$17 solutions, more or less.

I went to Lowe's on Wednesday and picked up about $17 worth of stuff so I could cover this gaping hole in John's bathroom wall.

When we first moved into this house, there was a large horizontal mirror across this wall that was, uh, not in keeping with our taste. When we took it down, there was this hole. So we looked for a medicine cabinet. The only one we could find fit the width, but was too short to reach the bottom. Because we were not handy, we came up with a hideous solution. Now we are crazy handy and cannot bear the thought of giant holes in our walls badly filled with ill-fitting medicine cabinets. We've evolved.


So I bought a 2x4 and had Lowe's cut it to these lengths. Then I nailed them to the studs they are next to. If I were even more handy, I would have paid a little more attention to making sure the new studs were not quite so far back in the cavity.

Because the gypsum board is set back just a little more than I wish. Yes, I bought gypsum board. You can buy 2' square sections of it, which is great for projects like this. I used a metal t-square (from my art school days) and a utility knife to cut it. Very easy. I nailed the gypsum board to my new studs.

I also picked up some self-adhesive joint tape and joint compound (I'm so glad I found the smaller tubs of it in the spackle section. I did not want to buy the giant boxes of it).

My first coat looks sort of rough, but I think I need to build up two or three layers. This morning I sanded the first layer and added the second. It's looking good. And has only cost about $17 in supplies.

On Tuesday, I picked up a 5 lb. box of Fiberfill at Hobby Lobby. With my 25% off coupon, it was a little less than $17. I used it to restuff the back cushions on my two sofas. I left the old stuff in and just added more where it had gotten compressed. I forgot to take a "before" photo, but trust me, these look sooooooo much better.

The sofas are in my den, a room that I am struggling with. It's a great room, but one without a clear focal point or style. John and I talked a bit the other night about what we like and what we don't like and I think I am leaning toward a more traditional room, but with cleaner lines. I did decide to go ahead and pick up a couple of lights for the mantle, so I browsed through the giant selection at Garden Ridge. $20 each. And I love them.

Answers.

I answered some questions in the comments of the last two posts, but just in case you missed them:

Michelle W said...Closets look great. I probably missed it from an earlier post. But where did you get all your closet shelves and rods. I have looked and can't find anything that looks this nice.

Michelle, our closet organizers were purchased at Home Depot about three years ago. Over in the closet organizing section. I think we were able to buy the middle column, shelves, rods and hardware all as one unit. I remember John and I trying to lift the boxes and they weighed about a thousand pounds each, so take a friend.


Amy @ Hope Is the Word said...Hi Marci!
I love this cabinet. Do you remember where you got it? I'm looking for something for my bathroom, and 'though I need something much skinnier, I would LOVE to have one in this style.

Amy, the cabinet was from Target, probably about 6-7 years ago. I think we got it soon after moving in here. i also saw some recently at Bed Bath and Beyond, so try checking them out too.


Liz Butler said...OK, so reading your new blog makes me want to get up and get going on some of the stuff I would like to accomplish before the baby comes. Now, if only I had half the energy and motivation you seem to have these days I'd be golden. Seriously, how do you do it?

Large quantities of Diet Coke and years of house neglect have spurred me on. Plus, once I decide I want something done, I want it done. Like, yesterday.

Score!

John's parent's were visiting yesterday and we had time to run out and do a little shopping. I wanted to find a mirror to put in John's bathroom and we looked at several places but they were all too expensive, not the right finish or too large. But we did score a new table and chairs from Garden Ridge:

I had seen this set before and liked it. It seemed sturdy, but I was a little concerned about the girls and a glass-topped table. I showed it to John and he liked it. Then we noticed it was only $99 for the whole set. Uh, yeah. We're getting it.

We didn't have space in John's car, but since they had about half a dozen, we figured we could come back later and pick it up. Which we did. And we got the next-to-the-last one. That seemed odd that they would sell so quickly, but then I saw their flyer and it was on sale for half price. No wonder.

While John made chili last night, I assembled the table. Then we both worked on the chairs and had our first meal with the set. The finish matches the lamp above it, and the round table fits the space better than the previous rectangular table. Another bonus is that both girls can always sit next to Mommy now. You would not believe the quantity of tears that have been shed over someone not being able to sit right next to Mommy because sitting across doesn't count!

I think it was a good choice.

