Office Upgrade

You may have noticed in a previous post (but probably not, why would you?), there was a missing piece of massive technology in the reflection of these pics:See how boring and plain and empty it is? Isn't it great?

You see, there used to be a gigantic desktop computer that hubs had when he went away to school. Yeah---about 8 years ago. The desk area (if you were on drugs that made your vision blurry) used to look like this:

But since May, when I came into the 21st century and got an ibook, we've had 2 computers and a lot of mess sitting in there.

So, with a bit of time on my hands and 2 important guests coming to stay in that very room in 2 weeks, I finally sat down and transferred all our files from the old fuddy duddy to the sleek beauty.

The old computer will go down to the basement, where it'll be perfect for hubs' music room and he can download guitar tabs, lyrics and record his music all in one place.

But the office now looks like this:

And eventually, hopefully like this:With items such as these:

Already, though I think it's much better, non?

Goal 9 - check!

We're having weekend guests next weekend, and late last week I was starting to get anxious about getting ready for them. They're hubs' dad and step-mom, and they haven't seen the house yet although they've been super excited about it since we told them we purchased it. So, I want them to like it and I want them to feel very comfortable and enjoy their stay.

Heck, we've lived here now for over 5 months, so we may as well put some stuff in the main bath and master bath!

So I made a to do list, and on it for Friday night was to hang a few things (party on).

I went ahead and did a bit more than that, and here are the (crap pics thanks to crap-tastic camera again) results:

Main Bathroom:

Hung some nice modern sconces. I've had them a while and really like the, but they're kind of too modern for a lot of the main floor, but I thinkthey're perfect in here.

Master Bathroom:


Hung another sconce as well as pic by the same artist as our family room "eye" pics. I acknowledge that the red candles do nothing for it, but it was a last minute decision and just need to swap 'em for a more neutral colour.

But I also wanted to make the spare bedroom a little more home-y:



So we hung a mirror and some framed Thai batik. I was going to put some scrapbook paper in the frames originally, but when I was looking at our excessive collection of frames and stuff, I noticed them sitting there waiting to be framed and enjoyed. And up they went.

And after way too much Tyra-esque deliberation and a lot of holding and viewing, we decided to put the St Maarten art in the family room, but decided it needed a bit of height to ground it, so moved the vase o' sticks over there as well until we get lamps or some other stuff:


You'll note a couple things.
1-Yes, there are still eyes on the main wall. The plan to add a third pic didn't work out because there were minimal pieces the same size and when I did find one, learned photoshop and went to frame the doctored image, I realized that the new mat was ivory and the ones we had were white. It just didn't work.
2-My walls are not pink. I have to keep my camera on the colour swap setting for it to work and it makes all the colours wonky. They're a beige-y taupe. Trust.

With the St Maarten picture in place, my other 2 important pieces needed a good place, and the original plan for the SXM piece was a perfect fit. So I hung this piece

(my fave of the foursome) at the top of the stairs:

Where you can see it from the entrance, stairs and hallway.

And I hung this piece:
On the wall heading back down the staircase:

And the 2 smaller prints in the upstairs hallway like this:

They're all Aboriginal Australian dot (re)prints that I bought when I lived in Sydney for 6 months. I wish I had many more and I wish I had some that coordinated a bit better (gave all the neutral ones to mom).

Overall, hubs and I are both happy with the way things are starting to look and I seriously wonder why we didn't do this 5 months ago? Lazy arses.

I'd still like to hang the art in the dining room and some in our bedroom too. And...in the long wall in the entry way, but I need to first decide what I'm putting there in way of storage, seating, etc etc. Indecision and setting up a home are not a good combination.

You likey? Please tell me we're not the only ones who wait so long to put stuff up...

C'est fini

I know, I know...all I can talk about is the dresser. You're probably wondering how many posts I can really make about one dresser. And to that I say---you'd be surprised! I can talk about very little for a very long time.

But she's all done!

As you can see, I went a pretty safe route for the drawer knobs. I did this for several reasons

1. It was much easier that sourcing an interesting and prettier knob
2. It was much cheaper than many others at just $1.99 each
3. I'm safe
4. I'd like this dresser to have the option to be used for different things in the future and this seems like the most efficient choice.

I really like the mac tack inside the drawers though. It's such a small thing and only the people/person using the dresser would even know it existed, but it makes me happy whenever I open the drawers (that and the literal tonnes of craft supplies now living in them). At just $1 per roll from Dollarama, it's a no brainer, and I may consider using it on other pieces for sure.

Unfortunately the front edge is a wee bit scratched. This is because we were moving it into the closet in the office and rather than take 5 seconds to plan it beforehand, my husband went with his default remedy--brute force. So he tried to force it in between the closet door and wall scratching both the dresser and the wall. Hon-I love ya, but sometimes you need to let me think about these things before going ahead. Either way-it's nothing a little touch up can't fix.

I can't wait to finish organizing the office and my excessive supplies! (Wow--that sounds completely lame, although no less true).

