note to self

Note to self: measure the area between the Christmas tree and the doorway

The only good space to put a Christmas tree is to the left of the faux-closet.  Last year it was fine because I was using the narrow-ish chest of drawers as a TV stand.  I don't even think I had to move it to set up the tree.

Super easy.

This year, I have a wider set-up for the TV and even pushing it all the way to the left, there still wasn't room for my slim-line tree so I took out one of the bookcases.  And it's fine, but it's not great.

Sorry. No picture of the tree yet. That'll be coming next week.  In the meantime, check out this picture of my adorable niece playing with the stuff in my bookcase - how adorable is her little striped tee?  And see my birdcage - love!  Need something to balance it on the other side...

Anyway.  So I'm back to still trying to figure out what to do for a TV stand.  I want a console table so I can tuck a footstool or two underneath - you know, one day in the future when I find ones with x-bases hidden in the corner of Salvation Army.  But as I'm highly confident that I'll find them, I'm building my room around them.

My dream console comes from Jonathan Adler.  White laquer, solid, simple, gorgeous.

And also $995.  Yeah, can't afford that.  But cheaper options are usually longer and that's not going to work in the space.  And then with my tree issue this year, I realized that I need to find something that would accomodate the tree.  It's only once a year, but I leave my tree up for a good month.  Actually, more like 5-6 weeks since I put it up the weekend after Thanksgiving and often can't get around to taking it down until a few days after New Year's. 

And then today I was virtually roaming through Ikea and came across the Expedit console table again and somehow, it didn't really seem that ugly anymore.  To make the solitary bookcase work, I had to rip part of the backing down so I could put the DTV box and DVD player on the first shelf and I really like not having them on top anymore.  The Expedit has a shelf and I could drill holes for the cords.  Hmmmm...

The black-brown is rather dark for me:

But then the birch effect just seems so wrong:

I mean, really?  At least on my computer monitor, that just screams fake wood.  I can't handle that.  Why can't they offer it in white to go with the rest of the series?  And then it would be SO much closer to my dream console.

But then maybe I could get the lighter color and paint it white.  Hmmmmmmmmmmm...

Anyway, all of this is the long way of reminding myself that I need to measure the space between the tree and the doorway to see if there's enough room for the Expedit console.  And if there is, to go to Ikea and check it out in person.  See just how ugly the birch is or how dark the black-brown is and if either seem not-horrible to paint.

Update: Forgot that I took a picture with my phone!  Blurry and poor-quality, but here's my tree and current TV stand set-up: