Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Girls Weekend!

When life is getting too crazy and you feel like you're being pulled in too many directions a girls' weekend is the perfect solution! I tell you what (as my friend Kate always says), going shopping with the girls is exactly what I needed to get me through the last week of school before spring break!

We headed to Columbus, OH where we did a little lunch and a little shopping. Sooo many stores, sooo little time! The next morning we headed to Jeffersonville to check out the Potterybarn Outlet. Found some good buys there like this cute little West Elm table for $30.

Next we headed to my favorite place... Of course IKEA!!

Found some goodies like these awesome pillows! (Thanks again Kate!) I can't tell you how long I've been searching for pillows! Of course IKEA had the perfect ones for the perfect price. Now I just need to find a little rug to pull the whole look together.

Also, found these cute lanterns for on top of the cabinets. They look really cool when we turn on just the top lights.

Whew! Kind of a whirlwind tour but what fun! Definitely looking forward to our next outing! You girls are way tooo fun! What happens in Vegas (or Columbus) stays in Vegas!

Shoe Locker

If you can't get rid of it --- hide it!

I have this area right inside my garage door where the kids come in and just dump their stuff. I know we all have it and eventually it gets to us. I didn't want to put any furniture there because it is a walk way and it would make the space narrower. However, since there is always a pile of stuff there anyway our walkway space would not change. So my plan would was to put a bench there that would at least hide their stuff and still have the same amout of space to walk through.
Let's face it if you can't get rid of the stuff then hide it!

This is phase one. I have another shelf that will go over the top I just haven't had a chance to work on it. I got the bench (its actually a tv stand) from IKEA. The kids had fun helping me put it together. (twice - of course I realized when it was
almost all done that I had one piece on backwards. Darn it! Oh yeah,
and you know it was the first piece I put together!)

Look at those dangle earrings! She's the best dressed handywoman!

It All Started with a Bedroom Closet

Here is the project that started it all. Our closet was just a mess with a lot of wasted space. One can only straighten the stack of clothes so much before it gets to you! The piles were getting higher and higher and now matter how straight they'd always fall over.

So we decided it was time for a closet makeover. A trip to IKEA and a gallon of paint and this is how it turned out. Painted the walls light purple and the shelves are black. It turned out really nice.

Now I'm in the process of making over the rest of the bedroom. Just got the walls painted purple and now I'm getting the rest of the room put together.

My Favorite 4-Letter Word

You're right if you guessed IKEA. But I have a word even better (I know - gasp!) SALE - at IKEA.

My main purpose for the trip was to buy a closet system for my closet. We had to take 2 cars because the panels are 8 feet and they barely fit in my car with no one else in the car. But when we pulled in and saw "SALE" on the front I got all tingley. Of course we ended up with everything including the kitchen sink. Well not a sink but an oven that hubby needed for the basement. By some small miracle we got everything to fit.

And that's only 1 car. Didn't take a picture of the other car that was packed! The closet turned out great and I'll show you pics in the next post. The closet is just the beginning of the whole bedroom makeover which I'm excited to share!

My Pears Part 2

Remember my pear prints and the story (Little Bit Of Heaven) that went with them? Well I just wanted to show you where they ended up. In my guest room above the daybed. This is my IKEA room because 80% of everything in it came from IKEA!

Sorry, Sorry, Sorry!

OK so I told a little white lie. I said I'd tell you tomorrow where I stopped. Well the week got away from me and 1 day turned into 5. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Did you have a guess where I might have stopped? You know if there is an IKEA anywhere in a 100 mile radius I'm there!

So, hello Schaumberg, IL! Home of IKEA, Legoland, and Gino's East Pizza!

Finally! Nicely Decorated Shelves

I originally saw this idea for the shelves at of course IKEA. They are 3 separate shelves just hung together. I've had these shelves up for a year and hadn't found anything I liked to put on them. When I was shopping at Pat Catan's I found all sorts of cute items that you'll be seeing popping up around my house. The walls are still green. Not sure why in the after pic they look blue.



BEFORE / AFTER

Little Bit of Heaven!

What a great weekend! Friends, family and IKEA. What more could a girl ask for! Made a trip to IKEA with some girlfriends. Lots of great ideas! Here are a couple I found.

I think its cool how they used the sticks behind the bed.

I have these pillows on my guest bed. They took the cover off the pillows and put them on a canvas frame. You'll definitely see this one pop up around my house soon!

And the creme de la creme! My bargain of the day. It took some patience and effort but well worth it! My pears!!!

Everytime I've been to IKEA I've seen these pears on display and love them. Never bought them because they were $49.99. There was always something I needed more than to spend $50 bucks on 2 pictures. Well this time I just happened to be down in the canvas art and didn't see them anywhere. So I asked Ben (who was my hero of the day!) if they had anymore or were they discontinuing them.

Ahhhh, the words I dreaded...discontinued...no more in stock. Ok think, think. So I asked Ben if he could sell me the ones upstairs on display. Ben got right on it and thankfully he was also someone who didn't take no for an answer very easily. Luckily after several phone calls to people who really just didn't give a crap and didn't understand the urgency of me needing those pear prints Ben tells me he's just going to have to do it himself. Music to my ears! He went and rescued my pears! Of course when he got back I did try to finagle the price. You know...discontinued...display...yada yada. No deal. Couldn't help me there. Oh well! Life is good. I have my pears!!!!

The best news is that when I went to check out the price came up to $29.99. Yeah, got my pears and saved $20 bucks!!!

Whew! What a fantastic day at IKEA. Thanks Ben!!!

Happy Monday!