A World of Orange

Back when Dylan and I were living in apartments, I started getting the itch to decorate more and more. While we weren't able to paint walls, per our lease agreements, and we didn't have much money as college students for nice furniture, that didn't stop me from browser-shopping, or from sometimes biting the bullet and clicking that "Submit Order" button. Eeep!

One of the sites that I used to frequent was Urban Outfitters - their modern design and funky patterns really hit home for me, and I loved that they were affordable, too. When browsing their site once, I came across their Atlas Tapestry, and knew at that moment that I would have this and would hang it in my house. I didn't know where, because we didn't have a house, but I had to have it and had to have it in Orange. The Turquoise color was also very eye catching, and bright, but since orange is my favorite color, it was perfect.

I ordered it, and was so excited when it arrived, that I didn't open it, and instead, kept it in it's box for two years. Yeah, I know that doesn't make it sound like I was excited about it, but I could see the tapestry through the clear cellophane bag that it was packaged in, and I knew that if I took it out and unfolded it, that I would never get it back to the way it was and it would never fit in the bag again. So there it sat for three years until I finally had a room for it in our house, or in other words, about two months ago.

Instead of just tacking the tapestry up on the wall, I wanted to mount it so that it looked a little better and it wouldn't stretch out over time. So, I grabbed some 1" x 2" x 4' boards from the hardware store to make a cleat so that I could hang the tapestry on the wall.

Problem was that I couldn't find the attachment for the table saw that allows you to make 45 degree cuts, like you normally would in making a cleat.  Instead, I made a cleat with a notch in it so that the two pieces of wood would stay together when one was placed on top of the other. The piece on the left in the picture below is the one that I attached to the wall, with the cut out up against the wall, so when I added the top piece, they locked together.

The next step was to attach the two cleats to the wall. I measured the size of the tapestry, and gave myself a little buffer from the corner of the walls so that it didn't touch completely. I also wanted to make sure that the tapestry didn't hit the floor, because then it would just get covered in cat hair and thread and fabric scraps, which is not what I wanted. Once I had the height figured out, I marked the wall and then used my combination stud finder and laser level to mark both the studs and make a level line where the top of the cleat should be. I broke out my nail gun to attach the cleat to the wall, nailing it into the studs, which ended up being about every 18 inches. I left a two inch gap between the two cleats, that way I could get the length that I needed, since the tapestry was just over 8' wide, slightly longer than my two cleats. 

With one part of the cleat attached to the wall, I then turned to attach the tapestry to the other half of the cleat. One suggestion before you start stapling your tapestry is to iron or steam it. I totally forgot to do this, and you'll notice in the pictures below. Way too many wrinkles, so get those out before you hang it, otherwise you'll feel like an idiot, like me!

I used a staple gun and put a few staples through the edging of my tapestry, attaching it to the side that would be facing the ceiling, that way the staples and the seam wouldn't show when it was hanging on the wall. If your tapestry has unfinished edges, you may want to fold the fabric down and iron it in place, that way you have more for the staples to grasp on to. I would hate if you went through one layer of the fabric and the threads ripped or pulled so much that it ended up not being secure over time. 

Also, you don't need to be precise about where you are placing your staples, but just so you know, I placed a staple every ten inches, and then once they were all in, I used a hammer to just make them flat to the cleat. 

With the tapestry attached to both pieces of the cleat, it was time to hang it up on the wall. Attach your cleat to the pieces that you have already attached to the wall, and then spread it out a little more to make sure that it is taut and not loose or baggy at the top. And the last step is to stand back and admire your work. 

Don't worry, yours will look much better than mine if you remember to iron or steam it before you attach it to your cleat! But, I still kind of have an issue with the way this looks. I was really hoping that this wasn't going to look juvenile and college-y, but it turns out that it kind of does. 

So, now I'm brainstorming on how I can make this look less young, and a little more "designer." I know that I definitely need to iron or steam it, and that that will help it look better right from the start, but I still feel like it's missing something. Do you think that fully framing it in would look better? Should I add a weight to the bottom to make it a little more flat? Any other suggestions?

