Finally: new lamps!

As I wrote earlier, I didn’t like the result of my attempt to save the old paper lantern from the home office. It was simply ugly. But I also didn’t have the money to buy something spectacular… so a paper lantern it is, again, but this time a bit nicer. I went to IKEA and got what’s needed. So without farther ado, the new lamp:

Simple, clean and nice. The rest of the office is still in a mess, so don’t pay much attention to it, soon it will get the proper attention it deserves.

Both this lamp and the lamp in my bedroom were attached with the great help of Mr. Geniek, mentioned earlier. The electric cords is so old and messed up, even he, a true specialist, was working for a long time on this. So now let’s move to my bedroom:

(the sheer courtains’ color is off, but that’s not the point here)

I absolutely love the result. The walls are still bare, but almost everything else is already in place. I am planning on tackling a small chest today. After that it’s only warming up touches, photos etc. Soon there are clothes and books and other things coming with the shipping, it will help finish up the room.

curtains’ epic fail and WIN, this time with a little help from my friends.

Or should I rather say: “with a little help from my neighbor”.

But let’s begin from the beginning. The concrete of the walls presented themselves as a huge problem once again. I got curtains and hardware for them at IKEA (duh) a month ago. Finally I tried to attach it. I saw an ad for a super glue that was supposed to replace nails, screws and generally help with home things. And in the beginning everything was all right:

I actually didn’t take a photo of the curtains hanging, and ten minutes later it was too late ;-) I was on a phone with my brother at the time and when it fell he asked me if I fell off a ladder. At least it didn’t broke anything on its way.

Enter Mr.Geniek, the best “Golden Hand” (handyman) I know. He came to help with hanging lamps (about it in the next post) and without problems came later with a drill and did all the job.

He is amazing, I was scared to begin drilling in concrete, I have enough holes around the walls already! But now I have beautiful curtains. These are the same sheers I had in apt in Baltimore, which is a nice, nostalgic touch :)

The purple haze is back! I was truly happy to wake up today and see the pink light.

And here is what the same sheers looked like in the old apartment, in Baltimore:

The (mis-)adventures with the office table.

This was the office table after it was painted red from the original white:

To be honest, from the beginning I didn’t like the result all that much. There was just too much of this sharp red, and the whole room looked cheap and screaming because of it. But I was tired and didn’t feel like starting everything again…

I guess it’s good then that the paint was really bad, it didn’t want to attach properly to the surface (even after a lot of sanding) and was peeling the minute I put the table up. You can see what it looked liked now, after a few weeks of use:

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to paint it again, and was a bit scared of even trying. The only other solution was to cover it up. Even though I just finished (or maybe because of it?) covering closet doors with fabric, I thought to do the same with the table. Other ideas I had were laminate stickers (pricey), thin carpeting, oilcloth… But I think the fabric wins. I hope the maintenance issues won’t be too bad.

Well, below is the result. The shelf is only for fitting/planning purposes, it’s still in plastic. I want to stain it dark. I am really looking forward to my computer arriving, this huge screen takes half the space!

I think the result is great, and adds some nice elegance to the room. Another example of usefulness of mistakes/mishaps!

There are limits to design.

I have seen this “cute” design on Apartment Therapy the other day. I am glad I am not the only who felt there is nothing “cute” about using someone’s heritage to create a cat’s shelter. And here is the offensive item:

And even if there are some Native Americans who have nothing against that particular kind of cultural appropriation, it doesn’t make it alright. Native American tradition in particular suffers from this kind of abuse. From “fashion” choices of using headpieces, to “Pocahontas” Halloween costumes. It’s as if the people don’t exist anymore, and their traditions, in very simplified, childish, flat versions. They throw away the spiritual meaning of the items and use it as selfish tools of “self-expression”.

I think it wouldn’t find as much acceptance if the for example the cat house was made of big teffilin box (the prayer box religious Jews put on during prayers), or in the shape of pope’s head-piece. But with Native Americans? Everything goes.

Look at my ideas! Do you think I can make some good money on those?

 

My new lovely bedroom

I know I still have a lot to do… but I already love it so much!

I think the backlit drill looks like a piece of art :)

You can see the very beginnings of the stand-up vanity. Also – new plants. Still pretty small, and some of them still need nice covers.

But I like it so much!

Finally: the bed.

I’ve been dreaming about a real iron bed for a while… sometimes I took breaks from this dream, but it always came back. Now – it’s here :) It hardly leaves any space in the room, but it’s ok, it’s worth it. I was afraid of choosing this size, but now I am glad I did take queen size. Let’s see:

Right after I put it together with the help of my Mom. Oh, the JOY! and more rejoicing :)

And now to some better looking photos ;-)

The lamp will be different, I just don’t have anything else at the moment. The bedside table is an old cabinet, which was part of pre-war sewing machine. My great-grand mother saved it from the war… I have very few items of that kind, so it is very precious to me. You can see it better here:

The rolling cover works perfectly well, I love the sound of it when it rolls down!

I need to take a few more photos that would show the whole bed. The room is so small that it’s not an easy task!

I also placed an old bookshelf next to the wardrobe. It’s not perfect, but I think it will be nice. I wanted to have a dedicated vanity table, even if small, but there is no way it would work. So I will do something different: a standing make up station :) I will get good lighting, nice boxes and containers and I think it will be perfect!

