IKEA...

Anyone who knows our family knows that we have a LOT of Ikea furniture in our home...mostly in our basement.  Since the queen sized bed in the guest room (that I was intending to paint) is breaking (it was a cheap Walmart bed), we have decided to purchase a bed from Ikea.  We know their products wear like iron.  So, yesterday we went to Ikea for some bed window shopping and to pick up a few miscellaneous things we needed...such as two 5x7 picture frames to replace the ones in Dear Hubby's office that were destroyed by the water, three 8 x 10 picture frames needed for a bit of decorating in our guest bathroom, a toilet brush for the guest bathroom, and some folding wall hooks that J needed for work.  As usual, we got all of that...and then some, lol.

I won't bother showing you Dear Hubby's photo frames since they aren't part of my 2014 organizing and decorating goal.  The above frames, however, were critical to my decorating.

These Nyttja frames were cheap ($1.99each) and more importantly LIGHT, so I knew I would have no problem hanging them with 3M Command products.

Back when we were having the guest bathroom painted, I had gone online to search for modern "artwork" that I could hang on the totally bare wall as you enter the room.  I did a google search for "free bathroom printables" and one of the first sites to pop up was an image site.  I clicked on it and was totally smitten when I saw the subway art above.  I clicked back to the original poster and found www.mommart.blogspot.com.  I printed out the artwork in variations of gray scale and it was a perfect match for my newly painted bath.

Here they are hanging in the bathroom.

Oh...and I said we picked up more than we intended...

I spotted this rug and just HAD to have it for my Expanded Sewing Room floor!  Even three other women standing next to us started to tell me to "Buy it!" when I stopped to look at the rug.  Thankfully, Dear Hubby loves his wife very much and was happy to heft the rug into the cart, lol.  I had this room painted gray (the same paint I later used in the guest bath) because I wanted a neutral base for decorating.  I wanted the room to "pop" with color.

First I added my Sunshine and Bowties quilt as a wall hanging, then two red pillows.

These little pops of color really bring out the "fun" in the room!

Yup, the room is really coming together now.  Oh, and please excuse the piles of junk you see next to the futon.  We HAVE been trying to make some headway on purging through the boxed "stuff", but decorating is just SO much more FUN!

A BIG STEP IN ORGANIZING...

Thanks to J and his wonderful fiancee, K, we have made a BIG stride in organizing! 

J moved the guest bed back into the yellow room.  I know.  I know.  I was going to use it as my "quilt pinning" room, but it just didn't feel "right".  So it is now back to being the guest room again, lol.  Obviously the denim quilt doesn't fit the queen sized bed.  It was the twin sized quilt I made for J's dorm room back when he was a freshman in college.  Until I can finish the guest room quilt I started about a year ago, this will have to do.  We finally found sheets deep enough for the bed.  It is a pillow top mattress with a fake feather-bed we placed on top!  It is dreamy to sleep on, but regular sheets didn't fit.  We found these at Brylane Home online.  They are nice sheets at a good price.  The white table is actually our Christmas tree stand, lol.  But until we find two cheap nightstands, either painted white or ones that I can paint...again, it will have to do.  I am also contemplating one nightstand and one three drawer chest to give guests a place to put some overnight clothing.  I am also looking for a headboard cheap and will paint the black rim of the bed white also.  I am much happier with this room as the guest room, lol. 

J and K also moved the broken futon into my Expanded Sewing Room.  The store where we bought it was unable to get us a replacement arm as the futon has been discontinued, but they glued it up for us.  Hopefully it will withstand just occasional use in my ESR.  I hope to hang the Sunshine and Bowties quilt above the futon.  The mug rug is made out of the same materials and those red things on the opposite arm are two pillow covers.  I just need to buy some pillow forms. 

This morning I stopped at the thrift shop looking for a headboard and night stands.  No luck in that department, but I found an adorable orange and green metal bucket to hold my white buttons that are on cards.  I also found the three little black metal buckets.  I got the orange bucket for $1 and the three black buckets for $.25 each.   As you can see, I stopped making Collapsible Craft Containers to hold buttons when I began work on my mom's quilt.  Now that Christmas is over I really need to complete the next 8 containers. 

This horrendous pile of junk is everything that was contained in the old desk and closet we emptied when we had the yellow room painted.  Dear Hubby and I need to go through these boxes so that I can have my ESR (Expanded Sewing Room) back again, lol.  I have a set of plastic drawers that I will put next to the three drawer lateral file (where the green and white boxes are piled) for more organization.  Even though I disliked using the two small fold up tables to pin my quilts, I think I will be much happier with all of my sewing confined to just two rooms.  I tried it with a permanent table set up in the third bedroom (now guest room) and I really didn't like it.  Live and learn, lol. 

So thanks to my Dear Son and his Dear Girlfriend, my home is much more organized than it was on Saturday evening!  Love you both...