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I hope you had a great weekend everyone! We ended up having a lot of plans; dinner with friends on Friday, went to a soccer match on Saturday (our team won! yay!), plus lunch with my family on Sunday. Oh and the weather was terrible all weekend. Check this picture of our patio while it hailed:

So I didn’t get any shopping done, but I did manage to put together a few Christmas decorations.

First of all, I set our fake (and tiny) tabletop Christmas tree in our entryway. So it’s the first thing you see when you come through the door! The tree topper is a clip on bow, and the foot of the tree is covered in white wood confetti that resembles snowflakes. Plus the biggest ornaments seem out of place in the tiny tree, so I just decided to leave them standing there. Then I took a big box of green felt ornaments I bought on sale from Zara Home last January after last year’s Christmas season. Can you believe how much I paid for 64 ornaments? 1€! They initially cost 10€, but I managed to buy them on complete clearance. Since they’re dark green and you almost couldn’t distinguish them if I hung them from the tree, I decided to string them together and hang them from the living room door frame.

I also decided to hang our star on the main door (from the inside, since we live in an apartment!) and added a pop of red to our table’s centerpiece. We obviously don’t own a lot of Christmas decor yet, so we’re slowly adding to our collection! But for now, I really enjoy the little stuff – they don’t take up a lot of space but they make our apartment look festive.

What have you guys done to gussy up your places? Do you prefer fake trees or real ones?

Before buying our materials, I measured the depth of the toe kick so that we could simply install the vertical boards on top of it instead of removing it or changing it. Then it was just a matter of deciding on a width that seemed “right” for us – we just eyeballed it, honestly. We settled on 1.75 inch wide boards for the vertical ones, and 2 and a half inch horizontal board. We also picked up a narrow ledge to finish things off.

The boards sat unused for about a month or two (no, I’m not exaggerating, this seems to happen a lot around here – we buy the materials and then forget about them, apparently) until yesterday. We didn’t have any plans and the weather was nice, so we sanded and cut each board to size outside before bringing them in. Then we followed these steps to install them:

1. Taped a few vertical boards (doesn’t matter where, or if they’re evenly spaced, they’re just meant to support the horizontal board in place).
2. Glued and nailed the horizontal board, making sure it was level. We had to do this in two pieces since the boards they sold weren’t long enough.
3. Glued and nailed the two corner vertical boards – left and right – flush with the perpendicular walls.
4. Since we had an odd number of vertical boards (nine, to be exact) we measured where the center of the wall was and installed (glued, nailed, made sure it was level) the middle board in place. This one was a bit tricky, because we had an outlet in the middle, so we had to measure and cut a chunk out.
5. Repeated the operation with the remaining vertical boards: found the center between the left corner and middle board, and installed the next vertical board. We did this until all 9 vertical boards were in their place. (This picture shows the order in which we installed the boards better; we basically measured the center every time until they were all in place. Now, I know this won’t work for everyone, since it depends on the number of boards you have, but I highly recommend doing it this way if you can, since you avoid starting from one side and realizing at the other side that you’ve misplaced every board by a few millimeters and thus have the last two boards a lot closer than you expected. So. Finding the center every time worked for us.)
6. Lastly, we glued the ledge on top of the horizontal board.
7. And filled all nail holes, etc. with putty.

Done! Just kidding. Obviously we still have to wait for the putty to dry, sand it, and paint everything white. That’s on our to do list now, so hopefully I’ll have a proper before and after for you soon enough. But in the meantime, I’m happy to report that installing this was easier than I thought, and the hardest part was working around the outlet and the radiator. Which, by the way, is NOT level. This didn’t bother me at all before, but now it’s a lot more noticeable (you can see it in the picture above). Hopefully we’ll be able to fix that. But now I’m wondering why the builders didn’t install it properly.

Anyway, the verdict on the board & batten: easy to install, and totally worth it! Even in it’s current unpainted and unfinished stage, it adds a lot of interest to the room. What do you guys think? Is there anyone else who has been itching to do a board & batten treatment, too?

So I immediately decided to remove the other two prints before they came crashing down as well. Right now they’re with the rest of our spare frames, behind the daybed.

