Home – Alli Santmyer

Home

My KITCHEN Reveal + Banana Bread Recipe

October 16, 2018

Hi everyone, happy Tuesday! Today, I’m back to share a little peek into the only room in my apartment that I haven’t shared yet… my kitchen. I’m also sharing one of my all-time favorite recipes for the Autumn season… well, let’s be honest – one of my favorite recipes for anytime of the year! Keep scrolling for more!

I don’t have a lot of decorations in my kitchen because I love how simple and pretty the fixtures are by themselves. My favorite thing about the kitchen in general is the concrete counter tops. Concrete counter tops are something I’d like to have in my own house one day so finding them in a rental unit was amazing! Another one of my favorite things is the white subway tiles. I also have these in my bathroom and it’s so nice! It really brightens up the space while looking simple and modern at the same time. That also goes for my white cabinets – I wouldn’t want them any other way!

Now onto the banana bread recipe… this recipe calls for 3 loaf pans and here are the ingredients you’ll need to get started:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

4 bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease your pans or use pan liners. Mash the bananas. Add the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, and the mashed bananas to your mixing bowl. Mix well with your mixer on medium speed. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add that to the mixture and blend thoroughly. At this point, you can also add in chocolate chips or walnuts or whatever you want if you’re looking to add something special! Pour the mixture evenly into the 3 loaf pans and bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until the breads tests done.

And then you’re done! This recipe is SO easy. Honestly, it only takes five to ten minutes of prep time and then you end up with 3 loaves – it’s so nice! This has easily become my favorite treat to make when I have some down time. That’s all for today’s post, I hope it made you hungry! Tell me in the comments what your favorite family recipe is… this one is definitely mine. Have a great week!

1 Comments

Home

My OFFICE Reveal

June 19, 2018

Hey hey hey cuties, welcome back to another one of my Allison in Wonderland apartment room reveals! I’m almost finished showing you gals my entire apartment! As you can tell from the title, today I’m sharing how I designed my office. My office was the room I decorated last because, at first, I didn’t really know what to do with it. I wasn’t expecting to have a second bedroom/office space when I began looking for apartments so I was a bit thrown off. Once I got the rest of my space finished and I could focus on this room, I ended up loving being able to be super creative and have fun with the room! Keep reading to see where everything is from!

Starting off with the walls, I bought speckled removable wallpaper from Target (click here)! I researched a bunch of different wallpaper companies but every option was so, so expensive. Eventually, I found this print at Target and I fell in love! My favorite part is that it’s black and white so I can bring any other color into the room and it was pretty easy to install. It only took my boyfriend and I about 2 hours to do the entire wall and it’s stayed up perfectly. One tip that we realized when hanging it up was to use the plastic tube that the product comes in as a tool to press the wallpaper to the wall evenly as you apply it.

Moving onto the furniture in the room, my desk and chair are from Target as well (click here for the desk and click here for the chair). I love this mid-century modern line at Target so much that I have the desk, coffee table, and dining room table. It’s so cute and perfect for a first apartment! The wooden frame on the wall is from Michael’s (click here) and the desert print is from Etsy (click here). As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I definitely recommend buying frames and prints separately and putting them together yourself because it saves so much money!

Lastly, the adorable candles on the side of my desk are from Hamilton Wax Co. (click here). Hamilton Wax Co. is based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (super close for my Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania babes!) and their candles smell INCREDIBLE. They sent me scents 04 and 05 and I don’t think they could of chosen better ones to send. I think I like scent 05 a bit better than 04 but they seriously are some of the best smelling candles I’ve ever owned.

That’s all for this week’s blog post! I only have one more room in my apartment and that’s my kitchen. Would you be interested in seeing a room reveal for my last room? Let me know in the comments below. Thank you for reading and have a great week!

Home

My BEDROOM Reveal

April 24, 2018

Hey cuties, happy Tuesday! Welcome to the newest post on the Allison in Wonderland lifestyle blog. As you can tell from the title, today’s post is my next apartment room reveal. I asked you all in my living room reveal post (linked here) which room you wanted to see next and so many of you said my bedroom so here it is! Keep reading to see how I decorated it and where everything is from.

Walking into my bedroom, the first thing you see is a woven wall hanging and a basket. In my bedroom, I really wanted to carry in the southwestern theme I have in my living room but I also wanted to add some bohemian touches and white/off-white decorations to brighten up the space. The wall hanging was an absolute steal at $20 from Marshall’s. I got it about three months ago so I’m not sure if they still have the exact one in stock but I know they always have a bunch of different styles. My basket (click here) and blanket (click here) are both from Target and they were such good buys! I’d seen the blanket in the store a million times before I actually bought it and I’m so glad I finally did. It’s super soft and pretty thick so it keeps you nice and warm!

