Archive for the ‘Organizing’ Category

Sundays

Wednesday, March 6th, 2013

Is this what Sundays look like at your house?  I think Monday was traditionally wash day.  My wash day starts Sunday and if I don’t get it all folded and put away that day, I have to look at it piled up in my room all week.  In fact, I have a cute bench at the bottom of my bed that is now called the “laundry bench.”  It is such a rarity to see it empty these days.

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Laundry.  This was early in the day.  I probably did six more  loads by the end of the day.

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I love my vintage laundry hanger.  I hang all of my clothes and most of Mila’s (they last much longer this way and are more easily consigned).  I don’t really want to see the laundry right in the middle of the upstairs hallway all the time though.  I have a laundry closet at the top of the stairs just opposite this laundry rack (I have a pic, but can’t post it again and I have no idea why that is happening.  This new add media feature on WordPress is a lot more finicky than the old way!).  I wish this house had a laundry room.  The way things are set up right now, all the laundry mess (and ironing board) is a permanent feature in my bedroom.

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Remember this cabinet pic?   I haven’t decided if I want to repaint the inside or line the inside back with fabric.

 

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I ordered this Cath Kidston oilcloth off of Etsy.  I’m in love with this print and the fact that it is oilcloth and can be wiped.  I have considered:  1.  putting it on my dinning chairs 2.  the top of my coffee table (like stretched over the top and stapled underneath) 3.  the top of my dinning table (the white Ikea one that the boys scratched up) 4.  making sofa arm covers with it 5.  covering the inside back of the green glass cabinet.  I love it so much I want to order it in other colors too.  I’m a little crazy sometimes.

laundry room inspiration

 

Look at this precious inspiration picture I found on Pinterest (from Homespun Living blog).  It’s just so sweet and simple.  She uses that table with wheels as an ironing board!  Brilliant.  Seriously.  AND that glass front cabinet looks just like mine, right?  My washer and dryer are side by side right now and I want to stack them like this.  I think it will give me a lot more storage stacked this way.  I can take the ironing board out of my room and get a cute table like this.  I also want to hang a bar across the top of the closet that I can hang stuff to dry on hangers.  I can use wicker baskets in there  to store clean laundry instead of in my room on the “laundry bench.”   I’m not sure where I can put my laundry hanger though.  I almost need a European laundry rack that I can pull down from the ceiling.

I wish I could tackle this project by myself, like today.  I always have so many projects in my mind that I want to get done and I really only have Christian’s help with these type of things for a few hours every other weekend or so.   Even then, the house stuff that needs to be done usually takes priority over projects I want to do.   It’s so frustrating.  I need to buy myself a paint sprayer (Like my friend Nora did).  And a few other tools of my own.  Then I could do a lot more projects by myself!

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More Nesting

Sunday, February 10th, 2013

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While Darling was gone for work last week, I rearranged my cookbooks again.  I threw all of my misc. papers/bills in this picnic basket (I’ll sort that part out later).  I decided to put the flower pots on the small ledge to prevent me from piling papers on there again.

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I replaced these knobs again (I bought them at Homegoods.  All 8 glass knobs were purchased for $20).  The previous glass flower knobs broke immediately after installing them (just poor quality).  We haven’t had any pulls on this drawer in ages!   It is so nice to attend to small projects sometimes.

033While Christian was in NYC last week I also cleaned off this counter top.  I thought I had better take a picture of it because it may not last long.  I realized that since I am in the kitchen a ton and in particular standing at the sink, looking at a clean surface directly in front of me is wonderfully inspiring.  My mind feels a lot less cluttered.

044Did I show you this yet?  My disco ball (made from dismantling a spinning one from the basement).  I am copying Nester of course.  Not everyone is a fan of the disco ball.  But I don’t care.  I am loving it for now.  When the sun sets, I have magical polka dots all over the walls.  It makes me happy.

004Remember this lovely creamer and sugar bowl I got in the fall?  I just found the matching teapot ($12.99 at Homegoods).  Put a bird on it!  LOL.  Are you watching Portlandia?

