mmilham's Profile

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10098893/ --- I don't know if you have a boxspring/need one/are really attached to yours, but I think this could be a great solution. I looked into it when I was buying my bed, although I eventually settled on a Malm bed for the headboard style. I did test this out though, and even with a mattress on it it would be pretty easy to lift, and can store QUITE a bit.

I'm in love.

And you're from Chicago! :) Makes me happy to see such a beautiful place in my city!!!! I just bookmarked your blog... when I get an apartment of my own I will be stealing some ideas for sure!

I think I have lived in bigger dorm rooms! But it is SO cozy. It makes me want to SIGNIFICANTLY par down my stuff (even though I just did!) and live in such a tiny space!

I think IKEA gets a bad rap... I've had malm dressers for 8 years and they're perfect. I've not moved houses, but I have moved them within my house. Still working and looking great. I have a malm bed and a big old wardrobe and a couch. All of which is in fine condition even though I use it.

I'm sure they have some cheap things, and IKEA is pretty much all I can afford since I'm so young.... but stop picking on the furniture quality!

This is where I want to live. In your apartment. I think we should be best friends, and you can decorate mine! Beautiful and tiny and a place for everything.

Expedit is apparently the best small space solution known to man. I agree, and am TOTALLY ok with that.

The iPhone app Sleep Cycle has been helping me quite a bit. It analyzes your sleep cycle (quite similar to that watch mentioned, maybe a LITTLE less accurate) and wakes you in a 1/2 hour span from your alarm time, whenever you are the closest to "awake" instead of the closest to deep REM sleep. So if your alarm is at 6:50 and you're allowing it a 1/2 hour window, it will wake you up whenever you are at the top of your sleep cycle, with gentle increasing movement followed by vibration. You can set the window to as little as 10 min or as long as an hour or two, but 30 minutes is suggested, since it gives the ap long enough to find the right moment, without shaving off your sleep time.

It also provides a nifty little graph that's interesting to look at every morning, of when you were sleeping deepest, and when you were barely sleeping at all.

So far, it's been helpful. It doesn't help me get OUT of bed faster, since I'm a "lay around in bed awake and relax for a while" person in the morning, but it DOES make me a lot less grumpy about my alarm. The app allows you to use one of several gentle tones that are free with it (the app itself is around $1.99) but it also gives you an option to use any song from your ipod (an improvement over the iphone alarm itself, which only allows you to use ringtone-ized songs.)

I'd say the effect of this is similar to the gentle light, only with music.

Absolutely llove the one with the reading nook with the hanging chair and oriental rug. So cozy!

I didn't know this website even existed.

I am now going to cry tears of joy- some of it is even AFFORDABLE! AND it ships for free!