Bedroom decor

I came across #MicroblogMondays on other blogs and even though it doesn't look like everyone follows the inaugural post rules entirely, I decided to join in and see what the buzz is about -- after all, it seems to be around since 2014.  It's never been an issue for me to find the time or something to write about, but every so often I feel the need to take a break from rehashing the same cycle of thoughts over and over.  So for me, I will try to keep Monday's posts about anything but fertility treatment.

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I've mentioned before that I want to make some changes to our bedroom decor. I started the process last year but put it on pause because we were considering some major renovations, like knocking down walls and adding a master bathroom. For now, we've decided to pause any additional construction because we don't want to take out any additional loans so I'm free to finally upgrade our furniture which is long overdue.

My taste has only slightly changed since last year and I'm happy to report I'm still considering gray wood furniture. I already have it in my cart online, but I've been following this furniture store for months now, browsing their selection and comparing prices, and I know that they have sales right around holidays. I just missed the Memorial Day sale so I'm waiting for the July 4th sale to finally pull the trigger.

Bedroom redesign

I need a mental break from thinking about treatment so I put some energy into researching a new bedroom set. Back in February, I laid out the plan for a few redecorating ideas in a post here. To summarize:

Phase 1. construction. Knock wall, build bookcase.
Phase 2. relocation. Relocate all books from over the house to basement bookcase wall. Move futon up to guest room. Move couches from living room to basement.
Phase 3. purge. Sell old bookcases, donate clothes, clean out drawers and declutter in general.
Phase 4. upgrade. Buy new furniture for living room.
Phase 5. redesign. Move bedroom furniture to guest room. Master bedroom overhaul including new furniture, possible addition of bathroom and/or closets.

Since then we've knocked down the wall in the basement, built the bookcases, and moved all the books from the house downstairs. I've decluttered, donated, and restructured numerous closets in the house. Even though I got rid of stuff, I realize this is an ongoing process which will continue forever and I've become more mindful about shopping, buying things I actually need and not just more "stuff." We did move the futon upstairs as planned, but we didn't buy new couches. It turned out a friend who was redoing their own basement was getting rid of a couch in great condition so we put that in the basement and saved the ones in the living room as is, to be upgraded at a future date. For now, that means Phases 1 - 4 are done!

At this point I'm up to the bedroom. While I'd like to knock some walls and add a bathroom, there's no budget for that. For now I'll settle for new furniture. Currently every piece of furniture is a different color and type, accrued over the years. Ideally I'd like to get more functional nightstands and dressers that work better for what we need. I prefer solid wood furniture but I'm open to other ideas. I see that Ikea has a nice set called Hemnes:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S29129620/

While we're adding things, I want to get a little bench for the end of the bed but I'm not sure yet if I want a simple design or one that doubles as storage (for extra blankets? shoes? more crap I'll eventually need to donate?). They seem to have a few different designs on Overstock. I would also add a new light fixture but I want to keep the ceiling fan, so that can tie in the bench even if it doesn't exactly match the Hemnes line. Since I have the furniture picked out, I'm moving on to mattress research but that seems overwhelming and

So mattress first, furniture next, accessories last. The walls were painted fairly recently in a light sea foam color which I like so I think I'll leave that alone but will decide later.

I'd like to get this done over the summer so we'll see if that happens.

Home Decor: Phase 1

We started work on the basement last week! I'm so excited that we're finally moving forward with this project. The overall plan, as outlined here, starts with Phase 1 which includes knocking down a wall in the basement and adding a wall of bookcases.

The original plan included bringing down the old furniture from the living room to the basement and buying a new sectional as a replacement. Now I find out that a friend is getting rid of a new-ish sectional and is willing to sell it for a very reasonable price. It's a rounded sectional instead of one with a 90 degree angle which I was planning to get. The rounded sectional is tan and the one I wanted was cream/white. We would save a lot by settling for the pre-owned sofa and we can always just sell it on craigslist or something if we decide later that we prefer the new sofa in white.

So now the question is whether to just put the sectional downstairs in the new basement, or do the original plan of moving the living furniture downstairs and putting the sectional in the living room. I can add a few recliners or overstuffed chairs from overstock to make up the seating difference.

The work is supposed to be done by end of March. I've already planned out my decluttering schedule and will be starting with my kitchen tomorrow.

Chicago!

This year's birthday trip was to Chicago, IL.  Neither of us had been there and it fit all the requirements for our trip: close enough to travel to, enough attractions to keep us busy, and no zika virus!

It was a jam-packed trip and even though we have very different vacation styles we both had a great time. When I go somewhere new, I like packing everything as much as possible. My husband thinks that vacation is for relaxing and taking it easy.  What? No, we didn't fly here to sleep.  Party time!

We were able to get a lot done even though it was only a few days. We lucked out with the weather. It was pre-spring and the weather was beautiful the entire time. In a nutshell, we visited the Bean in Millennium Park, did the Architectural Boat Tour, walked up and down the Magnificent Mile, visited the Navy Pier (and the stained glass museum section) even though most of it was closed while they were getting ready to open for the season, saw an improv show at Second City, went to the top of the Hancock center to get a 360-degree view of the city, and walked along Lake Michigan on a beautiful day. We also visited Skokie a few times since that's where the kosher restaurants are.

When we checked in and told them we were there to celebrate a birthday, the hotel upgraded us to a river view room and gave us complimentary drinks at the bar. We also met a TSA agent whose birthday was also on the 8th!

