v-i-c-t-o-r-y

What does that spell? Hobo Camp. That's a nod to Jerry Blank; please disregard if you aren't a fan of Strangers with Candy. I couldn't help it. The whole time I was finishing up that last drawer pull in my kitchen, I kept hearing her in my head yelling "hobo camp!" as I was thinking about being victorious over those stupid drawer pulls. I still have one lower cabinet with paint on it, but that's it. Everything else in the kitchen is looking much better. I'll post photos soon. I'm just so excited that I got those stupid things out. It finally took me using pliers to turn the screws, and tearing up my fingertips as I loosened them by hand for the last half. But I promise, it's worth it. Now I just have to figure out how to hide stupid holes that are showing from where someone had drilled two sets of holes in the drawer fronts (only on four of them...only). I didn't know they were there until I had already bought and opened my new drawer pulls, so no chance of finding some that would just extend flush on the front to hide the pulls... Man, I'm boring myself. Sorry.

So last weekend I put some time in on our bedroom. I finally got the old ceiling fan down, and put up the IKEA fixture.

It's not as fancy as I'd love, but the shape is very fun, and it makes the room feel younger and more bright. But holy moly, it took a REALLY long time to get that bad boy up. The good news is that I learned to cut and strip wire, which was a new skill for me, and required new tools. Definitely worth it though. The light fixture makes a huge difference.

We also found a new duvet set, at IKEA of course, that we think will look pretty amazing in the bedroom.

The thing about IKEA is that it's cheaper to buy that duvet set (that includes two pillowcases) than to go buy special pillowcases. So eventually I'll venture out and get awesome graphic pillowcases, but I think this set is fine for now. And the yellow and white stripes look lovely with the grey walls. Some day I want to spring for this amazing IKEA blanket, but it's a bit pricey for me right now. And we needed the yellow. But look at it! Nice, right? I would link the IKEA stock photo for our set, but it's not on the website for some reason...

I found a $3 yellow clock at Target that I wanted to hang on the wall below my "air plants" print, but Justin vetoed it. He says it ticks too loud and he can't sleep through it. I know he's right, but I think I'd sacrifice sleep for that clock. It is adorable. And while I'm thinking about it, here's the air plants print. Justin and I picked it out a Indie Craft Experience a few years ago.
I also have this little plastic yellow candy dish that I found at the thrift store a couple of weeks ago. I had no idea what I'd do with it, but I couldn't leave it. It's perfect for my ridiculously mismatched and pitiful hair accessories (tied together hair rubber bands, bent bobby pins, etc.). I think it's adorable. In spite of the awful photo. Sorry. But yes, the photo in the background is one of our wedding photos.
Two of my other favorite pieces in our bedroom are my milk glass lamp and Rose. Both were given to me by my mom. I had Rose in my room on and off when I was little (as did my sister) but she always gave me nightmares. Not anymore! Now she just reminds me of how lovely it is to be clean, polished and thin. *ouch* The little milk glass lamp is so cute, and Justin found the perfect shade for it. I bought an awful one at Target, and we returned it and he picked this one out at Kudzu Antiques while I waited in the car with Roxanne. Babies and antique shops are kind of like bulls in china shops. But with more precise risky behavior. And thumbs.

Tweaking things

I'm so glad that no one got on and teased me for the title of my last post. New Directions is the name of the glee club on Glee. And yes, I loved that show. I watched it when we were living at my mom's house under the guise of "well, it was on so I watched it," but I admit that I love it. It's so cute! It makes me jealous that the tweens and teens today have awesome programming like that, and we were stuck with Dawson's Creek. Ick. Not that I didn't watch it, too, but you know.

Anyways, I've been trying to get some things done and tied up around here. I haven't made any new progress on my Eames chairs, but mainly because our dog keeps using the whole basement like a giant toilet, and it's not really all that fun to hang out down there. She's being a jerk. However, I have made some strides in the kitchen, and it's seeming less terrible. I mean, I still hate the 80's white laminate cabinets, but I bought new drawer pulls (there weren't any on them before) and they make a huge difference.
I also framed a print that I love and mounted it over the sink using command tape.

That covers the blurg-inducing white spot where we tried to paint over the ivy print on the tile. Tile paint doesn't work. FYI. It's expensive, too. At least we can use the rest of it at some point to repaint our tub. Some dingleberry painted the tub using regular paint at some point, so it's got that half-peeling thing going on and just looks dirty all the time. Nice.

I still have this one area of the kitchen that is the thorn in my side.
The cabinet that covers the sink is a nightmare. It's got the false drawers on it, which is fine, but the screws on the backs of the drawers are only about 3/4" away from the sink. So I can't get in there to get the screws off. The old drawer pulls are still on there and look SO SO SO SO bad. I bought a new tool on Monday night that is more low profile (yes, I've tried an offset screwdriver, and it was still too big) but it still is not working well. I spent about forty five minutes under the sink Tuesday night, and I got the screws loose, but I still have not able to take them off. And my arms are still sore from the weird angle. The Home Depot guy sold me a saw so that I could try and trim the back of the screwdriver off to make it even smaller, but the blade he gave me is not strong enough to saw through the bit. I should have checked the label after him, but Roxanne was going nuts and I didn't realize he didn't really know what he was talking about. Fortunately, the hand saw was only $5 and the blade was $2.50 for two, and I know that a saw is a good thing to have. But it's still annoying. He mentioned that I might be able to find some kind of special screwdriver at an auto parts store, but I'm really not sure if I feel like looking for it. Stupid drawer.... I guess I could, since we live off of Lawrenceville Highway, and have like three auto part stores within two square miles of our house.

I also hung curtains in our bedroom (finally). We've been torn about doing it, but between the cold air coming in through the old window above our head and my concern that maybe people really could see in inspired me to go ahead and put them up. We're pretty happy with the result, but we really need to finish that room. It's second only to the basement in terms of being a wreck. I want to get some fun solid white pillowcases with a bold graphic on them to match our white comforter. I think that would look awesome. They have some cute ones at Urban Outfitters, but they just might be too cute. I think there are some quirkier ones on Etsy. Here's two of my favorites from Etsy.

Or we could always go this route (also from Etsy):

And I've got my eye on these CB2 mirrors for over the dressers.

If we can get those (in five year when we aren't broke), and get rid of the clutter, and I put the light fixture up, it will look really nice and modern and clean in there. Ah clutter. My constant companion. Here are the curtains. Excuse the mess. I was going for realism.

Here's the end table I mentioned last post:
I love it. And it's cluttered. What a shock.