Tag Archives: Decorating

02Aug 2015

Thoughts on the new house

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When we moved to Oregon, we got rid of all of our furniture. I mean, the only thing we brought was our mattress and we’re still sleeping without a bed or boxspring, no joke.

We have some furniture now. When we first closed, we went to a moving sale and bought the bare minimum. We got a futon/couch (a fake leather thing that reclines), dining table with 4 chairs and a bench that sits 2, a bar, and then purchased the following at Ikea: a media console, few book shelves, and a coffee table. We also bought 2 wooden end tables with wheels. We got some teal metal stools at Fred Meyers. With 1500+ sqft of space, we are living pretty minimalistically. Our living room is currently empty, save for the Kallax bookshelf. Our family room has the necessities, like TV, couch and the coffee table.

We find ourselves spending a lot of time in the Family room. In fact, it’s hard to prioritize furnishing the living room, since it’s not a priority for us. Weird, right? We’re sort of caught in the middle of prioritizing things to help us get into shape (organizing things, like closet organizers and a bed) or things that will live outside of our personal space and be more for the benefit of guests.

I find certain things that I want… but holding off, since I should really buy a bed before a getting a gold Unicorn head/bust to put above the fireplace. You know? On the other hand, we’re so hung up on that and money is still a little tight that, we’re just at a stand still right now.

I don’t necessarily believe that we need to get everything little thing now. I don’t think our house should be fully furnished, even a year in. I want to take our time getting things we really love. We both also don’t want to start to clutter up the house.

And then there are the things we want to invest in for other reasons… like getting a fence put in so that we can seriously look into getting a dog.

And I’m aware that a house is an endless pit of things to do and home improvements to make.

26Jul 2015

House Planning

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Here we are 4 months after the closing. Our TV room is pretty well furnished, with a futon/couch that we found at a moving sale, an Ikea coffee table, stools we found in Fred Meyers, Ikea book shelf, and Ikea and media console. (Yeah – we’re still heavily reliant on cheap Scandinavian furniture. I joke to my husband, that it’s his heritage.) We found a dining table that seats 6 people for under $100 at the same moving sale. (Although they were also selling a fish stand and aquarium for $200+, but unfortunately that wasn’t something we were ready to jump the gun on.

Not going to lie, most of what we’re looking at is either Ikea or Dania.

What we still are lacking in is:
hemnes-daybed-frame-with-drawers-white__0159184_PE315622_S4#1. A bed for us and a a guest bed

For us, we’re looking for a simple slatted bed. For the guest bed and other multi-purpose furniture, Ikea has a great selection of convertible day beds/single beds. I like this bed, since it’ doubles as a huge couch, single bed, or the equivalent of 2 single beds.

friheten-sofa-bed-with-chaise-beige__0188774_PE341595_S4#2 Sofabed for the TV room

We were looking at several different beds, but honestly, the look and price of this piece is right. It’s pretty comfy and we’re hoping that it helps when we have friends over. Some other beds we considered are Dania’s Oregon Sofa with Chaise.

29365#3 Seating for the living room

The living room is almost completely empty. Last week we got some Kallax bookshelves to start to fill that space, but we’re divided on what we want to do. My husband isn’t really keen to set up another sitting area, whereas, I think multiple nooks for sitting is fine.

He wants to set up a craft desk in the living room, which I don’t know how that would work… but he’s the more adventurous one out of the two of us, so we’ll see. Eventually we’re hoping to move his baby Grand Piano into this space, but currently that’s in his parents’ place.

#4 Our own TV (currently we’re borrowing a 36″ TV from my in-laws from their guestroom)

Pretty self explanatory, right? We’re hoping to acquire a good 50″ and wall mount the screen.

#5 And another coffee table

Again, pretty self explanatory. We need some more surfaces in the living room. (I haven’t thrown out the idea of a sitting nook, just yet. I mean, our fireplace is here, so … I am fully expecting to curl up with a book in that room.)

Am I missing anything? I’m planning a couple of other decorative things, but these are main pieces of furniture that we need to get.

Also … rugs. My biggest beef with rugs are that a lot of them are just so ugly. They are so patterned or with a specific color, that it freaks me out to commit to it. I found some that I like, but compared to other necessities, this one may have to wait.

15Dec 2012

Project Headboard

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I’ve been bit by the home improvement bug. Maybe it’s the promise that organization will improve your life and just wanting to surround yourself with pretty things. I’ve been reading too many inspirational blogs. I saw Centsational Girl’s headboard project and totally fell in love. Among many things, my bedroom is missing a headboard.

In fact, it wasn’t until recently, after the age of 30, that Ryan and I graduated from the full size futon. It didn’t bother me, because it was nice and firm. Ryan complained about back problems. Beds are so expensive, though. Luckily, when a good friend of mine was moving across the country (boo!) I had dibs on her mattress. She sold it to me for a steal. I thought I had dibs on her bed, as well, but her roommate took it. Either way, I got a highly rated metal frame in place of slats or box spring, and it works great. I imagine it’s a little on the firmer side, because of it, but I hardly notice. It was all on a budget. We’ve been sleeping great ever since, but our bedroom was just drabby on a good day. I’ve been pining for a headboard ever since.

Ryan and I just celebrated our 5th anniversary and the traditional gift is wood. I decided to get him a glass display case with wood top and bottom. He’s keeping it in the office and displaying his art. Ryan is building me a headboard. We went to pick out the fabric. I originally wanted something light and whimsical, but I kept getting attracted to light neutral stripes. Ryan picked out the duralee twiggy pattern below in blue haze. It doesn’t quite match our curtains, but I am hoping the contrast is pleasing. He told me he was trying to channel what I would like. And I original set out for something full of whimsy. Normally Duralee fabrics would sell for $30-40 a yard, but believe it or not, we saw this at the discount store for less than $10 for 4 yards. I might make a sham or a pillow cover with the extra fabric. (Or paint our wooden seat and make a cushion for it.)

20121215-163752.jpg 20121215-163742.jpg

So the idea is to make a cushy headboard. The thinnest pieces of foam we were able to find is the 22x22x2″ inserts. I am concerned it’s not quite tall enough. I might be able to fill it with extra batting, since I purchased 3 yards.

We went to the lumber yard yesterday for plywood, but it was closed. I can’t decide whether we should get it cut to 66×22, or 66×32 and add 10 inches. 2-3 inches of that will be below the line of the mattress. Maybe I can get an extra 66×10″ piece for the bottom? We are going to try this morning, but Ryan might have to go on Monday. We are hoping to be done before he goes to Portland on Tuesday.

We are also used to sleeping by the window. However, once we get a headboard in, we need to sleep on the opposite side, which you know gets weird. I am also considering moving the bed around so that we both have a way to get out of bed. (Right now one side is flush against a wall.)

Thoughts?