Staple-Gunner-ing.

Tomorrow is my birthday, and my amazing husband may or may not have gotten me a new wallet and a staple gun for the event.


Um. A staple gun, you say?


Best. Present. Ever.


I may or may not have been running around the apartment like a madwoman, cackling loudly, "CAN YOU FEEEEEL THE POWER KRONK!?"


But I digress. What on earth am I doing with a staple gun? Many things eventually, but first and foremost on my mind was making a "headboard" for our bed. Which was largely a part of beginning our bedroom make-over.


Here is what our bedroom looked like when I woke up this morning, give or take a few things since this is an older photo.

Photo arrangement on the wall.

Now, I didn't get any photos of the process of making my new "headboard". This was mainly because I was so excited to use my staple gun that I was almost done before it occurred to me I should be documenting the process.


Essentially what I did was take three canvases (I tend to buy the cheap 2-packs when they're on sale at Michael's since I usually end up hating what I paint) and covering them with fabric samples that I had from my days of interning at an interior design firm. These three canvases had already been used, with paintings on them that I naturally didn't like, so covering them didn't seem like a waste at all to me. That's where the staple gun came in handy. I centered the fabric on the design I wanted, pulled it taut, and then went to town. Awesome.


Here's the result.

It was difficult for me to get an accurate photo of the colors throughout the bedroom change process, but I promise things do match.

To address a few things:

• I didn't buy a new comforter - the previous blue one was a duvet cover - this is what always lived underneath.
• I'm undecided as to how I feel about the shelf over the covered panels, however I was feeling way too lazy to remove it, so for the time being, it's still there.
• The new rug on the floor does not match in any way shape or form, but it's the size of one that I would like to get for our bedroom to break up the constant beige of the walls and carpet.
• The constant beige is one reason we got a duvet cover, so I'm not sure how long I'll last with the original beige comforter, but we'll see.

Also, I did change the photos on the wall. It's a mixture of wallpaper samples and fabric samples...again from my days of interning. (They had tons of outdated samples that were just going to get thrown away so I volunteered to take them. If you love having scraps to work with, check out your local interior design shops to find out when they update their samples.)

I moved a few other things around the wall, but here's the final look of the bedroom for now.

I'm loving it for now, if not solely because it's a change. But also - the total cost of this transformation was the $27 we spent on the staple gun and staples. Not a penny more. Everything else was just shifted around from other locations in the house.

Many happy sighs from Megs today. Nothing like a good re-decoration for my birthday!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Re-arranging. My Clinical Disorder and Obsession.

Since I was a little girl, I have been known to re-arrange anything I could lay my hands on at least once a month. My poor Barbies never knew what was going on, their home moved so much. My parents think I might have a clinical problem, but what can I say, I just like the change.


Since Scott and I got married, I've toned it down quite a bit - we've only re-arranged our apartment three or four times in a year and a half. It's a good thing I'm not a homeowner with any carpentry skills, or I'd probably be knocking out walls every six months (although this sounds suspiciously like my dad...hmm. Apple...tree?)


However, this most recent adventure was not necessarily my idea...fully. For Christmas, we got an Xbox Kinect. Normally I'm not a huge fan of any sort of video game and tend to shun them completely, but this gaming system has rocked my world. Scott and I actually went out to buy a game...FOR ME. Although in my defense it's not a game, it's a fitness "game" where you can do various exercise programs and even yoga. Like a glorified aerobics DVD. But I digress. We played it at our friends' house and had a blast...then brought it home to our apartment, only to realize that we couldn't use it because we didn't have enough space. Thus, the need and intense desire to re-arrange was born in both our minds.


Here are some "Before" pictures. And yes, I'm laying my soul bare to you because you are about to see what my apartment normally looks like - mess and all. Don't judge me.

Please excuse Scott in the photo. I was in a hurry when I snapped
these shots and didn't have the heart to ask him to stop his game.

