October came whistling in over the weekend with wild winds, cold temperatures and lots of grey cloud cover. It’s COLD now. I’ve switched to my winter raincoat and a scarf is a must now. The trees are mostly losing leaves but some have turned…raggedy gold and brown. The bright red that signals autumn hasn’t struck since there haven’t been any frosty nights yet. With global warming, it may be a thing of the past here…I suspect the trees will be bare before the temps drop that low, anyway, at least at the rate the wind is whirling.
Anders is in the middle of spackeling and sanding in our bedroom; renovation in full swing! He decided against re-wallpapering, and is planning on painting the walls. We’ve decided on a medium-gray but still have to go pick out the exact shade. And he’s repainting the trim and the ceiling, as well as planning to put spotlights in, which means trading out our ceiling fan which has a lamp, for one that does not. The one we had was a pain because it was the same switch that turned it on and then 2 pull strings that controlled whether the light was on/off and whether the fan was on/off (and at which speed). It was hard, for me at least, to reach the pull strings since they were in the middle of the ceiling directly over our bed and I had to climb up on it every time to turn things on and off that weren’t on or off at the switch.
Since much of our furniture was pre-loved when we got it, and most of the furniture in our bedroom was more than 30 years old, I am not feeling super guilty about buying new stuff for once. I tend to use things until they completely wear out, or donate them to charity if we are done with them and they are still in good shape, and for once, I wanted to have something fresh and new. I’ve been scouring furniture sites looking for the items that matched the ideas in my head, for weeks, and finally was able to talk Anders into going furniture shopping with me on Saturday.
Our tastes are VERY different and it’s often a struggle to find a compromise when it comes to interior decorating. He tends toward Scandinavian design with minimalist flair and blond wood. I’m much more into antiques, dark woods and details. I had found one dresser that I absolutely loved but I knew as soon as I saw it that he’d never go for it: it was carved all over in floral patterns and the fronts of the drawers were stained in different colors. Here’s a link to it. It’s GORGEOUS, but it’s way too crazy for him. It was crazy expensive, to boot. Plus, it’s such a showpiece that you’d have to design the entire room around it. Ah well.
We went to SIX furniture stores and I had actually gone to a couple of others a few weeks ago, scouting ahead, as well as hunting online. We wanted dressers that matched, and night stands that matched, not necessarily the dressers, but at least each other. I couldn’t find ANYTHING else I really liked. At one point I made the mistake of looking at American furniture sites like Crate & Barrel and Pier 1 Imports and bummed myself out, because they had things I loved, but there was no way we could afford them OR afford the shipping (or afford the guilt for shipping on top of the buying of new stuff). I looked at used stuff too but choices were so limited and styles so wack that I gave up rather quickly.
The best night stand I found was this one: HAHAHAA Who BUYS this stuff? It has a TAIL! And a drawer! I sent the link to Martin and he immediately asked if I could order 2 extra ones for him and his roommate. 😀 Not at that price, kid!
The problem with the night stands was that we had super specific requirements and couldn’t find anything that fit all the criteria: 65cm high, at least 38cm wide, have a shelf and/or drawer under, and not have anything lower to the ground than 18cm to make room for the stupid plug outlets we have on the wall. Oh, and preferably be stylish in white with oak trim and/or top, since the dressers we found were in that color/material combo.
We found 3 different dressers at Ilva (a Danish furniture company) that we liked, and ended up making a decision the same day and ordering the winners, and then a set of (slightly different) night stands, because they were having a huge 20% off everything sale. We also ordered an upholstered storage chest from a different store to put under the window, to hold bed linens and extra pillows. I’m quite pleased with our choices and I can’t wait until everything is finished. Now, if you’ll excuse me while I go poke my husband until he gets off the couch and back to sanding.