Decorating is hard work

Since moving in, we've yet to paint, hang any pictures or buy any new furniture. It's officially been two months and it feels like we've been here a week.

On the top of my list is to decorate my dressing room.

We have four bedrooms and we agreed that I would get to have a room all to my own to decorate, throw clothes and get ready in on a daily basis.

Please notice the room.



Another view


It's hot pink. What you can't tell is that the walls are actually different colors. She so nicely painted the other walls a brighter shade of pink.

I just purchased an antique, off-white vanity after looking online for months and stalking what is quickly becoming one of my favorite stores, Stash Style. Shannon and her team have such an eclectic taste of furniture, decorations and random accessories from picture frames to vintage books and cupcakes. (I was tempted to buy one, but I passed seeing as I had to run and see my personal trainer today.)

I’m thinking on painting the walls a pale, turquoise-ish blue at this point like this Aqua-Sphere shade. Or maybe something like this from the House of Turquoise.



Some other items that are piquing my interest:

These Blik chandeliers in white


One of these to go on the wall from an Etsy boutique



Maybe a dress form like this one from PB teen


I also have enough room to put a two smaller chairs or on chaise lounge as well. I just need to get the basics down then pull in all he decorating pieces and accessories.

What do you think? Do you find decorating is hard work? What other sites do you use to find inspiration or decorating tips?

Gone gaming

Boys are full of surprises. Just full of them. Remember when I posted about BF and his need for a man room? He kept talking about possibly changing around the master bedroom to accommodate his winter gaming obsession? Yeah, I kind of got over it and thought he would never actually pull it off. He talked and talked about it but nothing happened. I assumed he lost interest.....

While I was gone all day on Sunday, I came home to a newly cleaned and rearranged room with him sitting and playing some fishing PS2 game. Did you notice the words "newly cleaned?"

Give him an apron and call him Martha!

He not only moved each dresser, swept behind them and dusted all three, he also rearranged the wall pictures, too. I think that was his way of saying "thank you for letting me own the room for the winter with my lame video games, so I'm going to thoroughly clean because I know you won't." I mean, that furniture hasn't been moved for a year and half since we moved in! He did a great job and room looks so much bigger with the new arrangement.

Funny what boys will do in the name of love and video games, isn't it? Well, maybe just video games at this point.

F U PS2

This past summer I spent a week with a few friends in Charlotte/W.Virginia. Since gas prices were rising, I decided to cut my costs in half and drive all the way to Charlotte to visit them, rather than cutting off my right arm for a plane ticket. It was a blast. We spent leisurely days at the pool, shopping at local malls and even hitting a few bars at nights.

After spending three days with my friend Steph and her husband, I discovered the secret room upstairs - otherwise known as the man room. Her husband had it decked out with sport pictures, his favorite beer in his mini-fridge, PS2 or XBox and a huge ass TV. He even went so far as to draw a picture for his wife to keep out - see below.




Two days ago, the BF must have remembered this because I found this nice piece of artwork in my office. He has decided to create a new bedroom/game room for the winter. If you look closely you will see his description of the current space, which apparently he doesn't care for based on this drawing.



1) I hate the chair he is referring to as the gaming chair (notice the highlighting). He claims it's the "most comfortable and perfect gaming chair." No, it's not. It currently sits in the corner of the living room and acts as a table because we throw our laptops, coats and my purse on it. Gaming my ass!

2) My mirror isn't ugly. I purchased it over two years for the fab price of $50 when any other mirror that size would cost upwards of $200. If he gets the ugly chair, I get the ugly mirror.

3) Open drawers? Not 100 percent of the time, maybe just 50 percent of the time. This isn't anything new. Mental note - I should really think about transferring some of my clothes into the semi-empty one he is referring to.

Yesterday, I fully expected to come home to a new room with him sitting front and center of the TV in the gaming chair. It didn't happen this time, however I have a feeling when I'm least expecting it everything will moved around to accommodate his winter activity - F U PS2.

Friday Fodder

I'm a news junkie to say the least. I read everything from CNN to PerezHilton to NY Times to USA Today and tons of blogs. Occasionally, an interesting article will come across that is directly related to what the B.F. and I have been fighting/laughing/yelling over. Today, I see this via CNN -- Six tips to a sexy bedroom. I forwarded this over because we are in a battle over purchasing a new mattress and bedroom set because neither one of us really want to pay for it. (I know, I know. Grow up, you are probably thinking. I am grown up and will make a decision soon. This just costs money. Lots of money. Have you priced out bedroom furniture lately? Holy shit.)

I forward this link over to him and here is his response.

Allison's bedroom needs:
(1) new f-ing bed
(1) new f-ing bedroom set
(1) new f-ing TV stand that matches the bedroom set
Numerous pieces of wall art/decor
(1) hook to hang her bathrobe in on the closet

He referred to it as my room. See that? I'll update when I decide. Case closed.

