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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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New Year–A Good Thing?

Happy New Year to everyone! I haven’t been around the blog much this past year, mostly because I have been finishing my Master’s Degree. Check that off the to-do list! Now that I have time again, my goal is to spend a little more time blogging.  I find that when I start having time to myself again, I don’t know what to do. My hobbies don’t come back naturally. I kind of have to force myself into doing them again.

Obviously the gym is a goal for me. I did really well with my 3/week visits in 2008, but since then, things got a little hectic, and the gym was out the window. Now that I have a life again, maybe I can stick with it. I am not a hardcare gymmer, but I did enjoy having toned arms and shoulders. I’d like to have that again, please.

Overall, I kind of hate the “New Year.” I never look forward to starting over again, even though it’s January, and technically nothing changes but the number. I always feel like January means we have to do it all over again. I know each year is different, but I always seem to dread January. It usually means back to work, back to school, back to stress. With no more school work, it means back to work stress–and how!

I really enjoy photography, and I would like to have the motivation to do that again. I haven’t even been excited about weddings lately–and I typically LOVE taking wedding pictures.

So, 2011… Even though I hate your January, I look forward to the free time you will bring to me.

In lighter news, I did get a fancy new phone for Christmas. I absolutely love it!!! It is a Samsung Fascinate–a member of the Android family. I have had 2 Droid phones so far, and I loved the ability to customize things to fit your needs. So much better than an iPhone! BUT… I hated the actual phones I had. The Droid Eris was really fancy looking, but the phone never rang when people called. The LG Ally was big and bulky and always force closed. The Fascinate is absolutely amazing, because it is thing and slick like an iPhone, but I can actually do stuff with it. It’s a “girly” phone as compared to P’s Motorola Droid. I am excited :). I love new technology!

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It’s that time again!

I’m excited about Christmas, and it’s evident by my waning will power when seeing Christmas decor in stores. I want to have a fun, Griswald Christmas this year:)
One of the things I am also excited about is sharing the sentiment with holiday cards. I keep seeing tons of greeting cards in Target, Walmart, etc., and I just can’t  decide. I want something that is personal yet fun, and I saw some really good choices on Shutterfly.com. They even have invitations, so I could definite use those for my annual holiday party. I even saw some cute little Christmas ornaments on their site. I can’t contain myself…this holiday stuff is just too much fun!
I want to send out a really goofy card with my pets on it. Lots of people have kid cards, and since I have pets…I could have pet cards :). I think it would be  funny to get my dogs in front of the tree with hats. My mom would think I was nuts, but that is kind of the fun of it! hehe 🙂
I think my pups might like cute on this card
or this one   
 or maybe this one.
Shuttefly is giving away 50 free cards to people who blog about them and  post links. You should check it out…what a great way to get into the spirit of things 🙂
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Tuesday

I think as women, we tend to forget about how our moods can change from one second to another..until it happens. It’s like a lightning bolt of this completely random emotion hits us, and we go crazy.

Crying at Campbell’s Soup commercials, grumping from hormones, fuming about how fat we look in all of our clothes today. Are we emotionally unstable? Or just emotional? I don’t really know if there is an “emotionally stable” person–wouldn’t that just mean you had the same emotion all the time? Like a log?

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Skylights from Hell

 Since the last time I blogged, we actually finished our bedroom painting, but I have been busy with grad work, so I haven’t posted pics yet. Pics to come on the new paint, comforter set, etc.

In other bedroom related news… I think I have discussed my absolute hatred for our skylights before. I’m talkin’ abhor. These things are like little cannons that go off in the middle of the night that make you scream, toss and turn, and shove pillows on your head, because they are so noisy. I get it though. “Big bedroom with a beautiful high ceiling–let’s add skylights,” this is probably what the contractors thought. The problem is they are made out of crappy plastic, so they really sound like our house is being pelleted with hail whenever it rains. Now..I love the sound of rain. Really, I do. But I want to sleep during a light drizzle instead of wet the bed from thinking we are being attacked.

In my sleepless nights, I searched online for a solution that didn’t involve making my roof leak but found nothing. Peter and I decided to try an idea we had. So here is what we did.

 Large plexiglass/Lexan sheets +  Gila Heat + Privacy Control Window Film
 Husband + Lexan sheet covered in Gila film + a wooden strip
Quarter-round to put around the outside (the part you can see from below)
A new, private, heat-resistant skylight! 
Our hope is that the extra layer will help dampen some of the rain sounds. Even if it’s just a little.

On a side note, congratulations to Lauren and Sean on their newest addition to the family, Dylan, and congratulations to Monique and Thomas on their newest addition, Micah!

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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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Holy Bajeez–It’s Been a While

I’ve been working my butt off lately to win a $20K grant for a non-profit that teaches kids–and guess what?? We won :). Thanks to all of those who helped by voting on Facebook!

In other news, Lennon is healing wonderfully. Her leg is super awesome, and she has been enjoying her swims in the lake (for therapy and for fun).

I have been putting off this post for a while, just because I’ve been so busy with life and grad school, but now is as good a time as any. Right? And when life gets busy, what do you start doing? Shoving things in cabinets to make the kitchen look clean. So even though the house may be a mess, I’m trying to clean one little bit at a time, because every bit helps.

Before – Eek!
After – Phew!

Before – This is what was in the silverware drawer.    
After – Slightly better. Silverware is in the dishwasher 🙂
Cheap birch from Michael’s, old stain, a lace scrapbook page, and white spray paint = wall art!      
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Is anybody out there?

I don’t know how many people read my blog, but I have a favor to ask of the people that may randomly pop in.

We are trying to get the word out there for our small non-profit organization, Junior Achievement. Right now, we are actually in the running for a chance at $20,000 – $250,000 from the Chase Community Giving contest that is on Facebook.

So if you are a fan of education, children, business, or teaching… please consider using one of your 20 votes* to help support our branch of Junior Achievement. I also encourage you to add us as a friend on Facebook and to share the link with your friends on your Facebook wall. Hopefully, we can get $20,000+ to help us teach K-12 children in Virginia about financial literacy and work readiness skills.

*(Yep! You get 20 votes for any organizations you wish, but you are only allowed to vote once for a charity. Also, if you use 5 votes, you win a gift vote to give to a friend.)

Long story short: It’s free, takes 2 seconds, and could help thousands of kids learn! The contest goes from June 15 – July 12, 2010.