New Bedroom Layout

My new bedroom is an en-suite with a walk-in closet. I'm happy (and lucky) that my parents have a spare en-suite bedroom at their house. This room used to house all of the workout equipment before I moved back. Here's the layout of the room. 

The big set of windows face west so I get a lot of afternoon light (and heat). The room is above the garage so I can hear the door opening and closing, but I leave at least half an hour before anyone else in my house (6:30am!) during the week so it doesn't bother me at all. 

Because the south side of my room (where the bed is) is a bigger area, I initially thought I'd make that side the "living room" area and have my bed on the north side (where the desk and TV are), but that layout didn't work at all. I have the Ikea Brimnes bed and wanted to put the head of the bed against the wall where the closet (labelled "storage") is, but then I couldn't open up the drawers on one side. I tried to put the head of the bed against the small window, but then I didn't like that people could see my legs when I was in bed (the bedroom has a French door with no cover whatsoever). Ultimately the bed ended up where you see it in this layout. I'm not sure if it's gonna stay there though. I'm always rearranging. What do you think? Would you have laid out the room differently if you were me? 

Birthday Girl

Today is my 27th birthday. My mom had an operation today (she's okay!) so I spent most of the day at the hospital with her. It almost feels likes a regular day because I drove her there for 7am (when I start work) and we got home at 3:45pm (about when I get home from work) so I keep forgetting it's my birthday! When I was a kid, I would literally count down the days until my next birthday starting September 22nd lol. Now I can barely remember how old I am... ay ay ay.

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Chair Envy

I've seen this chair on other blogs, but never looked into it because I thought it was a super expensive designer chair. Well turns out it is, but there are very similar versions of it for sale at more moderately priced retailers!

As I was perusing through the October issue of Style at Home, I noticed Structube has a version of this chair!

Shannon's got it in white...

Liz blogged about it a year ago

And I saw one attached to a gorgeous view in House & Home online...

This chair calls to me! I love it in white but it's a toss up between the taller or shorter back version...

Right now I have the Ikea Stefan chair at my desk and it's just not making the cut. They describe it as "hardwearing" on the site, but it feels pretty wobbly to me...

I usually spend a couple hours on the computer each night, but my computer is busted at the moment. I'm hoping it's only temporary... a result of some cable or part coming loose during the move... I have my things backed up, but my back-up hard drive is also busted lol....This sounds like the start of something that will not end well. Cross your fingers for me!

French Door Headboard

The apartment we lived in had a solid wood bedroom door that didn't let the evening light into the rest of the apartment (the window was west facing) so I found a French door on Craigslist and had my dad and Kevin install it. It brought in so much light and made a world of difference.

When we moved, I replaced the French door with the original door so that I could take the French door home with me. I knew I wouldn't be able to install it anywhere else as a door (its dimensions are non-standard and we had to cut a quarter inch off of one side at the top to get it in the frame at the apartment), but I still wanted to use it in some capacity.

Enter Pinterest.

I love searching for inspiration on Pinterest!

I found these French door to headboard designs that look pretty cool.

I love this one because it's symmetrical, whereas most of the ones I saw weren't. Most French doors have a bigger wooden panel at the bottom and the door knobs aren't installed exactly in the middle. This is something that can easily be fixed with a wood circle insert and some wood filler (for the handle) and a circular saw (to remove the longer wooden edge), but I guess some people want to keep the entire length of the door.

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I love the idea of this one! Installing a light where the door knob was - ingenious! But as you can see here, this headboard is asymmetrical....argh!

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While searching around on Pinterest, I also found this DIY headboard that would be pretty awesome to make! I love the built-in lighting and built-in bedside shelves.

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They would work great with the Brimnes bed we have from Ikea. While the bed is great for storage, having the two large drawers on either side of the bed means we can't have traditional beside tables because they would impede the opening and closing of the drawers.

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I also really like how the bed looks with the corresponding headboard from Ikea, but I don't think I like the placement of the chest. It would need to be a good 10 inches away from the bed for the drawer to open properly and I don't think I have the space to add a 20 inch clearance on either side of my bed.

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What headboard and/or bedside shelf choices would you pursue if you were me?... I need advice!

Settling In

The last few weeks have been pretty crazy around here. First there was the move, then I was helping with my future sister-in-law's bachelorette party and then there was bronchitis. Ugh. I was actually quite sick by the time the bachelorette party came (I didn't know how sick I was yet), but I bulled through it and my symptoms hit me a lot harder the following day (Yes, there was drinking. No it didn't help lol). I've got some meds going now so I'm hoping for a speedy recovery because I know how annoyed everyone is with my coughing. Sorry!

Back to settling in... I'm not. But I'm almost there. All of the big stuff (re: furniture) is in place, but I just have so much random stuff that is still sitting on the floor in my room. I still need to find places for it all. It's funny being back at home. I feel like I never even left. I feel like the two years Kevin and I lived together never happened. Is that weird? 