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I threw away my rusty bathroom garbage can (yay!) when I brought home this lovely ($20 at Homegoods).   It is glass and so lovely.

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This is our new door mat from World Market (I think it was around $14 shipped).  It’s so happy.

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I threw away our old, hot pink bath mat (the kitties had peed on it about a million times before Totoro was diagnosed with diabetes) and purchased two of these at Marshalls ($35 total).  I am so happy with them.  They really make the bathroom look a lot more put together.

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Here was my one real splurge.  New sheets.  My favorite!  They are light blue with tiny white polka dots (Ralph Lauren from Homegoods).  They are so precious and mix and match with all my other linens so nicely.  I just couldn’t resist.  I’m seeing a pink and blue theme today!

I know it seems like I have been to Homegoods/shopping a lot lately.  I kind of have.  BUT these pictures are really from the last couple of months.  I am missing garage sales and flea markets right now.  When I go to Homegoods etc, I try to keep it to a minimum and only buy one item per trip, just my favorite thing.  Sometimes this is difficult to do but more frequently I walk out of there with nothing at all.  I always use cash that I have made from my afterschool care or dog walking (extra jobs) so I feel good about buying these treats.  I love working on my home and I often feel like it needs constant updating/replacing of small things that are worn out, rusty, broken or just gross.  Right now I am on the hunt for a new kitchen garbage can.  We didn’t buy a diaper geenie or anything for Mila when she cam home, we just used the regular trash can (it is 7+ years old anyhow).  So yeah…it needs replacing.   Yuk.

Today I did some paint touch ups on my pink sewing cabinet and Darling caulked/fixed the gaps in the crown molding in our bedroom.  He also finished the patches/painting from where we moved the sewing shelves!  YAY.  These were small projects that have a big effect when all done together in one room.

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Baby/Children Clothes

Thursday, January 31st, 2013

I’ve been eating a lot of chocolate and haven’t slept well in about 4 nights, so my thoughts are moving almost too quick to capture today.   I apologize ahead of time, I hope this post will be coherent!

Let’s talk about kids/baby clothes for a minute.   I love to save my kids’ baby clothes/blankets etc.  (For excellent inspiration for saving baby clothes, look at this blog post-it’s to die for!  Yep, it’s in Finnish, just look at the pics :) .  For me textiles are as good as (or better than) pictures.  When I hold a baby outfit, I can feel and smell and think all the same things that I did when my children were wrapped in those darling fabrics.   I have a fairly complex process of going through clothes when Mila outgrows them.  1.  I pull out any clothes I can’t part with for a keep sake box  2.  I wash/pack up the rest  to pass on to our baby neice  3.  When the clothes come back, I sort through them to decide what I want to cut up for quilts/crafting or re-purposing  4.  I try to consign what I don’t want to keep for crafting  5.  I donate what Lucy’s Consignment doesn’t want  6.  I cut up the clothes for crafting purposes.   Today, I finally made it to this round of step #6.  Let me show you some pictures!

(problem posting this pic?)

I am going to cut these pieces  into 5×5 squares.  This is what I will make into a keep-sake quilt.

 

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I changed my mind and couldn’t bear to cut this one up.  It’s Italian travel/landmarks/scooter fabric.  I love the colors, I love everything about this.
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This is a brim from an 18-24 baby hat (Gymboree 2005 or 2006).  I think it will be just darling as a detachable collar (almost to be used like a necklace) for Mila.  I will probably shorten it and put some kind of pretty closure on it.  I love the detailing/rickrack and fabric/colors.  It’s perfect because it already has fabric stabilizer in it to make it a little stiff , it reverses to a co-ordinating fabric and it is basically the perfect shape already.  *I think I am going to try and make it into a peter pan collar.*  I am inspired to make some detachable collars for her after seeing The Well-digger’s Daughter on Netflix/watch it now (you must watch this one for the clothes, they are so lovely!).  I also want to do a crocheted collar for her (like this).

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This is the rest of that hat.  Hmmmm…Im not sure what to do with it yet.  It looks like a cozy for something?   Or a pin cushion?  Or what?  Can’t decide, but it’s too pretty to throw away.