DIY: Yarn Board

Once I had the Craft Room painted, and the dining room hutch refinished for storage, it was time to finally get all of my supplies set up. One of the things that I have a lot of is yarn. I'm not an expert at knitting, like my grandmother and great-aunts are, but I do know how to do a few basic stitches, and have knit some blankets, scarves, and I am currently working on another project that I hope to show you soon. With all of the skeins that I have, five of which are being used on my current project, I needed a place to store them where my adorable and not-so-little cats wouldn't be thieving them every day.

The craft room has a closet, and you've seen the hutch I repurposed for the space, but since this room is all about showing off colors and being fun, I wanted to be able to display the yarn in the space, and not hidden behind closed doors.

Enter the pegboard. I decided to use one of those traditional workshop pegboards on the wall and use the peg hooks that you can buy for them as ways to put up my yarn. But, this wasn't going to be just a boring brown pegboard, so I'll give you one guess as to what color it was destined to be.

If you guessed orange, you are correct! You didn't really think that I would venture away from the best color and my favorite color, did you? Since I was working in the basement, I laid the pegboard up against one of my painting sheets on a wall that I was protecting (not sure why, since those walls will eventually be taken out and replaced) and began painting with my fluorescent orange spray paint. Problem was, it wasn't taking the color. The orange barely showed up against the brown of the pegboard, and it's not just that I wasn't using enough. You can see how orange the sheeting on the sides of the pegboard is, yet that corner of the board was still so brown.

Since I figured that going from brown-->white-->orange would be a better transition than from brown-->orange, I pulled out some of my trusty Zinnser 1-2-3 Primer and put a coat of that on with a mini-roller first. After that dried, I tried the spray paint again and it was perfect!

While I was spray painting, I decided that in order to have the pegboard usable with the standard pegboard hooks that go through the holes and grab onto the back of the board, it needed to be mounted slightly off the wall in the craft room. I grabbed a 1/2" square dowel that I had laying around, and cut it into three 12" sections, then spray painted that the same orange color as the pegboard, that way it would blend in if seen behind or through the board. I only needed to paint three of the long sides, since one was going to be flush against the wall, which saved me some drying time and painting time.

Once all my pieces were dry, it was time to hang it all up in the craft room. If this spot looks familiar to you, don't worry - you're not losing your mind. I originally had planned to put this pegboard on the same wall as the tapestry, but when I was ready to hang it, the two different shades of orange were just enough off from each other that it looked terrible. So, I grabbed some scrap cardboard, put it under each leg of the hutch (to protect my hardwood floors and make pushing easier), and pushed that across the room next to the tapestry. It fit perfectly, so I decided that the pegboard would go where the hutch was, that way the two different shades wouldn't clash as much.

First things first, I had to attach the dowels onto the wall that way the pegboard would be slightly mounted. I did some measurements to get the width of the wall from the corner to the moulding of the closet doors, and then found the center. I marked that in a couple of places and lightly drew a vertical line in pencil onto the wall. I took the height of the pegboard and subtracted 4", 2" for the top clearance and 2" for the bottom. I made a horizontal line where the top and bottom dowels would be attached and then drew the line for the third dowel in the middle of the top and bottom ones. I then marked the center of my three dowels and placed them on the wall, lined up with the horizontal line and the vertical line I drew for centering. I grabbed my level to make sure it was straight, and then set in four nails using my nail gun.

Before you move on to attaching the pegboard, pull a little bit on your support dowels to make sure that they are secure to the wall. You don't want to add on your pegboard just to realize that something back there is loose. Add in a few more nails if you need to. 

With the supports attached to the wall, it was time to mount the pegboard. This may require two people - one to hold and one to secure, it will really depend on how coordinated you are. Because the pegboard has holes in it, it was easy to see through to where my supports were. I was able to hold up the pegboard, place the top of my board 2" above the top support, level it, and then pop a few nails through the pegboard and into the supports. With the top attached, getting the rest of the pegboard secured was easy. You'll still want to make sure that you have your board level, but it's much easier to secure to the wall with two hands now that it will be partially hung. 

