Master Bedroom Furniture Rearrangement

The Original Layout

We've been in our house now for a year, so I decided that I wanted to switch up our master bedroom.  Maybe next year I would be so lucky as to get new furniture for our room.  I'm sure most of you recognize this set because it's been around for 15+ years.  I think my parents bought it for me when my family moved into our house when I was in 6th grade, so I've had it for quite a while, gained some scratches, removed the finish in an area, and Abby decided to gnaw on the corner of the footboard while I was at Ash Wednesday mass one evening when she was mad at me for stopping home after work to only let her out and feed her and then leave her by herself again.  Nevertheless, the furniture set has been good to me and nice to have in our room.

When I think of a master bedroom, I think of a quiet, relaxing comfortable space.  I would say our room is far from that at this point.  All I can think of is when we rile up Abby so she bolts out of our room to the stairs, turns around and runs full speed back and jumps on the bed, and repeats that 4 or 5 times.  It's very fun, but I know it will have to stop one day when we get nicer things.

Our room does have potential because it is a decent size.  So as we do with all of our rooms, the picture below shows the original owner's decorations.  I shouldn't have reminded myself of what their room looked like because now our furniture definitely looks like it belongs to a 10 year old girl.

We arranged our room similarly using the long wall as the focal point with the bed centered between the windows, but with the door entering on the long side of the room, it never felt like a true focal point because of the angle, but that may just be because of the finish of the woodwork gets lost in the color of the walls or because we don't have any window treatments or artwork above the bed.  This will all change one day. 

What was also annoying about this layout was that the bed stared into the bathroom that doesn't have a door, so whenever Greg and I would go to bed at different times or when I would wake up earlier, the light blinds the person in the bed.  I tried to get a picture of the situation, but the flash on the camera didn't do it justice, and it doesn't look so bad.  Trust me, it's bad.

The new layout is against the far wall and is truly the focal point of the room.  Again, mostly because you're staring staight at the bed and no thanks to any decorations.  I wasn't sure if I wanted the long dresser in between the windows because it crowds the space a little, but without it that wall would be so bare.  It needs some giant paintings! 

What bothers me most about all of these matching bedsets is that it doesn't come with 2 night stands. I don't like that it's not symmetric on each side of the bed.  So, when we finally decide to buy new furniture for our room, I'm going to break up a set and get some different pieces that still go together.

Enough about reality, let's dream for a bit before I head off to my child-like bedroom.

A picture of a master bedroom that I have always liked is shown below.  I can't decide if I'll move forward with it because it doesn't have a contemporary feel and may be a bit too elegant for me.  And, let's be honest, Greg would never go for the mirrored night stands.  Although, we do want a smaller couch or bench at the end of the bed or a seating area, and we've even thrown around the idea of hardwood floors upstairs at least in the hallways, but maybe in our room, so we can have a fantastic area rug to add lots of personality.

Well, this will have to do until next year when I get into the design phase of the room.

Good night!

1 Year Anniversary Celebration

Greg and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary yesterday.  It seems as though the year flew by, although I feel like we've been married for a long time because it is the 8th year that we have been together.  I think the real challenge of getting married was moving in together, but we have worked through all those issues, and we have learned to laugh at each other and not take everything so seriously because we all make mistakes at times.

We said that we were going to get each other the traditional anniversary gifts, but neither of us ended up buying the other a gift.  That is so like us because we've never been big into gifts; however, I didn't know if Greg had really gotten me a gift, so I made a card Sunday night and decided to make him breakfast.

The front of the card had the lyrics to our wedding first dance song, "Swing Life Away" by Rise Against.  I still love that song, and I think it describes our relationship perfectly in that we simply get by and make a life for ourselves with what we are given.  On the inside of the card, I wrote some things that I love about Greg.

Another tradition that we wanted to start was to take a picture of ourselves every anniversary and include our future children in the picture to see how our family grows over the years.  Greg actually cooperated with this one.

 

Greg and I had plans to go to the Melting Pot to celebrate.  I'm sure most of you know what the Melting Pot is, but just in case, it's a restaurant where one cooks their food fondue style at their table.  Greg and I also ordered a beer and wine flight that was paired with each of the 4 courses.  The food was delicious!

Samual Adams Boston Lager Beer Cheese Fondue with Sam Adams Boston Lager Beer and Pinot Gris

 I forgot to get a picture of the salads, but Greg ordered the mushroom spinach salad with a Pale Ale, and I had the California Salad with Strawberries and Chardonnay.

Dinner consisted of buffalo chicken, shrimp, steak, and mushroom filled noodles with an IPA and Claret 

Dessert was a chocolate peanut butter berry mix fondue and a Chocolate Stout and Cabernet Sauvignon

So here's to another year of happiness and many more to follow.

  

Gettemeier Family Get-Together in STL

It's been too long since the last post because our weekends have been filled with lots of social events and fun with our friends, so the house projects have been put on hold while we are enjoying our summer.  This past weekend we went home to visit our families and celebrate my cousin's daughter's 1 year old birthday party.  Josye was born 2 days before Greg and I's wedding.  She is the happiest, cutest little girl, and I can't wait for her to be walking around and talking.

She really enjoyed her cupcake and she had to wash off in the pool afterwards.

The party was circus themed, and I should have taken more pictures of the decorations and all of the kid's swimming.  My cousin had an artist that draws caricatures at the party.  He asked each person what they wanted as their background.  Greg and I chose frisbee golfing.



How do you think he did?  I think it looks pretty good.

Since we moved away, we don't get to go to all the family get-togethers for birthdays that my mom's side of the family, the Gettemeier's, like to do, so it seems as though everyone is growing up so fast and my cousins continue to add to their families.  Out of my 5 cousins that are married, there are 9 children and one more on the way.  This weekend we were able to meet Maddex who is 4 months old.  He is an adorable little baby starting to smile at funny faces.

  

Now to talk about my little guy (a cat) for a bit... When we go home and share our time between Greg's family's house and mine, I always drop Chase off at my parents' house first because he doesn't often sleep in new places.  He's typically up all night playing with new things he finds or often pawing at the blinds to see outside.  So, we got a good night's sleep on Friday at Greg's parents' house, and on Saturday, I was up numerous times trying to contain Chase.  I had to kick him out of our room because he was trying to eat the blind pulls, then an hour later he would paw at the door.  So, I then locked him in the back of the basement.  Somehow he was really strong and opened up the door and woke me up again pawing at our door.  I lost my last nerve and locked him out of the basement completely, so he would have to be upstairs with my parents who sleep like rocks (hopefully).  My mom said she didn't hear him at all, but we woke up to all her yarn around the house leading from her closet where she keeps it.  

Chase is always exhausted from the weekend of not sleeping, and he such a sweetie on Sunday evenings when we get back to Olathe, and he wants to cuddle and sleep. 

As of right now, we don't have another trip planned home to visit until September for a wedding.  So, let us know of any future parties coming up, or let's get something on the calendar.