Earlier, I found this container, which I knew I wanted to put in John's bathroom to hold his extra towels. Only $20 at TJ Maxx. Perfect.

It's also the color I want to paint the bathroom vanities. But first I want to make new door fronts for them. And that isn't going to happen this week. Because next on the list is taking down the other bathroom's wallpaper and painting the walls and ceiling ivory.

Master bedroom closet.

So we finished the closet this weekend. And I love it.

Do yourself a favor: go clear out your closet and buy some paint and paint it right now. Use a color a little darker than the room it's in and it will look bigger, deeper. Then after it dries be very selective about what you put back in it. I promise this will bring immense joy to your life.

I added my clothes to the left. I don't need much space since I don't have a work wardrobe (aside from jeans and turtlenecks). In the middle column is: purses, painting clothes, an organizer for John, linens for our bed, sweaters for me and out-of-season stuff for me. I also made room to store the ironing board, iron and supplies.

We bought a new shoe organizer for John that is tucked into the right hand side (the closet extends about 15 inches on either side past the doors). His clothes will go on the two right-hand racks.

We each have a generously sized dresser in our bedroom for the rest of our clothes. But here's where I'm going to shock you: we store all our clothes in our bedroom. Okay, I think John has one bin up in the attic with off-season, but for the most part we are rigorous about getting rid of stuff we don't like/don't wear. It can be done. If you don't love it, don't keep it.

If I did have an office job, the closet would certainly be tighter. But I think I would take the school uniform approach of only buying good pieces in a few colors to keep it simple.

We also used to have a laundry sorter in the closet. It was nice to keep it hidden, but now it is back out in our bedroom until I find a nicer one. I'd like something that can hold three different bags, but also has a lid. Anyone?

I made another best friend while painting: my $7 light. I can't believe we didn't have one of these, but we do now. It was invaluable in being able to see the upper areas for painting. John wanted to put it in our shed when we were done, but I pretty much want to carry it around with me.

One more note about closets: this is the last one that I will paint a "color". The spare room/playroom closet and the two hall closets will be painted ivory. But they will be painted. And reorganized. I cannot wait.

Another closet, another bucket of paint.

This is the master bedroom closet. And tomorrow it will be slightly darker green than the walls of the room. During the course of spackling the walls, we noticed that half of our breaker box (which is located on the left side wall) was not actually attached to anything. John dug around in his random collection of screws and was able to secure it. He also took out a lower rod that was loose, which will make painting easier, and he'll be able to reattach the rod so that it's stronger. And of course we will carefully go through our stuff before we put it back in. I'm all about reducing the amount of crap we have.

Ta-da!

This is one purple closet. If you stare at it too long, you get spots on your eyes.

But the girls love it and I do, too. Because it is so much more organized now. I used to have two laundry baskets and four large bins with off-season and next-size-up clothes. By hanging up some stuff and making the girls go through the clothes to weed out what they don't like, I'm now down to one bin per girl. I took out one clothes basket because they rarely used both.

I hung Margret's stuff on the left, above. She also uses that hanging organizer for her school clothes that we pick out each week. Audrey's off-season stuff is on the upper right. Her winter dresses are on the lower right, along with her and Margret's sweaters and jackets. These used to be in the dining room, in a big basket which was always a mess.

The upper right shelf has some uniforms for Audrey in the fall. I need a container for them. And the middle column full of pink Bed, Bath and Beyond bins has been reorganized. Extra shoes that get passed down to Audrey are at the very top. I made her go through and take out anything she doesn't want. Next is linens for their beds. I like to store sheets in the room where they are going to be used. One more bin down is swimming gear. And next is Margret's school uniform stuff (where we pull from to pick out her clothes for the week).

The last two bins are pajamas for each of the girls. They share a dresser and it was just getting too full. I had to stack clothes on top, which looks totally crappy. So I took the jammies out and they love having easier access to them. I love that their dresser drawers can close. I am determined to make their room look good again. At least for fifteen minutes at a time.

My next victim.

Uh, I mean my next project. This is the girls' closet. A few years back John replaced the cheap white wire organizers from the previous owners with these. He did all three bedroom closets and I love them. I have large canvas bins from Bed, Bath and Beyond that go in most of the cubbies. It greatly increases our storage space.

Also a few years back, I painted the girls' room with whimsical fairies, inspired by some fairy princess bedding I picked up at Target. This room is very, very pink. And we're keeping it.

