Grown-up Bed Upgrades

In addition to our new headboard (tutorial here and here), I also upgraded a few other pieces of our bedroom for the make-over.

As a refresher, here's the before:

Really, there are so many different colors going on. My bed was red, as you can see from the pillow cases and the red comforter.  Sak had a twin bed in blue, which is where the blue pillow case came from.  I changed out the red sheets since the queen pockets weren't deep enough to cover the pillow-top mattress, so the green sheets are king sized.  Originally the sheets were all in the olive green color, but I didn't like how slippery the microfiber was so I changed the fitted sheet to a dark green jersey sheet instead. 

My Star Wars pillow was given to me as my 7th grade summer camp comfort item - and though I change the pillow form out every couple of years, the pillowcase is to me as the blue blanket is to Linus.  So grown up, I know.

*Hugs tightly*

First up, I dug up the rest of the pillow cases that the duvet came with.  I covered one pillow with the embroidered pillow case...

...and bought some huge 25" x 25" pillows from Ross for the big square cases.  The big pillows were $9.99 each, which was much cheaper than the $30 plain ones I was thinking of getting from Joann's (even with the 50% off coupon).  Plus they are already patterned, so if I ever want to change to blue and brown colors, I'll be all set!

Second, I bought a simple white sheet set in a queen sized made with deep pockets (also from Ross, for $23.99. If you can't tell I buy nearly everything there).  It fits so much better than the normal queen sheets, and are much neater looking than the king sheets! I put our everyday pillows in the white cases so we don't snag/mess up the pretty embroidered ones.

I can already see my mom rolling her eyes at me though - white sheets?! For slobs that eat in bed? Or get bloody noses? It will spell disaster.

But that's what bleach is for, eh? (I say this even though I hate the smell of bleach and don't own any.) I really like our new sheets so far - they make me feel like I'm on vacation in a hotel or something! 

Anyway, I kept the red comforter not because it matches, but because it is always freezing cold and we would die without it.  Since you can't see it anyway, I think this is totally okay.

Of course, our bed doesn't always look like "a store display", as Sak stated, eyebrow raised.  It typically looks like this:

Sak is a single-super-flat pillow only type of guy, while I oscillate between three different types of pillows.  Normal fluffy pillow, contoured memory foam pillow, and soul-comforting Star Wars pillow. I'm sure this says something about the type of people we are, but I am not trained in the arts of pillow-analyzing.

As for the rest of furniture, we have mini MALM nightstands on either side of the bed now.  

Retailing $50 from IKEA, we got the first one from the IKEA clearance section for $30 (it was a retired display model), and the second one from Craigslist for $20.  The lamp (a Target model) came from Goodwill for $7, and all the books are from the library, where you can see we are reading fluff again instead of literary veggies. Well, I guess sci-fi fluff sounds funny, so pulp fiction?

Anyway, I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  True, it's a little "vanilla" compared to the normal things I like, but I'll still get to save the fun bedding for when guests come over!

Star Wars, Pokemon, and Hamtaro! Gotta love it.

I'm going to stick to the design idea that a bedroom should be a calming, relaxing place. I'll save the visual zoo for the other rooms of the house.

Now if only I could finish the other three walls of this room...

What kind of mood does your bedroom have? And what does your type of pillow say about you?

San Mateo County Fair 2011

One thing I love about summer is the county fair. I don't play the games or ride the rides - but I do eat the food.

That's reason enough to go to the fair, right?

Though, I totally would have "rode" this. How awesome are floating hamster balls in water?!

After work, we headed over to the San Mateo fairgrounds for a few hours.  Penga-Sis tagged along as well, while her ride, Penga-Bro, stayed at the house to do some homework.

First we checked out the concert.  San Mateo is well known for booking good acts for the fair, and they are all free with fair admission. The hands-down best was getting to see Weird Al a few years ago.  The man is pure genius, and ending with the never-ending Albuquerque song is something I won't forget anytime soon.

Anyway, this particular day was Tower of Power.  We stayed for a few songs, but a slightly intoxicated guy next to us decided his dancing was a bit too hot for the room and was removing his clothing. Time to go!

We checked out the youth arts exhibits, where Penga-Sis, on more than one occasion, looked at the blue ribbon winners and said, "I can do that". Good. You probably can, now go do it! That's the start of the DIY fever, after all. Maybe next year she can enter her own county fair.

These "BBQ" cupcakes were awesome!

Then! Then we found the animals. My favorite part of the fair, after the food - of course.  The bunnies, every breed imaginable, were utterly adorable. Penga-Sis and I were cooing and gooing over each and every cage - from the monster-truck sized bunnies to the itty-bitty dwarfs.

This guy was my favorite! So squishy and cute!

Sak, on the other hand, was busy doing his Arrested Development dances over by the chicken cages.  Far removed from us, thank goodness.

Prize winner.

And next, the reason I came to the fair in the first place, we ate a funnel cake! Funnel cakes are just fried swirls of happy memories for me. You just can't eat one without smiling the whole time.

Strawberry!

Wandering over to the flower/plant submissions next, I never knew there was a category for Ikebana! So cool.

Purple garlic and artichokes! 

And there was a special contest for crafts made from recycled materials.  This one is amazing, and I want one, only with Pop-tart bags.

After flowers, Penga-Sis and I found our central coast soul-food: fried artichokes.

Needless to say, I got sick from all the fried food that night, but it was still worth it!

Lastly, we found the art hall, where there was a special exhibit for Alcatraz going on.  I've been to Alcatraz twice - it's awesome, even if it is for tourists. When Penga-Sis stops being a chicken, I'll take her to visit someday too.

Glum, because someone thought the toilet was real and left a surprise.

Though I would have liked a bit more time at the fair (we had work the next day), it was worth going on a weekday since it wasn't so crowded. 

Did you, or will you attend your county fair this year?  What's your favorite fair-staple?

DIY Paint Spray Silhouette Art

Or, one could also call it an artistic take on "Who's that Pokemon".

(source)

But really, this project can is fun, quick, and can be done with any image, not just Pokemon! So don't run away just because I used the "P" word. :)

Since Penga-Sis was over, I broke out some paint, foam brushes, and leftover canvas from the wedding.

We printed out some pictures of Pokemon we liked - which was really hard.  A lot of Pokmon have less-than-interesting silhouettes.  For example, my favorite Pokemon (ever! Of all time!) is psyduck.  He's a duck that always has a headache.

(source)

But his profile isn't very fun.  Instead, I chose a magikarp, while Penga-Sis went with a charmander.

We cut them out and lightly taped them to the canvas.

The fun part is next - just flick your paint across the canvas!

Cover your image well to ensure a good silhouette!

To flick the paint, grab the plastic part inside the foam brush, pull it back and release!

Once the paint is maybe half-dry, gently pull the paper image off, and let it dry completely.

Since the first set came out well, we tried a second time with bidoof and gengar!

Bidoof was a bad idea on my part. It's silhouette isn't the greatest.

Penga-Sis' gengar - however, turned out fabulous!

Anyway, this was a really fun project! I think I'll eventually hang my two grey ones up in the house someplace.  It's understated enough, right? Not too "in-your-face" otaku? Sak says I have to keep things subtle so we don't scare visitors away.

Which Pokemon do you think has a great silhouette?