Home improvements

I've been loving this new blog another blogger tuned me into. It has given me a lot of ideas for the new place. Here are a few:

Make shades out of mini blinds

This metallic spray paint

I plan to use this to make a Rollo-friendly bench out of an ugly coffee table, to put at the foot of our bed.

These would be good for small items on our new Ikea bookshelf, aka the "room divider."

I'm thinking of doing this over our kitchen window - Oh hey, by the way...I get a window in my kitchen!! (I've always wanted one.)

I may use this idea for the long side table I plan to turn into a vanity table in our bedroom.

I'm going to make a slipcover for Nick's ugly burnt orange rocker. I'll have to make some adjustments since it's not stationary.

I'm considering these for our room divider, too. (It's a pdf.)


Since we don't have a pantry, we bought a free-standing shelving unit. It's currently in slats of some kind of unfinished wood. I plan to finish it with a black varnish, then hang some pretty black and white floral fabric I bought. I'm a little afraid that it will turn out too girly looking for a generally androgynous area, so I may use the fabric for a smaller scale project.

I also bought a very girly brown and light blue floral pattern to use with my vanity. I had my six-year-old nephew's permission to pick out the fabric I wanted, since it was for my use. I've decided to give my opinions more* preference when it comes to home decor. Lately, I realized that when it comes to fabric or furniture choices, Nick always chooses a solid color. I looked around my home to find absolutely no patters anywhere. Why is he afraid of patterns? Why have I been afraid of patterns? It's time to shake things up.

I'm on a black and white kick lately. I have a nearly unhealthy love for my new solid white dishes. I opened my kitchen cabinet today and literally cheered. Nick knew exactly why I was clapping my hands together exclaiming, "That makes me so happy!" It's a cheap thrill for the $25, 18-piece set I picked up at, yes, Ikea. I think I'll pick up a few baskets and containers for our room divider and spray paint them white or black if needed.

I'm all about storage in our new place. There will be no cardboard boxes anywhere in my home. Everywhere we've lived, we've had unpacked boxes stuffed away in closets. If there's no place to put something, perhaps we don't need to hang onto it. That's what we have storage containers for. I've made a point to plan places for the little things, as well as the big. Nick seems to think he'll be setting up his drum set since we'll have a house for the first time. They're electric blue. Maybe I can spray paint those...HA!

I've also been planning our nursery. (Don't tell Nick. Okay, he knows, but he doesn't know I'm sharing my crazy with the blog world.) Boy or girl, I have this vision of black and white with green accents. I'm thinking frogs. I think I got my inspiration from my sister's recent wedding - the color scheme, not the frogs. I think green can be a sweet accent color that isn't too boyish or girlish. And I'm sure that whether we have a he or she, we'll have plenty of gender-specific clothing and accessories. Ikea has the cutest frog stuff (and frog storage stuff.) I'm tempted to stock up, but that would be insane.

Okay, so all this nursery talk is premature. We're not expecting. If we were, I'd be more obvious about it. We're not even 100% sure that we will choose to have children. We think it would be irresponsible to have children - you know, on purpose - without at least knowing the results of our genetic carrier tests, since it's very likely that I'm a carrier for MPS I, not to mention it's medically suggested that we test for Tay Sachs, due to our ethnicity.

It's late. I need sleep. Tomorrow is a busy day full of packing, laundry, planning my nephew's surprise treasure hunt, and finishing my grad school application.

*more being relative to the amount of preference I was allowing myself to have before now, not more than him...that's another story for another day.