I decided to let the girls choose the color for the inside of the closet. Being girls, they chose purple. The purple of this fairy's shirt. I thought I had an old paint can so I could have Lowe's match it, but do you remember my post that mentioned the great laundry room shelf crash of 2005? I may have lost the can then, or it may have been one of the colors I mixed from some of the other colors. Anyhoo.

Audrey and I went to Lowe's this morning to grab a bunch of paint chips so we could come home and match it. And darn if Audrey didn't nail it on the first shot. She latched on to one of the strips and pronounced it the color. When we got home, it was dead on. It's good to know I have passed on my mad color skillz.

Tomorrow, when the kids are both at school I'll tackle the painting. I'm thinking two coats. It's really purple. Most importantly, the girls and I will go through all of the stuff that came out of the closet and be very selective about what goes back in. It's the only way to live in a 1940s ranch house.

Archeological find.

This afternoon I picked up new outlet covers for John's bathroom, and I figured I might well buy new covers for the other bathroom too (Dad, you'll be replacing the receptacles on your next visit). The master bath ones went on with no problem, but I was quite surprised to find this wallpaper in the main bath when I took off the cover.

When we moved in, this bathroom was painted two shades of yellow (neither of which match the three shades of yellow tile in the room) and I've never done anything to it. I was surprised it was there, and also surprised it wasn't totally, completely hideous, like other stuff I've found. Alas, it will have to go. I'm still sorting out my plans for this room and wallpaper is not making the list.

Up next: the master bathroom.

I still have odds and ends to finish up in the kitchen, but on Sunday I decided to move on to the next room. The original plan was to move out from the kitchen into the dining room and den, which primarily need painting and minor touch-ups. But I still haven't figured out paint colors and John made some disparaging remark about his bathroom (which is also the master bathroom) so I decided to switch gears and work on that room instead. Plus, I fall asleep every night thinking about how to upgrade the main bathroom, so baths are on my mind a lot.

First let me say that there is nothing master about the size of this room. It has a decent sized shower, but the rest of the room measures 4' x 5 1/2'. That is not a typo.

But it's in pretty good shape and the tile is not some weird, hideous combination. So it's workable. While John watched football, I scraped off the wallpaper border (my fault -- I put it up after we moved in. And it just didn't work.) and patched the walls and ceiling. I painted the ceiling the same white as the kitchen and it only needed one coat. I also took a razor blade and scraped off years of paint flecks off the tiles, and I caulked all around where the tile meets the wall. Much better.

This morning I rolled on a coat of green that is slightly darker than the color that was in there and slightly lighter than our bedroom walls. I'll do a second coat a bit later today.

Meanwhile I'm thinking of what to do with the monstrosity of a medicine cabinet. When we first moved in, the previous owners had a large mirror across this wall. When we took it down, there was a spot carved out for a medicine cabinet. So we went looking. And could find nothing that fit the measurements of the space left in the drywall. We picked up this little beauty cheap and rigged up that fabulous board at the bottom to cover up the space. Awesome.

But now I watch HGTV obsessively and this solution no longer works for me. I started researching medicine cabinets and holy frig! Why does a nice one cost $300? I think I will look for a mirror to hang there. After I fix the drywall. Because frankly, I'm itching to mud some drywall right now. I did okay with the tiling, right?

Coming up: what should I do with the bathroom vanity?

Almost done!

It looks crookedy here, but it's really not. I finished grouting the tile on Sunday and added caulk along the edges this morning. I love it. I still need to touch up the paint on the outer edges and seal the grout. Probably tomorrow.

While I was tiling, John added a key hook for the back door. We used to have a nail up there. The hook looks so much nicer. We keep a key next to all of our exit doors, in case of emergency. It's also extremely handy to not have to go get your key ring whenever someone comes to the door.

John also added a nicer hook to the laundry room for my aprons. I picked out oil-rubbed bronze hooks because that's the same finish as our light fixture and cabinet knobs.

This is how my recipes used to look: a too-small binder and a bunch of loose sheets. I sat in bed Friday night and went through the binder to pull out things I know I won't make. I moved everything to a much larger binder and added in the recipes I've printed/cut out over the years.

Now they are all in one place, neatly organized. Maybe deciding what to make for dinner won't freak me out as much.

