My taste in interior design is clean, comfortable, warm, and modern.  I threw together some pieces for my ideal space for hanging out.  

I think the most important thing is a great couch you could spend a whole day lounging on.  Since the couch is somewhere you could study, sleep, watch TV, or relax with friends, you end up spending a lot of time there.  Invest in an awesome couch.  Next, furnish that couch with some warm blankets and pillows.  I love this wool one from IKEA, I have it in my bedroom and it is super warm.  Because I’m a nerd, I’m obsessed with this ‘Ctrl, Alt, Del’ pillows.  They also have a Command, Option, Control version, but I like the look of these better.  

Coffee tables are a critical.  I love having a place to put things like beverages, magazines, various TV remotes or controllers, etc.  I also really like this nice tray which I would put fancy puzzle toys on, just for fun.  Also critical?  Lamps.  Improper lighting can be very frustrating.  

This step ladder book case is pretty great, too.  I  would furnish it in a way that personalizes the room, like with large comic book anthologies stacked horizontally on the bottom shelves, an iPod dock somewhere in the middle, and framed photos toward the top.  Simple but functional.  

Now, my favorite.  The beautiful bar cabinet.  Nothing says awesome like a stocked bar cabinet.  Not to mention this one is a transformer, it unfolds to maximize functionality and space.  The top becomes like a counter so you could even serve from it.  

Also needed for this room but not pictured:  a great TV cabinet with lots of places to hold gaming systems, media players, video games, DVDs, etc.  

When decorating I like mixing high and low in a way that looks really seamless.  Like I said before, it’s important to spend money on important things like the couch or other items where functionality is critical.  When it comes to picture frames, pillows, and other accessories that’s where I try and save money.  The bar cabinet is a splurge, butc’mon, it’s pretty sweet.  

I’m very proud to say that recently I made my very first piece of IKEA furniture all on my own! 

Special thanks to Liz for going with me to IKEA and letting me use her car (for all the benefits of the Prius, cargo space isn’t one of them).  Also, thanks to Liz AND Taylor for helping me carry everything inside.  Note: I’m not good at lifting/carrying. 

I’m working on re-doing my room.  Changing up the colors and textures around me really helps me from feeling too stuck or bored.  

So, anyway. 

All for under $140, I bought everything I needed for a faux-dresser.  And I threw in a rug because it was cheap and cute, like anything at IKEA.  My plan is to organize my make up, extra school supplies I have floating around, music collection, and printed photos in boxes and put them in the cubby holes.  Also, add mirror above inverted bookshelf, add trays for perfume, and framed photos.  Voila, dresser-ish thing.  

I must say I was most impressed with the efficiency of everything about the items I bought from IKEA.  Especially the packaging.  Everything fit perfectly, took up as little space as it could, and nothing was wasted.  

But Cindy was busy painting so I ended up just doing it on my own, and it was a very satisfying, rewarding experience.  I enjoy self-suffiency.  Four episodes of Dexter later, I had myself a bookshelf/dresser-ish thing. 

So here is my photo-essay.