The loft: its done!

Our loft has had a few looks. It started out like this:



And then was in a variety of disarrayed states like this:



Finally ... after painting, replacing the blinds & ceiling fan, and decorating it now looks like this:



Yay!

Apart from the TV (we got a new one for the family room with our tax return money so this one moved up here) we literally had nothing for the room. We didn't want to spend a fortune putting it together and managed to find some great bargains.

The inexpensive TV stand came from Target and as you already know, we made the bookcases ourselves.



The sofa was a great find from Craigslist. Its the Ektorp sofa from Ikea and its the same one we have in the living room (with a different slip cover). Its in perfect condition and was a steal at only $210!



As you can see we have a lot going on on that wall behind the sofa. Josh and I have a pretty extensive Pearl Jam poster collection and we hate that most of them spend their life in an art folder so we decided to cram in as many as we could. It would probably be a bit much (maybe it still is?) if it was a totally walled in room but the half wall keeps things feeling nice and open and makes up for the poster madness!

Instead of a coffee table we opted for padded ottomans that we can put our feet up on. I found them on clearance at Target for $20 each - woohoo! It was pure luck that I found them for such a great price and in a nice dark gray that goes so well with the bookcases.



The tray used to be in the living room and is perfect for balancing a refreshing beverage!

I looked around and couldn't find the perfect pillows so I decided to make my own. Josh picked the fabric and I did the sewing. If you know how to sew, making your own is so much cheaper than buying them - they cost me about $7.50 each, including the insert (which I made with muslin and fiberfill) - not bad for custom pillows!



The ceiling fan has a light but I wanted additional task lighting and we were excited to find this guy at Ikea. Its quite heavy and looks much more expensive than its $50 price tag.





Because of the half wall and the little windows above the stair well the loft gets a LOT of light, which I love. Natural light makes me very happy :-)





This is my view from the sofa ...



although it usually looks like this because *someone* thinks they're a lap dog ...



I used Ikea storage boxes to store our Wii controllers and games but mostly because I'm weirdo and hate to see cables, and putting the boxes there hid them.



This handsome little devil is one of my favorite accessories in the room!



Its not a large room (its about 12 x 12 feet) but we are happy we managed to cram so much into it!

I know the photos look calm and serene ... well this is a more accurate depiction of what's usually going on in here!



Never a dull moment around here!

The loft: bits and pieces

We are almost finished with the loft ... finally! It probably would have been done sooner if we didn't start working on the backyard at the same time but I lack the ability to just focus on one thing at a time. I just have to finish making a few throw pillows and then it will be all done. In the meantime I thought I'd show a few bits and pieces of the room.

When I posted about the loft previously I think I mentioned that were planning on making some bookcases to store our books, photo albums, etc. We started with some MDF and pine trim (and a helper dog) ...



And after some trial and error we got to this point:



I always check the 'oops' paint section at hardware stores and scored a gallon of grey paint for $4 - we thought it would be perfect for the bookcases. We already had primer and polyurethane from other projects.



Not bad for 2 novices huh?!



Total cost for 2 bookcases was $60. There's no way we could have bought them for that price - not even from Ikea!

See that globe on the bookcase? I got it at Goodwill for $9.99! Josh mentioned that he wanted one but every one we saw was a bit pricey so we gave up on that idea ... until one day I stopped by Goodwill on the way home from work and saw that lovely globe. Its a bit rickety, but hey, you cant beat the price!



On the other end of the bookcases are 2 lions supporting our Pearl Jam vinyl collection. I bought a dresser off Craigslist a couple of months ago and the seller was throwing out the lions. I don't blame her because they were pretty hideous. I asked her if I could have them and she happily gave them to me - she probably thought I was a bit odd for wanting them.



A few coats of white spray paint later and they are fabulous! They're probably not every one's cup of tea but I really love them.





Not to mention they came in handy when we realized the records were too tall for the shelves (oops) and had to stand on top.

The last thing we needed to figure out was CD storage. Josh's CDs are all in binders but I still have mine in the cases so they needed a place to live. We found the CD racks at Ikea. I was completely lost about how to store them and I've never seen a CD wall rack that didn't scream "college dorm" but when we saw these dark gray, metal guys I didn't instantly hate them. Then I saw the price tag: $6.99 ... sold! Four came home with us. They fit perfectly in the little nook the half wall makes and I actually like the way they look on the wall.





I still have to touch up where I got paint all over the baseboard but I absolutely cant stand painting baseboard above carpet so I'm going to put that off as long as possible.

I had this great idea that we should have a chalk board in the loft. Josh agreed so off we went to Home Depot for supplies. I thought the chalk board should be 4 feet wide by 6 feet tall. Josh laughed in my face. After I picked up a piece of plywood 2 feet wide by 4 feet high I realized he was right - I have no idea why I thought we needed such a monstrous chalkboard.

We started with these supplies:



(2 ft x 4 ft piece of plywood, trim, chalkboard paint)

And now we have this lovely, non-ridiculously sized chalk board:


(please excuse my terrible handwriting)

I found the quote on a blog somewhere and it describes us perfectly :-)

So that's what we have going on in the loft. Now I just have to get my lazy butt over to my sewing machine so I can finish the throw pillows!

The loft: a work in progress

Wow its been a long time since I last posted! I thought it had only been a week or two but apparently my sense of time is a little off ...

Its been cold and rainy for the past few weeks so we've spent a lot of time lazing around indoors but its time to start being productive again! Apart from our bedroom the upstairs of our house is in a complete state of disarray so its definitely time to change that. First up: the loft!

The loft is mainly going to be a man room but will also store books, CDs, and games so I guess I'll get to go in there now and then :-)

This is the best pic I have of the room (from when we first moved in):

Over the past year we've filled it with a bunch of junk (actually stuff that will eventually go in there), painted the ceiling, cut in the walls, and replaced the ceiling fan. Currently it actually looks worse than when we started!

This is our plan for the furniture / layout:

(please excuse my kid-like drawings)

We got a great deal on an Ikea slip-covered sofa on craigslist and we're planning on building our own bookshelves. Besides the headboard I made for our bedroom neither of us has any woodworking experience so who knows how they'll turn out.

I found this awesome blog called knockoffwood and it has plans to make all kinds of furniture so we're using her plans to make these shelves:

Hopefully I'll be able to report back with some shelves that resemble these and not a crumbled pile of wood :-)

Since I work better under pressure I'm shooting for us to get most of the room done in the next month but considering how little we've done in the past year that might be a little optimistic!

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In other news, Wednesday was the one year anniversary of the day we got Zeke. Its hard to believe we've had our sweet little boy for a whole year already.

He may look like a tough dog, but he spends his nights wrapped up in his blanket between us on the bed ...

Awwwwww :-)