Here's a close-up of the binder. I've used these categories for years and they have worked well for us. Here's the list:

• Appetizers
• Soups
• Salads
• Breads
• Chicken/Turkey
• Beef
  
• Pork
• Seafood
• Side dishes
• Desserts
• Beverages
• Wine info
• Pasta
• Misc
• Reference
  

Would anyone like to guess which section is the biggest?

I also picked up two white step stools at Target. I think they are for the bathroom, but my little girls are getting too tall to stand on chairs when they work in the kitchen now. They are also useful for mommies who can't reach the high shelves when daddies aren't home.

Sneak peek.

We've been working in the kitchen again.

Here's a sneak peek at my new tile backsplash. It goes down behind the stove to roughly the beginning of the counter. The mastic needs to dry for 24 hours, so I'll do the grouting tomorrow. I also bought grout sealer because I figured the grout would stay cleaner with it sealed. Am I right about that?

I also tackled the phone jack. I got rid of that weird circle thing, cut a channel straight up and taped the jack out of my way. I have not disconnected any wires. Then I used a drywall repair kit which is essentially a piece of mesh with adhesive on the back. You attach it, spackle over it (I love this Dap spackle -- it goes on pink and turns white when it is completely dry), sand and repaint. After that I'll reposition the jack and get it back on the wall.

I also did a little more caulking and paint touch-ups. John added some hooks in places I wanted hooks. I keep thinking that these are the last of the projects, but then I go back and check my list and see that I still want to replace two light fixtures, buy a rug, buy a round table and chairs, put a curtain on the back door and paint the trim. But I do think I'm done enough to move on to the next room. I'll announce my plans in the next few days...

Duh!

I re-read Sharon's question and she wasn't asking about cabinet pulls -- she was asking about cabinet pull-outs. She wants to get to the things in the back of her shelves/cabinets more easily. So I did some more research. I did see chrome ones at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Here's more:

Shelves That Slide
Kitchen Source
Organize It
Kitchen Shelves

It looks like there are tons of options out there. Good luck, Sharon!

Cabinet pulls.

Sharon asked in the comments about cabinet pulls. I found my kitchen knobs first at Lowe's, where they were well over $3 each. I bought one there, and since we had the name of the manufacturer and the style, John and I raced on different computers to try to find the best price. He ended up winning by a few pennies. I think technically his cost more per knob but the site he found had free shipping. We ordered 40 (a few more than we needed) for about $80.

I don't remember the name of the site, but here are a few to get you started:
Cool Knobs and Pulls
My Knobs
Knobs and Hardware
Kitchen Knobs
Knob Depot

But keep in mind that if you find something you like locally, you can always try to find it online. That also works if you can't get the quantity you want locally. Know any other sources? Please leave them in the comments.

Success!

Remember this? I tried Magic Eraser -- no luck. Then I checked the American Standard website and saw that they recommend using glass cooktop cleaner. I also have a glass cooktop so I need the cleaner anyway. And guess what? It worked! I'm happy and John is thrilled.

Thanks so much...

...for the bathroom ideas. I'm looking into reglazing the tub and tiles (everything is in good shape; there's just too much yellow). If I can bring the cost way down, I could make it happen now, instead of in a year or two. And I would be so happy to have a pretty bathroom now. (Oh, Donna, when I mentioned yellow/gold in the floor I meant something that looks like marble or stone but leans toward yellow hues. Nothing strong at all.).

And that just makes me want to point out that you never know what can happen when you put stuff in writing. The mere act of me thinking out loud on this blog attracted your comments which made me think in a new, beneficial way. How great is that?

Is there something you need help with? Feel free to use the comments. You never know what you'll get back.

Bathroom design.

My obsessive-compulsive watching of design shows on tv has me thinking about our two bathrooms. The majority of my work in the house will be cosmetic. But now, the bathrooms seem to be important for the future, when we decided to sell (don't freak. We have no plans for that right now). We have a 3/4 bath off our bedroom that is an easy fix. I just need a new vanity (preferably dark wood, like walnut) with a white sink. I think we could reuse the same faucet as it is fairly new. I need to pull down a border and paint the ceiling and walls. There is tile, but it's blue and white and completely workable as far as color scheme. I'd pull out the old, ill-fitting medicine cabinet and hang a mirror instead.

