What to do when the wedding projects are over

I've posted in the past about my extreme NEED for some major decluttering around the house, and with the wedding behind us, I've been working on finally making this vision a reality. Whether it be a sudden urge to make my house feel more open and serene, or the fact that I simply can't sit still for more than 10 minutes at a time, I've spent pretty much every waking minute of every evening since the wedding trying to make my house a perfect example of "a place for everything, and everything in it's place." While I know for a fact that Dan thinks I just need to chill out and relax for awhile, the lack of wedding projects has left me antsy... so my attention has been turned to our home!

We spent a huge chunk of time clearing out old dishes and kitchen odds & ends to make room for all the AMAZING wedding gifts we received, and I can say with 110% certainty that having matching everything truly makes this girl happy. Setting the table with brand new place mats, crisp white plates, gorgeous flatware and matching glasses (not plastic cups from the $1 section at Target!) quite literally makes me jump for joy. Nerdy? Sure. But I'm nothing if I'm not easily excited. I most definitely plan to take new photos of the dining room (including some fun updates to the hutch) and kitchen with all of our fun new things to share here just as soon as I'm able to utilize some natural light to do so!

I've also been focusing a TON on our bedroom, which I've (surprise!) decided needs a complete makeover. This isn't new news, but I'm now using the fact that we're a real live married couple to leverage wanting to make our bedroom more calming and "retreat-like" (insert Dan rolling his eyes here). I threw together a new little simple inspiration board that I'm hoping can come to life pretty easily -

Here's some details -

- We replaced our white Ikea dresser with 2 of the tall darker versions above. The added drawer space has been GREAT for storage purposes, and the darker color was instantly a little less "first place after college" to me.

- The curtains are also from Ikea and would bring in another simple pattern. They'll also be a welcome change from the solid brown curtains that are there now (complete with a high-sheen - I don't know what I was thinking).

- I've always wanted a sunburst mirror of some sort, but think it's even more perfect now. With the taller, darker dressers taking up nearly the entire width of the wall they're on, I'm hoping something shapely and textural on the wall above will break up the heaviness of the dressers a bit. I've also thought about adding fun knobs to the dressers to make them look less "solid", but I'm not completely sold on that idea just yet.

- We've had one of the little white (also Ikea) nightstands for ages, and I was thrilled to find a matching one on craigslist just this week. We took a quick trip downtown last night to pick it up and I was SO excited to get some new concealed storage for my jewelry, headbands, sunglasses, etc. While I would have loved to use the awesome vintage looking nightstands I already purchased on craigslist ages ago, they don't fit in our teeny bedroom with our queen size bed (I bought them when we had a full). I may paint the now-matching white nightstands in the Ralph Lauren Regent Metallics paint I originally bought for the original nightstands, but that decision will be based on what color we end up with on the walls!

- I've been talking about a DIY headboard for years and still haven't gotten the supplies to actually make one. I have the perfect fabric and nailhead trim for a copycat of the one I stripped in to my inspiration board... still deciding if I want to be gutsy and add some shape to the top or leave it square.

- The bedding is from West Elm and something that Dan has (reluctantly) agreed to let me purchase, since I've promised I only HAVE to have the duvet cover, and can wait for the pillow shams to (hopefully) go on sale eventually. In my own defense, I have literally been searching for a duvet cover I loved since we bought our house 3 years ago, so I figure it's about time I just bite the bullet and buy one since I found something I love!

- Finally, the amazing yellow storage bench (from Target) that I am absolutely head over heels for. Ringing in at $179 it's definitely not "frugal", but that doesn't mean I'm not trying to convince Dan that we have to have it :). Hey, we have a ton of Target gift cards from the wedding, why not buy something fun and sort of unnecessary?!?

So, there's a lot to do, but I'm excited to see how we can turn our room into a more adult-looking space since the baby blue and brown I originally insisted on makes my head hurt these days. I'm ALSO excited that this will hopefully give me things to start writing about here on 9-oh-6 again, as I've missed it over this whirlwind of a year!