Moving into the main section of the room, my bed frame is from Joss & Main (click here)! When I bought it back in 2016, it was only about $200 and I can’t believe it’s held up as well as it has. It’s not hard to put together and is easy to take apart if you have to move it from apartment to apartment! As I mentioned in a previous post (click here), my mattress is from Leesa®! I’ve had my new mattress for about four months and it’s honestly the most comfortable mattress I’ve ever slept on. I definitely made the right choice in choosing a Leesa®! If you’re needing a new mattress and you’re interested in purchasing a Leesa®, click here and use the code ALLIESANTMYER at checkout for $100 off your Leesa® mattress.

My bedding is one of my favorite parts of the room! I purchased it from Designer Living (click here) and I’m obsessed. I love how the white brightens up the room and it’s somehow really easy to keep it clean. Right now, the set is $110 and comes with a comforter, two regular-sized pillow cases, two bigger pillow cases, and two little accent pillows. Such a deal! The pink, white, and gray pillow I have on my bed is from Kaekoo (click here). Her pillows are so, so beautiful and this one fits the color scheme of my bedroom perfectly!

My nightstands are also some of my favorite items I found for my bedroom. I have two, one on both sides of my bed, and it was under $100 for both from T.J. Maxx! They’re mango wood and I liked that because mango wood has so many different tones in it that it pretty much can match whatever other wood accents are in the room. The knickknacks on my nightstands came from random little places but my light pink lamps and white lamp shades are from Target (click here).

Moving onto my walls, the white cactus decals are from an Etsy shop called looksugar (click here). Initially, I wanted to put up removable wallpaper in my bedroom but when I came across these removable decals, I fell in love! They add so much to the room but are very subtle at the same time and they fit my southwestern/bohemian theme wonderfully. My sheep print is also from Etsy but this one’s from a shop called LittleLadyPrintShop (click here). The white frame is from Michael’s (click here) – it’s the same one I have in my living room!

Another one of my favorite finds is my dresser. It’s from West Elm (click here) but I went to an outlet and got it for only $250. It was over 50% off because it has a little chip on the front but honestly, I think the chip just gives it a little character! The two decorative vases on my dresser are from Michael’s and the wooden box was a gift from a friend. I like how the vases are a way to add some greenery to the room but also keep it simple and clean at the same time. Next is my absolute favorite piece in my entire apartment and that’s my cow skull. I know it’s not everyone’s style but I bought it a few months ago at an antique shop in Nashville and I think it’s so cool!

I ordered my mirror from Houzz (click here) and it’s exactly what I was looking for! The wood ties in so well with the wood of my dresser and nightstands and it’s sturdy enough that I can hang a bag or two off the corners. Lastly, my rug is from Overstock (click here) and it’s the piece I based my entire bedroom around. It has gray, blue, white, pink, and yellow/orange accents and it was so fun finding pieces to match it!

That’s all for my bedroom reveal post. This was a really, really fun room to put together so I hope you like it! I only have two rooms left to share with you – my office and my kitchen. Which one do you want to see next? Let me know in the comments below. See you next Tuesday!

1 Comments

Home

My LIVING ROOM Reveal

April 3, 2018

Hi cuties and welcome back to the Allison in Wonderland blog! I hope you’re having a wonderful week so far. Today, I’m so excited to share my living room design with you! I’ve been teasing little bits and pieces in blog posts and on my Instagram account for a few weeks now but the reveal is finally here. Keep reading to find out where everything is from, how much I paid for it, and how I’m liking it!

To start off with the biggest piece in the room, my couch is from Wayfair! It’s called the Haleigh Sofa and it’s an orange color. At first, I was searching for a brown couch but then I fell in love with this one! As you might be able to tell, I have a southwestern theme going on in this room so the orange tones work really well with the other accent colors. In January, I paid about $800 but it’s not on the Wayfair website anymore so I’m not sure how much it’s selling for now.

The long, wooden shelf on the wall is self-made! I went to Lowe’s to buy the wood, stain, and screws and, with a little TLC, I was able to put it together myself! I measured it to be the exact length of my couch so it’s pretty long but I love the look of it. It’s so sturdy and ended up to be an amazing base for the prints I chose! I’m actually thinking of selling these shelves this summer in all different lengths. Is anyone interested?

Speaking of my prints, they’re one of my favorite decorations in this room! Going with my southwestern theme, I knew I wanted images of cacti and some kind of animal so I hopped on Etsy and did some digging. I ended up with a desert print (click here), a cactus print (click here), and a cow (click here). Each was less than $6 for the digital file and I love them! I got them printed for under $20 each at Walgreen’s and it was so much cheaper than I was expecting. I found the perfect white frames at Michael’s (click here) and I couldn’t be happier with them. I definitely recommend buying digital files and printing them yourself – so much cheaper than having prints + the frame shipped to your house!

Moving on to my pillows, the adorable bigger ones are from Home Goods and Kaekoo Pillow Shop. The pink, white, and gray pillow from Kaekoo is called the Mertice pillow (click here) and it couldn’t fit my theme any better! Both are so fun and I feel like they add so much to this space.

