A few weekends ago I finally got around to actually finishing up the music room, I mean it only took a year, but whatever. It’s always the final details that I just can’t seem to get done. I mean, it’s really hard to hang up some artwork and a small shelf so you better just never do it, at least that’s what I like to do.

Anyways, I finally hung that stuff up and I think it’s looking pretty great. I wanted to tell you that A: Ribba ledges from Ikea make the perfect In-Play-Vinyl shelf, so if you have a record collection (big or small), you should consider getting some of these cool shelves. This “in-play” shelf system works in theory of course, you could be like my husband and then you won’t need one of these; just pile those bad boys up until your wife puts them away. And B: If your short on artwork, consider scrounging up some handmade items that your friends may have given you, framing them and putting them on the wall. Our good buddy Matt always makes us handmade B-Day cards, graduation cards and other sorts of cards. I had a whole bunch of them starting to pile up so I stuck my favorites in some old frames, and hung them on the wall. I included a drawing from our pal McTubbins (aka Aaron) too, he gave that blue and grey squiggly drawing to me on my birthday when I turned 25.

You might not have a friend that makes you handmade b-day cards, don’t worry, you can frame other things too. Consider items you hold near and dear, frame that growing pile of birthday cards from your grandma that you don’t have the heart to throw away, or a collection of kid artwork that you don’t know what to do with. You might be surprised by how good a group of favorite things can look on your walls, plus it’ll make you happy every time you see it.