Decorating Complete

Today was one of those days when I was extremely productive. I was up at 8:30 and out the door, heading to a meeting then stopped into Marshall's to see what great shoe deals I could find. I found this awesome pair of brown patent leather T-strap sandals for only $30 -- can't pass that up.

As I was browsing through the home section, I found three frames I instantly loved, a gold table runner, a brown leather magazine holder, and a sparkly brown tea light holder to go on the dining room table, too. I was so pumped. As I've wrote about here, the B.F. and I don't exactly agree on decorating. After our last conversation about decorating, he pretty much threw it into my hands to make the decisions. Great -- more power to me. So, I swiped my debit card proudly, knowing that I made the final decisions and he going to have to love everything I purchased.

Then, I stumbled over into Linen's N Things and low and behold -- they are having the mother of all sales. I'm not sure how long it lasts, but if you buy one painting or mirror, you get the second 50% off -- you can't beat that. We ended up saving $60 on these pictures (we both agreed on them a month ago).

Needless to say I'm pumped. The living and dining room are now complete. I'm so proud. I even stuck to a budget -- who knew. My next project is to tackle the master bedroom. That's going to need to be done in several steps -- I need a whole new set of furniture and a king bed.

Stupid fight #453

So, as I've learned over this weekend, the B.F. and I can not, I repeat, can not merge decorating tastes. Not only do we look alike, but we are both stubborn know-it-alls. I'll admit it. I am. And I also take things a bit too far now and then. At times I try and edit my personality, but I can't quite cut it.
We needed to return a gift from Christmas so we headed to Pier 1.

(Disclaimer: Neither of us were good moods at this point. He was racing in Cleveland Heights on a Saturday afternoon. This doesn't happen. It can't happen when you have Saturday drivers. I then close my eyes and wait until we we are at our destination. In his mind, he's the perfect driver. In mine, I think I'm going to die and can't fathom that because I have one too many things to do in this life yet. Therefore, I bitch at his driving skills.)

When we get to Pier 1, he returns the product, walks up to me and says, "Pick something out you want."
What I hear: (I don't want to be here long, so let's make this as painless as possible.)
I casually browse through each aisle looking for something to fit in our-yet-be-decided motif. (We have couches and a media stand. I'd hardly call that a style.)

I can't pick anything out. I'm not in the mood for decorating because we need so many items. I'm overwhelmed and interested in everything I see. I find these circular tea light candles holders that are a distressed gold color, plus 50 freaking percent off! Who could argue! I pick up a few and am thinking of putting them on the dining table with a runner underneath it. (I particularly like gold/cranberry/rich browns and muted oranges as a color scheme.) I pick out what is a bad example of the table runner and he says, "Allison, you can't make everything in the apartment shabby chic."

Me: Shabby chic?
B.F.: Yes, Shabby chic.
Me: (Instantly angry because a) he was mocking my taste and b) he clearly didn't know his designers because those candle holders were the furthest thing from shabby chic.)
Some other kind words were exchanged with him walking out of the store and me standing there still thinking my candle holders were pretty cool. So, I put them back down in the basket and casually walk out to the car where the B.F. is pouting.

When I get in the car, he says with a smirk, "No gold candle holders?" I glared at him and replied "no."

We bickered the rest of the night and onto the next morning. Seriously, we were indirectly fighting over distressed gold candle holders that were 50 percent off. At least we both realized it. He wanted to make a pact, "If I stopped being a bitch, he'd stop being a dick."

We did learn one valuable lesson. Guess we shouldn't try agreeing on any other decorations for the apartment -- or at least not any candle holders at the moment.

Painting -- check!

This past Saturday, the B.F. and I braved a joint project -- the painting of three walls. We both agreed that painting the entire apartment would be a huge job and one we didn't want to redo when it came time to move out. With that said, we decided to paint three accent walls to bring some color into our drab apartment. We are getting there. Slowly adding fixtures, decorations and new furniture. After this month, we should be well on our way to having an updated, Crate & Barrel-looking apartment with a new TV and stand. Who knows. We might even go crazy and add a new kitchen table to the place after we buy everyone on our list a present.

Before we even got started and before he laid down the drop cloth, he made me take an oath. Yep, that's right. An oath to not spill, splatter, throw or drip paint on the carpet or ceiling. It even started out with me raising a hand and reciting, "I, Allison M., will not get paint on the wall, ceiling...blah blah." You get the point.

He had to do the edges first to make sure I didn't get any paint over the tape he meticulously taped up. So while was he was doing the edges, I'd try and paint but he'd tell me to wait or "Allison, give me a minute to finish this. " Oh, I gave him a minute. I gave him like 20 as I looked up holiday decorations on the Internet and blasted my new favorite Britney Spears song from the computer. I did participate in our group project. Although, every time I was moving faster than him, I had to wait to move the drop cloth underneath where I was working to not "drip" any paint from the brush.

For your information, I didn't get paint on any of the walls. But the B.F. managed to have an "accident" on the ceiling with the roller and a small splatter on one of the other walls when he was painting the edges. Maybe I should have him take an oath next time.