Saturday, December 10, 2011

Feng-Shui with Ikea

When I first moved into my roommate's house, I didn't bring much with me. I had no bed and no furniture. My boyfriend had saved up some money so that I could pick out pieces from Ikea that could carry over to the future when we moved in together. I tried to be practical about what was absolutely necessary. What are the essentials?




1. A bed. I got super lucky in this case. A bed would have been the most expensive purchase of all. My roommate's king-sized bed was in the attic room that I was moving into and it was not going to fit in her new bedroom downstairs. So when her daughter was given a bunk bed set, she took the queen-sized bed that was in there before, and left the king-sized bed upstairs for me to use. She is so AMAZING~~!

2. Desk. I'll be honest. I had a feeling I wasn't going to use a desk a lot but I really felt like I needed one for a good writing surface just in case, hold my important papers, and someday have a desktop computer at. So we picked up this:
It's an awesome corner desk that I placed in my rounded turret style nook, so it didn't end up flushing nicely against the wall. But I knew that this was a desk I was going to love anywhere I may live in the future. Note... it was a pain in the butt to build.

3. Can't have a desk without a chair. I absolutely fell in love with this chair at the store but the price was steep. It was super frustrating though because I really did not like any of the other chairs at the store. The wonderful bf could see how hard it was for me to pick a chair after seeing the first one so he insisted that we just go ahead and get it. <3


It's got a super cute design and is really comfortable. My boyfriend likes it a lot too. When he gets his own chair someday though, it will definitely be manlier with black leather. I freak out on my cat every time he claws at it.

4.Dresser. The dresser I REALLY wanted was this baby:
But it was just a little steep for my budget. I do have a quasi-walk in closet so I really needed a set of drawers that would hold my underthings and basics. So I went with this instead:
It serves its purpose and I even set aside the bottom drawer for my boyfriend but the quality is definitely mediocre compared to my other purchases from Ikea. The base of one of my drawers constantly buckles out in the back and I have to pull out all my clothes to bang it pack in place.

5. TV Stand. I LOVE this TV stand I got. It's super simple and structured to work well against a wall or placed in a corner.
My boyfriend and I just replaced the old tube TV with a beautiful LG flat screen. =)

6. A full-length mirror. I suppose you could say this was a little bit of a treat as well. Ikea did have this nice one for a decent price so I felt okay splurging on it. It's mostly for checking out my outfit on the way out or something else style related but I also like to practice violin in front of a mirror to make sure my posture and position are correct.

When I first arranged the furniture in my room, I followed the set up that my roommate had. As the months progressed however, I found that I wasn't quite satisfied with the set up. I formed ideas in my mind the past few weeks about where to relocate things. So today, while my boyfriend was resting on the bed, I started moving things around. He stared at me like I lost my mind but was a real trooper when I said we needed to move the bed... and then the TV. =) I'm really pleased with the finished product and the flow of the room makes so much more sense to me now. Here are some things to think about when arranging the furniture in your room.
1. Lighting. What spots in your room get the most light and what spots get the least? I moved my vanity by the window so I could get the best light during the day and night when I put on make up. Mostly likely, you'll want your bed in a more dimmed area as well as your TV.
2. Outlet placement. In older homes (like the one I'm in), most outlets are placed in walls in a manner that makes no sense and usually there aren't enough. Thank goodness for extension cords but keep in mind how you will 'conceal' them. The sight of cords should only come from your video game console.
3. This is mostly my thing but I do not like having mirrors facing the bed. Studies show that having a reflective surface promote poor sleep quality/insomnia. Also, it's freakin' creepy.

Images found via Ikea

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