Bedding Galore!

Mr. S and I are super excited about our 'new' bed! Not only are we excited about a more comfortable sleeping arrangement, we are also looking forward to the chance to start over entirely on our bedroom itself - furniture placement, bedding (colors and accents), artwork, etc. Pretty much, we'll be taking everything out and only putting what needs to be there back in.

In anticipation of this event (which currently has no timeline except 'as soon as possible'), I've started the process of looking for bedding. As stated in my last post, I want to do my shopping for bedding differently this time around. No Target; no JC Penny's; no Bed, Bath, and Beyond; no Kohl's. Not that those venues aren't good places to shop, but because we are looking for something completely different than what each of those stores offer. We want to invest in high quality, long lasting, timeless yet modern, sleek bedding.

Currently, we have a Thomas O'Brien chocolate brown duvet cover with matching shams from Target. While I love the color, and Husband told me I could pick our bedding when registering for our wedding, Mr. S doesn't share my love. More importantly, we are SO sick of the duvet. It needs to be re-fluffed/re-cornered everyday, and let's be honest - that's high maintenance for this household.

In light of said feelings, here's our plan moving forward:

• quilt or coverlet
• white
• colored sheets in yet-to-be-chosen accent color(s)

Do you have any idea how hard it is to find anything that fits the bill? Yikes! I happened to be at Target today shopping for my sister's birthday present, and found myself walking the bedding aisle because my search so far had yielded absolutely nothing. And I found a white quilt that wasn't so bad! Arg! I reminded myself Target is off limits for this purchase and forced myself to walk to the check-out.

A friend pointed me in the direction of overstock.com for sheets, but I had no idea where to begin for quilts/coverlets. So, I let some blog friends help me out. This design*sponge article is a treasure chest of information! To begin with, I read through the entire post thinking something would have been recommended specifically that picqued my interest. That wasn't really the case, so instead, I focused on the websites that were mentioned for finding said bedding. And that, my friends, was where I began to get somewhere.

I checked out every website listed, but my favorite one was PillowsandThrows.com. The website looks spectacular, selling the look Husband and I are looking to bring to our bedroom, and is incredibly easy to navigate - huge bonus! After scoping out everything offered, this coverlet is a front-runner (actually, the only runner for the time being). Beautifully simple, elegant, clean lines, white with texture added for intrigue, cotton (not a requirement, but I think it feels nice), machine washable!, and affordable. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the bloggers at design*sponge for putting together such a wonderful bedding guide.

What do you think, dear reader? Do you have any websites to recommend?

Till next time,

~Ms. S

Wardrobes and nonsense

Nonsense first. Husband deceptively brought home his PS2 system from his parents' house when we were down Superbowl weekend. To his credit, he does not quite play nonstop. And if there's an important conversation going on, he will stop and talk to me. Mostly I just don't understand the appeal of video games. At. All. Books, movies, board games...those are all understandable forms of time-suckers. Video games are simply a lost cause in my case. Does anyone else feel the same? It's not like I'm that old - there were definitely video games growing up (though not really in my house). So I'm just curious.

Ok, glad that's off my chest! Moving on...

Our bedroom closet is horribly small. When my friend Sara told me about her big closet make-over, I thought maybe Mr. S and I could manage something with our closet. Yeah, not so much. We've come to the conclusion investing in a wardrobe would be a better use of our money. I was hoping we might have some time this weekend to check out some antique shops, but we didn't; nor have I found anything online I'm that fond of. So, pictures along these lines aren't here yet. Sorry.

In other bedroom news, I think we're going to be getting a new bed! Well, it's not really new. We're going to trade our double bed in for the king that Husband's folks put together for us at their place. Our current bed will stay at the in-law's for us to sleep on when we come to visit and we'll bring the bigger bed up here so that both of us will hopefully sleep better! This means, though, I'm in the market for new bedding. Now, I've always purchased bedding from Target or Bed, Bath, and Beyond, but I know there are other decent (better) places to check out - I just don't know what they are. Any suggestions?

Well, I certainly hope that some of you are enjoying a day off! I'm hopeful a birthday package will finally be delivered from UPS today, so I'm stuck around the apartment to clean and such. And maybe enjoy some Olympics?!

~Ms. S

Shower Upgrade

It's been way too long, I know. I've failed on my promise to update weekly, but on the plus side, I haven't updated because I've been busy meeting up with friends (long over-due get togethers) and trying to get more hours in for my AmeriCorps position. Also on the plus side, I currently have a shower upgrade to share, but an even more exciting project will begin Saturday (I hope)!

Without wasting anymore time...how do you all feel about your shower? Is it an oasis where you can relax? Does it ease you nicely into your morning? Can you always find everything you need for your routine? Before our shower upgrade, here's how I would have answered the above questions.

1. Not really all that unhappy about the shower, but it could be better
2. Definitely would not call it an oasis
3. While it eases me into the morning, it doesn't do it 'nicely.
4. No

The problem? Well, I am a person who tends to have multiple shampoos/conditioners, multiple body washes, and multiple face scrubs. This was never a problem when I lived by myself, but when you add another person who also needs space for soap, a razor, and shampoo the storage space gets a little cramped. Husband and I needed some kind of a system to rid our tub rim of its contents. Literally every single corner was filled with something.

When my friend Sara moved into her condo a couple years back, she invested in a tension rod with shelves to remedy this exact thing. Since we're practically the same person, I didn't really need to think about the best solution for our shower. We needed a tension rod. Thank you, Sara, for making that decision for me years in advance. :)

I made this decision about a month before taking on the project because I wanted to find a good tension rod. Have you ever used a metal shelving system in your shower? It's supposed to be rust-proof, right? Yeah. I used to have a metal thing that would hang over the shower head. Not only did it fall at least once every other week, by the time I moved it was in bad shape! So I wanted to find something with plastic shelves at the very least.

The Saturday Mr. S helped friends of ours insulate their attic, I decided I would take on my project. A trip to Menards provided me with the shelf I was looking for, so I came home to put it together. Upon reading the instructions carefully, I assembled the pieces and took it into the bathroom. It didn't fit. It was too tall and no matter how hard I pushed, I couldn't force it into place. So I took out the smaller extension and tried again. Too small - there was no tension whatsoever to hold the rod in place. Gah!

My idea was to buy a smaller spring to use with the rod in its tallest form. Thankfully, Husband had a better idea. We went back to Menards (the next day) with the intention of purchasing an additional spring, but they didn't have the right kind. Instead, we purchased a dowel rod that would fit into the rod on top of the spring to provide the necessary tension with the smaller extension rod taken out. We realized after getting this home that we didn't have a saw. Oops. So we ended up using a 'State Fair' knife to cut our dowel rod to the appropriate length.

We now have a fantastically organized shower with nothing on the sides of the tub! It's glorious and wonderfully relaxing. Admittedly, it still surprises me nearly every morning that everything is in one spot. My shower has never, ever been so organized. It's a project I highly recommend undertaking as it's cheap and super easy!

Now, the project in the works! For my birthday (which is on Friday the 12th), Husband has decided to get me a wardrobe for our bedroom!!!!!! In my next post, I will showcase our completely inadequate bedroom closet which will explain why I am so excited about my present. You'll get to come along on some of our antique shop trips and auction and estate sale trips, as our goal is to find one to fix up. Hopefully it will be exciting. :)

Check back soon!

~Ms. S