finishing touches

well it's officially september, and if you remember, my goal was to get it up on the market by september 1st -- before winter sets in and minnesota buyers flee back into their homes until spring. so it's a rush to the finish line as i continue moving my belongings to tim's house (box by box), cleaning every last inch, and staging it to really wow everyone who walks through it.

new cabinet hardware. check!

and speaking about staging...notice the cute owl perched next to my knife block? my grandma actually painted that little fella long ago, and i've kept him with me as i move from place to place.

why did i swap out my Urban Outfitters statement chandelier? well, i was told to de-personalize as much as possible during the staging process. aka: take down photos and make the place as neutral as possible so anyone who walks through could envision themselves living here.

so i found a budget-friendly option at Menards that really fit well with my color scheme and wrought iron door and cabinet hardware throughout my entire place.

all through the house

today was a beautifully gorgeous november day here in minneapolis. i biked home from work (in a tank top!) with my headphones on, just enjoying the unusually warm sunshine and colorful leaves still covering the ground. when i got home, i saw dad was taking advantage of the nice weather too...with his electric saw and building materials scattered about my steps and entry way.

today's projects took place all throughout the house. dad was over around 11am and worked until dinner time in the living room, bathroom and kitchen.

living room: dvd cabinet. the first project dad worked on today was adding the trim around my living room inset cabinet that i plan on using for dvd's. now we just need to add shelving and putty up the screws around the trim and i can finally get rid of my cd towers!

plus, now you all know my guilty pleasures of owning (and repetitively watching) all seasons of The OC and The Office :)

the bathroom: closet. see that board that my cabinet is sitting on? well that's my new raised floor of the cabinet. that way, if my bathroom ever floods, my closet supplies will be safe.

our plan is to create storage in the bottom half of the closet, with a single cabinet door. and then the top half of the closet will be open shelving.

the kitchen: fridge water dispenser. this project has been a long time coming, and we got about halfway today. see, the problem is that there's no water access along the wall my fridge is sitting against. so dad used the can light fixture (see photo above) as his access point. he drilled a hole through the beam nearest the fridge and another into my pantry closet, and then fished the tube through them both.

the tube connects to the fridge (you can see the clear tube sticking out near the red arrow), goes through the ceiling, into the pantry closet (more tube near the left arrow), and eventually will emerge along the floor near my stove, and snake through the back of the kitchen cabinets to connect up to the water valve under the sink. and voila, i will have water and ice fresh from my fridge!

the purple curtains

I finally replaced my bedroom curtains to something less than the BLAH color they were. (Thank Goodness!) I originally bought them one day long ago at Ikea...I was on my way out and happened across the "As Is" section and figured, why not!? They were super cheap and super opaque: exactly what I craved for my bedroom so I could sleep in as long as possible on Saturday mornings.

But the color was just so boring. Especially since I have yet to do anything with my room. Right now it just has a coat of primer on the walls, a cement floor, and that's it! Not what you would expect from a web designer girl who loves color.

Anyways, I'll get to that later. So I was at Ikea again and passed this purple curtain set. I have been very into purple lately (no idea why) but nonetheless, I grabbed them.

And here they are! I like them best with my snowflake lights on, it gives them a soft glow :)

it's raining pots & pans

it was a long time coming, but we finally installed my hanging pots & pans rack...making my kitchen one step closer to completion!

as you know, i bought the rack from ikea at least a year ago (probably closer to two), and once the hanging cabinets were put it, it was time for the hanging rack. i also bought a pendant light -- that matches the lights above my bar -- to hang through the rack. dad hasn't figured out how to hook up the electrical part yet, so that will have to wait.

tinseltime

not only is black friday a time for before-the-dawn crazed shopping, but it is also the day i am officially allowed to decorate for christmas.

now, i don't have many christmas decorations yet, but i do have a few boxes of ornaments and decor to spruce up my house for the holidays. plus, i already have up paper snowflakes, so i'd say my house is pretty festive -- and that makes me happy.

tipsy on twinkly wine bottles

 

i'm back into the whole decorating kick again. (i think my whale coffee table gave me the push i needed to feel creative and inspired)

my next project: wine bottle christmas lights. i thought it'd be really cute to hang them on my railing along the stairs that lead down to my door. something like this:

materials:

• empty wine bottles (with the labels peeled off)
• strings of christmas lights (i'm planning on using the tiny white ones)
• something to secure the bottles to the railing (copper wire wrapped around the neck?)

here's a tutorial i found from eHow: how to make night lights using wine bottles
and another from Wit & Wistle: http://witandwhistle.com/?p=1041

i know it's not as discreet to bring empty wine bottles over, but if anyone happens to have some laying around, i would be glad to take them off your hands :)

walk with me, talk with me

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

let there be light

the other day i picked out some pendant lights from ikea. but apparently they only sell plug-in pendant lighting (see above). what?!

but it didn't matter, because my amazing boyfriend turned to me and said he would hook it all up. so i bought two simple looking pendants and then went over to the home depot for two canopy kits.

finally chad had time to come over and do a little free labor :)

and after about an hour or so of work...VOILA! my bar lights are up and shining bright!

if only i had "clap on" lights

today dad came over and worked on my lights by my main door. we put on two switches: one controls the top outlet (that i have my lamp plugged into) and the other turns on and off the outdoor motion-sensor light 

i'm so happy to have actual light switches to flip on when i get home in the dark :)

the real thing

my chandelier arrived early, all in one piece, on the front steps. i was so excited that the next week seemed to take forever. but finally thursday came -- the day chad offered to come over and install it in my dining room.

during the week chad had picked up a converter because the chandelier is shipped from the UK. crazy right? i also bought some circular globe lights (i think the candelabra candle bulbs look creepy) and these spherical ones remind me of giant bubbles. plus, they make the light sparkle.

so after a few minor setbacks -- like the fact that appliances from overseas are opposite from ours, white is hot, instead of black -- chad successfully installed the light.

i love it! and it's even on a dimmer switch, how perfect is that! now i just need a dining room table...