Ikea Stuff!

Alicia and I have a pretty recognizable pattern. Every time we have a craving to move to a new apartment, we decide we don't want to pay the rent increase, thus staying put where we are. We then turn our attention to our apartment and begin debating what we can improve. You may remember last summer when we purchased those two giant wardrobes for the bed room.

Two weeks ago, Alicia and I saw two different apartments. They were both a step up in price, but they had their advantages. All that kept going through my mind as I looked at the space was "Where would the couch and the lovesac go?" After we were home and decided to not move, I started thinking about how much space we could free up. Not only will it make the apartment feel bigger, but it will make a future move much easier. On the chopping block, the couch. Our lovesac had been hiding in the storage space for awhile.



We realized that if we got rid of the couch, the lovesac could return from exile and be the main focus of the living room. The problem with this solution is that it removes all other sitting in the living room.

With my birthday coming up, we decided it was time for another Ikea trip! We purchased a Poang chair to add extra seating to the living room:



And now the lovesac has a prominent place in our living room:



In the above photo, you can see the new Lack table (only 11.99!). "Where's the coffee table?" you might ask. Well, here it is!:



Yes, this means the entertainment center is no more. It was a black TV stand with great slots for my games and gaming systems. But, it isn't entirely gone!



I built this makeshift counter from the wood of the entertainment center (the black legs) and the wood from a small shelf Alicia was throwing out. I can't believe how perfect the size is. It isn't terribly pretty, but it gives the kitchen a ton more room. As does this:



This is our new kitchen cabinet from Ikea. The front of the drawers will be Black-brown, just like my desk and bookshelf. They said they were in stock, but weren't when we tried to pick them up. So they'll be arriving in a week. Oh well.

The drawers are great. They have the dampeners that prevent the cabinet from being slammed shut.

The top of the cabinet is custom made by me. They wanted approximately $90 for any kind of top. Alicia and I noticed that there were Ikea cutting boards for $10. Of course, the size didn't match. But for $10 dollars, we decided we'd try cutting it to fit. And it worked perfectly! You can see the back of the cutting board doesn't match the front. That piece is what I cut off the side and glued onto the back. All that's left to do now is oil the cutting board to make it perfect.



Prior to these two counters, our only kitchen space for working was that tiny drawer between the stove and the sink, as well as the stove and the sink. Now, we've moved the fridge over 15 inches, and added two counters. The kitchen feels a thousand times better.

Two last surprises from Ikea.



We found a tent for Livia! She goes crazy in there.



We found these two chairs. One of them was in the As-is section. It was $20 instead of $30, which is super cheap. The other one took some tracking down. But these are fabulous chairs. We bought them to go outside, but we keep using inside.

So that's where the apartment is. There were no changes in the bedroom. My desk moved in January, and I suppose I didn't blog about it. So here's a picture:



I've been a little lazy and a lot of busy, so it's kind of a mess. But you can see Alicia's Birthday decorations! She's so sweet to me.

I also put shelves up in the storage area:



You can barely see it at the top of the photo, but the shelves go up to the ceiling. The lack table in this picture was free, as someone in the building moved out and left it in the hallway. This is our little storage area, now.

Well, what do you think? I think the apartment breathes better. By that, I mean it feels more open! Yay!