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IKEA — the solution to everything

I’ve been a little overwhelmed lately with work. And to top it off, I am getting over the flu. It seems like everyone  wants to have a meeting with me when I have the flu. Coincidence? *shrug*

In an attempt to get my mind off work and stress for a while, I am going to blog about my bedroom loft. We live in a cute townhouse that has 3 floors. 1st floor has the living room, kitchen, dining room, 1/2 bathroom, washer & dryer room/pantry, and closet. 2nd floor has 2 bedrooms, one full bathroom, a linen closet, and 1 master bedroom with full bathroom. Inside the master bedroom, there are stairs that lead up to a 3rd floor in which  you will find a “loft.” The loft literally overlooks the bedroom, and it’s a nice-sized space, but we’ve never really known what to do with it.

First we turned it into a place for storage, then we tried Peter’s office, and next we tried an extra bedroom. Well, storage has been winning so far, because it gets lonely when Peter goes up to the 3rd floor to get online, and the idea of a guest bedroom that overlooks our bed (literally) is kinda creepy, soo… You can see how storage wins.

Recently we decided to make use of the loft space, so we can actually have 2 guest bedrooms on the 2nd floor, and we will turn the loft into our “office.” (That’s just a fancy word for “place we keep our computers.”)

Peter put together a little model to show what it might look like, because we needed to see what type of furniture would fit in the space.

We are painting the loft a light gray color, painting the trim white, accent vases/things will be purple (a new color to me), and, with the help of IKEA, we are going to incorporate this furniture into the mix:

Coffee Table – will probably be used to hold a small TV.

Shelves – These will go above our desk, horizontal.
I will line the wall with purple-colored paper, so it pops with some color.
Vases — ok, these are from Target. I have a fuscia one and a purple one. 
Panels – A panel will hide our window inlets that we usually use for storage.
This will make the space have more of a flat wall, which will be helpful when arranging furniture.

Tiny sofa – This will go in the corner where Peter’s old computer desk is right now.
The TV will be its mate.

Two desks – We will put these desks facing each other in the middle of the room–against the creepy little door.

One storage cabinet – This will be used as an extension for one of the desks, whoever needs it at the moment.

Well, what do you think? I need some cute options for dressing up the loft a little with color. I wanted it to be tranquil and calming–that way it’s not distracting if I have to do some work at home. I was thinking maybe this behind the couch or something. The birds would be purple-y fuscia.

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions for me?

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Bedroom Re-do

Well, we decided to (like crazy people) paint the 2-story bedroom (again). We originally painted it a khaki green color, because I was trying to be different. Everything I own is blue or blue-related, and I thought green would make me think outside my blue box. Wrong–I hated it but was too afraid to tell my sweaty husband that I disliked the thing that we just spent weeks painting.

I don’t know HOW it happened–but somehow I convinced him to repaint the whole room. This is part 1 of the story of why my husband thinks I am insane. You can see us starting to paint over the green and trying to tackle painting the woodwork white… the billions and billions of wood pieces.

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If I had another house to decorate…

I would totally furnish it with Craigslist furniture!! Look at this stuff I found:

What a cute couch!! Sage, only 1 year old, and $275. Baaaargain!
This adorable, natural maple-colored dining room table with 4 chairs for $75 total.
When I bought my chairs for my dining room table, I paid $75 for ONE chair.
2 side tables and a matching coffee table for $100 total. You can’t beat that!
Here’s a little TV cabinet where you can put DVDs inside. Mahogany! A darker stain would match those coffee tables nicely. You could even use this as a little buffet for storing wine, games, etc. inside. Imagine some cute clearance vases on top for decor. Viola! Oh, yea… $35!
Ivory & green, criss-crossed loveseat to match the sofa. $50
Tada! Downstairs furnished for $535.
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Entertainment Organization

Before

I’m pretty bad about letting my shelves start to look like this. I try to be organized, but then this happens. I thought it might inspire me to buy some fun boxes, to dust, and to rearrange a little. I felt like there was so much dark stuff on these shelves, so I got some bright blue to spruce it up a bit.

I’m pretty happy with the “after.” This is our faux entertainment center. We had a media unit thing, but it was so hideously ugly, that I thought a nice bookshelf from Target would do the trick. It matches the furniture, and if we ever decide to move the shelf, it can be used in any room of the house. It’s also used to display that wedding stuff that you have no idea what to do with. What do you think?

