Anniversary

For our Anniversary this year, we didn't go to the hotel we have for the past few years. With an infant that is currently refusing a bottle, we decided it wasn't worth taking her along and we couldn't leave her with anyone.

So instead I decided to remodel our bedroom as a gift to Nathan. Last summer when we returned from the US I swore that I was going to make our bedroom a nice place to relax. Well, after looking at Ikea and having a heart attack from their prices, (Nathan told me, no, I could not spend three hundred and fifty dollars on a mattress pad), I was discouraged.

So a few weeks ago, I was re-energized to start again, this time with a due date. Our bed before was a queen, and this land lord one is a king, so the first thing I looked for was a king sized duvet. Two weeks, and nada (at least that I liked). They were either too cheap of material or too ugly. Finally I found it. And fell in love with it. It was not just a duvet, but a set with a bottom sheet and pillow covers as well. Totally more than I wanted to pay for it, but after leaving, thinking, justifying, and looking again, I decided to splurge.

Next I needed curtains. Our previous ones were landlord curtains, deep maroon with transparent flowers that let in WAY too much light. I had also been looking for these as ready made (thinking I didn't have time to get them made) in the markets, but had had no luck. Finally two days before my deadline, I broke down and went to curtain street, where there are thirty+ stores with hundreds of types of curtains but all have to be tailor made. Luckily I had remembered to take measurements before I went, and after begging and paying five extra dollars for expediting, I had my curtains ordered.

Third, there was the issue of lamps. I had bought some a couple years ago, but the frosted glass was not thick enough and they are nearly too blinding to use at night. The landlord had left a bunch of lamps in our apartment, so Nathan was using those for the time being but they didn't match my new decor. :-) A sudden inspiration made me think to cover them with a textured paper. Perfect.

Lastly, I had to clean and set up. Since I was rushing the tailors I figured they probably wouldn't be delivered until late afternoon, so I sent Nathan on a shopping trip after our lunch and appointment. While he was gone, I removed everything unnecessary from our room, cleared off our dresser tops, put on the new bedding, and finished the lamps. The curtain people even installed the curtains for me! I finished about 30 minutes before Nathan replied.

Needless to say, he was a bit surprised :-)

Here are the before and after pics.
Before

From Apartment JinHai

After

From Random