Nightstand Nightmares!

So with our overhaul going on downstairs, we've gotten new bookcases. I've been taking some time to organize all of our multitude of books into a usable setup. I realized that many of the books I needed to organize were missing, so I went on a hunt.

Apparently my nightstand has been hording them!

Um. Wow. I read a lot. And I have a bad habit of jumping around and reading 48375372 things at once. Here's what I've been rocking lately.

1. Blood Rites (The Dresden Files) - these books are like crack. I'm 6 books in and need to order the next one!
2. All the Weyrs of Pern - brand new, haven't even started it yet, but I love Anne McCaffrey's world!
3. Boneshaker - steampunk, zombies, what else do you need?
4. The Hobbit (annotated) - I reread my Lord of the Rings collection regularly. And the more annotated the better!
5. Those are just my glasses.
6. Happily Ever After - this is a collection of short stories and re-imaginings by a variety of authors, including one of my favorites: Bill Willingham of 'Fables'
7. Norwegian Troll Tales - I love folk tales. Especially Scandinavian folk tales!
8. Victorian Fairy Tales - Yeah, seeing the theme here?
9. The Annotated Brother's Grimm - It's annotated. It's classic tales. It's the size of a cinder block. It's awesome.
10. Gardening in Michigan - Planning next spring's yard, so what if it's January?
11. The Medieval World - This book from National Geographic is PIMP if you love history.
12. GNOMES - possibly one of my favorite books ever. Gorgeous illustrations, and it's so whimsical! This book almost never gets put away because I read it so often.
13. Secrets of the Gnomes - a sequel from the previous, it's just as stunning.

So yeah, this should be a good indicator as to why I want to name the fireplace room "The Library". What's on your nightstand?

Here we are again!

So remember last year when it rained for about a straight month? Yeah well, here we are again! It's been raining on and off for what feels like weeks. But this weekend it's supposed to clear up and I'll be able to work in the yard!

In the meantime, Brian and I made our first BIG grownup furniture purchase.... we got a new bed! I love it, he loves it, the cat is... unsure. It's a queen Simmon's Beauty Rest, and my side is softer than Brian's. I've actually been sleeping better! I thought our last bed was good, but this one is GREAT. The cat and I are still trying to get used to it being 6 inches higher than the old one!

The old bed is now in the guest room, which we can actually call a guest room now! I mean, it's not decorated at all, and it has boxes in it, but it can now house a guest!

Overall, I recommend Simmons Beauty Rest. Also, we had a lot of fun picking it out at the store, the people at our Art Van really helped us figure out what to look for and feel for in a bed, and since we'll be sleeping on this for at least the next decade, we're thankful!

Woo! Progress!

Ok, I lied. This isn't the REAL progress post. This is the pre-progress-post in which I tell you how much of a change these little projects are making! I still have a few things to finish, like putting the drawers back on the nightstands, picking out lamps, a new bedskirt and such. I also found a dresser I really like for Brian, and even better he likes it too! It's this one from Amazon.

I think it will offset the tall brown one I have pretty well, and the price is right too. I probably won't buy it for a little while though, we're paying for some other stuff right now.

I also need to make our headboard. I'm being mildly indecisive, but I think I'm going to go with basic, rectangular padded ivory. Then there's my jewelry storage plan... man, I keep adding projects like I have actual time or something... At any rate, I'll make an actual progress report once the nightstands are reassembled.

On a completely unrelated note, my Google analytics stopped functioning properly at the new year. I have not registered any hits at all for the last month. And I know I have been visiting at least! Anybody ever hear of an issue like this?

Craigslist strikes again!

So the nightstand debacle has been driving me up the wall. I'm tired of losing my glasses 4 times a week. And having to get up and turn off the light when it's two degrees above absolute zero is rather less then pleasant.