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Here are leg elastics from the matching bloomers to this outfit.  Look at the details!  They made these with co-ordinating fabric trim.  I love that.  I love the love that goes into that.  These type of details are missing from today’s clothes.  Or maybe it’s just Mila’s size?  Are clothes getting less cute/not as well made the older she gets?   I think I am going to make these into hair elastics.

Gap has a new Peter Rabbit line.  I would have bought all of this, if they had made it in her size:

peter rabbit gap details

 

Aren’t they just darling?  Why didn’t Gap make the Peter Rabbit line in bigger sizes?  Why do they assume we want to dress our three year olds like they are teenagers?  I feel like emailing them!  Are you seeing a color theme here?  I think I am loving pink and yellow!

Guess what I ordered for myself from Boden?!?!   The scallop trim shirt (in yellow) and the casual cable cardigan (in soft red/pink).  I adore the fabric (both are 100% cotton) and details and colors of these two items.  They look vintage inspried to me.  I just hope they fit properly!  I wanted the scallop trim shirt last year and was sorry when I didn’t get it.  So I was super happy to see they brought it back this year.

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I cut these felt Miffy heads to patch onto Mila’s dirty knees.  It was a Pinterest idea of course.  I am terribly obsessed with bunnies right now.  Like this pillow and this wall decal and this wallpaper (I don’t think they sell this anymore) and all of this bunny stuff from Maileg.  Oh and I ebayed this adorable bunny night light but what I really wanted was this expensive Miffy one.   I also can’t get enough of fawns and foxes.  Thank goodness for Pinterest.  If I had my shop or my own children’s clothes line, it would be nothing but bunnies, fawns and foxes right now.

 

**Have you ever seen Olive’s Friend Pop childre’s clothes (I think I have posted about them before)?  I think they are literally the cutest, vintage inspired clothes out there.  Way out of my price range, but so inspirational.**

olive's friend pop 1

olives friend pop 2

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I love the colors, fabrics, details and design.  If I had a shop, I would sell this.  Look at the bonnet!  **After a little research, I realized this company is no longer in business.  Isn’t that a shame?  I wish I could start a children’s clothing company with clothes like this but priced more like Gymboree!**

 

***PS***If you want to make some lovely vintage inspired baby clothes,  you can find lovely patterns at Oliver and S.

oliver and s pattern

 

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Extreme Nesting

Thursday, January 24th, 2013

 

 

 

I LOVE moving furniture around in my home.  I love thinking of new furniture combinations and super cleaning under and around stuff as I do it.  Sometimes I wake up in the morning with a new plan of how I need to rearrange things in my house.  It’s like it came to me in a dream.  I love the fresh feeling it creates.  It must be a feng-shui thing.

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I moved Mila’s play kitchen back to behind the couch.  It really makes my kitchen area less claustrophobic.

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I moved the kitchen chair to the living room area and contained all my plants here on the plant stand in this corner again.

005Here is the cute play area behind the couch.

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Remember those chandelier shades I had darling spray white?  I had to use white electric tape to cover the edges where the paint didn’t stick.  We decided we hated those.  They looked much too DIY.  You know what I mean?  Anyway here is the cheap fix.  We took the shades off and put frosted bulbs in instead.  Oh and I cleaned all the chandeliers in the house!

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I switched the small, round, white side table with this mirrored table.

 

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Before:  Here is a pic of the living room.  These are my mom’s old couches.  I think she bought them before Miles was born, which makes them 15 years old.  The seat cushions are like a foot too short now.  How does that even happen?  They have white slipcovers that are 15 years old.  Need I say more?  They are in terrible shape.  I bought white denim from Jo-Ann’s (on super sale with coupon) to slipcover them but if I pay someone to sew them the labor costs $400+ per couch.  $400 EACH.  And if I sew them myself, I lose my mind.  Not good options.  Then I realized Ikea couches cost $400 each and come with white slipcovers.  Guess how much it is to replace the slips?  $49 each.  WHAT?  Yes.  It is true.  I think this might be life changing.  So…

 

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I was on a mission.  I returned the Jo-Ann fabric.  I had bought it six months ago and they let me return it.  I LOVE them.   I returned nearly everything I got myself for Christmas.   I returned a coat to Land’s End that my mom only wore once.  It was over a year old and Land’s End gave me back the full amount.  I love them.  This paid for more than half the cost of two couches.  Then we took a trip to Ikea.

