Weekend Update

Mr. SE and I arrived back in TN late last night. The wedding was a lot of fun, and we're glad we got to spend time with Mr. SE's parents. On Sunday we went to Ikea with FMIL SE and made out like bandits- as usual. I go into Ikea wanting one particular item and leave $500 poorer.

Anywho, here's the breakdown of what we picked up. I'll be sure to pictures of them in use once we put them together.

HEMNES MIRROR
We're going to be hanging this little beauty over the dining room table

HEMNES DRESSER
This will go in our room. Maybe soon we'll be adding a little TV on top of this lovely dresser.
ORGEL VRETEN LAMP
This is going in the corner of our room- eventually. Right now it's hanging out by the door.

Ikea Fun

Mr. SE and I spent our Easter weekend with his family in Atlanta. So naturally we went to Ikea- my favorite! Our apartment is already filled with lots of goodies from this wonderland of cheap furniture, but with the move coming up we needed more! Here's what we picked up:

{two Hemnes nightstands} {two white lamps for our matching nightstands}{Hemnes 3 drawer dresser. We already have the matching 8 drawer}{Blad curtains for our master bedroom}

How was your Easter weekend?

Open Shelving in the Kitchen

With my dream of a gorgeous, vintage midcentury modern buffet becoming less of a reality, I've decided to make use of what I already have.

 Want

Midcentury Modern Buffet

Have

Ikea GORM shelving unit 

(the size of mine is a little different, since it was purchased in 2005)

Inspired by gorgeous images of open shelving, I realized this wouldn't be too difficult to accomplish. We already have a kitchen full of cabinets for regular supplies, so I thought this would be a pretty way to display some baking ingredients and fun red accents. I picked up some simple glass jars at Walmart, and headed home to organize and sort. Ps- organizing and sorting are two of my favorite activities.

Following the advice advice of John & Sherry from YoungHouseLove, I removed all the contents from the shelf so I could start from the beginning. Using the jars for pasta, flour, sugar, and oats yielded the calm aesthetic that I was looking for. My Kitchenaid mixer, Le Creuset dutch over, and teapot provided the red accents that I wanted. For interest, I added in some cookbooks that we had on hand, along with a Westie shaped cookie jar for added fun!

Like all of my bookshelf projects, I thought of the bookshelf tips that Nate Berkus explained on his show. I've listed them below in case you're interested in making your shelves a prettier sight!

1.  Heavy items should go on the bottom.  This isn’t limited to literal weight, but also to visual weight.  Boxes, baskets and large collections, such as our encyclopedias, should stay toward the bottom.

2.  Add height to the top.  This makes a bookshelf feel more built-in, even if it’s not.  If you have a stand alone shelf, adding baskets to the top to fill the space between the shelf and ceiling will help the shelf appear built-in.

3.  Use books to create pedestals.  Don’t let decorative objects take up cupboard space, put them on display.  Stack larger books and top the stack with a decorative object, adding height and drawing attention to that object.

4.  Stand back and look for balance.  If you have one side that seems more filled or visually heavy, shift items around to make the shelf feel more balanced.

5.  Negative space is usually what makes the beauty.  Don’t feel like you have to fill every space with books.  Adding the decorative objects with space on all sides will create a reprieve for the eyes.  Your shelf will also look less like a library or bookstore and more like a display with books mixed in.  If you have tons of books, don’t feel that you have to have every book you own on the same shelf.  Add a small stack to a coffee table, nightstand, or another bookshelf elsewhere in the house.  Create book pedestals there to display more decorative items, too.

Here's an "in process" Blackberry picture (don't judge the quality!). I need to take another one now that everything is spread out and organized...

What's your position on open shelving? Love it or leave it?






*Open shelving images from google search*

Before and After: Part II Master Bedroom

It was a close call- but master bedroom won the contest with 6 votes, followed by kitchen with 5. I'm sorry to say this, but the before and after will be less than life-changing. Since we just moved in last Monday, there's still some decorating that needs to be done. But you can definitely see the main idea!

Here's the before of our master bedroom. Lovely plantation blinds and tray ceilings. But beige, beige, beige. The ceilings and the walls were painted the same color, which made it all feel like a closed in beige box. Yucko!

{Please excuse the chair and dresser in its' box}

We decided to paint this room a calming shade of grey-blue (Rhino by Behr), which really made the white trim pop. Also- our painter suggested that we do something with the Rhino on our ceiling. He ended up painting the vertical part of the tray Rhino as well, with white on the other parts. Our brown-black furniture pairs perfectly with the light gray walls, and my mom bought me the West Elm bedding as a birthday present.

The TV will be hung on the wall, and we'll display photos in black gallery frames with white mats. Don't worry- I'll post pictures when it's 100% done. But I know you all were excited to see even a little bit of the new place!

This is the bed we wanted to buy, but couldn't fit it in our car with all the other Ikea goodies we picked up! Click "goodies" to see a source list for all the new things in our bedroom.

We love our master bedroom, and I've been sleeping so well since we moved in. What do you think of this "after"?

*see my previous post for specific paint codes*

Chambre au Mr. and Miss SE

{muscleicious handyman for hire}

Mr. SE was such a fantastical boyfriend last night and put together our WHOLE Hemnes dresser! What a man! The dresser is enormous and came in two flat boxes. Read: lots of work on the consumer's part. Oh well, that's what makes Ikea so cheap and fabulous! So we started around 7pm watching the Bachelorette (obviously) and organizing the pieces of the dresser. We finished the dresser while watching 2 hours of Bachelorette and 1 hour of Meet the Newlyweds (and one large pizza from Papa John's).
The inside of the drawers are lined with cute yellow stripes. It really brightens up the black/brown exterior. This is Mr. SE around 10:30- so close to being done!!!
And here's the finished product in our room!!! I looks like it cost way more, and we're really excited about the end results. We may or may not be purchasing a flat screen for over the dresser- still deciding on that one. As for our nick nacks, some of those will be moving to other locations once we get more established in the apartment. The Eiffel Tower picture? Yea, I took it! What do you think about the finished look?

Running in My Gerbil Wheel

Dave Ramsey always says that we shouldn't settle for running around in a gerbil wheel. There's still boxes and chaos in our 2nd bedroom, boxes in the garage to be unpacked, lots of pictures to be hung. An apartment to be cleaned (apparently the past renters had a golden retriever- so that's why my allergies have been so bad). While trying to transfer my license, insurance, plates, and title (from my parents) it feels like I'm in my own little wheel. I've spent the greater part of my day trying to figure out which office needed what forms and what needed to be completed prior to each location. Whew! I'm worn out. And we haven't even started putting together the Ikea furniture. Oh, and what's for dinner? I have no clue! I'll probably do the lemon/garlic/white wine standby. Mr. SE loves it. On second thought, I might just pour myself a glass of white right now.

Did anyone else have problems trying to transfer everything to a new state or out of your parents' name? I'd love any/all advice. Sorry about that post, I just needed to rant a little bit.