After
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Picture Frame Makeover

I’ve been looking for picture frames for the hallway leading upstairs. Last night at Target, I found these cute frames for $3.24 each. I’ve been looking at them for a while, but I didn’t want to pay $12.99 for a frame.

They didn’t have any wall hangers on the back, but luckily I had a kit of frame hooks that I bought for a mirror a few weeks ago. It took me a while to get the little nails into the cardboard without hammering my thumb, but I got it eventually :).

I had some leftover scrapbook paper, Martha Stewart glitter (which comes in every shade under the sun), and some double-sided tape in fancy shapes. I don’t really have many pictures, so I thought these might be good placeholders until I get some pictures developed.
Tada!

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Continued

I found some pictures of Peter’s living room BEFORE I moved in, and I will try to clean up the house and post some after pictures. This is the living room at Christmastime 2007ish. You can see the brown wood everywhere-yuck! There is SO much wood everywhere in these houses. The master bedroom is the worst.
Before
After

You can see that we bought and installed a new white backdoor, painted the fireplace wood, and got some new curtains and pretty faux wood blinds. It’s funny that I only take pictures of the house at Christmastime. I saw this really cute garland at Pier 1 with colorful ornaments on it, but it was $40. I decided to make it “from scratch” and ended up spending about $20 for the same thing. Not bad. And it was a fun craft one night!

I guess with my masters degree and working, it’s been hard to keep the house as nice as I’ve wanted lately. After all of the readings and homework, I just want to relax and do nothing! 🙂 You can relate, right?

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Home Improvement Blog!

So everyone is posting all of the great changes they are making to their homes. I feel like I’m out of the loop! I wish I thought of blogging about the little changes we’ve made, so we would have some comparison photos and things. I found a couple pictures from when we bought to the house and then some good “now” pictures. What do you think?

Before
After
Before
After
Here’s a cute runner I made for the “telephone table” in the corner. The fabric was on super sale at Joann’s Fabric, so I was able to make 2 pillows, cover the circular ottoman, and this runner. Now everything matches, which is nice. I also got a light aqua blue faux suede fabric for the other pillows. The best thing about those is the fact that they are Scotchgarded, so I don’t mind if company uses them as plate holders for their laps.
I will continue to take some pictures of our new windows and downstairs pantry closet, which is awesome now. I just have to clean the house first, so the rooms are presentable :).
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My Spoon is Too Big!

Peter and I went to Pier One today, and I found this awesome spoon. If I had $69.95 just lying around, I would totally buy it. How awesome would it be for guests to come in and see that beauty on the wall? It’s an entertainment piece that’s for sure. We already have every guest that comes into our house look at our picture above the kitchen pass-through and say, “Uh, wow. That is really weird.” I actually like the picture though. I think it fits the space and fits our lifestyle–some classy mixed with gross. Humbling :).
I’m serious though…if this spoon were $30, it’d be hanging in the hallway.

Note: You must watch this video to understand.

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Pre-Bachelor Activities

I’ve decided that I’m going to watch The Bachelor this season. Not because I have some great desire to do so, but because it’s a long show to which I can exercise on my rowing machine. That’s what I’ll be doing tonight come 8:00. I saw a preview of tonight’s show that said one of the contestants was pregnant. Whaaaaa?

Amanda, Melissa, and I went to one of the pottery places a few weeks ago and painted cute things. Amanda and I picked cupcakes. I made mine (right) teal, aqua, green, and brown–your basic Target color palette. It’s great, because I’ve been looking for a little sugar dish for the kitchen. I love those pottery places, but geez, they get expensive. Amanda’s cupcake (left) is adorable and resembles a funfetti cupcake. I want to keep them both :).

I have to say…I’m really enjoying that my friends and friends’ friends are blogging. It kind of gets me back into that blogging spirit. I used to do it all the time and really enjoy that connected feeling when people you don’t know stop by to say hello. I guess it’s also flattering when someone you don’t know takes the time to read what you’ve written. What a great compliment! I’m really enjoying Amanda S.’s blog (see links on the side). She talks about her home renovations, and they are really fun to follow.

I have a new phone. Did I tell you? It’s an HTC Droid Eris. So fun! I enjoy playing stupid games and using Google Talk when I’m waiting in a doctor’s office or for a meeting to begin. I wouldn’t die if someone said I couldn’t have my fancy phone, but I must say that I am enjoying it. I’m such a nerd, too. I hear there is an update to the Android 2.0 software soon! I’ll keep you posted :oP.