I know we should’ve attached the frames to the kitchen wall instead of leaning them against it, but since the wall is completely tiled we don’t like making a ton of holes, since they’ll be permanent. For now, I’m kind of enjoying the more open look without the prints – so maybe I’ll have to find a new home for the two remaining ones!

After measuring the space I wanted the map to fill, I searched Etsy and Ebay for a few weeks and finally found a favorite:

And crazy affordable, too!

So I ordered it right away (plus another bonus print). This was approximately two months ago, and I still struggled a bit to get the present ready on time. The map arrived without a hitch, but the hardest part was yet to come: adding a cork backing, ordering the right push pins, and framing it. Thankfully with the help of some friends I was able to finish everything. I don’t have pictures of the process, since I had little time to work on it (while my boyfriend was at handball practice, basically, and I had to hide it under the bed and hope that he didn’t find it) but this is what I did:

I bought a frame and basic white fabric at Ikea to cover the cork, a cork roll at a local home improvement store, and the push pins through eBay. I then proceeded to return said cork since a friend had some leftover from a project she was working on. I cut everything to size and glued the cork to the frame backing.

Which was basically when I realized that I needed a staple gun, or else. So I also bought a staple gun for 12€ (which I love and hope to use in an upholstery project sometime). I stapled the fabric to the frame backing as well, over the cork of course. Then I simply used double sided tape to hold the map in place. And finally, I got to add pushpins to signal the places we’ve traveled to together: Berlin, Paris (twice), Brussels, Amsterdam, Prague, Fribourg, Geneve, London and Chicago. Hopefully we’ll be adding more pins as time goes by. Here’s what it looks like:

We still have to hang it, of course, and now that we’re adding that to the wall we’ll probably move the bookcase elsewhere and build another one that fills the nook completely and grounds the map better (i.e. is a bit wider than the map). But I think it’s safe to say that my boyfriend loved it! Which is a good thing, since it is always so hard to find gifts he likes/wants/needs.

So, what do you guys think of the map?

• It matches the bottom cabinets and the other side of the kitchen better.
• Our kitchen is not very big and having all-white cabinets makes it seem larger.
• It’s the darkest room in the apartment, so white cabinets help with that, as well.
• The old doors were a pain to keep clean (… and this was really the main reason, to be honest). Seriously, by the time I finished wiping them all, you could already see smudges once again. Not quite, but almost.

And if you wonder whether it might be too much white, well, I actually like all white kitchens. My parents have had white cabinets, countertops and even appliances for 15+ years and it’s still looking great. I’ve never felt white kitchens to be sterile at all. (Although when we replace the countertops for Silestone hopefully, we’ll probably change them for light gray instead of pure white. But mostly because it’s a lot cheaper and I like both options.). And we’ll be adding a pop of red when we paint the bar stools. (Still on our to-do list).

But enough talking, let’s get to the pictures!

This is the view from the door, but it’s hard to capture properly because of the lighting situation (which, unfortunately, happens with all the rooms in our home).

So the rest of the shots are looking in from the patio:

Ah, dear kitchen. You’ve come a long way from this:

And again, how it looks now:

What do you think? Did we make the right choice by picking white doors, or did you like the darker ones better?

So I’ve been looking for a new bigger rug, preferably in a similar color scheme, and I think I found it! It’s a bit (well, a lot) more expensive than the other one, but still reasonably priced. It’s also from Ikea, and it’s called Alvine Ruta (the other one, Erslev, was something ridiculous like 26€, and this one is 139€, so the price is steeper, but definitely not overly expensive for a rug this size.)

Here’s a view of the rug we have now:

And here’s how the other one would sit (I wanted to tape the floor, but got lazy ended up using Photoshop instead. Forgive me for my bad skills at it.):

If you love the hand painted rug, don’t worry. I’ll definitely try and make it work before giving up on it!

Or do you think that the hand painted rug is so awesome that I should buy a bigger rug and repeat the project so it works in the living room? Or maybe the size is perfect and I’m being ridiculous? Please help!

Also, because of the way our house is oriented and the fact that we only have windows facing one way, taking pictures is haaard. Does anyone have any tips?

