making an apartment a home.

right now i'm quite caught up in cleaning, organizing and decorating. it was driving me absolutely crazy that there was still a room that had yet to be unpacked. it was still a pile of boxes. and it was also bugging me that this apartment doesn't feel like a home. it still felt very temporary.
so far i have swapped a couple of dressers around: one moved from the bedroom to the office and the other moved from the office to the bedroom (yes i moved them by myself). i bought new bedding and finally put curtains up in the bedroom. i bought and put together a bookcase that stands almost six feet tall (hubby doesn't know about that one yet lol).
right now i'm in the process of painting an old bookcase and dresser. both are rather beat up and in need of a make over. the office has taken on a black color scheme (the desk, filing cabinet, and the new bookcase are all black) so i'm painting the smaller bookcase black and i'm painting the dresser a light gray. the dresser has a little bit of engraved detail work that i plan to paint black and i have purchased black hardware. plus i have these wire shelf things that are currently hot pink and bright orange that i plan to paint gray but i'm doing the dresser and bookcase first.
i'm quite excited but a little overwhelmed. i've never really taken on projects like this by myself. i used to help my sister with projects. she went through a lamp making phase that i helped with. i've also helped her paint a few rooms. so i'm not completely inexperience in crafty projects but i've almost always followed her creative vision and was just there to help. this is one of the first times that i'm responsible for a project from start to finish. it is my creative vision and it is for my home. its a very strange but good feeling. i now wish i had taken before pictures but rest assured that there will be after pictures.
then when all the projects are finished (the bookcase, dresser, and wire shelf system) i get to unpack all the remaining boxes. right now the pile of boxes has taken over my dining room since the room they belong in is where almost all the painting is taking place (i'm spray painting the wire shelves so that will be done on the patio). i decided to paint the furniture first so that it would look exactly the way i want it before i fill it with stuff. i didn't want everything to be set up and organized and then have to move it all to paint the furniture. i think the stuff is easier to move around still in boxes lol.
now i just have to find the time to do all of this stuff. i'm hoping that i will get everything accomplished before the end of the month. thats my goal at least. i want to give myself a month of rest (in theory lol) before school starts back. i just wish school didn't start back on my 20th birthday. oh well. hope everyone has had a wonderful week. i need to be sleeping...5am will come soon.