The main bathroom is the big eyesore. Lots of yellow tile. Lots. And a yellow bathtub. Eww. So I would need to replace the bathtub and I would also redo the vanity (same as above) and get a new toilet. All the tile would need to come down. Did I mention the not-quite-matching yellow tile floor? It's gotta go too. I'd put in a new tile floor, something with a bit of yellow/gold hues. All fixtures would be white. The walls would be a light gray/blue. And here's the genius part: there is a closet with a door tucked into one corner. I would completely open that up and add a floor-to-ceiling walnut cabinet there. It would be stunning and I think the bathroom would feel a little bigger.

But alas, watching home shows is dangerous because all those changes don't sound cheap, do they? Unless a pot of money falls from the sky, we will probably wait until we are close to selling and do a home equity loan and get it done. It will surely add equity to the house and be worth it. In the meantime, I'm going to dream about it for a while...

Let me know if you've redone a bathroom and what it was like.

Help: phone jack.

Meet my kitchen phone jack. It has always been wobbly and too low, so I decided to take a peek. Ugh. That wallpaper. I would be nauseous if I had to eat surrounded by that wallpaper.

Ah, there is no actual drywall for the bottom screw to screw into. That explains a lot. Of course, I have a plan. I'd like to cut a thin line in the wall and raise up the jack as high as it will go, probably three or four inches based on the length of the attached wires.

I have no idea what that circular thing is, other than some sort of device meant to make my wall lumpy. I will remove it.

The reason for cutting into the wall is so I don't have to undo all these little wires. I'm sure I could do it, but why risk it? Just cut, move up, screw into drywall, reattach phone, repair lower wall. This is on my list for this weekend. I've been messing up and cleaning up my kitchen so frequently that I need a small break. But I'll be sure to show you my progress with the top of my pantry and the tiling behind the stove.

Help: tiling.

I found this gorgeous sheet of tile at Lowe's for about $3 a sheet and bought two, with the thought of making a backsplash behind my stove. I also picked up a sheet of navy blue tiles to perhaps use as a border on either side.

Now, I've never tiled before. But this isn't a very large space and it can't be that hard, right? So please let me know your best tiling tips. Especially any thoughts about finishing off the edges. My dad mentioned tiles that have a curved surface on one end, but I'm thinking maybe just a bead of caulk on the ends. Only the left and right sides will show. And because this is such a simple project, I won't have to cut any tiles. I'll just fill in as evenly as possible.

Laundry room: before and after.

This is what my laundry room looked like Saturday morning. It's not exactly a room -- more like an alcove. But it was looking pretty dingy next to my beautiful kitchen and needed some attention.

John and I painted it Valspar Watercolor Blue (eggshell) after we did some touch-up spackling. We left the shelves up and painted around them. A few years ago, the wooden cabinets that were up there fell, around 11p one night, sending all the contents flying out onto the kitchen floor. Did I mention that I use to store paint on those old cabinets? We were up to about 3a cleaning it all up. When the cabinets fell, they were still wedged into the wall. We had to take them apart to get them out and we discovered that someone had put them up with six screws, none of them in studs. It is truly amazing that they stayed up as long as they did.

Anyhow, after that John installed these shelves, which I love much more than cabinets anyway. And since that area is a little sketchy structurally, I would have worried about the shelves' stability if we had taken them down and put them back up. Besides. It's just a laundry room.

To make things simple, we also painted the ceiling blue. We were able to pull the dryer out and paint all the way to the floor. I was concerned (worried) that maybe we should not move the washer. But I was able to turn it as much as I needed to paint all around it too. We noticed that the dryer vent was torn on one end, so we picked up a new one and I was able to install it this morning. My first dryer vent. I know my dad will be so proud.

Here's the whole area, with laundry supplies on the bottom shelf. Those three white bins are for random laundry, like the cloth napkins we use or the spare sock that gets dropped far from a laundry basket. I have ones for whites, colors and darks.

The second shelf has cleaning supplies and paper towels. I used to use this area for food storage, but with the new kitchen I don't have to use this area. Part of my plan for the this house is to rethink storage. We actually have a good deal of closet space. I just don't think I've used it well. I've already started by consolidating cleaning stuff here.

The top shelf will have our games. I like keeping them in the kitchen because we are most likely to play on the kitchen table. Just saves a little time. And they are high up so the girls can't drag them out and leave pieces everywhere.

In a few more minutes, I'll post about one of my next projects.

I am master of the caulk.