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After:  Isn’t it so cozy?  I feel like I have a new house!  Do you love my Ektorp Ikea couches?  They are surprising comfortable and do not feel cheap.  They are a bargain for the price.  See the raspberry pink chair?  I had it upholstered with the money my Grams gave Christian and I for Christmas.  Thank you Grams!   I had it upholstered  instead of slipped because it doesn’t have a cushion and the slip always pulls out and is very unsightly.   The fabric is cotton duck that I bought on sale at Jo-Anns (over the summer).  I think I paid $5 or $6/yard.  I bought six yards so it made this project a lot more affordable by using this fabric.  I used J & C  interiors in Gaithersburg to do the Upholstery.  They are fabulous.  They let you bring your own fabric (hard to find a place that let’s you do this) and I had my chair back in about a week!  They said this is their slowest time of the year (January).  I will definitely use them again, they did such a lovely job.  The rug is also from Ikea for $79.  It is a much more practical size for this room and makes the room feel really put together.

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I did keep these two cushion covers that I ordered from Cath Kidston for Christmas for myself.   I adore them.  They are sold out of this pattern now (Notting Hill Rose in red).   I love the Cath Kidston site.  I obsess over it all the time.  I like to fill up imaginary shopping carts on the web and then , sadly, abandon them.  This is the first order I have ever placed and it was worth it.  I’d love to sell Cath Kidston in the shop that I am going to have one day.   The wool, plaid blanket is new as well.  I bought it with Nora at Homegoods for $30 (yay for dog walking money).

031This is a new WIP.  This glass front cabinet belonged to my mom.  It had weird step shelves in it (some sort of display case?).  Darling pulled the weird shelves out and now I need to repaint the inside (maybe wallpaper?).  I can’t wait to show you what I am going to do with it!

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I just bought these today at Target on Clearance!  I have looked at these curtain panels for at least a  year for Mila’s room.  I happened to be visiting them again today and saw that they are finally on sale!  $53 for four panels (yay for dog walking, I had the cash!).  They are %100 cotton.  I have no idea what I am going to do for cheap but not cheapie curtain rods.  I have to give that some thought.

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This week I cleaned off my kitchen counters and tried to contain the clutter.  I love trays for this purpose.  I cook a lot so I really use all of this stuff and need it readily available.

I don’t know why I am in extreme nesting mode right now, but I love it.  I love getting things done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Art dresser organized…finally!

Monday, February 20th, 2012

I was so inspired by these little heart plastic boxes at Target that I decided to reorganize the art drawers.  It was a big job that involved three trips to Target to buy enough of the boxes.  It took about a week to complete!  That seems outrageously long but we have a ton of really nice art supplies that I had to sort out.  I have to say, these boxes are way over priced ($3.99 for the small boxes).  But they are so darling.  It is so nice to have all of these art supplies properly organized for the first time.  They are even labeled.  I can’t tell you how happy it makes me.  I know.  It is weird.

I replaced the knobs on this chest as well.  The glass knobs came from Homegoods and were super cheap!  I think it cost $8/4 pulls.  I noticed that Jo-Ann’s had decent cheap knobs as well.

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closet rearranging

Monday, December 19th, 2011

Do you ever feel tired of all your clothes?  I do.  I rearrange my closet to make me feel better (my absolute favorite thing to do is rearrange furniture so I guess it makes sense…for me anyway).  I come up with a new color combination and put all the things that can mix and match in the front where I can see them and easily pick them out in the the morning.

