Category Archives: Office
Crash
Hearing a giant crash in my office, my first I thought was that the cats knocked over something. I walked in and saw that my framed Red Stripe poster had dropped to the floor. Definitely not cat related.
Shattered glass was everywhere. Luckily my poster wasn’t damaged. I rolled it up and then angrily threw away the frame and all the glass fragments.
This was my fault. I wanted to save some money so I used a 50% coupon for a frame at Michael’s. The construction of the frame didn’t seem very sturdy and my poster wasn’t laying as flat as I wanted in the frame, but I hung it up anyway.
Looking back, it was not the smartest move. I should have not put the frame up. I should have taken it back to Michael’s for a refund.
Well, I learned my lesson that hard way. You get what you pay for. I am going back to my favorite frame at IKEA that I know will last.
My little ol’ desk
My desk is almost completed. She needs a little polyurethane and touch-up paint to finish her up.
Seeing my desk so clean is inspirational. This whole office project is really making me focus on getting rid of random “stuff”. It’s hard for me to let go of some of it, but very necessary.
I got a few more details to finish up before I am done with the whole room. It’s looking so good!! I can’t wait to check this off the list and use it.
More office parts
You gotta love IKEA products like Expedit bookcases and Kassett boxes. They kill me with their usefulness.
I bought two Expedit bookcases on sale when we first moved into the house. I figured I would find something to do with them. They eventually found their way into my office.
Eight Kassett boxes were purchased for the two bookcases. They work great for organizing all sort of random items. I hold photography equipment, sewing and art supplies, gifts and office items in mine.
The biggest problem was remembering which box was which. I settled for fluorescent pink labels until I found a better solution.
Then, I had an “ah-ha” moment rummaging through my art supplies. There in the midst of acrylic paint tubes was a pack of paper stencils.
I know stenciling isn’t really the rage it was during the Trading Spaces era, but I thought this would be the perfect solution to my quandary.
Using numbers 1-8, I attached each stencil to the front of a box with removable round labels I had lying around. Then with a stiff paintbrush, I carefully stenciled with black acrylic paint.
I let the paint dry for a minute before carefully removed the stencil.
Voila! A quick, inexpensive way to organize my boxes!
A measure of progress
Update – Looks like IKEA is no longer carrying the Tuppler shade! I can’t believe it! All links to the IKEA product page have been removed below.
I’ll admit it, I worked my butt off on Saturday. Eight hours of queued Parenthood episodes on my TiVo can prove it more than what I have to show for it.
My blood, sweat and tears all went into the customization of two IKEA window shade rollers. Yep, window treatments.
To me this was a major achivement. These buggers were tricky and a pain in the you-know-what. I was ecstatic to get this project done and then properly documented by Nate (thanks Honey!).
Instructions for Installing IKEA Tupplur Window Roller Blinds
Materials:
Measuring Tape
Metal and/ or Acrylic Ruler
Pencil
Fabric Only Scissors
Cordless Drill
Screwdriver
Screws (Not included)
Hacksaw
I have found that the Tupplur shades are all a little different in length, so it is very important to measure each one so you can get exact dimensions.
The instructions are specifically for hanging the shade from the interior molding of your window. If you decide to hang them above the window, you will not need to be as exact. Look at your IKEA instruction booklet that came with the Tupplur roller for more info.
1) Measure
After you have decided how to hang your shade, the next step is to measure your roller and figure out how much you need to remove.
The shade is glued to the pipe, so you will have to cut the fabric before you saw off the pipe. I have found it is easier to unroll the fabric and measure the pipe first.
The left side of my pipe has a 1/4″ (or 4/16″ since most my measurements are in 16ths) extension.
The right side of my pipe has a 6/16″ extension.
So even though my shade is 55″ long. I have to account for the additional 10/16″ of the pipe in my calculations.
I also have to add the width of the mounting hardware into the calculation. Each side is about 4/16″ wide.
Confused, yet?
The IKEA manual tells you to leave a 3/16″ clearance on each side of the pipe. I upped this to 4/16″ since my left side is already 4/16″.
My plan of attack is to cut the right side only. My window is 43 1/4″ wide.
I plan on cutting 12 10/16″ from the fabric and 12 6/16″ from the pipe (to leave the 4/16″ clearance on the right side). So my fabric shade will be (55″ -12 10/16′) 42 4/16″ wide.
