on a student budget.

I love the shelving unit over the bed as a headboard.  Vertical storage is always a space saver! And what a great place to keep magazines and books close at hand!

Hey lovelies!

The days are getting closer to me FINALLY revealing my bedroom in my new apartment.  Until then, I decided to show you a moodboard I created that kinda captures the spirit of my decor.  The walls are painted Sherwin William's Anonymous, a warm grey/beige.  My furniture is all vintage French Provincial from the 1970s, cream in color with gold accents.

In case you've wondered where I've been...

I've been in bed. Plagued with tonsilitis. Fairly miserable.

Slurping soup. Eating expensive ice cream direct from the carton. Drinking ginger ale.

And watching sooo many period films.

Breaking up is hard to do. And while you may feel like nobody understands you when going through such a rough time, we've all been there. For many girls, college years are plagued with heartbreak. During one of my recent relationship hardships, I came across Pink Kisses.

Basically, Pink Kisses is your virtual go-to gal pal who is there to help you "get over your ex and find your inner bombshell!"  The Pink Kisses blog features inspiring stories of women who turned their lives around after breakups. 

Pink Kisses also recently surveyed nearly 300 women in the US and Puerto Rico, ages 18-59 to study patterns of moving on.  The results are surprising and interesting.  (Read the findings here.) 

Oh, and did I mention that there's a feature on the Pink Kisses web site that lets you virtually "burn" a photo of your ex? 

Stay tuned because tomorrow there'll be a special guest post on Lovely Undergrad directly from the lovely ladies at Pink Kisses!