step to the edge

to be honest, i think this is the first ever post that i don't know the exact date of. i know it was sometime in september...or maybe august...who knows!

anyways, one day while i was out and about, dad came over and put the trim up on my step under the bar (which acts as a divider between my two levels). thank goodness! mom had been wanting him to do that for months. maybe even a year or more.

but now it's up. we didn't have many color options, so we decided on the metal finish -- which actually matches the stainless steel legs on my bar. and now the unfinished wood flooring is finally covered and protected from getting chipped.

breakfast bar

because there's no formal dining room table, i decided i wanted another seating area to eat at besides the bar. so i invented "the nub." it's basically a breakfast nook, an extra countertop in the kitchen for help with cooking, a place to set my laptop while i look up recipes, or a place to read the newspaper (star tribune of course!) while i eat breakfast.

although it wasn't our original plan, dad and i took a stroll through ikea to spark ideas for the nub. what we could make it out of, what color it should be, etc.

we were originally hoping to find a similar counter-top as my main bar, a rectangular, dark wood counter-top that dad would then round off one side. but as luck would have it, we came across this half rounded, half straight-edged white counter-top. it was exactly the length we needed, and only off in width by 3 inches!

of course dad still had to create the bottom cupboard and paint it white to match. but soon enough, he installed it!

luckily when i bought my adjustable-height bar chairs, i bought six. i had the other two stored at my parent's. dad brought them over, and voila, perfect height for the nub! i absolutely love how it turned out, and i love the extra counter and seating space in my condo.

next up is the upper cabinets to frame in the fridge and the hanging pot rack (also from ikea) to hang over the end of the nub...and maybe a pendant light to hang above the rounded end of the nub.

walk with me, talk with me

here's a little walkthrough of my condo so far...

like christmas morning

 i woke up way too early and was too excited to go back to sleep. it felt like christmas morning. i guess i'm just really excited to finally be moving in! i thought the day would never come.

anyways, mom had found some cute chairs in the jc penney catalog, with some special discounts that expire today. i was trying to buy them online, but the shipping would be insane (since i want six chairs), so me and dad just decided to drive on over to southdale and see what they had in stock.


sidenote: we were there by 9am, walked up to the doors, and were completely disappointed that the store didn't open until 10am. bummer. so we turn around and get back in the truck, and then i notice that other people are going in and out? me and dad look at each other, and then simultaneously get back out of the truck and head back in. long story short, it turns out since they have saturday 'door busters' they open early, but don't make any note of this on their signage.

i ended up buying six chairs, which are super cool because they have 360 degree swivel, and are adjustable height! now i can have matching chairs on both sides of my bar (the high top side, and the standard counter height side). perfect.
 

here they are [almost] all set up. thanks to matthew for assembling them so quickly!

indoors outdoors

so i was at kohl's the other day shopping for fun decor — like accent rugs and scented candles — when i stumbled upon some vintage-inspired patio chairs. i thought to myself: "it's green. it's vintage-y. it has a giant button. i like it!" so i bought two.

and it helped that they were on sale too.