I've got just a few minutes before I have to rush off to drop the kids at school. Okay, that's a lie, I don't really have the time, but I'm slurping down my morning cup of tea and what goes better with a cup of tea than early-morning sleep-deprived blogging? I thought so.
In related news, I almost ran out of teabags last night. I know. Shocking. Happy to report a mercy dash was made to the store and the tea canister replenished before any further damage was done to family or home.
This is one of my favourite weeks. Every three weeks, Talented Hubby has four days in a row off from work, and those days fall during the school week, so we have the house to ourselves from 9-3 or so. It's not as suggestive as it sounds. No, really. Well maybe sometimes, but.....
We need some new furniture, but we have a set budget and need the furniture to both fit the budget and achieve our main objectives. Much of which centres around reducing the entrance hall clutter and/or creating some sort of useable office-y space in our loungeroom. Our home is open-plan, with our kitchen, dining 'room', existing computer desk, and TV viewing area (couches etc) occupying four 'corners' of a larger square. But we also have a separate L-shaped loungeroom, currently 98% devoid of furniture, where junk and paperwork kind of gets stacked against walls and left to die a slow death. In short, the entire room is basically useless to us right now. And though we certainly won't be buying another television to replace the one that broke in there a few months back, or probably even a sofa, I've had it in my head for a while now to 'properly' set it up as an office/craft/playroom kind of deal. But again, limited budget. And I don't have separate storage for my (albeit smallish) craft supplies so that'll have to be factored in as well.
The Ikea catalogue has taken pride of place on our kitchen bench this last week, that's for sure.
So that's what we're off to do today - furniture window-shopping-with-possible-chance-of-purchase-if-we-find-the-right-piece. We have Option A (outfitting the entrance hall) or Option B (the loungeroom office-y conversion) but the funds probably won't stretch to both, so we'll have to make a decision about which way to go. Making it easier, the entrance hall has an awkward shape - we walk straight ahead but turn two tight-ish corners to get into our open plan main living area - and any pieces of furniture would have to be exactly the right size and shape in order not to restrict traffic flow through to the back of the house. Ikea has been a bit depressing in this regard. And my number one choice - a hall table not at Ikea - turned out to be too long for the space. Darn it, because it was beautiful. Sigh.
Looks like it's the office conversion!
6 comments:
I'd buy office type furniture plus an extra storage unit. Turn the "L" of the lounge room into a home office,put the extra storage unit along the longest wall almost midway between the lounge area and the new office, centre it either in the lounge or in the office depending on space. Move the couches into the lounge, add a small table, or a cabinet if you have one. This frees up your dining area to become a proper dining area, with possibly a lille space in a corner to store some of the entrance hall clutter. Hang some coat hooks in the entrance hall, one per person and place a long narrow mat under this for boots and bags. Of course, this is what I'd do, but maybe it will help to clarify your own ideas?
Oh, the "extra" storage unit is for your craft supplies.
My advice - make sure you get the "something" in before going to Ikea, because if your hubby is anything like my hubby, one trip to Ikea will put him in a bad mood for the rest of the day!
;o)
Ha Jelly! He was pretty good, but our definitions of 'appropriately tasteful and economical furniture' kind of differs, LOL. I'm prepared to pay a little more for something that is solid and my taste is a little more 'country'. He likes to save as much money as possible and his taste is more contemporary. Ikea is pretty much 'well geez, if I *have* to buy furniture, it's pretty much my nirvana' for him, LOL.
Having said that, I was all anti-Ikea over this issue because a) I can't get the words 'Ikea' and 'cheap' separated in my head...that's 'cheap', not 'frugal' which means something totally different in my head. But I've pored over the catalogue and in the store today was able to better guage sizing (you can read dimensions on a page, but its good to have a 'real time' visual too) and there's some really smart configurations for officey type stuff. I think I've pretty much settled on the following:
* A long countertop (2 full metres)
* 2 drawer unit thingys (two shallow, one deep drawer) as the 'legs' either end plus a stabilizing leg in the middle since the 'desk' is so long
* 2 x Expedit bookcases (the 2x4 'squares' one)
* 3 basic desks for the kids rooms. We're talking VERY basic, flat top, four legs, that's it...just need somewhere for them to do their homework.
* Aspelund 2 drawer chest which we'll use as a shoe cupboard and kind of hall table thingy...has a 'secret drawer' for keys and phones. Keeps shoes out of reach of Charlie!
* whatever drawer and cupboard inserts we can afford with the leftover money at the end, to fit the Expedit. We're left with about $144 to play with out of our budget which pretty much translates to two 2-drawer inserts and 2 cupboard door inserts.
I'll seriously have to take before and after photos...it should look really smart once its all set up. I just have to get TH to commit to buying the pieces! The only downside is we didn't solve the 'where to put the school bags' issue - we sometimes have ant problems, especially in summer, and even a couple of crumbs in a bag in their bedrooms is a bit of a nightmare when the ants find them, so we keep the bags in the entrance hall...usually on the floor. Would love hooks but weight of three full bags an issue (they're big) and I like the idea of completely shutting them out of sight...again, space issues in the hall (photos will make sense, LOL) but that's something we can tackle later as more funds become available. We're happy enough with the items we've found so far.
Solve the "crumby" school bags by adding one chore to your daily routines lists. Have each child empty books etc onto a table/floor/bed, then designate one child on a rotation basis to take the bags outside and shake them upside down. Replace the books etc, and you should have no more ant problem.
hope the window shopping foray was fun. i always like ikea for ideas :)
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