Here’s where I stand on the home decorating front…I like things to look good. I even have a fairly good aesthetic eye. I like clean lines, and I like having things around me that remind me of good times and people. I also like looking at things that inspire me.

However, while I have part of this design gene in me, I lack a few key parts like “ability to execute” and “follow through.” This is where, thankfully, my friend Katie Lessley comes in. She has ability and follow through in spades, and she genuinely LIKES making things look good. Her house looks great, and thankfully she took a field trip to my apartment this weekend. I moved into my current place in November, and the former tenant had left a lot of nails and things in the walls, so I kind of just makeshift decorated by hanging things up on existing nails. I know, but I was busy.

There were also a few light fixtures added by the previous tenant that probably made sense when she lived here but now were just kind of lighting…nothing. Enter Katie.

First she hung some of my art on the big empty wall in the living room. Two of my college roommates painted those. (Note those awesome neon world map pillows…Katie made those, too!)

Then we made a music wall with some of my favorite things all clustered together, and she put up a guitar hanger! This is epic! I can hang my guitar on the wall! (Simple things excite me).

Then she took two Georgia O’Keeffe prints and a print by Bill Binger from Taos which is a painting OF O’Keeffe, and she made a collection and moved an IKEA light from the living room over to this. It kind of looks like a gallery. I am so impressed.

We hung some curtains, puttied some holes, and all around made this apartment much more liveable and “me.” Thank you, K-Le!

Did I mention Katie is a member of The Homeslippers and a fabulous singer-songwriter? Check her out here.