Man, the past couple of weeks have been crazy! Just the typical kind of random craziness life seems to throw at you all at once. My dishwasher, which has been broken for a couple months, is still not fixed after 3 trips from the appliance repair company. I took my car in for an oil change and alignment, and it ended up a $400 adventure after being told my front two tires needed replacing. (Thankfully James was in town to help me with that one!) And Sunday night, to top it all off, I thought my iPhone was broken! The speaker and mic wouldn't work on any phone calls. Thankfully, when I updated to iOS 7, which I still hadn't done, the issue seems to have resolved itself at least temporarily. (I'm knocking on wood right now -- I'm not due for an upgrade until the summer, so I need this to last me till then!) In between all the chaos, I've found a little bit of time to work on my room. I actually have this afternoon off as well as tomorrow afternoon, due to winter weather, so hopefully I'll be able to spend some quality cleaning and decorating time! Here's what I've done so far! *
*There appears to have been some dust or something on my phone camera lens, because these pictures all look kind of smudge-y and poor quality. My apologies!
Window Film
Here's a great lesson that I learned from this project: Read the instructions three times. Maybe four. I ended up wasting probably half of the film in the kit because I thought you were supposed to put the application tape directly on the film -- this does not work. It's like trying to apply double sided tape to Saran wrap. Not a good plan. Also, cut generously -- I had to discard one set that I cut because they were about half an inch too narrow once I tried putting them on the window. But luckily, there was enough left to cover my bedroom windows. Once I figured out the correct way to install it, actually, it's quite easy!
The supplies needed for this project: pretty simple.
The cardboard that was hiding behind my blackout curtains. Hopefully I won't need this anymore!
Hemming the Curtains
Thanks to Stitch Witchery, this was a pretty easy job. Measure, fold, get a damp rag, put the Stitch Witchery where you want it, and hold the iron on each section for 10 seconds. It worked really well on the decorative curtains; not so well on the blackout curtains. It stuck in some spots but didn't work at all in other spots on that thick blackout fabric, so I just threw 3 safety pins in each and called it a day. They don't show behind these, anyway, so it's okay, right?
Why does anyone sew when they have this stuff???
Action shot. Side note: don't you love these curtains? I ordered them on clearance from Urban Outfitters about a year or so ago, and I think they are perfect for my room!
Putting Up the Mirror!
Okay, so this is probably what I'm most proud of so far. I picked up this mirror from HomeGoods a couple weeks ago while I was in Huntsville on vacation. I love that store! It was only $30, which I thought was a pretty good deal for the size it is. I was pretty nervous about hanging it, because I have plaster walls. If you're unfamiliar with plaster walls, they're weird. And finicky. And can crumble into bits at any given moment if you hammer a nail into them. I haven't had as many problems with mine as some people on the Internet seem to have, but they're still unpredictable, and you can't use things like normal drywall anchors to hang stuff. Also, it's nearly impossible to find a stud because there are strips of wood called lath all throughout the walls; that's what holds the plaster together. But it means you can't use the "tapping" method I used to do all the time in my previous apartments. You also can't use a fancy stud finder tool, because all that does is find wood (I think) and that doesn't work here. The best products for hanging stuff on plaster walls I've found are made by a company called Ook. The nails in these kits are SUPER DUPER sharp at the ends, so they are supposed to cause as little crumbling as possible so that they can maintain a firm hold in the wall. I went to Home Depot and found an Ook Mirror Hanging Kit for about 8 bucks or so. It claimed you could hang 9 mirrors with the supplies in the kit. Well, that's technically true if your 9 mirrors are all different styles of mirror -- it actually has an assortment of different ways to hang different types of mirrors, including clips that you would use for a frameless mirror. But it did come with two picture hanging hooks that claimed to hold 50lbs, so that's the route I decided to go with this one. The mirror had two hooks on the back, one on either side of the frame. I measured the distance between them, used Ook nails to fasten the two picture hangers on the wall, and hung the mirror! It was super quick and it feels really strong. Of course, I was still really nervous the first night, thinking surely I would be awakened with a crash, two giant holes in my wall, a broken mirror -- but it's been up for a week now and seems pretty sturdy!
That smoothie cup is not a permanent fixture on the dresser.
For some reason it is hard to capture the true finish of the mirror with the camera, but it's less brown than it looks here. I would call it pewter in color.
The next step is to finish going through all my clothes. Which seems like it is taking forever! But I already have a decent sized box filled up with things to donate. I also need to figure out a cute way to accessorize the dresser top. From what I can find online and on blogs, it seems like I'm expected have a lamp on one side and fresh flowers on the other. We'll see what I can come up with. :)
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