Fits and Starts III: Teal and Orange!

Where were we? Ah, right. Crafting. Now it's time for more of the apartment!

First, the kitchen. The kitchen is pretty small and narrow. However, it's surprisingly functional as well. I love all the counter and cabinet space and how the cabinets on the left hold dishes and glasses and the ones on the right hold food and I can basically stand in one place and rotate from sink to stove.

After going for a red/black motif for my last two kitchens (or trying to. MAN can blue wallpaper really kill that), I wanted something totally new. I started seeing a lot of brightly colored accessories and linens around late 2008/early 2009 and finally, this year, had a chance to make it happen.

It works especially well with my Fiestaware love. Over there on the right, serving as a utensil crock is my beloved peacock disc pitcher, in fact! Not many links to include here unfortunately, as the plates up on the wall came from TJ Maxx and the sun and moon were bought in Mexico. Potholders were from Target and I hate their lack of thumbs. Apron was also from TJ Maxx.

The other view isn't too exciting. Orange platter from TJ Maxx. Dishtowel from Target. Canisters on clearance from Pier 1.

NOW. Finally. At long last. The plate collage. Tada!

Now here's the whole dining/bar area. The bar is made of LACK shelves from, surprise! Ikea. The poster is from AllPosters. It needs a frame, but I was so excited to have something to put up and we were having people over, so I just stuck it up there with white tacks. How dorm room of me, I know.

To the left of the bar is a huge open space where our Christmas tree will go. Then, after Christmas, we'll finally get some bookshelves! Hooray!

Fits and Starts II: Crafting!

Awhile ago, I talkked about making some artwork for above the bed. I finally got around to it a few weeks ago!

First, I painted some tree branches on the canvas:

Then I made the flowers using 4 little squares of Sculpey III in some sort of shimmery pink color and a flower cutter I got at Michael's in the cake section (Sculpey is sort of like fondant, right?):

That was the first batch, all made with the medium cutter. I then arranged them on the canvas to get an idea for how they'd look:

At the time, it seemed kind of bare, so I made some more flowers, this time with the large cutter. Now I go back and forth between loving it and thinking it's now too cluttered. Oh well.

I googled and researched and tried to find the best glue for bonding Sculpey to canvas. In the end, I wound up just grabbing a bottle of Weldbond at Michael's and it's worked perfectly. I left the canvas leaning against the wall for awhile and none of the flowers fell so I'm reasonably (fingers crossed!) sure none will be bouncing off my head in the middle of the night.

Ta-daaaa!

And, while we're at it, my exceedingly girly dresser. The frame has always been a bit of a sticking point because I love it, but it has no wall hanger, only an easel back, so I'm forever searching for places to put it with enough room for a sizeable 8x10 frame. Turns out it makes a perfect backdrop for my perfume bottles! Right now that's just an old Revlon ad, but I plan to either order an 8x10 vintage cosmetic/perfume ad off the internet or perhaps find and old Vespa ad.

The pink bottle and dresser are from Ikea (dresser is the 6-drawer Malm chest in black-brown). We also have two four-drawer Malm chests right next to it and I love the sleek effect.

Fits and Starts: Thanksgiving

That's been the case for both my blogging and my decorating.

But now I have a slew-lette of pictures to share! It's been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks. We spent 5 days in lovely, fun, kid-tastic Disney World where I was free to be my usual child self. I insisted on waiting in lines to meet characters. I skipped. I grinned like an idiot. I ate chicken nuggets for dinner. I had a blast.

And then two days after we came home (today) my lifelong BFF and her husband were stopping by on their last pre-baby getaway to Boston so things had to be not only clean but NEAT and also decorated to the best of my ability. That's where the blog benefits! I will warn in advance that I have been too lazy to take "real" pictures and have been instead relying on my phone. HOWEVER, the iPhone 4's camera is vastly superior to the 3G's so they shouldn't be too offensively pixely.

Wait, maybe I should start with Thanksgiving. Yeah, I'll do that. Plans changed and it wound up being just the two of us.

Here's the table all set:

These are the Lenox "Chirp" placemats and napkins from this post, with some Ikea Salong vases, these birdie S&P shakers I picked up at Pier 1 awhile ago (an awesome bargain!), and my great-grandmother's silver candlesticks (loved getting to use them, especially on Thanksgiving), all on this basketweave placemat from CB2.

Here's another shot of the "tablescape." Sandra Lee would be so proud!

But unlike Aunt Sandy, I also focused on some damn tasty food!

 

   

Okay, that's enough blogging for now! Stay tuned for Fits and Starts 2 & 3, coming soon to a theater near you.

CURSE YOU, IKEA!

Three weeks ago or so I got two DRONA boxes in teal. I posted them in my August 14 post. Went back to Ikea today intending to get two more, as it turns out I need more storage. Turns out, THEY NO LONGER MAKE THEM IN TEAL. Ugh. So frustrated. I got two black and I'm sure they'll look fine but ugh. WHY.

I've been a terrible blogger lately and I'm sorry. Haven't done much and it turns out I left my camera cable at my old place when I moved out so I gotta get that. Why does the iPhone camera suck so much? Grr.

Yesterday's Haul, Non-Furniture Related

On top of the furniture from yesterday, I managed to drop a decent amount of cash on some other things. Namely, for organizing and decor.