You likey?

Additions

Yesterday resulted in an exciting new addition to our home:

And although, re-reading that sentence it sounds like I brought home a child or something, I assure you--it's just an ibook. However, for me-that's very exciting.

My office had some extra computers in the office and my bosses decided to auction them off. They're all good computers, just the nature of our company requires pretty wicked computers.

Except for my job. Damnit. I work on a standard issue PC so it's compatible with our database and accounting software.

My co-workers are always (I mean seriously-it's constant) telling me how much I need a Mac, it's like I'm living the Mac commercial 5 days a week. So I think there was some pity non-bidding in order for me to win the one auction I bid on. As a result, I got this beaut for $75. Not bad eh?

I think once we figure it out and transfer everything over from our home computer (which honestly won't be difficult, it's so crappy I never even use it), it'll REALLY make a difference in the office. I don't even have a photo of it I'm so ashamed of that space, so this March pic is the closest thing to seeing the office area I'm willing to publish for now:

I just can't wait to get that clunker of a monitor and that clunker of a tower outta there.

But...there's always a but, except in the case of hubs' non-existent backside, but we won't talk about that. But...I'm not very fluent in mac. Or laptops for that matter. I can handle the basics but I was trying to connect the ibook to our wireless internet (thank goodness for planning ahead) and I couldn't get it. Plus, I do everything in Word, Excel, Paint, Picasa and MS Office Picture Manager, so how am I going to survive without any of them?

What I really need is for someone to pimp my ibook for me. When you spend your life on a PC and then move to a mac, it's harder than you'd think.

Does anyone have any tips, ideas or links that could help me figure this stuff out. Or any tips on how to get the MS-esque software mentioned above?

Almost There...

The dresser's been stripped, sanded, primed, painted and poly'd.

All that's left for the basic revamp are the drawer pulls. Now the question is...which ones did I get? I'll give you a hint: I didn't go to Ikea, but I do know myself very well.

I'm also planning on wallpapering the drawer bottoms for a little flare. And hoping to have it all done-ito by tomorrow night. Then I can cross it off my May goals and organize the heck outta the office. Fingers crossed!

Inspiration Pics---Offices & Craft Spaces

Here are some of my favourite office & craft spaces and ideas I've saved over the last several months as inspiration.

Some are clever, some are absolutely over the top. But ALL are super organized.

They're more or less in order of intensity. Some of them are insaaaane!


Pottery Barn Desk:

Found on Apartment Therapy:

From Ramblings of a Renovation Couple:

From a This Young House House Crashing Post:

Making It Lovely's Studio:

I'm off to lala land to imagine a world where I'd have a room like any of these.

Dresser Revamp

According to my May goals, I'd better get a move on revamping my old dresser from my parents house. It was my mom's uncles and her mother's mother's before that or something. Whoever's it was...it's definitely worth the effort of refinishing for our own place.

Here she is:
Definitely a quality dresser and fo' sho' better than the ones I was looking at from my Swedish friends. The blue colour is compliments of my mom personalizing it for me many moons ago, which unfortunately I didn't take care of and is now stained with 90's discount foundation and nail polish.

I've already stripped the main body of the dresser (and got the toxic paint stripper in my eye, on my skin and all over the garage---idiot). Tonight I'm stripping the drawers and beginning to sand the whole thing.

The plan was to have it finito by the end of the weekend, but...this morning *lightbulb* I remembered that I should probably decide on hardware first in case I have to fill in any holes before painting it.

So now I'm on a knob hunt. Ask me to find a person who's a knob, and I've gotcha covered, but the drawer variety? That might be a slightly more difficult search with someone as indecisive as moi. Oh---it might be important to know that I'll be painting it a warm white (like eggshell white or something...not quite as beige-y as the charging station, but not quite as stark as the fireplace mantle)

Here are some I le-huve:
1: Anthropologie $14.53

2: Anthropologie $14.53
3: Anthropologie also $14.53
4: Cool Knobs & Pulls $7.95
5: Cool Knobs & Pulls $7.95
6: Cool Knobs & Pulls $7.95
7: Etsy $?
8: Etsy $10
9: Home Depot $16.26
10: Lee Valley $misc (which, of course, I'd paint)

As well as loads of others from Etsty sellers gettinggroovy and botanical gardens that are a bit too rich for my blood.

The problem, as usual, is that there are 12 knobs I'd need and you don't need to be an accountant to figure out that my budget of $0 divided by 12 does not permit any of the above decisions. I might have to loosen the purse strings a little on this one to do the dresser justice.

Although, if I'm being honest with myself, I know I'm going to end up buying these $ 9 Ikea knobs.

Where is the dresser going you ask? And how is my husband ok with such feminine dresser knobs? Not to worry---it's going in the office/spare bedroom closet to help corral much of my craft supplies and organize them all beautifically.

What do you think? Am I taking the "My Room" thing a little far? Do you have any favourites in my choices above?