Rasterbator

Cool concept: http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/
This program takes your images and rasterizes and blows up your pictures, dividing them into different pdfs, which you then print and hang on your walls.

More magnetic poetry

I've been decorating my fridge...

Always please thy saucy, wanton wench.

Never measure a merry maiden's bosom.

I belch at thee, wicked drunkard.

Give her your codpiece, and her breast shall be thine.

Hey, it's Shakespeare's words! Not mine!

New project #4566752480

Not really, but...

This is a side view of this IKEA shelf that I bought second hand for $10 from someone on craigslist.
The splatter you see is not my attempt at graffiti art, but my attempt at removing the ugly mocha paint the previous owner laid on the perfectly fine white laminate.
It's a good thing she didn't use a primer. It's coming off easily, but it's time-consuming. All you need is a damp rag, a spatula or knife (i've got one of those wooden paint stirring things). Some of it just peels right off.
I'm guessing I will finish this off on Saturday. Thank goodness she only painted the one side.
Overall, I'm satisfied with this purchase.

And I finally hauled ass to Ikea/Schaumburg to get my desk and this rug:

Unfortunately, they ran out of stock on Friday. waaah. Isn't it cool though?
Some day, it will belong to me. Me, me, me!

I decorated my cat

for Christmas.


She's such a trooper. She didn't budge at all. I did take it off her after I got the shot though. I'm not that cruel.

Now, if only the weather would be nice when I have a day off so that I can drive down to Ikea and get that blasted desk!

Mine, all mine!

My intention was to avoid the craziness that is Black Friday and observe Buy Nothing Day instead, but I couldn't resist.
Turns out I did manage to avoid the hoards, which were largely at stores like Best Buy. And that left me free to browse the furniture at Value City. Didn't do that much browsing though because I came with a purpose. Namely, this:
I have had my eye on that for a while. I have sat on it several times and it's quite comfy and firm. And not too badly priced either (though once you add the taxes and delivery charge, etc... it's not as cheap). But the good news is i get two free pillows priced at $50 each AND the even better news is that I got 6 months of interest-free financing. No money down, no minimum payment, though it is my goal to pay it within the 6 months.

I put my couch up for sale, again, on craigslist. Keep your fingers crossed for me, please.

Not technically decorating

But, oh, the wonders that magnetic poetry can do to your refrigerator. Plus, I like to crack myself up with the mismatching words.
This is from my Shakespeare set.

Coveting

this desk from Ikea:
It's got everything I want in a compact layout. A keyboard tray, a place for the CPU, a shelf under the desk for the printer. Plus, there's a drawer under that. I'll make the trip down to the store at some point.

In the meantime, I have painted most of the walls in my living room, which now looks like it's been ransacked. One small wall to go and that'll be that (excepting some minor finishing touches that I will ask someone else to take care of).

I also bought a TV stand today. Much smaller than my obnoxiously large entertainment center. I thought of painting it black, but the lighter maple color is growing on me. We'll see. I'll post pix laterz.

Sage

Here's the newly painted sage entrance hall. The edges near the closet and doors were so tight. It was a nightmare to paint.
But I love the color (Behr's False Cypress + 5 oz of white).
One wall down, 4 - much larger ones - to go.

Once more, with feeling

OK. It might, might, be growing on me.

Ignore the kitchen mess!
Ooh, notice the new chairs. They're wood and leather and very comfy. If the cats spoil them...

Some I made/drew, others I bought, others gifts from friends. Looks like I need to wipe the big one. Yikes.

Most seriously displeased

So, it's been getting really cold. And my thermostat stopped working. At first, it only said "REPL BAT." Which I did. And it worked again. And then stopped again.
Today, I finally caved and went to the Home Depot store to get a new one. I came home, and the first thing I did was to unscrew the wires from my old thermostat. Before labeling the wires. Just like the instructions of the new thermostat said. *bangs head*
I can get a Master's degree, but reading the instructions through is just TOO MUCH for me to handle.
Anyway, I went over to a neighbors' and looked at her thermostat. But she only has heating. I have heating AND AC.
I decided to experiment anyway.
I unscrewed 3 of the 4 little compartments in the new thermostat. The fourth one just wouldn't loosen up, and in the process of trying several screwdrivers and heads, I mangled the the screw.
I drove back to HD and they kindly gave me a new one.
Got back, got the new thermostat in - without electrocuting myself - and felt relieved and warmed, if not entirely proud of myself.