Because I majored in Interior Design, I'm more than slightly anal, and I grew up with a father that drew floorplans every fifteen seconds (again, apple...tree), this is how Scott and I function whenever we re-arrange. A couple months after we moved in, I took a Saturday and measured our apartment down to the inch and drew a scale model, including our major pieces of furniture. The below diagram is how everything was previously arranged.

We were pretty stumped on how to fix the Kinect game-space dilemma. In fact we pondered on it for several hours. After a while, Scott came up with this as the solution:

In the end, we figured out an arrangement that would work, and it worked well with my recent insane desire to purge. 


We had been toying with the idea of combining our desks and working from one for quite some time, since Scott's schoolwork is mostly clinic-work and less homework now. When he does study, he's usually on the couch with his laptop, and his desk was collecting a bit of dust. So that was our major change. And behold, the fabulous result:

We took the extension off Scott's desk to make it smaller, and moved it
where the dining room table / seldom used reading nook used to be.  

We had originally planned to take down what we fondly refer to as "Ugly Mirror" (my dad hates this mirror), but after we moved the desk I was shocked to discover that I loved having it there. Scott has the far end of the desk with the laptop, and the desktop area is my workspace. Like I said before, Scott is usually on the couch with his laptop and doesn't require much of a workspace anymore.

This is my attempt to keep my paper piles at bay. Most of my clutter falls into these three categories, so I've designated folders for everything to fall into. Plus, my favorite little notepad for grocery lists, etc.

My favorite part of the big change is our art arrangement, and the way the afternoon sun hits it.
Happy sigh.

The base of the lamp is working as a sort of "docking station" for us. The speakers can be plugged into either my computer or Scott's, depending on what's going on. The same goes for the printer, that way we can share. The other part we loved about this arrangement was how close I am to the kitchen. No more traipsing back and forth between cooking dinner and checking e-mails on the opposite side of the apartment. Whoop!

 So, what happened to all our eighteen tons of desk stuff? A lot of it got put into bags destined for Goodwill, or bags destined for the garbage. We were able to condense quite a bit, since we had duplicates of a lot of things. Sharing a desk area allowed us to keep most things in one storage area. (The top of the main storage area you can see peeking up behind my monitor in the above photo.) The rest of it, went to our "library". We came to the conclusion that we didn't really need half the books that we kept here, so we boxed up three boxes (with a few more stacks in the hallway that are waiting for more boxes), and then converted the library into a shared space.

Please excuse the liquor cabinet look on top of the library. I'm not a huge fan, but I was tired of the bottles taking up room in my tiny pantry closet and this also makes it easier to make some quick cocktails when we have friends over.

Easy access to blank notecards, stamps, address books, and notebooks.

But enough with the desk area....what in the world did we do to the living area?

Moving the trunk to underneath the window actually gave us the benefit of significantly more sitting area in our living room without overcrowding. Something we've found pretty difficult to do in this small space. When we are ready to use the Kinect, we just swing the coffee table out of the way. My old desk turned into a media center, which was excellently timed, since our old hodge-podge arrangement was on the verge of collapse.

Look at all that SPACE! I can hardly stand it. 

To finish it off, the dining room table went where Scott's desk used to be, and our little recycling can lives tucked away in the corner. Whenever we have company over, we can easily pull out the table to seat more people.

And for inquiring minds...what happened to all Scott's medical equipment and teeth molds? Neatly boxed up and destined for the front closet. 

We are beyond thrilled with this newest arrangement. It gave us the opportunity to go through and finally get rid of accumulated debris and things we no longer needed. I think it's going to be a really good thing for us, and I'm wrapping up this post so I can go check out the Yoga program on the Kinect. Hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as I did!

Featured Home: Lauren

This is a feature I would like to begin on a regular basis once I find some willing subjects. (cough cough). My precious friend Lauren was my first brave volunteer and has decided to share her home with us. I love her AND her home, not just because of her distinct modern and classy style, but because she has only lived in this townhouse for about three months, and it looks this put together.


