Empty wall solutions

In exactly 48 hours, we'll be road tripping to Orlando to visit the happiest place on earth.

I'm referring, of course, to Ikea. We've been there once before, just over a year ago, when we were first settling into this house and had no furniture whatsoever. I tried to plan the layout of every room and purchase accordingly... but needs change over a year. I've definitely kicked myself a few times for not getting certain things while I was there, and now I have a second chance.

Luckily, no major furniture needs to be purchased. However, there are some walls I need to address, and there's no better place in this world to get frames than Ikea.

Subject #1: The wall behind our bed:

I hope to have time next week to make the upholstered headboard it so desperately needs. Then I'll hang three of these Virserum frames and fill it with some sort of artwork.

And it will look something like this:

Next up is another wall in our master bedroom:



It's not horrible looking, but it just needs a little more action.

So I'm picking up four of these frames, and arranging them like this:

I haven't made my mind up yet on cities and colors, but they will look something like that.

Finally, our living room.

This wall has bothered me since day one. It's so huge and overwhelming to tackle... so I haven't even tried.

First of all, ignore the console table and accessories—they were pretty much just thrown there with no place else to go. Some of the accessories will be ditched, some are getting a makeover, and I plan to lighten the table by removing the dark stain and giving it an au-natural bare wood look (or something simlar, I'll have to see how it goes).

I plan to pick up this mirror and this large frame from Ikea to help fill the wall in:

I may actually set the mirror on the floor instead of mounting it....

I may even end up painting or distressing it so there isn't so much white.

After staring at this picture for a while, I decided something wasn't right, and that something was the vase full of sticks. I'm over it. I ran through a million possibilities of what else I could put in that corner... a lamp? A small desk? More artwork? A bench? A folding screen? None of these seemed to be particularly useful or make sense.

And then.... it hit me:

I will build a ladder that will hold magazines/books. YES! Yes. After an entire year, I've figured it out. I've always wanted a ladder somewhere in my house, and this is the perfect place for it. Hopefully I can manage this one on my own... should be easy enough, right? Any ladder-building pointers?

I will be back next week with an update on my headboard construction, and also the launch of my new site! Can't wait.

Anything other must-haves I should grab at Ikea while I'm there?