Give your board a little tug when you're done, just to make sure that it's secured well to the wall, and add any additional nails if you need to. 

And now for the fun part - adding yarn! I was able to find my pegboard hooks at Lowe's, and grabbed a few in different lengths, including a hook that seemed to be made for hanging screwdrivers, but it ended up being perfect for my extra wide knitting needles!

I know that the board looks sparse right now, but that's because I only had these skeins readily available. All of my other yarn is in the attic in a tote bin, so once I get that downstairs and into my craft room, this pegboard will be covered in color. 

So, what do you think? Can you see a pegboard being used for yarn storage? What non-traditional uses do you have for a pegboard? 

Unconventional Storage Solution

I know that I have teased you about my craft room and the progress, but today ends some of the teasing. I'm here to show you how the hutch turned out, and the process that it took to get there.

It wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be, but that's because of my palm sander and the new paint sprayer. First, the obligatory before pictures, and some background on the hutch itself. The hutch belonged to my grandmother, and she kept it in a storage space just behind the kitchen in her apartment. The bottom held all of her Corningware, and the top was for food storage. It was a two-piece hutch made of solid wood, never finished, and was slightly too large for the space she chose for it.  

When it came time for her to move out of the apartment and into an assisted living facility, the hutch was stored in my parent's garage. It spent two years there, until Dylan and I moved into our second apartment, where we had space for it since my parents were moving to Georgia and weren't going to be taking it with them. At that point, the raw wood had aged a bit from being out in the garage for so long, and it had started turning to a darker color. I had already started disassembling the bottom part of the cabinet, so you'll notice that the hinges are already off, but that just shows you the difference in the color of the wood where it was protected by the hinges and the rest of the hutch that was out and exposed to the elements in the garage.  

The first step in refinishing it was to sand the wood down. I wanted to get the years of dirt off of the piece and by sanding it, I would be able to make sure that the paint would be absorbed into the wood properly, leaving me with a good finish. It took me just about an hour to sand all of the shelves, the doors, and both the inside and outside of the two large pieces. I had decided to paint the inside of the hutch as well, even though the bottom part would have it's doors put back on, painting the inside white was going to help make it brighter and easier to see the contents. Painting the inside of the top  of the hutch white was going to be necessary because I had decided that I wasn't going to put the glass doors back on. They made the hutch look a little too traditional, and I wanted some easily accessible storage space with open shelves, which would work out perfectly without doors.

I began the painting process with two coats of primer, both of which I painted by hand with my favorite brush and mini-roller, and it took me about two hours to do the bottom part of the hutch and all the shelves and doors. I took a break to eat dinner and then painted the top half of the hutch. And I repeated that the next day. And it was so boring, honestly. In fact, I was so bored with it, that I didn't start the actual painting until I was trying out the first paint sprayer I bought. When that one didn't work as expected, I tried out a different paint sprayer, and in all my excitement, I decided to just use it on the entire thing, not just the shelves and doors as originally planned. And it turns out that that was a genius idea, because the hutch only needed one coat of paint with the sprayer, and it was done in less time than it took me to hand prime just the bottom part of the hutch!

Have I mentioned how much I love this paint sprayer? Didn't think so. :)

Anyways, once it was finished, I had Dylan help me bring it back upstairs and into the craft room, where I pushed it into what I am hoping is it's final location in the room. I'm still not quite sure if I like it where it is, but if I need to move it around a little bit, it should be pretty easy to do so. In the meantime, however, I did populate it with some of the items from our wedding, the boxes from my favorite shoes, all of my fat-quarters, my sewing machine, the Cuttlebug, and in the closed part of the hutch are some fabric scraps and batting, and paper products. It probably won't stay that way, since I still have tons of stuff in boxes that needs unpacking, but for now, it's great! It's so funny that a dining room hutch would be the perfect solution to storage for a craft room - just shows how repurposing furniture can end up working out so well!

In terms of the hardware, I didn't change it out, as the holes were already there, and the hinges were in good condition, they just date the piece a little bit. But, instead of keeping them black, I decided to prime them and then spray paint them orange! A little more color in a room for crafting just makes it happier, plus, a little more orange is never a bad thing, especially since it's my favorite color!

The knobs were in good condition too, but they were just a little too small, in my opinion. I took a trip to Hobby Lobby to see if they had anything fun and playful, but I didn't realize how expensive knobs could be! So while I was there, I just went to the wood crafts aisle and grabbed a bag of 4 round knobs for less than it would have cost me for one knob! I put a few coats of high-gloss white paint on them, and then decided to pull out the paint rollers that I used for testing swatches on the interior walls of the house that I had been storing in plastic baggies since the Fall! Since they were stored in air-proof baggies, they still had a lot of paint on them, so I just took out all of the rolls and starting pressing them onto the knobs in different places. And when I had almost all of the white covered and all of the colors of the house, I left them to dry, and then put them up on the doors of the hutch and loved them!

I'm so glad that I have this room started and that I now have some great storage in the space. I'm really looking forward to getting things finished, and checking another room off the list. Just a few more things to hang, some tables to set up, and a chair to find, and then this room will be done until I decide to tackle the serious lack of organization in the closet. 

Have you ever painted a piece of furniture with a spray gun? What about decorated your own furniture knobs?

DIY: Wall Replacement and Painting Reveal

I have a confession to make.  Since the middle of June, we have had part of a wall in the smaller bedroom missing.  Now, before you call me absolutely crazy, especially with the below freezing temperatures we've had so far this winter, you will be surprised to know that it actually wasn't drafty at all considering it was an exterior wall!  I was shocked too.

So, since June, when we had the drywall and insulation on the exterior wall removed to have some issues repaired, the wall has had a very large part cut out.  Don't believe me? Well, here's a picture of the bedroom when we first moved into the house.

And here's a picture of the wall with the drywall and insulation removed.

And the picture above is how the room sat for almost seven months.  Last week, we finally tackled the wall.  We had gotten an estimate from someone about doing the repairs, but after seeing the amount of money that he was asking, I was floored at the cost.  I thought it was an astronomical amount to just repair a wall from waist-height down, so I talked with Dylan about it, and we agreed to try to repair it on our own.  

Cue the excitement, folks, because I was actually so pumped to try to do this on our own.  This is a skill that I have wanted to have for a while, and was so ready to try to do this.  I did some research, including watching some videos on YouTube, and then made a list of supplies we would need and after work one day, we took a trip to the hardware store.  

Here's what we purchased: 

1 Drywall Saw (we purchased two of them, but you will probably only need one) - $11 each

1 Sheet of Drywall, (you may need more than one sheet depending on what you are patching) - $10.50

1 lb. Box of 1.5" Drywall Screws - $6.50

1 12 lb. bucket of Joint Compound - $6.75

1 10" Drywall Knife - $9

3 Small Packages of Fiberglass Insulation - $5 each 

And here's what we had on hand already, that you may need to purchase:

Measuring Tape 

Level

Box Cutter

3" Drywall Knife

Caulk

Sandpaper

Work Gloves

Respirator Masks

Eye Protection

Drill

Total amount of money on the items we purchased was $69.75 but if you need to purchase the items on the other list, the total amount of money you should expect to spend is about $120, not including the purchase of a drill.  For this project, the drill was not necessary, but definitely preferred, but if you really wanted to try, you might be able to use a traditional screwdriver.  

So, now onto the project.  We ended up cutting more of the drywall out, since there was some small damage to the other areas, and it would end up looking nicer if we took more of it out.  So, using the measuring tape and the level, I marked on the walls where we would cut out, and then working on opposite sides of the window Dylan and I got to work with removing more of the drywall.  It was easiest to use a box cutter to score the drywall and the years of paint layers first, and then use the drywall saw to cut up and then over.  The nice thing about drywall is that once you score the line you want cut, if you start applying pressure to it by bending it slightly, it will break right along the line that you made with the box cutter.  

Since we were removing the drywall all the way down to the radiator and all the way up to the bottom of the window moulding, it was important to use a box cutter to score the caulked seal between all of these items. If you are working with an area near moulding, chances are you will need to partially remove some of it, as those pieces are typically secured to the wall with nails.  If you just score the areas with your box cutter, they should pry off with just a little force using the back side of a hammer, or a flathead screwdriver.

It took us about 40 minutes to remove all of the drywall, and while that may seem like a long time, it was actually pretty quick considering we weren't removing the entire wall, and wanted to keep as much of the other drywall in tact.  In other words, we were being really careful.  When you rip out the drywall, chances are that the old drywall screws will just stay in the studs, so if you're putting new drywall up, take the time to remove the old screws so that you have a better fit and you don't accidentally try to screw into one of them when attaching your new wall.  

After your space is clear, take some careful measurements for the spots that you want to install your new insulation and drywall.  We divided our space into three sections - one on each side of the window, and then a long piece underneath the window.  Once we had our measurements, I penciled them onto the drywall sheet we purchased, and using just a box cutter, we scored the front side of the drywall, the bent it in half to make the break.  This won't break the piece off completely, as the reverse side will still be attached the the paper backing, so once you have your drywall broken, use the box cutter again to cut through the paper.  

For the insulation, the new stuff we bought was not wrapped in paper, so we only needed to use our hands to rip the fiberglass into pieces that would fit well between the studs of our walls.  Also, I absolutely have to recommend wearing gloves, a respiratory mask, and eye protection for this part of the job. Fiberglass insulation is no fun when it's microscopic pieces are stuck in your hands, and inhaling the little particles aren't good either.  I ended up with a migraine for a day and a half afterwards from inhaling so many of the fiberglass particles and joint compound dust.  

Here's a little tip for before you start installing the new drywall.  Since the walls will be mudded (construction term for smothered with joint compound), use a marker to mark on the walls where the studs are.  You will want your drywall screws to go through your drywall and secure into the studs, so making sure you know where they are after you have the drywall in place, is important.  You can actually see the marks that I made in red Sharpie at the top of the picture below.  I also ended up making marks on the radiator, since I knew I would be painting it white anyways.  This was very helpful in making sure I was putting the screws in a straight line.

Always make sure to dry-fit your drywall first to make sure that you have the tightest fit possible in the space.  Once you have the piece cut to the size you need, use your drill and the drywall screws to secure the piece in place.  Make sure that you countersink the screws too, that way when you mud, the screw heads will not show through and you will end up with a smooth surface.

If you are working on a wall that has an electric outlet, light switch, or an air vent, you will need to do some additional measuring to make the cutout for the item.  Almost all of these items will be attached to a stud, which actually works in your favor.  Since you have already marked your space as to where the studs are, you will only need to do some minimal measuring to mark the location of the hole.  For us, we were working with an electrical outlet, which I measured was 9.5" below the bottom of the window frame, and the electrical outlet itself was 2.5" wide by 4.5" high.  Using these numbers, we dry-fit the new piece of drywall, and marked where the stud was located, and then drew a box where we had measured the outlet to be.  We punched a hole in the drywall and cut out a rectangle using the drywall saw, and realized it was a perfect fit after placing the board back up on the wall.  

Repeat this for the rest of your space, making sure to dry-fit the drywall pieces first and then screw them into place.  Before you call this part of the project done, go back and apply pressure to the boards to make sure that it's not flexible at all and that the boards are really in place. If you find that the wall gives at all, make sure to add a few extra drywall screws to secure it in place.  