Here's her house tour, in her own words.


“Martha Stewart’s holiday DIY wreaths were taunting me with their gorgeous simplicity (and some not so simple options… pass), and thus I was inspired to make the most of the materials I had around the house. I used beautiful grey ribbon saved from last Christmas’s wrapping and four (ahem, fake) eucalyptus strands that I got at Pier 1 that had been sitting in a vase last year. I wanted Frasier Fir boughs, but I had the eucalyptus around and I remember my Mom always hanging fresh eucalyptus in the winter, so it made it special and nostalgic.  I bent them and fastened the strands together with thin, green wire in four places. The real feat was displaying it. No one makes wreath hangers for 9 foot doors. Or I assume so, because my brilliant, resourceful husband came up with a solution before I could suit up and go searching. We simply thumb tacked the ribbon to the top of the door. Minimal swinging. No sign of it from unless you are 10 feet tall, in which case you have bigger fish to fry, my friend!”

“I love dining rooms because I love the idea of a room solely dedicated to eating and enjoying the company of others. My two favorite things, surpassed only by napping. World Market table & chairs were one of the first things we bought together. It is nice and big now, but collapses so we can transition it to a smaller kitchen table someday when we have a house. The Christmas table décor was put together on the fly. Josh & I love unassuming festivity. It doesn’t shout “CHRISTMAS, SUCKAS!”, but it does nicely tie in the colors and materials of the season (WM placemats, Crate & Barrel garland, napkins & rings, Pier 1 twiggy things. The curtains are on their way out once we find a suitable alternative. Ideas welcome! Also, that light. That effing 1990’s light straight out of “The Fifth Element”. It has zero redeeming qualities, so pretend you never saw it.”

 “Yes, those are two bookcases. Yes, they are filled with glassware and bar accessories because, yes, we have more champagne flutes than we do Chaucer. I actually love that about us. But do not be deceived, we are literate! And to prove it, I stacked books (Barnes & Nobles Classics editions, $10ish a piece) to provide some levels and color. Mostly Jane Austen because she’s a bad ass. The photo on the smaller case is of Coit Tower in San Francisco, where my darling husband proposed (Etsy print, $30 + Target frame, $20). Frame within the case was the drink menu from our wedding, designed by my grossly talented best friend. “EAT” sign compliments of Pier 1 ($10 on sale), IKEA light ($15)”

“Best things about the living room are the couch and the light to the right of it. We both wanted a white couch, and coveted the ones from Pottery Barn, but knew they were well out of our price range. Enter the Outlet. This couch was basically stolen from PB Outlet for just under $600. It’s linen, people. For under $600. Shut. Up. It’s deliciously comfortable. IKEA lamp to the right ($60) is so fun to me. Very old Hollywood movie producer’s house. Josh spotted it at a friend’s house, who always seem to have the best taste. Others: IKEA Lack coffee table, $30; curtains came with the place, but I think from IKEA; hutch (with unstained legs, ahem, Josh) PB outlet, $20 (I KNOW); and why yes, that IS an IKEA dog bed basket holding our blankets. And no, we do not have a dog…).”

“As I suspect most newly married couples do, we mix and match a lot. A LOT. Josh is ultra-simple (borderline minimalist) and decidedly masculine in his color, fabric, who-are-we-kidding-everything choices. I’m not a floral motif kind of girl, but I do enjoy all things soft, charming and elegant. He loves Restoration Hardware, I love IKEA. The mix is evident. I’m just hoping we don’t look like a couple of frat boys anymore. Frames, IKEA; lovely white vases, Megs; painting, my own.”

Lauren is a Strategy Consultant at Touch, a Muzak Company. She has pretty much the coolest job ever, and resides in beautiful uptown Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband. Close friends since our freshman year of college, Lauren and I are two little odd peas in a pod, and I love her dearly.

Feeling brave? Think you've got interior decorating style? Send me photos of your own house tour - I'd love to feature it! :)