last time i posted about our kitchen, it looked really really bad. i don’t know who these people are that only need four cabinets, but i am not them people. as you can see from the photo, it looks like they went the cheap way with it and said it looked enough like a kitchen with the one wall cabinet and saved the money and left.

but here it is now! stuff everywhere!

in order to do shelving across the whole wall AND the corner and small wall on the side, we didn’t know how to go about it for cheap. we considered getting wood cut but the price and math and thickness worked out that we went with ikea lack shelves.

because of the weird lengths of our walls and ikeas three size options, we used three 74 3/4″ long lack shelves and six 11 3/4″ long lack shelves. meaning we had to use two tiny shelves instead of medium sized on the other wall.

here is the only process shot. it was a nightmare getting these to line up.

because the mounting hardware for the lack shelf is hidden in the back, it’s a matter of lining up the hardware versus where the shelf actually sits. so basically it’s too hard for the normal civilian. there was a lot of swearing happening.

where they all meet is good, it’s not perfect at all. i’m used to it now, but looking at these photos makes me cringe a tiny bit.

we were freaking out for the first few days that they’d just collapse so we put a couple of hopefully invisible brackets on the long shelves and painted them white.

and if there’s an earthquake, we’re fucked. i mean. when there’s an earthquake. ugh.

until then, i’m super happy.

yeah, those corners need some fixing.

also, where the hell do i put that gross microwave? i don’t feel like buying a new one. where do people put microwaves?!

As is our life, we’ve been still trying to figure out what to do about our living room and that damn door. I got really sick of the huge painting being right above our couch so I decided on a new plan… can you tell what that is? I’ll reveal it soon. To go with the new look of the room and to embrace my new love of colors, the entry table needed to pop a little more.

And then my weekend of painting the entry table three times to completion began.

I started with this crazy idea that I would paint it this totally not-me color, a purple-y pink color. (it’s behr raspberry pudding) What the hell was I thinking?! The second I dropped the paintbrush I knew it wasn’t right. And I wasted $15 and two hours for nothing. GUH.

Then I decided on a coral color. (behr wet coral, the same paint I used on the rast interior) Wow. What a shitty idea. But I was determined to live with my mistake. So I brought it into the living room and stared at it for an hour.

The color is really kinda cool, but it just didn’t work. Remember how I said I was painting our office navy? I decided not to. btw – I have pretty much finished our office. It’s also coming soon.

Oh hey look at that white couch! CUTE!

Anyway, we had bought this last color with the intention of painting the office and I thought it was my only option to save money and a 45th trip to home depot. (behr underwater)

Now you would think I would have to sand this thing like crazy. I repainted it the day I bought it so that makes it four layers of paint at least. And of course I tried. And gave up within 5 minutes. If I paint it again, I will definitely have to get rid of some of the layers because it’s really thick, but you just need paint with primer and you can ignore that.

It’s a pretty good color, way more me but still incorporates a little more color into the room. So whatchu think?

OH MY. Is that a fake plant sitting there? I guess I was serious about that huh…

It basically looks real! Basically. Also, that’s a smock paper box. My most exciting purchase with a coupon at the art store. And a photograph of two children in awesome costumes that I don’t know that has been with me in almost every apartment I’ve lived in.

OH HEY NICE COLOR!

By the time I am posting this diy, the kittens have outgrown this lovely litterbox I made for them. Jerks.

Anyway, I bought the smallest litterbox the pet store had in this ugly beige. And a white shovel for it. Well they weren’t very cute at all! So I decided to spray paint both. I spray painted the shovel with a brass spray paint.

Could something that picks up poop look any fancier? I think not.

Then I drew this pattern with a sharpie. It was so ugly. So I spray painted it AGAIN and started drawing again.

Much better! What an adorable place to take poops!

Yet another thing we bought for our house that I haven’t been super happy with was the sconces for our bedroom. The reason was the shades that they came with, which I could never find the right size to replace them with. Buying lamp shades online seems way too confusing.

Ugly before? As hipster as it is, I really like exposed edison bulbs, so decided to just buy the bulbs and remove the shade. I’m so so happy with them now. And because the wattage on them looks much darker than of a normal light bulb, our room has become a dark romantic dungeon. OOooooooo!

You know that exciting time when you move in with your dream man and everything is so fun and exciting and picking out (and agreeing on) things is such a thrill? And then later on you realize that maybe you chose things because you chose them together and maybe you know better than your boyfriend.

Anyway, we took foreeeeever to pick out dining chairs. And when he actually liked some chairs, I was like yeah ok you like them I like them too. And then we took them home and I was like ugh.

But after months of me complaining, we sold them and got new ones! We went with black wishbone chairs. What a difference.

We also switched the position of the table. Doesn’t this look better?! And omg – our built in really looked pink before.

OOOOOOOOOOO. These chairs are such an improvement!