Your last set of steps will be to mud the new boards, or in non-construction terms, add all the joint compound to the cracks.  This will be done in at least three phases, so don't worry about getting everything perfect on the first application.  Your first step is to add the joint compound to the seams of the drywall.  Using your small drywall knife, stir up your joint compound until it is creamy and soft.  Grabbing a decent glob, press the joint compound into the cracks of the board seams, adding more until the surfaces are flush together.  You will need to do this to all of the cracks.  Using your larger drywall knife, go over the top at a 45 degree angle to the seams and smooth out the joint compound.  You don't need this to be perfect, as it's just to remove the excess compound so that you don't have to sand an inch of plaster off the walls before your next application.  

Once the joint compound has set for a few hours and is completely dry, put on your eye protection and your respiratory mask and use some medium-grit sandpaper and sand over the entire area until it is smooth and relatively flat. Be careful not to over-sand on the drywall that hasn't had joint compound applied, as you'll likely take the paper coating off of the board.  If you're looking to make sure that you don't have any protruding areas, use a clean drywall knife or your level, and run it gently over the surface so you can see what areas need additional sanding.  Vacuum up the area to get rid of all the plaster dust, and don't forget to vacuum the wall as well to get rid of the dust that hasn't fallen onto you or the floor. 

Repeat this process, only this time, apply a thin layer of joint compound to all the parts of the new board.   This process is called skim-coating.  You will want to try to get the most level layer on the wall, which by using your larger drywall knife, will help you maintain an even layer.  Sand again after the area has dried, vacuum, and repeat at least one more time.  Once you have at least three layers of joint compound on the wall, use your judgement to determine the coverage and whether or not you have the best finish on the wall.  If you think that you need to add more joint compound, don't be afraid to do so.

Once your joint compound has dried and you are comfortable with the coverage and the look of the wall, add at least one coat of primer to the area.  The joint compound is very absorbent, so if you are going for a darker color paint, I would add at least two coats of primer, but for a lighter color, you may be able to get away with just one.

At this point, you are ready to paint, so gather up those supplies and get that color on the wall!

And yes, while this was mostly a post about repairing a large portion of a wall, I guess it's also a reveal of the paint color we chose for this bedroom, which will eventually become the craft room.  The color looks a little off since there is such a huge glare from the windows, but I have to tell you, I am so excited that this wall is finally repaired and that the room is painted.  All in all, this project, minus the painting and waiting time between coats of joint compound, took only 4 hours, and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Plus, one of the best things was that we saved hundreds of dollars by doing this project ourselves.! I'm actually surprised and kind of proud that Dylan and I were able to do this on our own without ever having done it before!  We still have a few touch ups to go as far as paint, like the crown moulding, baseboards, and window trim, but I'm calling this room mostly done since I can start putting in furniture and getting all my craft items out of the master bedroom closet!  Also, this wasn't the only room that was painted this weekend!  Yipee!  I love progress!

Have you ever repaired or replaced a significant portion of a wall before?  Was it easier or harder than you thought it would be?

The Epic IKEA Shopping List

I told you earlier this week that I was going to be taking an epic trip to IKEA to purchase some furniture and accessories for our house.  I have been making a spreadsheet of all the purchases we will be needing to make in the next few months, and for each room, there is at least one thing from IKEA.  I figured that I would give you a tour of all of the things that I have on my IKEA shopping list, and how they will be used in our home.  

Our first stop is the Family Room, which I know I have already explained most of it to you, but just for the sake of keeping everything together in one place, I will include here again.

So, as far as the IKEA items go, from this room, you'll see the most obvious piece, the Expedit, which will be our TV stand.  I will be getting it in the High-Gloss White color, and I will be hacking it to add four or five Capita Legs so that it sits just a little higher up off the floor.

The next piece you see in the design plan above is the coffee table, which is part of the Vittsjo Nesting Tables Set. I haven't decided what I will use the taller table for yet, but that can always go in a different room if it turns out there isn't enough space in this room.  Also part of the same collection is the Vittsjo Tall Shelving Unit, which actually isn't pictured above in the design plan, but it will go next to the television and the Expedit.  