I returned a couple of things I wasn’t wearing (a pair of shoes that hurt, a winter hat with the tags still on) and some fall garland and wreath that was defective (Michaels).  Then I had enough money to buy a few new items.  I have to bribe myself sometimes to return a bunch of little things that don’t seem to be worth returning!  These clothes came from Marshalls and Target and ranged in price from $7-20.  I really love the first 2 blouses.  The lace one I wear under other t-shirts (it was only $10!).  I am LOVING any lacey fabric/clothes right now.

And I bought some sparkle shoes from Marshalls.  So for $20 extra (in addition to the money I made from my returns) I have a new wardrobe :)

I picked out shoes from my closet that go with my new purchases.

And I even pulled out jewelry, belts and hair things that go with as well.  I did this because I love sparkly things and I have lot of pretty vintage pieces that never get worn because I am too busy to think about changing earrings or finding accessories everyday.  So I pulled them all out and put them in a pretty dish on my dresser for easy access every morning when I get dressed.

Here is the front of the closet now.  White and creamy lace, aged-peachy-pinks, deep purples and mermaid greens.  It feels a bit gypsy.  I like that.

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Laundry

Sunday, May 1st, 2011

Since Liam was diagnosed with Lyme earlier this week I have been cleaning like crazy.  I don’t know if it is because the fog has lifted or if I am a bit worried and trying to distract myself…but whatever the case may be, I cleaned out the sitting room and dining room at the front of the house, the coat closet and the master bedroom.

The laundry situation gets out of control in our bedroom since we don’t have a laundry room.  So I just decided to make a designated laundry area (bench).  I moved this ottoman/bench up from the living room (it used to be in this exact spot before Mila came home).  Hopefully this will make it feel as though the laundry is better contained in our room.

This is how I started this laundry project…I couldn’t stand the old, stained ironing board cover a moment longer.  I removed it and made a new one to match Mila’s.  I wanted to get this done so badly that I sewed the entire thing with Mila sitting on my lap!  She is fascinated by the sewing machine and sits and watches fairly patiently.  Next, I am cleaning/organizing the washer/dryer area.

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A few things…

Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

I have just started planning regular meals again after a couple of months of eating pasta, eggs etc.  I have for sure decided that I missed cooking real food.  It is the constant kitchen clean up that gets me, not the cooking.  When you try to mostly make food from scratch 3 times a day for 5 people….well, the kitchen clean-up is quite a chore.  But I have realized that cooking/baking is a big creative outlet for me and something I really enjoy.  And I have to make something for people to eat for dinner regardless…so I might as well have fun with it.  I am just not going to feel any pressure to clean up at night.  If it waits until the next morning, who cares?  I mean really…as long as the food is put away and dishes are rinsed, who cares?

Martha’s coconut fried shrimp with a curry yogurt sauce and cilantro lime rice (last night’s dinner).

I was really inspired by Nester’s post about “lived in Chic/Beautiful Messes”.  If you haven’t red it yet, please do!  It was very inspiring to me.

The living room after last night’s sleepover :)   A beautiful mess!

It made me start thinking…I am not tidying up all day, multiple times a day anymore.  If I continue down that path, I might lose my mind.  I have to maintain cleanliness in the kitchen and do a load or two of laundry everyday…but the rest will wait until we can all pitch in for a 10 min tidy up at night.  I set the timer and the entire family helps pick up and puts away their things and works on straightening the downstairs.  When you have a baby, things are strewn about the floor all day long…what is the point of picking up a million times a day?  It doesn’t stay clean until the children go to bed anyway.  Right?

Mila’s play area.  Another beautiful mess!

I do like to do a Friday afternoon mini-clean.  It usually takes me about an hour.  I am pretty quick about it since I seem to have a lot of energy just knowing the weekend is only hours away!  I just tidy/cozy up the downstairs and light some incense or candles.  It makes me feel like the house is ready/welcoming for the family to enjoy all weekend.  I feel so much more relaxed Friday and Saturday because of that quick clean. OK, it is weird, but it works!

Which made me think that what I really would like to do be doing (in terms of cleaning) is organizing.  Because that does seem to have a bigger (as in it lasts longer) impact in our house right now.  And I enjoy organizing.  It makes me feel like I have accomplished something.  A project of sorts that makes me feel I have made progress in the day instead of feeling like I am fighting a losing battle to keep the house tidy.  And I think it will keep me from constantly (or at least keep it to a minimum) nagging the kids “who got this food out?  I just cleaned this counter!” etc. etc.