So I was checking craigslist again last night hoping against hope to find something that would be both cheap and uber-stylish. When finally, score! You won't be able to recognize them by the time I'm done, but here they are. Goji was very insistent on being part of the picture:

These are solid pine, stained red and coated with a light acrylic lacquer. I got the pair for $50. Not the steal of the century, but a pretty good deal all the same. One of the reasons I like them is that they are smaller and not solid boxes. I will be sanding them down and painting them. What color? Well if I told you it would ruin the surprise!

Oops! And canvaspeople.com review

Oops! I never mentioned what the rest of our bedroom looks like! That might help with our paint debacle... I really need to post a picture, but it appears that I have never taken a picture of the room with our stuff in it. In the interest of selecting the right paint color, I'm going to rectify that, but in the meantime, here is the only picture of our room that I have:

The bed is too the left, facing the closet doors, and I'm standing in the bathroom door. Here's our stuff:

And I swear I'll take a real picture asap!
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Another thing I wanted to discuss today, is that through a fabulous special sale brought to our attention via my fabulous friends on the knot, we were able to get a 16x20 canvas print of one of our wedding photos from canvaspeople.com!

We got 50% off on any canvas, so we figured it was worth a shot. The order came when it said it would, and it's perfect! I have had one heckuva time taking a picture of it though:

We want to put it in the living room next to the stairs, but it's a little small for the space so I'm shopping for the right frame for it.

I think I might start using exclusively this place for printing canvases, for different reasons I've had to order them multiple times in the past. What I like about this place, is that their upload system is easy, and their prices are competitive. Also, while you should still always treat these with care, so far the print hasn't chipped at the corners just by looking at it funny. Other printers I've had the ink just flake right off!

So canvaspeople, are apparently my kind of people! Well done!

Colorful Ideas

Ok, so the trip into the depot was pretty much a success. I've got the stuff to finally get our curtain hung in the lower level window. And I've got our paint choices for the bedroom wall narrowed down to 2.

Brian's mom sent me a super helpful email in response to the bedroom post. She thought blue would be better then green for the accent wall, and I think she's right. I brought home the usual 4,235,753,941 paint chips and held them up on the wall all over the place. These are the two finalists:

Behr Dark Storm Cloud

And Behr Prelude

Ok, so they look similar, but in the room they are really different. I'm kind of leaning towards the first one, but it's a pretty similar weight to a lot of the colors I've already used, and I don't want things to get flat. But my concern with the other one is that it might get too 'easter egg' next to the yellow of the bathroom.

Thoughts? Opinions? Help??!?

Also if there are other colors people like better that I haven't heard of pipe up!

Bedroom Debates

Ok, I promise the first post of 2011 will be entirely 'above the sheets!' ;-)

I am not satisfied with how we've decorated our bedroom. I like our furniture placement, and I looooove our new duvet cover, but it hasn't actually been decorated yet. I have not decorated it, or painted, we have no nightstands, no headboard, etc. I need help! First, this is essentially the room right now. The yellow, and the ginko wall art you may recognize from the bathroom. I've included them here because both elements are very visible from the entire bedroom.

Ok, Brian also has a dresser, of similar color and shape to mine there. Eventually I'd like to get him a long low one, and move the second tall one to the guest room. First lets look at the thoughts I've had for paint. I've had the thought that a very grey blue or green might work:

 

The problem is, I don't want it to look like an easter eg with the bathroom. Thoughts?

As far as other elements go, this is my ideal bed:

But for cost and space reasons it's probably not feasible in our current home... which means I don't know what to do about a headboard/over the bed focal point.

A much more pressing issue that we have no nightstands. I am extremely blind, and a nighttime reader and I have no nightstand. It drives me NUTS. I have absolutely no idea what I want for nightstands either, black, white, wood, boxy, round...I need help! Here are some I've looked at:

 I really like the last one, it's 99 dollars at target. Basically with the dressers I'm afraid of filling the room with boxes.

So please, dear reader... help! I need to get the basics figured out so we can have a cozy haven in our bedroom. This one is a big mental block for me, and I need some good sleep!