Room Re-Do on a Budget Update

I could have titled this post 'My Trip To Ikea Hell'. Actually it was not that bad, however the Ikea desk/vanity is not yet complete.

In my last post I showed you the Pinterest inspiration for the re-do, you can check out that post here:
mymiddletonchronicles.blogspot.com/bedroom-re-do-on-budget.html

There's a reason they call it Pinterest Perfect. The real life version of that includes a trip to Home Depot, figuring out where to get succulents (Home Depot!) a trip to Ikea, a Youtube video and calls and emails to Ikea.

Yep, Ikea. That's where the project hits a snag. It was easy and fun to cruise the aisles and have some lunch at the mamoth Ikea store that is about an hour from home for us. My daughter just turned 15 and it seems it is all the rage to re-do your bedroom when you hit that milestone. Or maybe it was the back to school thing and seeing all the college kids setting up thier dorms. Re-decorating fever is real.

But back to the strugggles. Let's start with the directions in the HUGE box that contained the Alex drawer system that was to hold up one end of my daughters desk/vanity. Or should I say lack of directions? I'm pretty sure Ikea hired a cave man to draw the most basic of directions and I am pretty sure said cave man is laughing his ass off as he thinks about the unknowing consumers (like me) who are scratching thier heads wondeirng how the heck to assemble this beast.

2 weeks after our attempt at the desk/vanity it is still not done. Not for a lack of effort. Thank you YouTube for having a huge trove of how to videos on assembling Ikea stuff. It still took a lot of brain power and screw turns but we figured it out.
The reason it is still not done is we were missing 13 out of 16 little, tiny wooden dowels. Ugh.

Phone calls, emails and a trip to the hardware store and we still don't have what we need to complete the desk/vanity. But we will in 7-14 business days the snotty customer service rep told me. I killed her with kindness because I did not want our precious wooden dowels to get "lost" in the mail. If I did not have that in the back of my mind I could have reached through the phone and strangled her.
I swear explaining what you need to a customer service rep after waiting on hold for 15 minutes subsequent to trying to solve your issue via email and being told to go to the stores "As Is" section to see if they have what you need because the part # you provided is not found. Ugh again.

Here are some photos of our progress so far. We are close to done! I'd post a pic of the painted bed but it is not made at the moment so you'll have to wait with baited breathe for the next Room Re-Do on a Budget post :)

The succulents look great! We put them in a used up candle jar and a small mason jar.

Bag O Ikea Parts 

Will be complete in 7-14 business days!

Spiralizer Adventure

This week I found some time to use a much-loved Christmas gift. My husband has been bringing home beautiful vegetables from his co-worker’s garden. These gorgeous summer squash and cucumbers were a motivator to bring out the spiral veggie slicer and cookbook that have been sitting on a shelf for way too long, since last Christmas to be exact.

Cooking is one of those things that I am bad about making time for. Eating out and take out have been a go to for me in the past and it wreaked havoc on my weight and my wallet.   I love to bake, cooking not so much. Now that I am trying to maintain the weight I have lost and maybe lose a couple more pounds eating at home has a new appeal. I tried several of the meal home delivery services. It was fun for a while but with all the packing materials and pots and pans to wash the fun went out of it. For all their proclamations about being less expensive than eating out I am not fully convinced… It seemed expensive to me. So, I tried it, will maybe try again but not until after I’ve exhausted my cooking motivation.

Spiralized Summer Squash & Cukes

A fun gadget like my spiralizer is just the item to get me excited about doing some cooking. The fall also tends to bring out the interest in it for me. Crock pot meals are likely next on the agenda. A friend of mine introduced me to one of my all-time faves for the crock pot – salsa chicken. It could not be easier. Put chicken breasts in your crock pot, dump a big jar of salsa on top and cook all day while you are at work. The meal possibilities with this are plentiful: salad topped with salsa chicken, tacos, fajitas, nachos … all are so delish.

Last fall another friend created a Facebook group for sharing healthy but easy recipes for the work week. There were so many good ideas. A couple of the top ones that I seemed to make over and over last year were Italian Wedding Soup with turkey meatballs, Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls and Stay in Bed Beef Stew. I’ll post the recipes in the comments. If you give them a try let me know what you think. If you are a spiralizer and you have tips or great recipes, I’d love to hear those too.

The internet opens so many opportunities that you otherwise would not have when it comes to so many things, cooking lessons among them. There are endless videos with step by step recipes, pie crusts (hoping to try some over the holidays) and food blogs for days. One thing I liked about the Facebook group is that I knew it was real people and not professional chefs making these meals so I figured they would be within my cooking capabilities and would likely be edible.  Some of the stuff you find online is just not realistic for a regular person in a fun of the mill kitchen. Ingredients I’ve never heard of, cooking utensils I don’t own and hours of needed prep time I don’t have. Simple but healthy and delicious is what I’m going for.

I’ve started some regular posting on the blog: a Monday post with a quote to get your week started on a positive note and Wordless Wednesdays has been going on for a while. I am a visual person and I am loving posting a beautiful photo mid-week either of my own or from a photo sharing site like Unsplash. There are so many talented photographers sharing what they have captured with their lense.

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Bedroom Re-Do on a Budget

Knobs for platform bed drawers

Fall is always a time of new beginnings. With a son going off to college and a daughter starting high school there is lots going on in my house.

I find that throwing myself in to a creative project is really helpful when it comes to managing stress.  Sitting on the couch watching The Real Housewives and drinking wine is fun but gets a little old after a while.

 My high schooler has been pinning on Pinterest her ideas for a bedroom re-do and we'll be tacklin it on a budget because of the brother going off to college thing. (read bills, bills, bills)

She loves the IKEA Malm collection and I've been searching online yard sale sites, ebay, craigslist, etc to try to find the pieces she is interested in. We also need to paint her bed. It's a green color that was popular about 10 years ago. It's a really solid platform bed with nice, deep drawers. Once we paint it a glossy white and add new knobs it will look great.

IKEA Dressing Table

So once the painting is done hopefully I'll have found the dressing table, a 6 drawer dresser and a couple of mirrors and lamps that will round out the look. I could go to the IKEA store and pick up the needed items but with Allston Christmas going on as new college students move in and out I figured I could score a bargain and avoid the dreaded IKEA assembly process. No luck yet but I'm not giving up.


I'm also thinking about how to plant some succulents in tiny, pretty containers. I've got a used up candle that I think will work nicely.
Where do you get succulents? I'll need to find out. I've never had much of a green thumb but this summer I had some success with my plants and with tomatoes so I'm feeling like a doing more of it.






Speaking of my daughter ... I just got a saved pin from her Pinterest page as I was writing this ...

Have ideas for decorating on a budget? I'd love to hear them!
Wendy