Here are the very beginnings of this idea:

The bookshelf is higher than the closet, unfortunately, but I will smooth the difference with some plants. Today we bought some, but they are still small, will take some time to really create the effect I hope for.

And now I present to you the all new DOMBÅS!

As you may remember, I didn’t like the all-white IKEA closet, so I have decided to cover the doors with fabric. Let’s see the progress and the final result.

First – the original wardrobe, as presented by the IKEA:

the biggest one I found in the budget. I wanted to have one place to hold all my clothes, and believe me, I do have some… (well, will have when my shipping finally arrives!).

And now the progress:

I started with the bigger door wing. After a two-week long hiatus (travels, laziness…),  I moved to the two small doors:

The first door is up:

… and… drum roll please… taadam!

The fabric is a really beautiful grey, I can’t explain the way it’s weaved so I will rather show it:

The sides were covered with 1.5cm wide cotton ribbon, to hide the gluing/ends.

I am really pleased with the result. Attention to details isn’t really my strength, so projects like these are quite a challenge. But with patience, a lot of elbow grease (I think in this case it should be called “knee grease” as I spent hours kneeling to finish it!) and glue the result is quite fine, if I can say so myself :)

And next we will talk about the bed :)

Travel inspirations

During my recent travels I haven’t switched off my design sensitivity. In addition to decor conversations with my brother (I might be helping them with some touch ups) I have seen a lot of great design ideas. Wrocław is absolutely beautiful, it would be hard to describe it all in one post. I might return to it later. Instead I want to show you today what I found in Białystok. It might be that because of my current interest in lamps I paid attention to them in particular. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.

Beautiful, iron sconce next to a gallery and a restaurant. Considering the size of my room I probably would need something smaller, but even one like that would be awesome! What a statement it would make.

Absolutely gorgeous! If I wanted to use the original size (oversize) I would probably use it over the bed instead of the ceiling one, or next to bed instead of side table.

This one was placed very close to the other one, on the side of the same building. Same rough iron, with simple decoration.

 

An absolute perfection. I love the clean glass, simple iron. I think I love this one the most! I think the pair would work perfectly on a rough wall, instead of any top lighting. Maybe on the sides of a sofa, or framing a bed. I love them!

There is nothing ordinary about this street lamp. Again, simplicity, industrial vibe, respect for the historic district. Pure love!

We are leaving the outdoors. In one of the visited pubs/restaurants I found this lovely lamp:

This style is still on my list of desirable designs for bedroom lamps. It has the slight romantic touch without being over-girly. I like the simple arms of this lamp. It’s a pity I couldn’t find anything of that kind in my budget.

We are leaving Białystok and take a short stop in Warsaw. I had a few hours untill my next train so I went to the nearby “Złote Tarasy” (“Golden Terraces”) shopping mall (stunning design! I will show a picture at the end) for a coffee and something to eat. I really liked the industrial ceiling:

I am still toying with the idea of using real industrial lightning in my bedroom. If only it was easier to find some! I have only seen industrial-style kinds in high-end decor stores, far beyond my budget. *sigh*.

Personally, I would paint them black. I love the raw black iron esthetic more than aluminium. But I still like them :)

And now bonus: the gorgeous Złote Tarasy:

Gorgeous, isn’t it?

DIY lamp

As I wrote earlier on, I was planning on trying and saving the ugly old lamp I had in my office. It was an old paper lantern, and the plan was to use one of the ideas you can see online, like the one below (from design*sponge)

 

 

I am not sure if it was a good decision to make stripes shaped that way. I wanted to make something more fluffy and messy. Maybe I should have done similar to the original? Anyway, the result:

hmm…. of course the cord needs to be painted or something. I don’t know…

I am not happy with the result. It was cheap, and costed only the time… But I am pretty sure I will buy a real one the moment I save enough money.

Now that I am back from traveling and visiting friends and family, I am getting back to work. First: finishing the closet’s doors, then attaching a mirror to one of them. Next will be putting together bed… the mattress is already out, my Mom unpacked it and aired it out for the time I was away.

Which means… I will actually have a place to sleep soon! Out from the uncomfortable living room sofa!

In the land of concrete and heather

The walls are painted. I can’t even describe how relieved I am… I think the grey is a bit lighter than I planned, and the dark cherry/heather a bit too reddish… But overall I am happy with the result.

You can see how uneven the color was. I forgot that it had too much red, so it needed another coat (third). I had very little paint left, but it was just enough to even it out. Don’t worry, this lamp will go :)

The secret doors are still visible. So which one will it be? Hogsmeade? Narnia? Secret Garden? I hope Hogsmeade, seems like much more fun.  I left all the screws that were already in the walls. It’s hard to get anything into them, so I will try to use whatever there is. Some of them are in good location, actually.

Putting together IKEA closet, which must have the all time best name: DOMBAS. I am serious. So my dumbass closet needs more time as I am planning  on covering the doors with fabric. I have one doors covered, the other two will have to wait till I am back from visiting my brother and friends.

That’s the state of things for now. The closet is up, but waits for the doors. The walls and carpet are done. Next: putting together bed, bedside table and buying a lamp. After that: moving in and decorating!

Below you can see the one covered doors, I think the fabric is really beautiful. I wish the walls were more like this color.