Also, I thought I'd have more free time, but I have so much less! At the apartment, my usual evening schedule was:

4pm get home from work, go straight to the computer, do blogging stuff

6:15pm hurriedly clean up any mess I made before Kevin gets home

6:30pm Kevin gets home, I talk his ear off, we eat dinner, watch TV

10pm I'm passed out on the couch

10:30pm I drag my butt to bed

Now it's more like:

3:30pm get home, walk dog, get mail, play with other animals (5 cats), clean up a bit

5-6pm everyone gets home and I talk to them for a bit

7-11pm .... I have no idea where the time goes!

And this is a biggie:I haven't set up my computer yet. It's sitting on the desk unplugged. Maybe now that the bachelorette party is done and my things are almost all where they should be and I'm on the road to getting healthy again...maybe now I'll be able to get some kind of routine going. While I don't exactly make a schedule for things, it brings me comfort to have routine in my life. I need to get that back!

P.S. I checked MLS today and the house is still on the market. 

Packed Up and Shipped Out

Kevin and I lived in our apartment for 2 years and 2 months - it was the first time either of us had ever lived with a significant other, so I think it'll always be special to us.

That said, moving was tough. Apparently, I don't deal well with open houses. Our landlord was kind of a jerk about it and wasn't giving us nearly enough notice - he's supposed to give 24 hours, but we'd always get less, sometimes only 1 hour's notice. At first, I felt like I should be accommodating, then I got upset about strangers traipsing through our place, then I got bitter and stopped trying to make the place presentable (We were moving after all!).

The last week was probably the hardest because we were living with next to nothing. No couches, no TV, next to no food, no computer, no seats at all... and Riley had already been brought to my parents' house. I would get home from work a realize I couldn't watch TV, go on the computer, or even sit anywhere (except for the bed). Ergo, I spent a lot more time napping than I should have - this was my way of procrastinating with packing. Because let me tell you, even when you think you're almost done, you're not. You're not even close. You still have more to do than you realize or want to even think about!

I finally got the pictures that the realtor used for the MLS listing, so here are the before and after pictures I promised. (I realize the "after" pictures are small, but there was SO MUCH dust in the air so the pictures weren't coming out properly...I think you can click on the image to enlarge it)

 I know the bathroom shot doesn't have any "after" pictures, but it looked pretty much the same - I just took back my extra medicine cabinet and changed back the shower curtain.

I'm almost settled into my new place. Kevin and I have done some trading of furniture in the last week because he had some stuff I use regularly and I had some stuff he used.

Long Weekend Plans

This Monday is Labour Day, so the end of today's work day marks the beginning of a long weekend :-)

I have a lot to do this weekend!

My room is still a disaster. These are the pictures I took right after I'd done the second trip with packed items from my apartment. Since then, I've at least put my bed back together and I gotta say, I'm pretty proud it only took me about an hour! It's the Ikea Brimnes bed (great space saver!) and it literally took me ALL night (like until 3 am!) to put it together the first time around.

 

I go to the CNE every year, so I'll be making a stop there on Saturday. The Saturday before Labour Day is usually the busiest day, which is less than ideal, but that's what happens when you spend every prior weekend packing and moving :-(

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I also have been more than persuaded by Sherry from Young House Love to go out and get a can of Oil Rubbed Bronze (ORB) spray paint lol. She's like the Frank's Red Hot Sauce old lady: She uses that $hit on everything (and it looks GREAT!) I've never used it before so I'm testing it out on the frame that I bought for my Ork poster. I also have the go ahead to use it on some of the hardware in my parents' house. Almost all the fixtures in their house are brass (outdated) so my mother said I could test the door knob and hinges on the basement door (yay!) and test out the light fixtures on the first floor (which she doesn't plan on keeping anyway so she's got nothing to lose).

Do you have any exciting plans for this long weekend?

Favourite Nooks

I had two favourite areas in my apartment: The view from the living room door and the view from the bed. 

I loved the  view from the living room door because I got to see my pretty mirror (a Craigslist find) and my shelf (the very first thing I ever spray painted) with the candles and bamboo plant (that Kevin gave to me when I started my current job).

I loved the view from the bed because I could see the lamps (Craigslist) with the shades I recovered, the French provincial dresser (Craigslist) that I painted (in the tiny bedroom and it took me days), the lamp shade that I bought from Ikea and added to the gross brass wall light fixture (that I spray painted black) and the French door (Craigslist) that my Dad helped install and cut a thin strip from because our door frame is crooked.

Unfortunately, I never did take a picture from that angle - but I sure did appreciate it while lazying around in bed on the weekend :-)

These areas will be missed!

Do you have an area in your house that makes you smile or that you're proud of?