5 days to official move-in

It's been a productive long weekend! I finally finished all the painting (those high bits in the hallway were nagging at me), installed curtain rods, installed bookshelves, completed the kitchenand moved more stuff over. My official move-in date is next saturday and I'm hoping that the only things left to move by then will be the furniture that I can't carry over on my own.

As you can see in the photo above and below, I put up some bookshelves above my radiator. They are $5 white shelves from IKEA and $2 wooden brackets also from IKEA. I painted the brackets white so that they'd blend in. I probably could have done the same thing even cheaper with plywood strips from Home Depot, but when you don't have a car and have limited time borrowing friends' cars (thanks C&E!), it's easier to get everything in one place.

I got the curtain rods from IKEA as well, but instead of buying IKEA curtains, I thought I'd look around for some cool fabric from somewhere else instead. So far I haven't had any luck so for awhile my curtains may be glorified bed sheets, but I'm on the look-out and hope to find something 'just right' sooner than later. I was going to go for gauzy white curtains that let in a lot of light, but living so close to the side walk means I need a bit more coverage than that. Anyone have any colour or pattern suggestions? It may be easier to choose something once all my furniture is in place.

Shots of my kitchen are below. I'm pretty happy with how it's come together. In the first shot you can see the wall opposite the counter, sink and oven (the kitchen is long and skinny). Next to the fridge is an IKEA cutting board table I've had for a few years. I painted in black awhile ago. The shelving unit on top of it is a $7.99 Value Village find. I picked it up last week. I think it was originally a homemade shoe rack and I was thinking that I would use it for the same thing in my hallway. However, I didn't like the look of it in my hallway and realized that it would sit perfectly atop on IKEA sideboard unit, so I painted it black with the rest of my chalkboard paint (it was originally beige) (the chalkboard wall is opposite the fridge so the black shelves balance the room well) and plan on using it to store my glassware. Perfect! And the canvasses on the wall were a quick black and white paint job. A more complete (as complete as I can get a shot of the kitchen anyways) photo of the kitchen is below.

And now I'm off to bring some more stuff over (the new apartment is two blocks from my current apartment so I keep wheeling suitcases of stuff over - I'm a modern vagabond). Enjoy the rest of your long weekend!