Dang. I have been busy. In addition to Margret being home sick for two days, I decided to tackle some kitchen painting. This is how the room has looked:

Due to my obsessive HGTV/DIY watching, I picked up a tip about protecting your floors during painting. I have cork floors and I was nervous about dripping paint on them, so I taped down contractor's paper over the entire surface. It took a while to do, but it was well worth it.

This is how the kitchen looks today. I painted the ceiling and added a second coat of green to the walls. It's hard to photograph a ceiling, but here's one shot:

It's a smooth plaster ceiling and it was slightly damaged during cabinet installation, so I knew I was going to have to paint it. The original color was a little darker and I wanted to brighten things up, so I picked Valspar Polished Ivory in satin finish. I've never painted a ceiling before and it was freakin' hard. I rolled on two coats (with about two hours drying time in between) then cut in with a paint brush around the edges. It was completely worth the effort because it looks so fresh now.

Before I did the painting, I made some repairs. Remember this?


Now it looks like this:
I bought some unfinished molding (you can pretty much assume everything I buy is from Lowe's) and cut it to fit the areas between the cabinets and walls. I only had a tiny little hacksaw but it worked. I also got a wood chisel so I could chisel out the cove molding at the top and slide the new molding in. That was totally freakin' hard. I ended up knocking down one section of cove molding and John and I had a difficult time getting it back up. I dearly wished for a nail gun, but suffered through with a hammer and a lot of determination.

After I cut the new molding, I added a coat of green paint. This was my solution for integrating the molding and cabinetry. I was able to caulk on either side to completely eliminate cracks. In between coats of paint on the ceiling, I added another coat of green to the walls and covered up some of the caulk (make sure you get paintable caulk for a project like this). I'm fine with leaving some caulk lines visible along the cabinets.

I'm still working on this area below. I'm using spackle to build up the gap between the top of the pantry and the ceiling. Later I'll sand it down and paint to match the ceiling. I realize that this may not be the best solution: settling may cause additional cracks down the road, but I just couldn't leave that giant gap.


Now, let's get back to caulking. In a previous post I mentioned my fear of caulking. My one experience had been caulking our barn before painting it and I was spectacularly bad at it. After doing some reading, I've discovered that you need three things to successfully caulk:
1. a quality caulk gun
2. a caulk smoothing tool
3. time

Let me tell you: I totally rock the caulk now. I spent about $14 on this gun, a Z-Pro Acu-Vac. It has a mechanism that sucks a little caulk back in whenever you release the trigger. So when you want to stop caulking, you actually stop caulking. This saves countless hours and much aggravation. I also picked up a few caulk caps. They may not prevent the caulk from drying out eventually, but I know it'll stay fresh for a few days.

And here is my new best friend: the caulk smoothing tool. After you run a bead of caulk, you drag this tool along it and it smooths the caulk and removes any excess. Your caulk will look awesome after using it. This thing only costs a few bucks but I would pay dozens of dollars for it. It's that special to me.


The last thing you need is time. Take your time. Even if you have a tight deadline, just act like you have all the time in the world. Go slow. Breathe. Hold the gun steady and push it away from you, leaving a trail of caulk behind. That will help push the caulk into the crack and make a good seal. Pull the smoothing tool across the caulk. And you will get something that looks like:


I know. I am so awesome now.

New post coming.

Quick update #1: bleach is not working on my sink scuff marks. More research required.

Quick update #2: I have spent a ton of time in the kitchen and I'll have some photos and tips for you later today.

Quick update #3: watching HGTV and DIY Network in bulk has made me want every product that Billy Mays sells. And all those DR products.

Help: scuff on composite sink.

While I was away, John got rather frustrated with one of my baking sheets. See exhibit A below.

He was scrubbing it in our composite sink, and after he finished mauling it, he realized he scuffed up the sink surface. I don't think these are scratches. I've been doing a little research and I'm going to try some bleach first. Any ideas out there?

I'm back.

My plan continues to be to work on my house one room at a time before moving on to the next room. But occasionally I find myself tinkering in another space, ahead of schedule. I'm sure that will continue. Last week I decided to switch bedside tables in our bedroom. I love both these tables: the pine one belonged to my mother's family and I bought the painted one from the Pottery Barn outlet specifically for John.

In looking at the room I realized my side of the bed (the left) looked too weighted down with the pine table. Plus I had just moved a chair away from John's side, giving lots of room on that side. A simple switch of tables balanced out the visual weight. And we both still have room for all the reading materials we never read.