Reddit reviews Oak Leaf 30-LED Fairy String Lights, Battery Operated, Warm White, Set of 2

I have 100 feet of those LED string lights on copper wires plugged into an outlet and run along the upper moulding all around my living room and dining area.

Basically these but longer: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B014QMDRUC/ref=mh_s9_acsd_top_bFhWP_c_x_2_w/151-4304843-6498724?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=mobile-hybrid-5&pf_rd_r=YFN0P0560EM6K9R7S0A5&pf_rd_t=30901&pf_rd_p=0dec4a3d-8058-5d16-8720-b8a314088eb5&pf_rd_i=3742221

They provide a fair amount of nice indirect light.

I got the same one, too. It'll be here on Thursday.

For lights, I got these, because I wanted something soft and pretty and fairy lights just seemed right! I'm so ridiculously excited for it to get here.

Oh I love my fairy lights! They're really nice to have to spruce up the occasional still life photo and I usually keep some on hand for the detail shots when I shoot weddings or things around the house.

I had this really awesome boudoir client (who I met here on Reddit actually!) and she wanted some pictures in her t-rex onesie drinking whiskey. We decided to wrap her in fairy lights just 'cause, and I was totally hooked. After that I picked up a pair of these guys from Amazon. They're compact and battery operated.

We did lanterns with twinkle lights stuffed in them and a bit of dried green moss in the bottom of the lantern. Our favors were succulents from an Etsy shop and we used them as our "flowers" to brighten up the table (I did have to wrap them in burlap which took a few hours with two of my bridesmaids). We also used a mix of pink, white, pink/white, ivory silk flower petals from [another Etsy shop] (https://www.etsy.com/shop/RosePetalsEverywhere?ref=l2-shopheader-name) to sprinkle on the table.

Here's how they turned out!

http://imgur.com/ybVm6LY

http://imgur.com/Bf7i7JN

So here's my advice for making a living space you need on a budget. First, starting early is great! it gives you time to collect things and not panic!

• It's summer so that means garage/yard sale time! If you come across one, stop and take a look. You never know what you might find as far as furniture or decorations or anything else! If you're able to find something, it's sure to be cool and unique from a garage sale. This will be a hunt.
  
• Check out thrift stores as frequently as you can and try different ones in different cities! Stuff comes and goes and different cities have different demographics donating to their facilities. Similar to garage sales, it'll be a little bit of a hunt and you'll have to be able to see the potential among a bunch of junk. You can always try to recruit friends or family to do the hunting for you and tell them to keep an eye out for certain things you want to make it easier.
  
• Craigslist for sale or free categories can have cool things too!
  
• If you don't like the idea of used things or having to put in a bunch of effort to find things and you have an IKEA and Target near by I'd look there for cheap, simple but still cute furniture. IKEA also has decently cheap art and picture frames.
  
  Specific things to look for or try:
  
  
• Try looking in old art or art history books for prints of famous pieces of work
  
• Look for out of date or unused calendars for larger prints of various types
  
• Etsy can be hit or miss on price and you'll have to keep in mind shipping costs but it can be a good place to get some really unique things. This is a really good deal I found. Got some really neat artwork that way and would recommend if you think that those prints look cool.
  
• Postcards can be a good way to get some cheap pictures
  
• Frame interesting fabric patterns/prints or stretch over canvas frame even
  
• If you're not super artistic(like me) get one of those adult coloring books and color some pictures yourself!
  
• Try fairy lights like these if you like the idea of christmas lights but want it to look more mature and polished.
  
• If you want to skip frames, use some cute washi tape to tape up pictures and posters. It's just pretty colored/patterned tape. Just be careful since you'd be putting tape on the pictures themselves you won't be able to easily move them or reuse them without possibly damaging the edges if tape rips the paper or loses its stickiness.
  
• There's a million different DIY art and decorations so explore and try different things out!
  
  And last thing: you don't need to have every decoration when you first move into the apartment. It's better to take your time and slowly add things you love instead of filling the space with things that are 'ehh, it's fine for now.'