And then I set out to finally paint the living room. I just did one wall - the "dining area" wall. I got two colors. One for most of the living room, and one for this wall.
I was rather happy with the color in the paint bucket.
And then I applied the paint, and it was very dark. In fact, it looked like Christmas green to me. Not at all what i wanted. So yeah, as Lady Catherine would say, I am most seriously displeased.
I can only hope that the lighter green/sage will offset the Christmas vibe I'm getting. Otherwise, I'll just have to paint over it.
And get more tools, because, dayum, the trim looks sloppy. Sigh.
Before:
(Pardon the mess and last year's remaining Xmas decoration... I guess that's foreshadowing).
After:
The paint's still wet and is much darker than in the pic. I'll wait and see how it looks in the morning with natural light.
Sigh, again.

Hurrah!

Just imagine Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra as you read this post because...


I
.
.
.
.
.
.
FINALLY
.
.
.
.
.
.
SOLD
.
.
.
.
.
.
MY DINING TABLE & CHAIRS!

And the guy didn't even *try* to bargain with me. So yay! As soon as he and his buddies left, I set up my new (but gently used) dining table that's been propped on the wall for months.


It expands from both sides. There are two hidden leaves under the table top. Very practical. I love it.
And here it is after minor additions.

I bought the tablecloth and runner from a friend. The tablecloth needs hemming (It's now folded in two), not to mention ironing, but who do you think I am? Martha Stewart?! Anyway, I really like the way it looks now. Ideally, I would add four black or dark brown parsons chairs. But I ain't paying full price, that's for sure. The saga of the chairless table...to be continued.

Playing around

I just realized that even as my attention is focused on my living room, I haven't even finished the other bedrooms. My headboard is still propped on the wall, and I still haven't fixed that last leg of the day bed. Sigh.

Anyway, back to the living room. I thought I'd show you, roughly and without embarrassing myself, what it looks like.So, on the right, you have the hallway, which I think is narrower. At the top is the hall leading to the bathroom and bedrooms. No it doesn't really slant like that - at least not when I'm sober (kidding!). The rest of the dimensions are pretty accurate. The room's about 15 ft x 19ft (the space below the main entry way is the kitchen, by the by.

What I'm not showing are the new dining table propped against the hallway wall and a new bookcase, still in its box, also propped.

I don't like my dining table. I love the wood, but don't like the shape or style. Oh and it has a massive leaf, also propped because you can't hide it.
Onto the living area. I have a massive desk. It's about 60 inches wide. It's always cluttered. It's walnut colored and it's right next to my cherry colored entertainment center. That is also massive. It's for a 36-inch TV at least. Mine's a 21- or 19-incher. Next to that is my new, beloved glass-door CD cabinet.
Oh, and those two oval things below the dining table are my cats' beds, which of course they NEVER use because they like the chairs and couch too much. Bad cats.

Anyway, this is one of the first options I really liked while playing around with the Arrange-A-Room.Ideally, I'd get a smaller desk + maybe a filing cabinet and put that all on the opposite wall. This would require a wi-fi device because the only cable outlet is on the TV wall. I'd chuck my huge, ugly rug and get something a lot smaller. The cat beds would go and be replaced by a cat tower with several compartments. I'd move my CD cabinet to the other side of the TV stand (I'd get smaller, less claustrophobic stand) and I'd put a bench under the window on the left. And I'd get a small DVD cabinet.

My only concern, other than the Wi-Fi, is that the cats might want to scratch the back of the couch. They don't usually scratch the sides or anything, but an exposed back would be something new and fun for them!!

Anyway, what do you think? Do you have any other suggestions?

