The Big Surprise

I am pretty sure that Marty isn't reading my blog, so I will go ahead and post The Big Surprise.

Remember this?

While Marty is in Nashville for his conference, we are planning to turn it in to a nice office space for him. Often, he comes home from work and needs a place to spread out and get some numbers crunched. (Running a restaurant has very little to do with actually touching food.) He usually spreads out on the dining room table, but then as soon as it is time to eat, he has to pack it all up. I want to give him a place that he can spread out for the day and not have to worry about being in the way.

Of course, we live in an apartment, so there is only so much space to go around. Since I am going to eventually move to a laptop, I decided to repurpose the computer armoire in to a TV/video game center for the boys.

(Please don't mind the boyness of the picture. He can't help it.)

For the last few weeks I have been quietly gathering ideas. Here are some of my favorites.

 Southern Hospitality

 The Nesting Place

Unplggd

Along with gathering ideas, we have been quietly gathering supplies. I was surprised at some of the things we already had, and so far have only had to buy a $5 Goodwill lamp.

Have
* The table - family piece passed down to me. Will be painted white. Yes, I said painted.
* A letter holder thingy - Goodwill find forever ago. Will be painted white.
* Old mirror frames - One found in pieces in my grandma's garage, one passed down to me with a mirror in it. When Alex - through no fault of his own *rolls eyes* decided it didn't need the mirror, I saved the frame. I plan to fill it with either a chalkboard, white board or cork board. Haven't decided yet. If we can get the pieces back together, we will use that one. If not, the other one will work just as well.
* Basket - Trash picked from the big fancy house of a Doctor. I still haven't decided if it is retro or just old, or whether I will paint it or not.
* Stripy card holder thingy - A friend gave it to me years ago. It came from Hallmark and we use it. I might cover it with scrapbook paper that better matches the room, or I might not.
* Tchotchkes - Love me some tchotchkes, and I am sure I could shop the house and come up with plenty. I do plan to make a few trips to various thrift stores and TJ Maxx, just in case. You can never be too safe.

Need to buy
* Shelves
* Paint
* What will probably end up being a $25 shade for my $5 lamp. D:
* Cork, chalkboard paint or dry erase paint.
* A few magazine holders
* Need to take and updated picture of Marty and the boys together and get it printed for a frame that says "Dad"
* I am sure there are a million other small things I am forgetting. I will let you know.

Part of this project is to also paint the living room. We have 6 days to get it done. Luckily, we still have a month to quietly gather supplies.