One Goal: Meatball?

Ok so for those of you that aren't Blackhawks fans (you should really change that if you aren't...), here is a link that will help explain that title: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYoW0F01NbQ

In case you didn't watch the link and haven't figured it out, today I took a trip to Ikea. Some of the trip was to get ideas and price things out (like what I could use for a window bench... which I will touch on in a later post once that project gets going). But since of course it is impossible to leave Ikea empty handed, I did buy some things.

First was shelving for the giant closet upstairs (or should I say one of two closets in the entire house, the second being in the master bedroom). A reminder of the closet (or a first viewing for those of you who haven't checked out the Home Tour - Before tab):

Since there is nowhere else to store things other than the basement (and who wants to go to the basement for their change of sheets each week), that closet is top priority to get organized. While I would have loved to get a full closet organizer system designed specifically for that closet, that just wasn't going to happen on our budget (yes I did price them out... and yes they did come out to a few grand). So that brings us back to Ikea. Who sells wonderful closet organization systems for a fraction of the cost. While they don't have as many bells and whistles and aren't perfectly fitted to the closet ready for assembly, they are semi-custom and fit the budget (and I would really like to be able to afford food after finishing the house). We went with the Antonius system. White wall brackets, white shelf brackets and white shelves. Should work perfectly.

They didn't quite have the number of shelves I was looking for in stock, but I can always add more later. And thanks to my mom for the wonderful birthday present! (I would say best, but its hard to top the Blackhawks Stanley Cup win with that great cake a couple years ago...)

I also got new blinds for the master bedroom. The rest of the house is either in decent enough condition (after a bit of a wash) or can go without for a bit until we know we have the money. But since the master faces east, in order to sleep past sunrise ever, we needed blinds.

And I picked up some drapes for the dining room and living room. Ikea was perfect for those since they come extra long (98 inches!) and aren't terribly expensive. Our windows are 96 inches from top to floor. Which the standard 84 inch curtains would just look like crap hanging a foot off the floor. Even if you do have lower windows, they come complete with hem tape (no sewing needed!) to shorten them. Three pairs of sheer, patterned curtains for the living room windows and a pair of heavier, patterned grey ones for the dining room. The living room ones are white, so they may need to be dyed a cream color if the white looks strange with our cream sofa. We'll see once we move in though.

Tomorrow is another fun filled day. We start the day at the house meeting with the electrician who has the fun task of rewiring the entire house. Then I head out to Wheeling for some granite shopping (let's hope I don't fall in love with the expensive stone). Then a trip to Michael's because they have fall decor/crafts on sale and I have a few coupons. And if I'm going to be buying anything, on sale and with coupons is the best way.

And hopefully the weather for Friday will change before then so we can get some gardening done. We also have plans to clean the house (as much as possible with contractors there) and get the closet shelving up. Working towards getting the house in as close to move in condition by the 25th (when we move in) as possible. I'll of course post more after each day's work this week!