And what you may not have noticed in the background of the design plan are the white Merete curtains for the windows.  I love that they are grommet curtains that I can use with the DIY curtain rods I have made out of electrical conduit.  

The Family Room design plan shows two lamps, one table and one floor, but those have since been removed from the actual plan - I just didn't update the visual I made in Photoshop.  

The next room is the small bedroom, which will be my Craft Room. I haven't previously shared my design plan for this room, so this will be the first chance you get to seeing how I am hoping it will turn out. I will make a full design plan though, because there are some other really cool items that I will be adding to the space, including my new library card catalog!

The first thing for the space is the Morum rug. It's a flat-weave rug that I am thinking will vacuum really well, which is important since there will be fabric scraps and thread clippings likely falling onto the floor.  

The next thing that I will be getting for this room will be opposite of the rug - the Fuga ceiling light. Currently, the space has one of those old globe lights that has probably been in place since the house was built, so I am really looking forward to switching this light out. I think it's the perfect mix of modern with functional, since the spotlights can be pointed wherever they are needed. 

Dylan and I used to have one of these Linnmon/Adils tables in the last apartment we had together, and it held up really well considering we were using it for food prep. So I put two of these tables on my shopping list, hoping that I am able to put them together in the center of the room to give me enough space to spread out large pieces of fabric.  

A while back, I shared the design plan for the Guest Bedroom, but like the Family Room, I wanted to include the IKEA items in this post.  There aren't too many for this room, because I have since removed the two nightstands and all the lamps in the room, and I already have the bureau, and the IKEA chair has been replaced by one that belonged to my grandmother before she passed away earlier this year.  

So, that only leaves us with two items from IKEA for this space: the Hampen Rug and the Werna Curtains.  I really love the green rug and hope that despite its small size, it will really help to bring some comfort into the space without overloading the room on the green color.  The curtains though, are dark, so I'm hoping that they will help to block the light when we have guests staying over, while at the same time, bringing some dimension to the room with that pop of dark color along the wall.  

The Living/Dining Room doesn't have a full design plan at this point.  I've been really struggling with it, since we have two functions planned - a Dining Room and a Living Room.  I have been debating building our table, but I'm not sure if that cost will be worth it in the end. I have to price out some wood from a lumber yard, because the types offered from the hardware stores are too soft to build a sturdy table.  If I don't end up building the table as planned, I will likely be purchasing the Stornas table from IKEA, which is made of solid wood.  To go along with the table, regardless of if it's built or bought, I will be purchasing ten of the Borje chairs in the Brown finish and the Gobo White seats.

I also thought that some white Lack shelves would look good along one of the walls to show off some of the little chotchkies that we have.  And then on the other side of the table, I was thinking of some sort of sideboard, and I have fallen in love with The IKEA Bjursta Sideboard.  However, I am having a really hard time justifying the price tag, especially since this isn't one of IKEA's solid wood pieces.

There is only one piece for the Master Bedroom that we will be purchasing, and that is this Expedit Workstation so that we can setup our office in our bedroom. With it being as big as it is, we will have more than enough space to set up an office area, especially since the futon currently in our bedroom will be moving to the craft room for additional guest sleeping when necessary.  

Aside from these bigger items, we will be purchasing some decor items, like picture frames for my favorite digital art prints, vases, and fake flowers, and some succulents and actual plants and the cute little tabletop Socker greenhouse you see below.  The venue that we got married at, the Roger Williams Botanical Center, has a few of these plants in the greenhouses, so I thought that this would be the perfect way to remind us of the absolutely beautiful wedding day that we had.  

So, that concludes the bulk of my IKEA shopping list. To make sure that I don't bore you, I didn't include too many of the little things that we will be getting, like some additional accessories for my craft room and some sets of sheets for the guest bedroom and the futon.

But, that's my list! What do you think? What are your favorite pieces above? What about the pieces you have in your home - which are your favorites? Any suggestions on must-have items from IKEA?

All images except the Family Room and Guest Bedroom Design Plans courtesy of IKEA.