Trading Spaces Has Nothing on Me

Joelle said around mid-morning on July 9, 2007

This weekend flew by in a whirlwind. I was up until the wee hours on Friday night, hell bent on delivering my mock-ups on time and when the client said she loved them, I had no choice but to blow off working this weekend and indulge in a little home renovation.

I’ve lived in this apartment since May but hadn’t really done much with it. I was recovering financially from my move and my trip to London, plus Kathy and I had that whole book thing to worry about.  I merely went out to pick up some candles at World Market and the next thing I know, I’m on a wild shopping extravaganza with GFI. World Market, IKEA, back to World Market, Target… it was a spending frenzy, I tell you.  But, miraculously, I didn’t spend very much!  Everything was either IKEA-cheap or on sale, so I think I did a spectacular job.  Among my haul:  a new papasan chair and cushion, a new desk, 2 new rugs, a huge palm tree, 2 lamps for the kitchen, 2 lampshades for the living room, a new comforter for the bedroom (so I can finally use the cute duvet set that Taughnee got me forever ago), various candles, um… I feel like I’m missing something. Oh, a new set of curtains and… Oh! A huge pot that my palm tree lives in.  It was craziness, but I spent next to nothing, believe it or not.

I can’t decide what my favorite part is. I love my new desk, which is just so awesome, I had to have it. (Highlight: it hides all that cord and plug nonsense that annoys me so much.) But I also really love my living room.  It’s gone from feeling really cluttered and kind of “college-y” to being very homey and inviting. I feel very relaxed there and it’s nice to have a distinction between my office and my living room.

It feels like a completely different apartment now. I felt like I was jumping out of my skin before — when you spend all day every day in a place, it needs to feel like a sanctuary, not a cell and when you have a view like I have, it’s hard not to want to run outside and play. (Yeah, yeah, bitch, bitch… hee!) So, I think I’ve created a happy balance.

The next project is my bedroom. I used to have a big blue rug in the living room, but that’s part of what was making the living room seem to cluttered. The rug just didn’t fit — it was too big and not quite the right color.  I kept trying to force this giant blue rug to work and it wasn’t, so I moved it into my bedroom at GFI’s suggestion and it looks awesome, especially with my blue sheets.

Finally, I just need to finish my kitchen and bathroom.  My dining area desperately needs a table, but the one I wanted at IKEA is gone now (it’s a bold red-orange glasstop round table) that I thought would be fabulous in there.  I’m holding out for the new catalog, hoping it will make a reappearance. If it doesn’t, I may just find a second-hand table and paint it.  I’ll need another rug for under that so it’s not so chilly on the tile, but I did pick up this snazzy rug for the kitchen floor, though.  (Which got ruined when the plumber came on Saturday night and roto-rooted or whatever and, to my dismay, got black grease water all over it.  World Market was kind of enough to exchange it for me. They rule!)

I am selling my “old” desk from IKEA, a Galant birch veneer corner desk that’s 63” x 47” and in great condition. If you’re in the area and interested, it’s dismantled and ready for pick-up. You can see my ad on Craigslist here.

GFI introduced me to a Thai food place down the street called Saffron and I am now in love with it. I had this incredible egg noodle dish with seared garlic, chicken and broccoli with this thin jalapeno ‘water’ that you drizzled all over called Pad-See-Ewe.  Oh, holy holy… it was so good.  I may have to revisit them today.  I thought I wasn’t into Thai food very much and clearly, I was wrong.

I have nothing snappy with which to close this entry, so I’ll just say this: May your Monday not suck and your mailman deliver you nothing but checks.  That’s the best I’ve got today.