Arrange-A-Room-oholic

I know, I know, I promised pictures of my bed slats, but I've been busy with other stuff and lazy with this.
The good thing about having medical bills to pay is that they force you to not spend money on anything else. Which means I am not buying anything until I sell my dining table. It could happen this weekend though, if a certain CL user does in fact show up.

Anyway, I thought I'd share this link: http://arrangearoom.bhg.com/arrangearoom/
It's by Better Homes & Gardens, a magazine I don't particularly feel drawn to. But this feature is quite addictive and a lot more fun than just drawing sketches. Plus, you save paper. The application allows you to choose your room configuration and you just adjust the measurements and then start filling the room with furniture you drag from the left column. You can also adjust the size of those pieces of furniture. It's addictive.

Do I seem like an idiot?

So, some guy is interested in the dining set I advertised on CL. I replied he could come and have a look, yadda yadda... And he replies with the following e-mail:

Hello,
Thanks for the prompt response and i will like you to withdraw the advert from Craigslist,i dont mind adding an extra $20dolls for you to take the advert down from criagslist so that i can be rest assured that am in hand of the item.I dont have time to come take a look. I will be paying via cashier's check,and it will be over night payment .You dont need to bother your self with the shippment ok,i will take care of that.So i will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.
1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address be it residential or postal address
3.Your phonenumber.
i will have my mover come over as soon as you have the check
Have a great day .

Hah. Not a chance, buster. I replied that I don't accept any kind of check, and that if he wanted the table and chairs, he could come with the movers and pay me in cash. You know, like any normal, non-fraudulent person would do. And that I would not remove the ad till the items were gone. And that otherwise, this just sounds like scam.

Now, unless he's the idiot, he'll get the message.

In other non-CL related news, my back is about 80% better. Yay! And I got a cyst removed from my hand. Yay! But it still hurts and I can't get back to doing stuff around the house. Boo! I did buy some wood from Lowe's to make bed slats to hopefully make the day bed more comfortable. I was going to buy them from Ikea, but the shipping cost more than the slats themselves. To paraphrase Kathy Griffin, Suck it Ikea. Lowe's is my God now!

Forced hiatus

I don't think I'll be doing any heavy-duty redecorating for the time being. My back's been killing me. It started earlier this week. I thought it was just my bra that was uncomfortable, but I'm convinced now it was all the heavy lifting, painting, cleaning, headboard making that did it.
So, I will not spend my vacation painting the walls.
I guess worse things could happen. I will see a chiro if my back doesn't get better.

The CDs are now all organized! Well, they're in the cabinet. I did try to sort them by genre, but gave up halfway through.
I got this cabinet from avthing.com. I love it! It's not black - more of a very dark brown, but close enough, and the shipping was free.

Now, I need to find something compact for all my DVDs. I thought I had only a few DVDs - but that was only relative to the incredible number of CDs I have. I wanted to count them, but gave up on that as well. (Notice a pattern here? I also start paintings and then get bored and ...well...).

In other Craigslist news, I was interested in a mattress from someone on the south side. The lady, who while not a tramp turned out to be more of a b****/pain in the arse, asked me to call before I headed over because someone else also wanted the mattress. OK. I did. No one answered. I drove down anyway. Called when I got within a block of her place. She said that the other person had been waiting for her and took the mattress. OK. Fair enough. I took a risk.

BUT WAIT! There's more! I got home and she called, but because I couldn't get to my cell phone in time, she left a message. Something along the lines of "Are you the woman from St. Luke's who asked for directions? I still have the mattress." WTF? I called her and said, "Hi. I'm the woman who was WITHIN A BLOCK OF YOUR PLACE."
Turns out, she didn't sell the mattress to the "Woman from St. Luke's" because WFSL never actually showed up. She called (they always do), but didn't show up. So I drove down there AGAIN and got the mattress. It's an OK mattress for the price, and I will probably get a pad to add to it. But dayum, I wish I had told her on the phone to just shove it.