August 13, 2010... by flannfry

Top:

DRÖNA box in teal (2) to go in the Expedit bookcase that will be moving to the dining room. I spent a long time debating the teal vs. the black and settled on the teal after trying both in the black-brown Expedit floor model. I'm trying to incorporate more color and decided to take the plunge. I like the way these look better than the glossy black drawer or door options for Expedit. They're also fantastically deep so I'll be able to stash a lot of stuff in them. Like, say, a set of plain white dishes, which I'm toying with picking up cheap because it'll go better with my new birdie linens ... Shhhhh. Don't tell anyone.

KASSETT boxes in orange, one set each of magazine and DVD size. These are to organize my massive collection of sentimental junk. Cards, pictures, play programs, letters, trinkets, old school papers, newspapers. Two rubbermaid totes, a shoe box, and a milk crate full. And it has no rhyme or reason. Particularly after packing for my most recent move. I shoved smaller stuff inside of a box that hadn't been opened since my first apartment in Hartford, way back in 2004. So now that I have majorly reduced storage/closet space, I'm making a commitment to organize and pare down.

I'm looking forward to/dreading the trips down memory lane I'll be making over the next week or so. I love mementos and old letters, obviously, otherwise why would I keep them? But some of them are hard to read, or bring back the kind of bittersweet memories that can be hard to take. I do also intend to take a very strict hand with myself. If I can't identify the item within a few seconds, it's going. I'm cursed with a photographic memory so I doubt I'll be able to toss many of those. I'm also going to try my best to whittle down my massive greeting card collection, taking a really hard look at what I've saved. Things like cards signed with just a first name that I can't identify. Undated Christmas cards with no personal inscription, particularly ones that I receive every year. We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, on to more fun stuff!

Middle:

SUPERFIN vase in pink for my bedroom dresser. I picked it up on impulse and I really like it in there. There is a LOT of neutral in that bedroom so I want to play up the pink a bit with little touches like this. I'm also on the lookout for a pink ceramic soap/lotion pump to put my lotion in and put on my dresser. Something more elegant than just a plastic Bath & Body Works squeeze bottle.

Bottom:

SALONG vases in turquoise. Another (sort-of) impulse purchase. I knew I was on the lookout for teal/blue/turquoise glass to put in the dining room area and these three really jumped out at me to group together.

Ikea can be entirely hit or miss with decor items. Some things can be had for a song (the vases I bought today) and some other items I look at the price and think "Really, Ikea? That seems more like a Bed Bath & Beyond or a Target price ..." Ah, the pursuit of a bargain.

Bedroom ... not complete. Sigh.

Went to Ikea today and this was gonna be it. Dressers, nightstands, and done. The bedding was selected and had arrived. It just needed those last bits of furniture.

But, yesterday I mentioned offhand what a pain in the neck the footboard on the bed is when it comes to making it neatly. So as we navigated the showroom today, we paused in the bed section. And looked. And yup. Getting a new bed. Not right away. But now I won't feel like the room is "done" until we have the new bed.

Beginning to wonder if it'll ever be done.

Speaking of awesome bedrooms, I am in LOVE with this sleeping cubby bedroom over on Apartment Therapy. (via NinjaPenguin) As a kid, I LOVED enclosed spaces. I was happy to play in a closet or under a table or in a box. Hell, just this week I couldn't resist climbing in the giant box my Macy's order came in.

Bedroom nearly complete!

My pal Ali turned me on to Kaboodle tonight and I already made my first style board! It illustrates my bedroom decor, which will be completed with a trip to Ikea today or tomorrow. So excited!

Bedroom by flannfry

Shelving Books

I have a lot of books. A LOT. Right now they're lined against the wall in paper grocery bags, taunting me. I know they used to take up at least five shelves of a roughly 5' tall bookcase. But, as that bookshelf itself was the ex's (he was accommodating enough to keep all of his books in the closet), I now need a new bookshelf.

Most of my furniture is Ikea and it's all black-brown wood. A ha, thought I! A Billy bookcase in black-brown is just the thing I need to complement my decor AND store my books! And a bargain at $50! But look closer at the picture.

Does it ... really only come with 2 shelves? REALLY? Who the heck wants a bookcase with two shelves!?

Not to worry! says Ikea. You can buy more shelves! As many shelves as you need! You can CRAM that sucker with shelves!

Well, I'd really just like five shelves. You know, like a normal bookcase. I'd even settle for four, if I had to, going by the height of it. And you know what? At $15 a pop, three more shelves are going to cost me nearly as much as getting a whole bookcase. WTF. Granted, it's a $50 bookcase, and getting it for $95 total isn't THAT much in the grand scheme of things but c'mon. AND you have to take the chance the shelves are in stock, adding another layer of annoyance to the sometimes less-than-ideal Ikea experience. I'm STILL waiting for my additional Benno shelves to come in.

Why you gotta nickel and dime me, Ikea? It's like telling me you have a stove for $50, but it only comes with one burner and I'm welcome to buy the other three for an additional $20 each! No one wants a one-burner stove and no one wants a ridiculous-looking two-shelf bookcase. Be reasonable here and sell the damn thing with enough shelves to make it usable and price it accordingly. Then, if I really want to store 2"-tall books, the onus is on me to buy some more, which I would happily do.