My gold floor lamp and white, decorative lights are from Target! I’ve actually had the decorative lights (click here) since my freshman year of college. I never thought I’d get so much use out of them! Even though I’ve never actually plugged them in and used them as lights, I’ve used the heck out of them in terms of adding a little brightness and texture to my rooms. My floor lamp (click here) is also one of my favorite things in my living room! It’s so simple but adds a nice pop of gold to that corner of the room.

Finally, my blue and gray area rug (scroll down for photos) is from Overstock! I’ve learned through the moving process that rugs are one of the hardest things to buy online because you can’t always tell what color they’re going to end up being and they’re very expensive for them not to be exactly what you want. When I found this one though (click here), I decided to go for it. I love how the colors tie into my gray walls and the blue makes the orange of the couch really stand out. So far, it’s been holding up really well and I think it was a wonderful and affordable purchase!

That’s about it for my first apartment room reveal! I’m so glad to finally be letting you all into my new apartment – I hope you love it. Comment below what your favorite thing about the living room is! In a few weeks, I’ll be doing another room reveal… should I show you my bedroom or my office first? Let me know! Have a great week and I’ll see you back here next Tuesday!

3 Comments

Home

My New Mattress + $100 Discount Code

February 8, 2018

Disclosure: Leesa® provided a free mattress for me to review. However, all opinions stated here are my own.

Hi everyone, welcome back to Allison in Wonderland! As you might know from last week’s post, I moved. I can’t believe I’ve already lived in my apartment for almost a month! I’m finally getting around to furnishing and decorating my space and, with a new bed frame comes a new mattress, so I’m thrilled to say that I’m working with a brand named Leesa® (click here) to bring you today’s post. Let’s get started!

Beginning with the company as a whole, Leesa® was appealing to me because, one, I desperately needed a new mattress. I’ve had the same full-size mattress since I was born. Seriously! I don’t know how it lasted so long and how my back is still intact. But the other reason why I really like Leesa® as a company is because they’re a young company with good values. Leesa® has a social impact initiative called the Leesa® One-Ten®. Through this initiative, they donate one mattress for every 10 mattresses sold and they also plant one tree for every order received. They’ve donated over 24,000 mattresses to date! They’ve also pledged to plant one million trees by 2025 so maybe you could buy a Leesa® mattress and help them reach their goal! I’m sure you’d sleep better at night. 😉 Haha!

I’ve had my Leesa® mattress (click here) for about two weeks now and I could not be happier with it! Let’s be honest, anything would’ve been better than my old mattress but I’m really, really impressed with this one. It’s soft and cushiony and keeps me cool at night. With my old mattress, I would get very hot because I had to insert a pillow-top layer between my mattress and the sheets and now I don’t have to worry about that anymore! The Leesa® Mattress is also extremely affordable, starting around $500 and ending under $1,000. From my experience, it’s hard to find a good mattress under $1,000 and they’ve done it.

Oh and did I mention the mattress comes in a box? So convenient! If you’re interested in purchasing a Leesa® mattress, they’ve been so nice to give me a discount code to share with you that will take $100 off your order. Just enter ALLIESANTMYER when you purchase the Leesa® Mattress and you’re set! The code is good forever, so keep it in mind even if now isn’t the perfect time for you to order a mattress. If you decide to head over to the website right away, I also want to tell you about their President’s Day sale! Leesa® is offering $125 off the Leesa® Mattress and a free pillow until the 21st of February. What a deal!

That’s all for this week’s post, thank you for reading! If you’re interested in Leesa® or a Leesa® mattress, click any of the links I posted above to go to their website, or click here to check out their cute Instagram. Next week’s post will be another fun one so be sure to come back next Tuesday. Have a great week!

8 Comments

Home

I Moved

January 23, 2018

Hi cuties and welcome to the first post in my new “Home” series! As you can tell by the title of this post, I moved! Because I have this awesome new space, over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll be doing a few room reveals (living room, bedroom, office) and I can’t wait to show you how it all turns out. Keep reading to hear how I plan to decorate my place!

So as you might know, I graduated from James Madison University last month (graduation post linked here) and I’m proud to say I’ve finally begun my first full time job! Anyone want to see a post full of corporate job outfit ideas? I’m having a blast in my new role and in my new home but it’s definitely been an adjustment. In college, I lived off-campus for a couple years so I was used to apartment life but, before, the apartments were always furnished and you couldn’t put anything other than a tack in the wall so it’s a breath of fresh air to actually get to decorate how I want to! I’m going for a mid-century modern and scandinavian vibe and me and my Pinterest boards couldn’t be happier about it. I’ve been lucky enough to find some incredible deals on furniture and rugs and, as soon as all my pieces get delivered, I’ll be back to show you how it all turned out! Which room reveal do you want to see first?

Let me know in the comments if you moved recently or if you’re moving soon – I’d love to hear your design tips! Have a wonderful week and I’ll see you back here with another post on Tuesday. Bye!

1 Comments