moving?

Me and Pat live in Corvallis, a college town... we are both OSU alumni, and now Pat works with the Athletic Department, therefore at the moment, we are pretty much grounded to this small town overrun with students. We have recently come to the conclusion that just because we are sort of stuck in this college town, it does not mean that we have to continue to live like college students. Basically, we have both decided that we need our OWN place, independent of roomates. (finally!)

There is one major problem to this plan. I do not understand how real people can afford to live in this town!

The pricing system is so messed up here from cramming extra people into seemingly nice homes and just running them into the ground. At this point it seems as though anything suitable to our standards, meaning clean, a good amount of square feet, in a decent location, and two bedrooms, is impossible to come by unless we are willing to pay 2,000 a month, and even then there is no guarantee of a garage or yard of any kind. Ridiculous.

I am feeling a little discouraged at the moment, and we have barely even gotten started...

Is it too much to ask for a little place of our own where we can start to collect some nice things together?

Design Sponge has some really awesome and inspiring DIY projects that other people have tackled to fulfill their interior design aesthetics. Here are some of my favorite projects so far:

[[ an old wooden door turned headboard. an old mirror frame painted and turned into a fabric backed headboard. two eclectic office spaces. favorite items displayed in glass containers that were previously used for clocks. a pantry turned office. dark and light bedroom. interesting wall decor using old picture frames. wall patters with paint and chalk. ]]

P.S.
Ever since I went to Crate & Barrel with Pat a few weekends ago, I am really into the combination of grey/black, white, and yellow room accents. It looks dark and classic but adds a fun pop of color. Who knew?