Archive for July, 2011

Oh…to have a pretty laundry room.

Monday, July 25th, 2011

I don’t know about the rest of you but I’ve been dying for a cute laundry room forever. In our first house, my laundry was out in the garage so there wasn’t a lot of prettying to be done. Then, in our second home, our laundry was packed into a small closet that was just big enough to hold the machines and some cabinets. Now, in house #3, I have a huge laundry room (10×12) to work with. So what’s my problem? The room also has to double as a mud room for the dogs and I have 6.

No matter how often I clean that room, it is ALWAYS dirty. From rainy days of mud, to summers of swimming in the pool and rolling in the dirt to dry off, to every day dust and dander that comes with 300 pounds of dog. So my challenge is, how do I create a beautiful laundry room that won’t be affected by all the dirt?

Answer: I’m not really sure that it is possible as the dogs will always be using the space. However, I’m thinking that is I enclose the actual machines and hanging rods behind closet doors, it might solve some of the problem. Then I’ll just have a laundry closet inside a mud room. Not ideal but practical. So here’s a look at some space saving laundry closets that inspire me.

Orange Laundry Closet Door Storage

Sleek Laundry

I really like each of these for completely different reasons. Reasons that may make me sound like I have a split personality. I love the orange room for it’s vibrant burst of color which almost excites me at the thought of doing laundry. On the flip side, I have always been attracted to the clinically sterile white laundry room, which would never be white in my world. And while the third option is small, they made excellent use of the door space that I can thoroughly appreciate.

Laundry Basket Dresser  Basket

Laundry Basket Storage is another challenge. I currently have a canvas rack that allows me to sort whites, darks, and colors but I need more than that. I need space for reds and delicates and what about dry cleaning?  Maybe I should build a tower of baskets for all occasions within my closet. Hmph. It’s a thought.

Wash Basin  Wash Rinse Repeat Department of Lost Socks

Finally, the wish list. I want to add these three items to my improved laundry area. Alright, enough of my rant. Time to go make the money I need to make these things happen.

Sheena ~ Rest in Peace Pup

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Yesterday was an emotionally draining day as we had to put our oldest dog, Sheena to rest. She had been losing her hearing and eye sight for a couple of years now, stairs and getting up on the couch had become difficult, and she just slept all day because moving looked like it was painful for her. It was a tough choice but my husband and I decided it was time to say goodbye to our almost 13 year old girl. So sleep well fluffy pup and we’ll see you again one day!

Sheena

Storing, Organizing, and Crafting! Oh My!

Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

I did a post last month about craft rooms that I thought I would expand upon. A lot of ladies ask me how to go about organizing their space and my number one answer is storage. Be it boxes, canisters, shelving, or my personal favorite, shoe organizers! I’m not kidding on this one. I have at least one shoe organizer in every room of my house. They hold everything from hair accessories to office supplies to medicines to cleaning products. If it can fit it a shoe pouch, that’s where it will be in my home!

With all that said, here are some creative options for organizing your crafts…

Spice Rack   Lazy Susan Spice Rack

Both of these are vintage spice racks repurposed for organizing other small items. So think about saving your empty spice canisters, filling them with glitter, or beads, or leftover paint. Then spray paint a rack, hang it on the wall, and have an interesting piece to look at every day.

Shelves and File Organizers  Wine Rack

The first picture is pretty clear; use shelves, file organizers, and baskets to keep things clutter free AND don’t be afraid of color. It is a craft room after all.

The second photo is a great example of thinking outside the box. These are actually 2 small wine racks pushed together to store yarn for knitting. Keeps the yarn tangle free and creates a beautiful, colorful piece in the room.

Pull out drawers  Drawer Storage

I have always found that people neglect the inside of cabinets and drawers. They assume that since guests cannot see inside, it is free range to just toss everything in a giant heap. Great! Your guests won’t see the clutter but you won’t be able to find anything at the same time. What’s the point?

If you don’t have slide out shelves, think about clear tupperware storage that you can label and also see what is inside. Use wall mounted spice racks on the doors to store smaller items. Keep old coffee cans and  labels the tops. As for the drawers, I’ll say it again, spice rack storage can do wonders for your craft room. Pick up a couple of drawer spice racks and keep all your small items off the counter.

Ziploc Storage  Pant hanger storage

Who knew that you could outfit your entire craft room by shopping in the kitchen and closet section of Target? Try hanging scrapbook papers, stickers, ribbons in ziplocs from pant hangers. This way you can sort by colors or themes and easily acces what you are looking for without having to worry about it getting torn or wrinkled.

Multi-pant hangers are also good for ribbon spools. You can easily keep all those stray ribbons at bay by using a straight pin from your sewing kit.

Over the door storage  Shoe Rack Storage

Whatever you do, do not neglect the back of your door, especially if you are strapped for floor space. Vertical space is often overlooked so step back and look to see what you may have missed. And use shoe racks to store fabric swatches or glue or markers. Trust me, for under $10, they can store a lot of miscellaneous items.

Christopher Guy is my kind of Guy!

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

Just in case there are people out there that have never heard of him or seen his work, I wanted to do a post in Christopher Guy’s honor. This man is amazing. His work is quirky and whimsical and beautiful. Just imagine  a high end Alice in Wonderland furniture store and you’ve got Christopher Guy creations.

 

Christopher Guy Chair

 

Tall Christopher Guy Chair  Christopher Guy Office Chair

 

Christopher Guy Round Settee  Christopher Guy Tufted Settee

 

Christopher Guy Fainting Couch

 

Christopher Guy Lounger  Christopher Guy Assymetrical Love Seat

 

Aren’t you in love too?

For the love of organizing…

Sunday, July 3rd, 2011

Anyone that knows me, knows that I am an organizational machine. I love my label maker. I love pretty storage boxes. I love unique ways and places and to hide things because let’s face it, I have a lot of things. But most of all, I love it when there is a pretty but practical way to showcase something and jewelry storage allows this to happen. After all, you wear your jewelry as an accent to your outfit, right? Why shouldn’t it also be an art piece for your room?

Cup Hooks  AntlersMismatched Hooks  Spools  Bar with Shower Hooks

So these five options show you how you can use mismatched hooks, spools, shower rings, et cetera to hang your jewelry. Though I like these options, they all still feel a bit messy to me. I can just see myself trying to grab a necklace as I am running out the door and not having the patience to untangle it from the rest or worse, break it as I pull to hard.

Drawer Handles   Cabinet Hardware

Here’s another option, using drawer pulls on boards to hand earrings and necklaces. While I can appreciate the whimsy of these boards, they seem fairly unpractical to me.

Pink Printer Drawer  Antique Printer Drawer

Cutlery Drawer

Drawer Organizer

Now I think these options work the best for 1)organizing your jewelry, 2)making everything very accessible and 3) becoming a statement piece for a room. The top two are antique printer drawers which can run about $50 at an antique store. However the last two are kitchen and office drawer organizers for as little as $10 each. The benefit, however, of the printer drawer if the unique small spaces that allow you to add cup hooks for earrings.

Art Hands Glass Bottle Storage Brooch Mannequin

So here are 3 final idea outside wall storage. Ceramic hands are a great way to store bracelets and rings. Glass bottles can also work for bracelets but make sure you like the shabby chic route before you do this one. Finally, a sewing mannequin makes a great place to add a collection of brooches, as long as you don’t need the mannequin too often.

Lots of options. Lots of styles. And there’s plenty more where these came from. Let me know if any of them work for you or if you have a creative approach I haven’t mentioned.