Danish Bicycle Bell at Mjölk Shop.

Bikes Make Life Better by People for Bikes.

Happy Weekend! I had originally planned to share these photos, the inspiration behind some new ideas for the bedroom, in yesterday’s post–and then it got way too long. Here are a few people who probably got out on the right side of the bed this morning:

Photo Credits: Left–Photography by David Land, styling by PJ Mehaffey, home of Michael Fusco and Emma Straub via Design*Sponge; Right–London designer Charles Mellersh, Photography by Chris Tubbs via Remodelista

Photo Credits: Left–The 10 Cent Designer; Right–Anna Beth Chao of Hashai/AB Chao

Photo Credits: Lori Andrews Interiors aka The 10 Cent Designer

Photo Credits: Anna Dorfman of Door Sixteen

Photo Credits: Anna Dorfman of Door Sixteen

Photo Credits: Left–Anna Dorfman of Door Sixteen; Right–Katja and Minna of Nestled in via Apartment Therapy

(see below for image, product sourcing)

After a long hiatus from working on projects around the apartment, I’m ready to shop get back to work. Fortunately, items 4, 6, 8, and 9 are already taken care of. Inspired by almost-black walls spotted on Apartment Therapy and Design*Sponge at the time, I painted the bedroom in June 2009 and still love the color. The bear print was a more recent purchase, aimed at using some of a small art budget started after we got married. The sheets, also a wedding gift, are here to stay (paired with other white and grey linens) and my aim is to use our two three-legged Frösta stools as bed side tables. I’m not sure whether they’ll hold up under the enormous pile of books Tom keeps in his “zone,” but we can certainly give it a go.

Another question is how well the stools’ slim profiles will jive with IKEA’s chunkier Mandal bed frame. IKEA’s other, lither, birch-made bedframe, Ã…nes, has gone the way of the Frösta stools (you can still see it in Anna of Door Sixteen’s bedroom).

Feeling lucky, I looked for an Ã…nes frame for sale on Craigslist and actually FOUND one in Bloomington, MN, but it was only a full-size. And, as previously stated, I’m not about to go out and buy all new sheets. But seriously, someone, buy it–please!

Those legs! The banana-y maple runners! No. 10, a splurge, has been on my wish-list for a long time. If I had a little Eames Rocker in the corner of our bedroom I promise it would not get covered in yesterday’s outfit, and the day before’s, and the day before that’s.

Why redo the bedroom? Short answer: I read too many blogs. And, admittedly, dark grey walls are lovely, but add a bunch of IKEA’s “medium brown” veneers from the Malm family, a dark rug, etc. and pretty soon you’re drowning in a prison cell. I’m hoping the switch to birch and bringing in more white will lighten things up.

If nothing else, I’d like to change the orientation of our bed back to how it was when we first moved in (above left). Remember, back when we didn’t have to close the window in the middle of the night due to rain falling on our faces? Aside from the practical reasoning, I just miss seeing bed/rug/bedside table at the end of the hallway.

Changing out the sickly bare bulb (above right) is a must. Which reminds me, any advice for how to work a ceiling medallion around the electrical casing leading to the overhead bulb would be much appreciated. Maybe a utility knife would do the trick?

Tomorrow I’ll share some of the inspiration for a change through photos from some of my favorite bloggers.

1. Scratch Travel Map of the World from Our Shop 2. A ceiling medallion (size TBD) for use with… 3. a LERAN lamp from IKEA 4. Sherwin Williams’s Software 5. an apple green Pleece Throw by Marianne Abelsson for Design House Stockholm 6. striped sheets from West Elm 7. IKEA’s MANDAL bed frame 8. “papa mama baby bear” by Red Cruiser paired with an IKEA RIBBA frame 9. IKEA’s (now discontinued) Frösta stools 10. White Eames Molded Plastic Rocker through Design Within Reach.

(Top images labeled 1—10 sourced from the sites respectively linked above.)

July 7, 2009. This would be our last full day in Cali before heading to Bogotá the following afternoon. We lunched on chicharrón alongside beans, rice, and patacones. In the morning I poked around the house a bit more, taking pictures of favorite details. My uncle Pedro “Perucho,” his wife Marta, and my cousin David came for a late dinner; Tom made grilled pizza (not pictured) on the patio with some difficulty due to varying protein contents in the local flour. Our days in Cali were relaxed; hours filled mostly with people and conversation rather than a need to go anywhere. As I look through the photos from this day and others, I miss being in the family house in Cali: walls hung with artwork from floor to ceiling, dim evening light, a lean out the (screenless) window over a wide sill, the air. The past few mornings in Minneapolis (now July 2011) have had an air that’s left me thinking of Colombia, too.

July 6, 2009. Today the trip from Cali to Popayán and back is made easily in a day’s time. According to my aunt Stella and uncle Joaquín, it hasn’t always been that way. I’m sorry that I don’t remember exactly how long it took, and google is no help with reference to the route. Whether the ride was long or short, we met the city of Popayán–where we all agreed the sweet shop wasn’t what it used to be, walked the inside of the house where my abuela was born (where the original floors are partially preserved), paid our respects to General Obando, and ended the trip with our (my and Tom’s, that is) first taste of empanadas de Pipián.