New project

I bought an end table. Because I really need one (note the sarcasm). I need more shelves for my DVDs, I maybe need a small dresser, a proper nightstand...but not really an end table. Although I am thinking of using this as a nightstand.
Anyway, here it is:It's been stripped of its stain. I think I want to go really dark, maybe ebony or mahogany. But this project will have to be put on the back burner. I have so much to do. Namely:

Finish painting the day bed (one leg is iffy)
Get a mattress for it
Tidy it

Get storage for my CDs and DVDs.
Get rid of my couch, rug, dining table and chairs, entertainment center, desk and chair.
Paint the living room.
Get new parson chairs for my new dining table (currently propped on the wall).
Get a new couch, new smaller desk.
Possibly reupholster my CL chairs.
Tori's favorite is the one on the left. Which I now moved to the right.

Put some old clothes in those vacuum bags.
Tidy my closet.
Tidy my whole room.
At some point, refinish that table.

In the words of the "Absolutely Fabulous" Edina Monsoon, "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD!"

Why, Craig, why?

Three posts in one day? Don't get used to it.

So, today, a lady who seemed very interested in the couch I put up for sale on craiglist (it's EXACTLY what she was looking for) was supposed to come and see it and possibly buy it.

We agreed on a time - 11am. Which is when she called to say she'd be running late. Fine. I gave her my windows, she said she'd call back if she could reschedule other stuff she had to do. Again, fine by me.
She called at 11:45 saying she'd come over in 20 minutes. Great.
20 minutes gone. Nothing. 30 - still nothing. I heated leftover pasta. I ate. 45 minutes (yes, I'm a quick eater, so?!), still nothing. I called her. It rang many times and went to her voicemail. I thought she might be lost or was running late again.
I went about my business, and around 2, called her again and said I was off to work.

This is the third time I've been stood up by someone on Craigslist. What the hell? When did it become OK to take other people's time for granted? You're late? Fine. Let me know. You can't make it after all? That's OK too. JUST DON'T LEAVE ME HANGING.

The first thing I think of, after cursing people for being late is..."what if they got into an accident?!"

You know what? If they're not in the hospital, unconscious, they can still give me a call. And that's that. I know I would.

Look, Ma! I made a...

Headboard!



I bought some particle wood from the Home Depot, stuffed it with pillow stuffing, glued the lovely fabric I bought from a friend to the board - and stapled it for safe measure, and voilà. I might attach it to the wall or get brackets for the bed. We'll see.
I made it all by myself, too.

Staying in my bedroom, I moved a bookcase that was in the spare bedroom to mine. I was first going to sell it and then decided to keep it and paint black, and then finally decided to do nothing but move it. I still don't like the oak color, but I have to just take things slowly.
I moved the books that were in the living room to the one in my bedroom, moved THAT bookcase out of the way in the hallway, and changed locations of the smaller bookshelf.
Confused yet? I had three bookcases. One's going to be sold (hopefully); one is now in my bedroom; the other is still in the living room.

Oh, but I also bought a low bookshelf from Target for the spare bedroom.
It's now a lot fuller and has some baskets and other crap.
Also in the spare room is a daybed that I bought for $30 and painted black. I sold the futon. I still need to get a proper mattress, but I'm liking the look so far.


Pardon the mess. You'll hear that often.

Welcome, bienvenue, willkommen...

Hello friends (and others)!
I thought I'd share my experience trying to redecorate with the world because there just aren't enough ways to humiliate myself.

A bit of background info: I moved into my new place two years ago. Before I moved my stuff in, I - with the help of trusted colleagues - painted the bedroom walls. It was so tiring I threw out all my other grand decorating plans out the window. I have mismatched furniture, hand-me-downs that really don't reflect my taste or work with the space I have.

I recently saw picture of a friend's place, and that was that. I was inspired again. Except I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I don't know where to start, so I'm starting everywhere, doing everything at the same time.

I'll be posting about my frustrations with craigslist, the people buying or selling stuff on craigslist, looking for furniture, some DIY projects (and my frustrations with those), and best of all, pics of my progress.

So, join me as I lose my mind! Encouragement, tips, advice are all welcome.

PS: "Chocolate on my trousers" obviously has nothing to do with decorating. It refers to my knack for staining my trousers whenever I eat chocolate.