So I am going to start with organizing the laundry area.  Our laundry is currently piled everywhere.  Everyone had their own laundry baskets (which made sense when we had to stain stick our own clothes) but now that we are using regular laundry detergent again, it isn’t necessary.  In fact, it feels like more work to have dirty laundry baskets all over.  So I am going to start by reorganizing the laundry system in our house.  I am going to simplify by just using 2 baskets (one for light and one for dark) that everyone must dump their clothes into right in front of the machines.  Then I will alternate one light load one day and one dark the next (and play catch-up on Sunday).  Plain and simple.  We will see how it works!

Laundry area before…

I am going to try my best to lower my house cleaning standards and relax and have more fun.  That sounds good, right?

I LOVE to hang my laundry out!  It makes laundry so much more fun.

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Last Weekend

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

Last week I began washing all the winter clothes/sheets/coats/hats etc and storing them for next winter.  I unpacked the summer clothes and pool towels :)

This led to weeding out clothes that are too small for the kids.

Which led to cleaning out the boys’ closet.

Which led to moving furniture down to the basement.

Which led to Darling cleaning half the basement out and setting it up with a computer/music/drum/sitting area for the kids.  So much better.  I wish I had taken before pics.  It was a trash heap.  Now only one side is a trash heap :)

It is amazing how much work the house needs after a year of Mila being home.  It is just that way when you have a baby.  You know?  Adjusting to three kids has been a big transition.  Not as hard as adjusting to two.  But the amount of laundry and dishes and groceries needed now to keep the house running smoothly has been the biggest adjustment.  I keep thinking I almost have it down and then somebody gets sick and I fall way behind.  But Mila is already 21 months.  Can you believe it?  It goes by sooooo fast.  It has been so nice having a baby again.  And the first year is always the hardest and then it gets easier bit by bit.

Here are some before pics of the boys room (scary):

I am looking for a long low dresser (60 in) that can fit into the closet and make better use of this space.  Just something that is older with good bones and can be painted will work fine.  It will be nice to hang cloths all the way across this space.

This Ikea desk was moved to the basement for the computer/music area.  It was just too big for this wall anyway.

Mila fell off the top bunk last week.  It was so scary for Liam and I.  I am on an anti-bunk bed kick now and am currently looking for (at garage sales etc) 2 cute single beds that can be painted for the boys.

This reorganizing project is still in the works so I don’t have any after pics yet.

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Have I ever showed you my inspiration books?

Monday, February 7th, 2011

I keep all my magazine inspiration pics in binders like this.  I LOVE looking at home dec magazines and can’t bear to throw them away without tearing out the pics that I love.  I get so many project ideas from my books.  I think Country Living is my favorite right now (since so many other of my favorites went under in the last couple of years).  I am still getting House Beautiful, but honestly it doesn’t inspire me as much.  Most of the houses are too fancy and difficult to copy on a budget.   But this month they have a special pink issue and that is really fun…look at some of these…

Sometimes I like the whole feeling of a room, sometimes I just like a particular thing.  See the top middle pic?  Those are pink linen drapes.  I have white linen drapes in the downstairs front room and have thought about Rit color dying them before (they look too much like big white sheets hanging in the window right now)…i think it would be lovely if I dyed them pink.  I love the idea of light pink walls in the living room.  And see the chandelier in the first pic of the second row?  LOVE.

I honestly find hours and hours of  fun just flipping through my inspiration/wish books.

Want to know what I am thinking about now?

Pink Kitchenaid Mixer

Pink Kitchenaid Mixer

I think this is the breast cancer awareness mixer?  I think this would be so lovely in my kitchen.  I currently have a white mixer that Darling got me for my birthday about 13 + yrs ago.  It still works ok but it has the smallest motor and I need something a bit more powerful when I double/triple recipes.

Did you know that Pantone’s color for 2011 is Honeysuckle (pink)?

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