City skyline from Navy Pier

View of the city from our room

 Deep dish pizza

Second City stage

The best part was that it was not only a physical change of scenery, but it was also a mental break. I like my job and I like my schedule, but getting a break from the routine of regular life was really nice. It was great to walk around in the beautiful weather and see new things.   

Party time

Another year, another birthday. Well, not yet - it's next week.

Growing up we didn't make a big deal of celebrating birthdays. Of course, there would always be a cake with candles at family dinner and a token gift. We didn't do the big bashes kids have today with 70 screaming children hopped up on sugar and running wild at laser tag or whatever.

When I got married I expected a similar celebration from my husband - thoughtful gift and a token celebration. Since thinking ahead and planning romantic anythings is completely out of his comfort zone, my birthday was disappointing the first few years of marriage. I get that I may be hard to shop for, but more than that is that my expectations were unrealistic to the personality type I married. 

Enter Brilliant Plan of 2015. We decided that since we never go anywhere or do anything, since our favorite activity is being lazy together at home binge watching TV, we should use birthdays to visit new places. The birthday person would plan their perfect trip and we would go together. 

Last year my birthday was on a Sunday and to save on cash we decided to make it into a day trip instead of an overnighter. It worked out so well. We went to Philadelphia and spent the day touring. Among other things we visited the Liberty Bell and were surprised at how small it was. I made sure to point out that we would never have known that if we didn't see it in person because it always looked so big in pictures! Wasn't it supposed to be bigger? Also, should we tell someone there's a crack in it?

We splurged on dinner at a fancy restaurant and headed home. It was only a 2 hr ride away and we always said we would visit but we hadn't been able to get our lazy butts out of the house any other day. Not only did we have a lovely time, but I also felt thoroughly celebrated on my birthday. 

This year is a little different. I wanted to go to Florida for my birthday. I miss the beach. It's such an easy trip and there are so many great restaurants. My husband hasn't been to Florida since I ran the Miami Half Marathon in 2012 so he was on board even thought it's not a new place. We made the plans in the fall and started looking forward to the trip. 

Since then, zika virus broke out. Even though I haven't heard much about it recently, there is no way I'm going through all this fertility treatment to try to have a healthy baby only to compromise it with getting the zika virus. So Florida was out. In fact, any place down south was out - I don't know where those crazy mosquitoes are breeding! Not risking it.

We also can't really visit the West coast because we only planned a few days off work and didn't want to spend most of them on an airplane. So we were limited to the upper right quadrant of the United States. After much searching online, considering the weather, debating locations, we picked a place and have it booked for next week! I'll post pictures and details when we get back. Happy almost birthday to me!

House decor

I recently went to see a show on broadway and was so impressed by the set design. I was a little lost in the plot until I wikipedia'd it at intermission, but the costumes and stage props were fabulous. Not only was it elaborate and interesting, but it was specifically designed with space in mind. A wall would move and a door would open and there would be a set for an act in an office. Obviously this was specifically designed for short set up time between acts. What impressed me most was that everything on set was there for a reason. Whether it was a hook for the actor to hang his coat or a framed degree hanging in the corner to symbolize his education... whether it was decorative to show that it's a "real home" or necessary for the performance itself, everything on set had a purpose.

It reminded me of all the things in my house I don't use.  Clearly there's a difference between a house where people live and a set. I'm not going to throw out my shovel just because winter is over, that's a normal thing to store. But I know for a fact that there's a closet door in my basement taken off from the second bedroom by the previous owner that's just sitting in the basement taking space. There are boxes full of things... papers and notebooks and paper goods and who knows what else. I've gone through the basement a year ago and got rid of a lot of things, like a rug we were no longer using and could be enjoyed by someone else instead of taking up space in my basement. There's a broken lamp and old cleaning supplies.  Just stuff.

It's also not just the basement. Even though I take care to prune often, my closet has so many things that I don't wear. In fact, we've taken over the closets in the other rooms because there's no space in our closet. It's not only because our current closet is small, it is. But it's also because we're cramming it with clothes that we're just not using. I would say that at least a third of my closet is dedicated to "at home clothing" which I would never wear outdoors but don't want to get rid of for whatever reason. I also have a section of "future clothing" which are at least a size or two smaller than my current size.

There are drawers full of stuff.  What stuff? Other than old clothing, I've found scarves, laptops parts, old cell phones, papers, yarn, chatchkees (like things from health fairs that are useful but also useless at the same time). Nothing significant enough that I can't or shouldn't get rid of.

We decided to start the basement project: we're knocking down a wall separating two rooms to make one large room, and then adding built-in bookshelves. This is the first part in a multi-level overhaul job to make our house less cluttered and more functional.  Here are the phases as I see:

Phase 1. construction. Knock wall, build bookcase.
Phase 2. relocation. Relocate all books from over the house to
basement bookcase wall. Move futon up to guest room. Move couches from living room to basement.
Phase 3. purge. Sell old bookcases, donate clothes, clean out drawers and declutter in general.
Phase 4. upgrade. Buy new furniture for living room.
Phase 5. redesign. Move bedroom furniture to guest room. Master bedroom overhaul including new furniture, possible addition of bathroom and/or closets.

As for timeline, I see phases 1-4 happening within the next three months with phase 5 happening within the next 5 years. Bedroom remodeling deserves its own post in the future.