Anyway, I looked for a Parsons chair for months – but other than something at Ikea, which was more than we wanted to spend, I found nothing. Until a leaflet from a local home decor store arrived in the mail one day and I saw a dark Parsons faux leather chair marked down to 49€ from 89€. Score! We bought it right away. The lady at the store seemed a bit baffled when we asked for just one – I believe people usually buy these as part of a set for a dining room? But either way, I think it makes a great office chair. It’s comfortable and good looking. And it fits under the desk.

So, that’s our latest purchase! What do you think? Does it work in the guest bedroom/office?

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Ikea Rast dresser was a very simple project:

1. I assembled the dresser structure and drawers (except for the drawer rails, which I did at the end).
2. Then I painted the dresser and drawers white (one coat primer two coats paint).
3. I installed my Zara Home knobs instead of the knobs that came with the dresser.
4. We cut the boards for the top of the dresser at the desired size: we left a couple of inches of overhang on all sides except for the back, so the dresser sits against the wall.
5. Attached the boards using the trusty old Kreg Jig (my parents got it for us as a gift last year after Ana White recommended it and we love it. It’s made our woodworking projects a lot easier).
6. And then I stained the top using stain we had leftover from our outdoor dining table (two coats).
7. Finally, we attached the top to the dresser itself using long screws (we attached the screws from the inside so they’re not visible) and mounted the rails/drawers in place.

Oh and regarding the cost, this was a 20€ project (the cost of the dresser) thanks to a gift card I had for Zara Home (otherwise the knobs would’ve been 12€) and the fact that the other supplies (paint, stain, wood) were leftover from other projects.

Right now it lives in the entryway, but we might switch to the living room so that it replaces the 5€ Ikea Lack side table. Here it is all prettied up!

I apologize for the picture quality – but it’s because of the way the light comes in. Unfortunately the only source of light is the living room, so there’s no real fix for that. I still have to work on my “styling” (I’ve already shuffled things a bit after taking these pics) but I hope you like it! What about you guys? Any DIY projects that you can’t wait to share?

• This hand blown blue glass carafe, HÄMTA, would be a great addition to any table and a stylish way to serve water.
  
• Apparently Ikea has now entered the realms of office and back to school supplies with their ANSTÄNDIG collection, and does so cheaply and in style as always. These clips are oh-so-cute, and you could use the VAMMEN boxes below to hide away unsightly supplies or even to nicely wrap a small gift for someone.
  
• I’ve been looking for nice plant pots to slowly add greenery to our patio, and this one called HASSELNÖT fits the bill perfectly. I’m going to have a hard time deciding between both finishes (black, although it looks more like oil-rubbed bronze, and silver); they’re both gorgeous!
• I liked the lines of the whole ISALA collection since I first saw it a few months ago in a preview of the catalog, but especially this small laptop table. It would be perfect for an apartment or if you need a writing desk for your living room.
• Ikea has introduced a new line of sofas, the SANDBY, designed for small spaces. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to be available (yet) at the US store, which is a shame because they look great and are very inexpensive for a sofa! I am enamored with the armless chair… if only I had a place to put it, or an excuse to change our Poang chair for this one.
• Conversely, this awesome table lamp (available in different sizes) is not available in the Spanish Ikea store… too bad, cause I would definitely pick one up if it were!

What did you guys think of the new catalog? Is there something you especially liked and can’t wait to pick up? Do share!

So, I thought I’d count how many throw pillows I have laying around. Let’s see…

There are 5 on the couch. One on the Poang chair. Another one on one of the dining chairs. That’s a total of 7 on the living room/dining room. Then there’s the spare bedroom. We have a Hemnes daybed in there from Ikea, so there are four more throw pillows (and I’m hunting for more!). In our bedroom, there are also four on top of the bed.

That’s a total of 15 throw pillows for a 700sq feet apartment! Not bad… plus two more for the terrace when it’s summer. 17! But you can never have too many… right? right?!?

Also, I promise I’ll finally share the recipe for tortilla this weekend. I just haven’t eaten a lot this past week thanks to the dentist, so I don’t really feel like talking about food…