I Made My Bed, And I Will Lie In It!

I developed an obsession with the Stratton Bed from Pottery Barn. My dad took half a look at it and declared that $1,300 was ridiculous, and he could make it for a fraction of the cost. Welp… works for me!

Full disclosure, my original intention was to help build this thing. I wanted to use drills, and saws and hammers. Inhale saw dust. The whole nine. However, my dad beat me to the punch and had it 99% done before I even knew he started it. Thank God for early retirement.

I did a little research and found great plans from Knock Off Wood. The only catch (and there’s always a catch) I wanted the design of the twin bed, but in full size. The Queen version at PB has two openings on the side and one at the head of the bed. I wanted three down the side. Like the twin, but wider to fit a full mattress. Dad to the rescue.

Now, I’m not really a basket person so I struggled with what to use underneath. After much searching and many many country barfy baskets, I found some online at World Market that fit exactly. And at $15 a pop I might add. It’s like they were made for this. I would have broken down and bought the PB version if they sold them solo. The problem is you have to get the $1300 bed to get the dang baskets. These are actually pretty shallow but it’s fine. It’s enough to hide what’s behind, and leaves tons of storage space. It all just fell into place.

Also amazing is that the bed breaks down into pieces, which makes it easy to move. Not that I’ll be doing that anytime soon.
And remember my Brimfield find turned pillow? I lurrrrve it on here. 

I am so incredibly happy with it, I only wonder why I didn’t do it sooner. Talk about storage, I can fit an insane amount under there. I have luggage, extra linens, off season clothes and the list goes on. The Pottery Barn version is amazing, and I wish I had that much money to drop on it. But it’s pretty great to have one that was made for me, the way I wanted it.

Nighty night my little bed bugs!

I'm a Cutter

Being short on storage is a given when you live in a studio. As you may know, I camouflaged a hamper and it lives under my TV. Creativity is a must. This doesn’t bother me, but of all things, I was lacking somewhere to store my knives. Yea, they were crammed in a drawer with my silver wear, but that dulls the blades like a mofo. I decided to do something drastic.

I got a magnetic knife bar at Ikea.  When I suggested one of these when I lived with my friend Rebecca, she thought it was the scariest thing she had ever seen, but I have always sweated one, and now I have it!

Some quick notes on the install. Well, all I really want to say is that I now own a drill. Technically it’s on loan from my dad but I may just keep it. It’s an old one and when I asked if he could part with it he did say “I’m not giving you a cordless!” Whatever, baby’s first drill. WOOT!

First I put my chef’s knife on, and said a prayer that it woldn’t fall to the floor and stab me through the foot. Success! Obviously the next step was to see what kind of other stuff I could get to stick. No dice on the wine opener or microplane, but success on the garlic press, veggie peeler, and my personal favorite… the starfish wine stopper that was a favor from my friend Amber’s wedding.

This thing makes me feel like a bad ass chef.