Scrap Room Part 2: Somewhere in Between

I really did not mean for it to be almost a week between posts. In fact, I took these photos last Tuesday as I was assembling the Expedit and had every intention of posting them on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, Wednesday night was when I started to get sick. It was either a cold or allergies, but either way the effect was the same. While I've still accomplished many things I needed to get done, some little things (like cleaning the bathroom and blogging) have sort of gone by the wayside. Now that I'm better, I'm catching up on things. Starting with blogging, because the bathroom can wait. :)

So, first up is the assembly of the Expedit. Honestly, I was pretty nervous about this because I've read all kinds of horror stories about trying to put these things together. I actually had very little trouble with it- the only things I needed help with were tightening the screws at the end (it just required more force than I could apply) and standing the thing up against the wall when it was through.

It was basically just a long session of knocking wooden pegs into holes with a rubber mallet, putting in the shelf dividers, putting in the long shelf, and then repeating for the next row. The process was made very simple by two very important pieces of advice that I gleaned from an IKEA forum. First, DO NOT tighten the screws at the corners all the way until all of the shelves and all of the sides are lined up and attached- otherwise you'll never get them lined up all the way. Second, knock the pegs ALL THE WAY into the holes as far as they will go. I promise, they will stop when they are supposed to.

A little under an hour and a half after I started, I had this to show for my efforts. I even had time to go to the gym afterward. :)

Now that the shelves and my desk are together, I'm ready to go to the next stage and start decorating and organizing. The Expedit really takes care of most of the organizing. It's on the wall that's behind me when I sit at my desk and so very easy to get to. I imagine it will take some time to get everything in, though. My plan is for it to hold all my completed and in-progress albums, paper, idea books, magazines, and some tools and embellishments.

The decorating is going to be the really fun part. First, I really want to do this with the tissue paper pom-poms and paper lanterns over the desk. Photo credit to Design*Sponge, where I found the idea.

I love the paper garland they have mixed in with it, too, though I plan to make one more like the photo below, also from Design*Sponge. I have the punches and tons of scraps to use up, so it should be easy and fun!


I also toyed with the idea of doing this with the top of my desk and laying a large piece of glass over it, but I think that I actually want to keep that surface white so I won't have distracting colors underneath whatever I'm working on.

I also thought of making one of these (scroll down for the pinboard) to hang on the wall, but the way things are going right now I may not have much wall space to play with. I'm hanging a lot of artwork and things from my previous house, so it's filling up quickly.

And since this room is also the guest room (at some point soon I need to move the bed in and paint it white), I would love to make one of the little DIY chandelier lamps at the bottom of this post. Again, it all depends on wall space. I don't want it to get crowded in this room at all.

Oh, and yes, Mom, the room is painted my new favorite wall color- Sandstone Cove by Behr (from Home Depot). :-) The whole house is actually slowly being changed to that color. Every room is decorated a little differently, but it plays well with pretty much any color scheme.