Making a Home

I got a call two and a half hours into my Ikea delivery window on Friday letting me know that my order was delayed and would be delivered on Monday instead. Instead of spending the weekend building shelves and unpacking books, I watched some YouTube, watched a movie, and read a lot. It was a nice little rest, and when my Ikea order finally did come on Monday afternoon, I was raring to go. I built the two Kallax units that I got for my bedroom and two of the Billys for the living room on Monday, and then I built the last two living room Billys last night.

Now, I know that there's no such thing as a level floor or a straight wall. However, I didn't realize exactly how uneven my floors and walls are here until I tried lining my Billys up along the wall. I'd initially planned for them to all be flush against each other, but that wasn't going to happen. I'm okay with the placement now (I don't love having little gaps in between them, but there's no other safe option), and I think they'll look fine once they're filled with books and treasures. I'm hoping to get a bunch of books unpacked this week and start organizing the shelves, because I need to make space in the craft room (where all the full boxes live) for the rest of my stuff that's coming from South Dakota this weekend.

I didn't really bring much furniture with me from South Dakota—most of what I had was cheap, or had been picked up for free, so aside from my armchair and my papasan and a few small pieces with sentimental value, I've been looking for and picking up all new furniture. A couple weeks ago I found this adorable little dining set on Facebook Marketplace—I knew I wanted a small dining set, and I really wanted something with a drop leaf that could seat at least four people (I dream of making friends here and hosting brunch). This little table is perfect. I love the formica top, and the chairs it came with are great. My plan is to get a couple of folding chairs from Ikea to have enough seating for my future brunch parties, but that can wait. 

The rug is a vintage wool rug from Turkey, and I adore it. I really wanted a rug to define the dining nook, and I'm so pleased with how it ties the space together. Eventually there will be another little buffet for more storage along that back wall (currently it's acting as my dresser, but eventually I'll get a proper, larger dresser for my clothes) and I'll be able to properly display my vintage pyrex and my antique punch bowl. (The bike is also not living in the dining nook full-time; there will eventually be a rack to stand it up in the craft room, once everything is unpacked and there's room for me to get/set up a rack for it.)

This weekend is going to be busy—I fly out to South Dakota early Saturday morning, and on Sunday we'll start early getting the Uhaul loaded so I can make the drive back. Back when I made my initial drive out here, it took me almost exactly eleven hours from getting in the car to parking at my new apartment, but that was just with my (very full) car, so I'm anticipating the drive on Sunday to take a little bit longer. It will be so nice to have the rest of my stuff here, though. Most of my craft supplies are still in South Dakota, as well as my entire liquor collection and my tv, and it will feel really good to have everything moved.