Doggone Crazy, I think

There are so many stories that go along with my trips to ikea (oddly, I know), so after spending the weekend shopping for things to pull a look together for the house, I'm kinda pooped so here's just one of the things I needed (pronounced "gave in to commercialism full strength, unabashedly, and pitifully") to get was these hooks for the dog leashes.

See? How could I say no? They MATCHED THEIR LEASHES AND COLLARS. It was totally destiny.


Now don't the dogs look happier now? It must be so much less stressful for them to know your leash is hanging on a dog bum that matches your collar and leash, isn't it boys!


(I think that's a yes, in case you're wondering. It certainly isn't a "for the love of God woman, we know you have cookies in your hand, will you just put that stupid flashey thing down and FORK THEM OVER! NOW!" No, they're definitely not saying that.)

Ikea: Swedish for "out of stock"

After several dreary days, I decided some retail therapy was in order.

I don't think I've ever posted a picture of our kitchen, and since it's a wee bit messy right now, I'll just post a picture of it when we were house hunting.

What you can't see is that you have to yank drawers ope (because they're plywood drawers on a plywood frame with no track) and slam them closed. It's a workout I'm really looking forward to ending.

we have a stainless steel stove, and our microwave is
on an unfinished wood table opposite here

The fridge is at the other end of the window here, outside the picture.

Since this is our starter house (it's under 1000 square feet) we're not going to re-do the floor, we'll just work with it. Our kitchen is highly lacking in functionality, and storage space, and I love cooking, so I definitely want to change it. As it stands right now it's a galley kitchen with a fridge and microwave on an unfinished table on the opposite wall.

The last few days we've been toying with the Ikea kitchen planner and re-configuring our current setup to see how much more counter space we can muster. So far, I think Dave's come up with a genius plan (though I have to say it was my idea to move the fridge)

So, here's the plan:

The view from above. The right of the picture goes to our front hall (no door),
the top left door frame goes to the dining room and
the bottom right one to the basement and side door.

The south wall (with stainless fridge, and stove,
and white dishwasher. Can't win 'em all).

Looking north from our dining room. I'm especially excited about having a shelf
beside the window that I could grow herbs on! (assuming I don't kill them!)
The dog/cat treat jars will go on the open shelf and we'll have prep area! Awesome!

OOoh I'm so excited! I think I'll get up bright and early tomorrow to check out tile samples at Home Depot to see what we can find! Go backsplash! Hah I'm such a geek. After that we just have to figure out the counter top and voila!


P.S. Why is it when you have baby fever that there seems to be some sort of "pretty pregnant women" convention going on at Ikea. You couldn't turn around without seeing one tonight. I just kept my head down and drank my stupid lingeonberry juice (which I now think would be FANTASTIC with vodka).