Artquiltmaker Blog

We went to IKEA the other day in order to get the bookshelves. I just go expecting to be able to get what I want. DH, being the smart shopper he is, checked the website in advance and found out the Billy bookcases are out of stock until the end of August. 🙁

Yes, that means the project is at a halt until the bookcases come in. 🙁  I am kind of shocked that another company hasn’t copied the Billy bookcases. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t approve of copyright infringement, but if someone is going to infringe on IKEA’s copyright, I might take advantage. I looked for tall,  plain white bookcases and nobody else had them. Leave a comment if you know of a company that sells them and has them available.

We looked through IKEA anyway, which is sort of obligatory. I thought, perhaps, they might have another option for bookcases or some other storage that might work.

I almost bought this cart to replace the brown cart that I gave away. I decided to wait  because I am sending tons of stuff to donation places and I just want to be sure it is the right storage solution.

I probably just need a designer.

I want everything to look good in my refreshed workroom. This is a tools bucket I use. It sits next to my sewing machine.

I thought Collage Pauge** would work. I pasted (painted??) fabric on to the outside of the bin. While the fabric was hard as a rock, the look was not ideal when it dried. It was too see through. That was not the look I wanted.

Lil Sissy suggested I mix Collage Pauge** and white paint. I didn’t have white paint so I used turquoise. It didn’t work. I should have gone and bought some white. Thus: I still don’t like it.

I am not sure what is next, but I may collage over it with some text paper. Collage Pauge** is really made for paper and covering what I have done with paper might be the best thing.

**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

I know the whole project seems never-ending. Guess how it feels from here? It is getting better.

The painting is done. I have some furniture in the room, but am still waiting on the bookcases.

We (meaning DH) pulled up the carpet and the floor is in pretty good condition. We didn’t take the time to redo it, though I did clean it with Murphy’s Wood Oil soap. We really didn’t have the time to do a full scale floor update.

I am starting to put things back in the green bookcase, not that you can see that in the photo (left). I am forcing DH to go through his books before I reshelve them. I am not putting books back on the shelf that should be donated. He doesn’t have to give any of them away, I made that clear, but if he is going to read them, I have other uses for the shelves.

My sewing machine is going against the wall that used to have my new design wall, as mentioned. That is one of two walls with an outlet. I wanted to minimize the number of extension cords required as I kept tripping over them. The last thing I need is another broken foot or torn ligament. I took the opportunity of all of the furniture and stuff being out of the room to have the electrician expand the available to outlets to ‘fours’ from ‘twos’. One reason I had 200 extension cords in use was that there were a total of 4 outlets in the entire room. That was nowhere near enough. While 8 is better, it is still not enough, but an upgrade nonetheless.  We have outlets on only two walls and if we want outlets on all the walls, we have to rip out more of the walls than we want to and that is too big of a job for us now. The outlet covers are nice and fresh. You can see the difference between the phone jack and the new outlet.

Finally, I got new door handles as well. I don’t know that they are my dream door handles, but they are fresh and clean. I am really happy with them.

This weekend: bookcases, I hope.  The YM is coming for a flying visit and it would probably be nice if he could actually get into his room.

DH is talking about painting our bedroom now.

What this post should have been named is “Nearing the End of the Life Sucking Beige”, but that is too long and it makes for ugly URLs.

The white is definitely dominating and only the baseboards need to be painted. The room really looks fresh. Today it was pretty foggy and the room didn’t look as depressing (which I try to ignore since it is my own space) as it has in the past.

DH also ripped up the carpeting, which I wanted. The floor is hardwood and in good shape except for one spot. I call that a win. The dirt we swept up from under the carpet was amazing. It looked like a sand drift. That blue is the old pad, which DH is using to keep the paint from hitting the floor.

The house stinks and I have had a headache for two days from the paint fumes. We have the windows open as much as they will open and there isn’t much else that I can do except stay away.DH isn’t allowing me in the room anyway since I may hit some surface that is still wet.

This is a picture of the wall where my new design wall was hung. The door is the door of the fabric closet. The furniture lumps in the center of the room are my work desk and my sewing table. They are the only two things we couldn’t get out of the room. They are too heavy for the two of us to carry.

I also bought new door handles. Ours were sort of functional, but I thought I would just go for broke and replace them with new fresh ones.

Yay! It’s looking good.