This past Saturday, IKEA held their “BYOF” (Bring Your Own Friends) event. If you’ve never attended, it’s basically a normal IKEA day with a lot more people, free breakfast and bag, and some other offers thrown in. After attending the first with my mom last year, I suppose it’s become a tradition. I, of course, took this trip as an opportunity to stock up on all the IKEA goodies I’d been wanting to grab.

Last month, I purchased some Baltimore-themed prints from a wonderful Etsy shop, RetroBookArt. They actually had a promo to buy two get one free which made the deal even sweeter. I’ve been dying to get them up on the wall, so some simple frames were on the list. They were up on the wall within 30 minutes of coming home. They look fantastic, and certainly brighten up the hallway much more than I was expecting. (Side note: Ignore the access panel popping out of the wall. I’m still very much living in a fixer upper. The access panel is merely propped there to keep the cats from going into the walls.)

Next on the list was a set of wall hooks and a door mat for the entry way. After a quick trip to Home Depot to get some anchors, the hooks were up. If there was one thing I’m most pleased with, it had to be these hooks. I can’t tell you how much of a difference it’s made in making my space functional. Instead of running all over my condo when I get home to put things away, everything is right at the door in one place. All that’s left for this space is a “Welcome” sign above the hooks, and the Hemnes shoe cabinet on the opposite wall. I’m also toying with the idea of painting the back of the door with the same aqua spray paint I’ll be using on the dining room chandelier.

Something else I picked up were some feet for my remaining Besta cabinetry. I’d managed to utilize all of the cabinets I originally purchased for the wall unit I designed before I moved out except for one. I figured I could use it in my living room, but I needed one more set of feet for it. After waiting months for any IKEA within driving distance to get them back in stock, I learned that IKEA is likely revamping the Besta line, and they might not come back for a while if at all. I wanted to use the cabinet so I came up with plan B: I’d buy any feet that were in stock and swap them out for two of the back feet from the cabinets in my bedroom which you never see. It turned out to be a great plan, and the cabinet went together.There was only one problem. After seeing the cabinet together, I realized I had to get another one to balance it out. Back to IKEA I went for a second trip to get more mismatched feet (these went in the back of the TV stand this time) and a second cabinet. The end result gives me a more storage and ties the room together much better. (In case you’ve noticed the picture that’s floating around in the last two pictures, it will be part of the gallery wall I’m putting together in my bedroom, but I don’t have any place to put it right now.) I’ve ordered two mirrors to hang above the end cabinets which will hopefully brighten the room up.

And just for the heck of it, I figured I’d throw in the picture of this room from the listing. I’m still shocked at the transformation.Still left on the to-do list for this room:

• Buy the Hemnes Shoe cabinet
• A rug
• Artwork for the fireplace (potential candidate)
• A larger tv (mounted to the wall)
• Hanging up the mirrors I ordered
• Painting the door
• And some plants and decorative items.

All in all, it’s nice to finally feel like at least one space is nearing completion. My Pinterest board is becoming a reality, little by little.