The Closet ~ Before

If you know me by now, you've probably figured out that I'm a pretty organized person. My mom calls it OCD but I like to call it efficiently structured. It may be a downfall in some areas but when it comes to making over a closet, I'm definitely in my element. Just the thought of doing it makes me giddy.

I'm a very lucky girl to have my own closet but I have really never taken advantage it. It is a woman's equivalent to the man cave. I can do anything in here I want. I don't HAVE TO have a ceiling fan, a big screen or a comfortable chair. I can have florals, white furniture, fur, diamonds, anything!!! Well, within my budget ,that is. (better skip the diamonds)

I'm starting off with some good things and some bad things. The positives: It's a large room. I have a great piece of furniture that used to belong to my great grandfather. The ottoman that I have can be recovered and the mirror will be fabulous with some tweaking. The bads: I have the builder special fluorescent light fixture. There is a severe lack of shoe storage and shelving. I have no idea where I'm going to move everything when I go in to paint and or wallpaper!

The plan ~

1. Change out the light fixture. A beautiful chandelier is a must have in my woman cave. My birthday is coming up hubby, hint, hint. This will be the budget breaker but with the exception of the wall covering, should have the biggest impact.

2. Maybe some wallpaper. This is one of those things that my husband doesn't want anywhere else so this might be my only chance.

3.Recover the ottoman, maybe with some velvet or something indulgent like that and maybe some bling in the button holes?

4. Refinish the dresser in some way.

5. Look for inexpensive shelving or try to build more in myself. Gulp.

6. Add drapes to soften up the windows
7. Embellish the trim around the existing mirror.

8. Figure out better jewelry storage.

9. Add storage boxes above shelves to hold off-season items.

10. Bring in some pictures, flowers, candles and other personal items to make it more cozy.

11. Figure out a better hamper situation.

Since this is a small room that many won't see except for me, it's a good place to take some risks and do some things that I might not do in other areas of the house. I've decided to go with Anthropolgie as my inspiration. I love the shopping experience when I go in there so I want to have that at home too. Instead of a mere storage area for clothes, I want to create that chic but rustically warm feeling that Anthrologie so effortlessly invokes.

This is a long list so wish me luck. In the upcoming weeks, I will be posting about all of these endeavors as I complete them. (with instructions of course) Even if you are not redoing a closet, some of this information could be useful in other rooms as well, so I hope you stop back by and see my progress.

Decorating Goals For The Year ~ How Am I Doing?

Hi all! How was your summer? Mine was great! As a family,we kept it pretty low key this year with just a couple of trips to the coast. We relaxed and definitely slacked off so back to school was a bit of a slap in the face. Now that the kids are back in school, I have more free time so I'm looking back at my goals for the year when it comes to decorating. If you have been following me from the beginning, you know that I wanted to redo the laundry room, the pantry and the "work out"/dog room. Well, I'm happy to say that I managed to pull off two out of three which is not bad. I thought I would take a couple of current pictures of the two rooms to show you that organizing these rooms can really pay off and save time. They have still managed to stay neat with some minor tweaking...

The laundry room makeover consisted of painting walls and cabinets, adding hardware, removing some cabinet fronts, adding some fabric to disguise the washer dryer hook ups, adding a cafe curtain to the lower cabinet, hiding the ugly fluorescent fixture and adding a rug, baskets and other accessories.

The laundry room isn't perfect (We still have a 17 year old washer and dryer and a black refrigerator that came with the house.) but it is a huge improvement from the bland disorganized room it was before. If you're thinking about redoing your laundry room but have been hesitating because you don't have a ton of money or the new appliances, just take a look at the difference that was made in this room with just a little money and diy.



Before ~ disorganized and bland and the old white washer and dryer stand out like a sore thumb



After ~ Some contrast, some whimsy and some personal items make this a much more pleasant space to "fluff and fold"



The pantry was similar to the laundry room in that it was boring and disorganized and again, with a little paint and elbow grease, it is a much more organized and interesting space.



before ~ in need of color and organization

I wish I had some afters of the work out room but I am just STUCK....UGH! So, in an effort to procrastinate but still accomplish something, I have moved my focus into the master bedroom, bath and closet. Wish me luck! I will be sharing the before pictures coming up so stay tuned....

School Is In Bulletin Board

After a brainstorming session on the way to the beach, I decided on a "school of fish theme" which reminded me of the movie Finding Nemo.

The "kids" are off to school on an adventure.

If Marlin joins PTA, his involvement will help him to be less worried. The other fish dads are Watch D.O.G.S.

The most difficult part of this board was the sting ray. I just couldn't get his mouth and eyes right so I ended up just showing his back with the students on it.

I had one teacher mention jokingly that the kids weren't going to want to go back to school when they see this but I hope instead that they see the adventure and wonder that comes with learning new things!