I know I've been saying a post is coming for my new living room decor. It's finally here! We recently moved to a different apartment nearby and I wanted to change up the decor. We still have our same black sectional which I love and don't want to give up. I changed the color scheme and some other details. It's still a work in progress but here is the latest. 

Sectional: Macys // Marble Table: Article // Shelves & Floor Lamps: Target // Gold Tray: Home Goods // Rug: IKEA

In my previous apartment we had mostly IKEA furniture. We were on a budget and got simple white furniture from IKEA. This time, I wanted to get some spotlight pieces. Like this AMAZING marble table from Article. This was definitely a difficult buy cause of the price but totally worth it! I decided to do these shelves instead of a gallery wall cause 1 my friend suggested it and 2 it was much easier then hanging so many frames up. We needed lighting as the apartment has no ceiling lighting so I opted for this gold three headed lamp from Target. I love rustic and gold accents together. I added some rustic accents with the coffee tables' legs and the frame shelves. For gold accents, the lamp was a perfect addition along with a tray from Home Goods. I continued the gold accents on my bookshelves below. 

 

One of my pet peeves about bookshelves is clutter! It should look neat and clean. Not all of us have only books with white covers. An easy fix is to get these magazine holders and boxes and store everything in there! All of the organization items are from, wait for it.. IKEA! So cheap and efficient. I put all of our books in the magazine holders. In the boxes I stored others tuff like laptops, chargers, etc. On the bottom shelf I got this cute basket from Target and have our prayer rugs and scarves inside. Oh and these bookshelves are from IKEA as well. There are some cool hacks if you don't want to spend a fortune on shelves. Check them out on Pinterest. 

Magazine Holders: IKEA

Boxes: IKEA

Basket: Target (Similar)

Black Shelves: IKEA

The accent pieces are from different places like Target, Home Goods, IKEA, TJ Maxx, etc. A lot of these pieces were actually from the clearance section. You don't have to spend a lot to make it look good. My favorite piece is that white pineapple though from TJ Maxx..how cute?!

Hope you enjoyed my cozy living room. InshAllah more to come with the dining room, kitchen, pantry etc. :)

with love,

Sania

This past weekend we hosted my daughters aqeeqah party. Usually it is done immediately after the birth of the baby but we chose to hold off and do it when she was about 3 months. Alhamd it was a beautiful event. I wanted to share with you all the details of the party and how I decorated on a low budget! It actually was really easy but of course took a lot of my time mainly because I have a newborn at home. This really could be done in a weeks time. The theme I chose was an Arabic Alphabet theme that I came up with after seeing "monogram" theme parties on pinterest. I was really excited when I came up with it since it really wasn't don't before. 

 Backdrop

So for the backdrop I kept it pretty simple since the desserts would be the main show. I bought his frame from IKEA in white and painted it gold. I painted Safa's name myself in Arabic by copying a picture I found online. I then used table covers and taped them to the wall for the background. I then used IKEA curtains to finish it off. To add some color, we added flowers to tie back the curtains and balloons on the sides. 

Backdrop Cost: $70

 24.99 (IKEA Frame) + 8.99 (Costco Table Covers) + 19.99 (4 IKEA Curtains) + 15 (Paint & Other Accessories) 

Dessert Table

I chose to go with a pink, white and gold theme with a hint of polka dots. So first the actual desserts. I got the cake made from a friend. Cupcakes and cake pops were from Sweet Escape Cakes. Cookies were from Top That Cookie (they finished in seconds!) I also made extra cupcakes with my sister in law to fill the table. We also made chocolate covered pretzels. Lastly, I added some jars of candy. Most of the plates, jars and cake holder my mom already had at home (somehow moms have everything, yay!). We made the cake pop holders with styrofoam and gold wrapping paper. The desserts were definitely the items I splurged on--only because with a newborn I wouldn't be able to make everything myself. 

Dessert Table Cost: $500

400 (Desserts) + Plates & Containers (50) + Other Accessories (50)

 

Centerpieces 

Last but not least and the most fun to do were the centerpieces! We had 25 tables so the Arabic Alphabet was perfect! I painted each vase with an Arabic letter and polka dots. I saved some money by buying these plant holders from IKEA vs. actual vases that would of been way more expensive. The mason jars I used elmers glue and glitter on the inside instead of the outside. I liked it better inside as there was less of a mess everywhere! I bought fake flowers from Michaels. Normally each flower bunch is 6.99 but I waited for the sale when they were 40% off and used coupons buying only a few at a time. Yes, sounds painful but definitely saved a lot! I also got table runners from Pakistan for really cheap as it was just fabric cut into pieces. In each frame I found a word with each letter and matched a hadith or Ayah with it. For above, I did Saad is for Safa. "Indeed As-Safa and Al-Marwa are among the signs of Allah (2:158)".

Centerpieces Cost: $335 ($13.5 per table)

70 (IKEA Plant Vases) + $20 (Mason Jars) + 33 (Frames) + 75 (Michaels Flowers) + 7- Table Covers + 65 (Table Runners)

 

Hope you liked it :)

Sania