I am still suffering from low blood sugar from my recent visit to Ikea, wherein I drove 600 miles and

1. came back without a sofa 2. bought the wrong size Expedit, which I have to keep now, because 3. I paid nearly as much for the delivery as my purchases. I did buy some pretty good looking table legs which are useless on my failed d.i.y. desk, photos of that hot mess will be forthcoming. Do as I say not as I do. So with that little spiel out of the way I thought this new design from the talented Shanna Murray was the perfect sentiment to lift my spirits on this Monday morn and let you know how much you mean to me.  I shall return soon once I stop feeling so sorry for myself and my design (or lack thereof) disasters.

One of the best investments we made for this cross country journey was a GPS device. My husband and I both wonder how people survived before they were invented. A map? Stop and ask for directions? Stars? Firstly, I can never read a map while the car is moving that’s instant nausea. Secondly, my husband would rather end up at the tip of Tasmania on a precipice two inches over hanging the ocean before he would ever ask directions and even then he would be convinced we were going in the general correct direction. He did some research on GPS devices before we purchased the Garmin which is a good thing because that sounds about as exciting as watching paint dry to me. The drive cross country we used the factory default voice and when we got to North Carolina my husband announced we could change voices and would I prefer an English accent?  I said, ‘of course’. Who doesn’t want to be directed by an English accent? It would sound so educated and thus couldn’t guide me into some remote forest to be hacked up by a rogue Yeti/Axe murderer. Being the non-techy guy he is he set it to English but another voice came up instead, he said that her voice was called ‘Michelle’.  I don’t know if he made that up but I have just gone with it.  Michelle has a bit of an attitude, it’s almost as if she is mocking me, “Duh, turn right here, right now.” Whenever I plug in my destination address Michelle always chooses the scenic route and the longest way possible.  I have tried to hit her ‘detour’ option but basically that takes me in circles until she gets her way.  Yesterday when I drove the 2.5 hours to Ikea (idiot) she took me through some of the loveliest backwoods you ever did see.  If I wasn’t by myself and the only one on the road for 116 miles I may have enjoyed it a bit more.  Even with all her foibles I am still grateful to have her around, she hasn’t let me down once in delivering me to my destination and she can even find a local Starbuck’s or mall if so desired.  I wish she could find some awesome Thrift stores but she’s not that good yet. One day….Happy weekend everyone!

P.S. This was taken at the Raleigh Farmer’s Market, it’s HUGE and is open 7 days a week!

I am driving over 300 miles tomorrow, well 600 if you count the way back to go to the mecca known as Ikea (that’s over 4 hours). I have been to 15 furniture stores in my immediate area and the choices have been less than pretty and expensive for f-ugly.  I considered ordering on line, really I did, the trek there just thinking about it makes my stomach do flip flops, but living without a sofa, desk or book cases is just as anxiety producing.  If I knew I wouldn’t be able to get a sofa for under $800 in my ‘hood, I wouldn’t have sold the much regretted sectional we had.  I actually needed to sell that thing, my husband wouldn’t share the chaise part–ever.  I told him just because he was so selfish I would never get another sectional again. If you have a chaise lounge addition no one wants to ever sit on the ‘regular’ sofa part, why would you when you can sprawl out on the chaise?  My budget is practically nil since the movers charged nearly double of their estimate. With this non-existent budget I need to get a sofa, desk and some shelving.  I looked on line and wanted so many other sofas, but alas with shipping it was not a possibility. I showed my husband this sofa (drool) and he responded, ‘looks uncomfortable’. It’s true it doesn’t look comfortable but I still love it. I couldn’t afford it anyway, not with everything else I need. I know I need a dining table as well, but I signed up for a wood working class for that (desperate measures y’all). I have talked myself into the Kivik sofa, armless. I need to go to Ikea to see if the armless version is a pipe dream. I love the Bemz urban slipcovers in linen–LOVE, but so not in the budget, but if it’s in yours and you own an Ikea sofa I think you should take a look. This image is from the now defunct Blueprint magazine featuring photographer Amy Neunsinger’s former home, I’ve always loved this rooms beautiful tones and that I could pretty much reproduce it via my local (or not so local) Ikea. My floors are a dark chestnut so obviously I am not going to get this Swedish meets California blissfulness. I figured that for the summer I was going to go for a vintage camp/lakeside retreat. What?  I am thinking natural elements, wood (perhaps some arrows or an oar?), layered rugs for texture and some industrial elements thrown in. My husband saw a vintage Red Cross flag and loved it, but it sold so I am going to try to find another worn flag for him, maybe. I know this sounds like the polar opposite of this inspiration room but I need to work with what I have here and besides I doubt he would ever allow me to bring in blush elements (sigh). If you have another on line sofa purveyor before I leave for my trek please let me know, if not wish me luck!

I have been watching the weather like it’s a bad reality TV show. I have it set on my Iphone for updates every hour, it gives me a sense of control to know what to expect. Today the little cartoon next to the weather reading was of a partially cloudy sky, I scrolled through the 24 hours and not a cartoon rain cloud in sight. I thought I was getting better at predicting a storm, the sky darkens, gray clouds roll in and voila the sky opens up and it rains. Today it was blue skies, fluffy white clouds and birds chirping away happily.  So how did it get from that to the scene above?  Beats the heck out of me.  This was taken from my front door, the white fog looking stuff is the sheer volume of downpour and the velocity in which it is smacking the asphalt. Are you serious?  I’ve been in the eye of a hurricane before and it didn’t rain like this. No one mentioned this crazy weather prior to us moving here, not that I mind it (for now), but I do like to be a little more prepared. The upside of all this rain is that I don’t have to water my garden. Speaking of garden I am the proud new owner of a butterfly bush. It’s amazing, it smells like lilac and truly does attract butterflies (and bee’s, oh and moths too), but let’s concentrate on the butterflies. It’s been blooming like mad and the butterflies think it’s manna from heaven. I never saw these on the West Coast so maybe it’s just an East coast bloom? If you have room in your garden and love butterflies you need to run out and get one of these, it won’t disappoint, pinky promise.

We have had a bunch of rogue thunderstorms here (even though it’s been hotter than Hedes) the result is the pond outside my back door starts to smoke. In a word? Rad. I am trying to anticipate these storms better since I have been building shelves for my studio on the deck (not having a garage and all), word of advice? If you have a garage use it, a deck makes for havoc with things like varnish and wind (remember I live next to a forest? Forest equals pine needles and things). I also have to be aware of these random showers and pull everything indoors. When I mentioned to mu husband that I was going to build a TV stand next, I think the horror in my husbands eyes was telling, but he just blurted out, “When are you going to have time you have been working on those shelves forever.”  Seriously, I am up against the elements fella, Rome wasn’t built in a day and so what if my shelves are taking 3 weeks, 2 days and 12 hours longer than anticipated? The shelves, oh how I wish I could begin to let you know about this project. It would have cost about 30 times less if I bought this similar one and had it overnighted, but alas I tried. I am trying to rationalize that mine are built for my space, it’s horizontal versus vertical, etc. I am not making myself feel better, I am feeling a tad defeated by this diy. At this juncture the only choice is for the show to go on, so I am going to make these million dollar shelves work if it kills me and if I get caught in a storm on the deck with the metal poles it just may!

P.S. I used these amazing (and affordable) Photoshop actions from K.Miller for these shots.  I love her actions I think they are the best ones out there for truly emulating a film effect, she’s a film photographer so she really has it locked down. You can check them out here.