{Furniture Update}

Well, it has been a struggle, but I finally have more than just a desk in my room! The Ikea Expedit shelf that I mentioned below just would not work in my room. It was way too modern/contemporary for all my shabby and vintage pieces that I have. I ended up selling it back on Craigs List for $80, yes, that is a profit of $70 for those of you following! My Hubby said that instead of flipping houses, I was flipping shelves! hahaha

I found a decent hutch on Craigs List for $40, but it needed a good coat of paint. So, Hubby and I spent an entire Saturday sanding, painting, drying and more painting! It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. Oh, I decided to paint it purple - yes, PURPLE! It has a new lease on life now, and is so beautiful. My Hubby is so sweet to help me with it. Like I said, he sanded and painted right along side me, and also did some structural repairs to make it nice and sturdy for me. It was in good condition, but it was a tad bit wobbly. Since I am going to put my Big Shot on it, I needed it to withstand all the embossing and die cutting that I will be doing! I forgot to take pictures of it, so I'll have to show them to you later. I even have a before shot, so I can show you a comparison! :D

After putting the hutch in on the wall behind my desk, there was about 30 inches left, so I searched around, searched some more, and more, and then finally found a table that would fit there! I got this one from Target:
This is called the Country Drop Leaf Table. They claim it is distressed white, but in my opinion, it is not. There weren't any distress marks on mine at all. It is bright lacquered white to me (and easily scratched at that), but I'm over it! I was more concerned with the dimensions. It is exactly 30 inches wide on the sides that do not have the leaves. I can't tell you how hard it was to find a table with that dimension. The smallest I could find for a long time was 32 inches, which just would not work in my space. So, I was ecstatic when I found this table. The down side is that 1 of the leaves and the drawers are rendered unusable as the desk is wedged between the wall and my tall hutch. But, the plus side is that I get a 25 inch deep table that expands another 10 inches when I put up the leaf. Another bonus - when we eventually move, if I get a bigger room (here's hoping), this piece is expandable so I could potentially pop up both the leaves. The best part is that I was able to score this baby at 15% AND free shipping! Woo hoo! The original price was a bit more than I wanted to pay, but the discounts made it more bearable for me!

I also FINALLY found some black plastic Cropper Hopper Vertical Paper Storage holders, like this one:
Apparently, Cropper Hopper had discontinued the black ones (I guess making room for the new sturdier ones that they have, but at $13 each, I wanted the cheaper plastic ones) and all I could find were the frosted white ones. But, knowing that I was going to purchase white shelves, I really wanted the black paper holders. I don't really know why I had to insist on the black ones, but I did - I had to have black! Anyway, after days of searching (literally), I found some at Two Peas AND they had them on clearance! Double score! I scooped up 10 of them right away! I plan on using them for my Papertrey and patterned paper.

Finally, my latest purchase was the shelves that I had mentioned before (see here), the Madison Ladder Shelves from Target. I waited for a MONTH for these babies to get free shipping, but it hasn't happened. So, I took the 15% discount and ran with it! ;) I just ordered them today, actually - watch them have free shipping next week! hahaha I was going to try to hold out a bit more, but with all the other furniture in place, I am just ready to get my room back! I need those shelves to put my patterned paper, TV, embellishments, etc. It has been out of commission for a month! Shocking, right?! I've been going a bit nuts-o without my crafting space and I have a TON of projects that I need to work on. I think Hubby sensed this and persuaded me to stop waiting for free shipping and to just get the shelves already! I'm not sure if it was for my benefit or his, but either way, I'm just relieved to have some shelves on their way to me!

Anyway, the last piece I am holding out for is the chair. I still want the one that is also in the Madison Office collection. I think it is a bit much already, so I really need it to be both discounted and with free shipping. I have a chair that works for now, anyway. It's not cute like the rest of my room, but it'll have to do for now!

I hope to update with more pictures soon! I am crossing my fingers that my shelves will be here sooner than the May 1st-6th delivery estimate that Target is giving me!