2) Cut the Fabric
Before cutting the fabric, remove the wood insert. You will cut this at the very end of the project.
I know this looks a little odd, but I wanted to use a combination of my acrylic quilter’s ruler and metal yardstick to keep my measurements exact.
I measure 42 4/16″ from left to right and mark it on the fabric. I repeat this this and connect the dots to have a nice pencil line to cut along.
With my “fabric only” scissors, I slowly cut along my pencil line.
I unwind the fabric as I go, measuring and cutting until I reach the pipe.
3) Cut the Pipe
Leaving my fabric unwound, I mark my cut line on the right side of pipe and flip it so I can cut it off on the left side of my table.
Cut slow and steady until you get through the entire pipe. Don’t worry about filing the edges since both ends will be capped.
4) Insert the Roller Attachments
Roll the fabric back up. Decide which end you’d like the chain to hang and then attach the roller attachments to each end of the pipe.
5) Install the mounting mechanisms
Depending on how you’d decided to hang the shades, install the wall mounts with screws.
6) Attach the roller
And the moment of truth… install the roller into the wall mounts.
I will admit, I was off by 2/16″ and had to go back and adjust the length of fabric and pipe. But, I was happy with that. There were a lot of small measurements. This was bound to happen.
Note: I only cut the bottom particleboard insert after I had finished hanging my shade. Don’t want to cut twice!
After I was happy with the installation, I moved on to the second window. I am happy to report that the second roller went more smoothly. As the morning became late afternoon, I finished.
Project completed! You bet, I was ecstatic.
Organizing my stuff
With some recent changes to our bedroom storage, I have had to relocate my clothes into my office closet. It has made me really take a look at what I own and see how I can cut it down. Although this is really difficult for me to do, I am determined to make my wardrobe the size of my closet not the other way around.
There are many different articles (here, here, here and here) and blog posts (here, here, and here) about how to go through your clothes and organize your closet so I won’t bore you with that.
I will just say that I have made a big dent by really looking how certain clothes fit me and also being honest about what clothes I actually wear to work and on the weekends. I think every girl has a secret hope to be a TV version of themselves that is coiffed, fashionable and perfect 24-7, but in reality most of us don’t often really go there. I impulse buy a lot of things I wear once and then never wear again. Those are the particular items I am going through right now. I also have pieces I don’t currently wear, but know will come back into style or are seasonal, like swimsuits, so I want to keep them. I am creating a special container for those items.
As far as the structure of my closet, I have made an effort to actual hang up most of my clothes, so I can actually see them versus cramming them all into a drawer and never seeing the light of day. This has also helped me weed through my many t-shirts since there was quite a few that I didn’t feel deserved to be hung up.
Above my clothes, I have a wire shelf for all shoes. I purchased this at Home Depot where they cut it down for me to size. I like have my shoes at eye level so I can see all my options in the morning.
The shelf at the very top of my closet holds my boots and a container of purses when I am not using them, plus office supplies.
I also have one dresser inserted into the left side of the closet. This holds my pjs, workout gear and undergarments that I don’t want on display even in my closet. The dresser wouldn’t fit in the room so it works to have it in the closet for now and compartmentalizing all my clothes into my contained space.
This is definitely a work in progress. I want to see how it works for me this week before I make final adjustments. I’ll give you a full tour of the office once I complete it in a week or so.
Blame it on illness and the Olympics
I know, I know. I have been a stranger the last week on the blog. I caught a horrible flu bug over Valentine’s Weekend and just have not caught up since!
Nate and I have been working on my office/gym as well as side projects between rain storms and major Olympic watching.
Stay tuned for the office reveal later this week!
Garden Planning
Don’t laugh, but here are my sad little photoshopped photos of the garden layout.
See my trellis along the side of the house? And my stepping stones around the the exterior? Then along the sidewalk will be our retaining wall.
Here’s the front side yard with future garden bed.
Can’t you visualize a row of tomatoes and herbs along the side of the house?
Now - a little update on the treadmill…
Well we didn’t put it together. Just moving that sucker into the space took a lot of energy.
And left a path of destruction in the house. So we are going to take a step-by-step approach to getting it up and running.
