Abby gets a cow hide rug (or: Apartment makeover part 1)

Let's talk about endeavors: I've been undertaking them. Since Thanksgiving my apartment has gotten a nice update, the first of which is my new cow hide rug and updated couch pillows (!). The second, which will come in part 2 of this post, was the much more laborious and painstaking replacement of my kitchen floor, and the third was the scramble to do it all before hosting (read: cramming) a few dozen people in my apartment for Lights in the Heights. Now that I've finally gotten my apartment in order, I'm basking in the final product, and I'm loving it. I hope you do, too!

First, the before:

Though I was liking where I was going, my living room floor was all wood wood wood, as was the toy-box-turned-coffee-table. It was a little much.

When I started looking for a rug, I wanted something that would complement the eclectic colors in my living room (bright green chair, flowered chandelier, hot pink Andy Warhol poster) without being too much of a blank slate, since I already had the neutral couch. Inspired by this gray couch/colored rug combo, I actually started out looking for a kilim style rug, which I had spotted in Turkey back in August.  

Turns out, though, that the colors I wanted in a kilim style -- turquoise, peach, maybe a sunset-y mango -- were not to be found in Houston. So as a last ditch effort, my mom and I tried The Arrangement, a southwest store that I thought might have Native American style rugs that would work for me.  

And that's when I started checking out the cow hides, and couldn't shake the idea that one might work in my apartment.

I love this cow hide.  I think it goes really well with my green 60s chair and my wooden floors, and because nothing else in my apartment is southwest, I don't think I'm in danger of going overboard with the cowboy look.

After getting the rug, I had to change one more aspect of the room: the pillows. The old ones I had, from Thailand and Turkey, were flowery and delicate, and really didn't go, so I found these on Etsy, where I paid an arm and a leg (it was my first time on the site -- was I foolish to think it would be an inexpensive option?). 

The skull is a nod to Dia de los Muertos (which I admit I just think is cool but have no cultural ties to), and the two colored pillows are kilims, my original inspiration! They actually ended up coming from Turkey, and are more beautiful in person than I even expected.  I do still need to get a fourth, but all good things come in time.

In this post:

couch | Dia de los Muertos pillow | kilim pillows 1 and 2
red side table (similar)
desk lamp
cow hide rug (similar)
ring lamp