Blessing #225 - A Necklace Holder

Hi my name is Stephanie and I am a Real Housewives of Anywhere fan.




I was trying to give you a little time so you could gasp and judge me, but I will give you a bit more.





I know it's deplorable.

I know it's terrible television, but I have already established that my television tastes aren't that high.

In my own life, I cannot stand gossip and drama, but for some reason watching these two faced women flip tables and argue over if someone is lying about having asthma just fascinates me.

Often in a typical Real Housewives episode, a housewife will be in her closet getting ready, picking out clothes, and recapping the day's drama with her husband.

As I watch these scenes, I really struggle with envy.

Am I envious over the designer clothes, purses, and shoes.

No! C'mon I'm a Goodwill queen!

When I watch these scenes, I drool over the closet organization. It's so pretty, neat, and organized!!!!

Will I ever have a Real Housewives giant organized closet? No, probably not, but I can make my closet pretty, neat, and organized.

I wish I had a before picture to put right here, but I don't have one.  When I started the closet makeoever, I just planned on purging my closet, but then one thing led to another, my ADDD kicked in, and the next thing I knew I was painting everything pink!

Because I purge regularly, I didn't expect to purge my closet much, but this time I decided to only keep clothes that I wear often. When I purge, I normally ask, "Have I worn this in the past year," but this time I asked, "Have I worn this more than five times in the past year?"

As all the bags piled up, I couldn't believe the difference, but I loved my stream lined closet.

In addition to my closet, I have a dresser of clothes, but with this purge, I cleaned out the dresser and put every item of clothing in the closet.

My closet looked so much better with fewer clothes in it, but the closet was a boring space and that's when I knew I needed to make it over.

In my normal state, I am a messy person just ask my mom. I have learned though if I make something pretty, I will keep it clean.  It seems crazy to make a space pretty where the door stays closed all the time, but I knew if my closet was pretty, I would keep it clean.  No one will ever see it but me, but isn't that enough? I am worth a pretty closet!!!

I decided to start with the top of the closet and all that wasted space.  The walls in the closet are plaster so I knew a shelf would be too much weight on the crumbly walls.  If the space couldn't be functional, it might as well be pretty.

A sign with my favorite word would be perfect for the space, and a few hooks made it an awesome necklace holder.

Before, my necklaces just laid around the room or shoved inside a box. Now, I love that I can see all my necklace options now as I pick out my outfit.

I hung all my belts on the hooks that were already in the closet.  Just ignore the magnetic circle things.  I am taking them down.

Originally, I put my earrings in those containers, but I need to see the earrings more.  I think I am just taking the containers down and trying something different.

I tried the circles on the side, but I don't like that either because I need symmetry. If you have any ideas or see any pins to help please send them my way.(Here is my pinterest. )

I'm already working on the bottom of the closet, and I will show that later.  For now though, here is my progress.

No, my closet is not Real Housewives worthy yet, but it is much better than before.

This sign organizes my necklaces, but also serves as a good reminder every morning of my favorite word and my life's goal.
 

Blessing #223 - The Reading Nook Bench

Friday, I shared how we are making over the boys rooms for the Christmas present.

What?

It's January and we are still working on their Christmas present?

I know. I know.

Anyway, we live in a house that is about 150 years old.  It's beautiful.  It's quaint, and sometimes it's a little crazy.

The boys rooms are side by side.  You have to walk through Collin's room to get to Brandon's room.  There's no actual door between their rooms, but a little landing.

This picture isn't really a before pic.  This picture was after I had cleaned out the area and painted it.

Originally, we had a cheap book shelf on that tall wall, but that didn't work at all so I boxed up the important books and gave the shelf to Goodwill.

Parenting Lesson Learned: Never put a bookshelf with precious keepsake memory books in a room alone with two little wild men.

The landing is kind of awkward.  Let me show you the other wall you can't see in the previous picture.

Yep, two doors on the same wall. Nope, they don't match. Yes, the one door is so high off the ground my entire dust pan can fit under it.  Like I said, 150 year old houses can be crazy, but isn't that one latchy door nob on the right just gorgeous!?!

Because the space was so awkward, I really didn't know if I was even going to do anything with it, but one day, B was talking to Shad about his hopes for the new room and said, "Dad, I would really like a place to read."

When Shad told me that, I said, "Wait! That's all I need to know!"

See, I am not only a math nerd, but I am also a book nerd.  I love, looooove, LoOoOoOoVe books, and I always have.

When I was in the sixth grade, I had a notebook where I kept record of all the books I read and I wrote little reviews of each book.  I still remember that I read 65 books that year.

What?

No, I was not very popular in middle school. Why do you ask?

Yes, I love books.  If Brandon showed the slightest interest in reading, I was going to run with that.

I asked my friend if she saw any ideas of book nooks on Pinterest to send them my way.  She then suggested me, "What about a crib mattress?"

I really didn't think it would fit, but the crib mattress was in the attic so I had to try.

Do you see it? No, not the dirt on the mattress. It fits. The mattress fits perfectly!!! I couldn't believe it! My friend that suggested it was my new hero!!!

I knew I would like to get the mattress off the ground, but I really didn't want to spend much money for a base.  Also, I needed a base that was movable if I needed to get into that door. When I told Shad about it, he suggested I use some plastic crates he had saved for me at his work.

I laid the crates out and realized it would take two rows of three crates, but fortunately, we had enough!

The crates were nice, but I really wanted them to be the same color so my good friend spray paint saved the day!

A while ago, my mother-in-law gave me a few cans of orange spray paint when it didn't work for a project.  Orange was a perfect splash of color for the book nook...especially free orange!

YaY! I found an awesome gray chevron crib sheet from Target for $15, and the pillow is from our living room that graduated to this space.

The blanket is a teal blanket from TJ Maxx for $15.

The crates are attached to each other with zip ties.  The crate base probably isn't strong enough to support two adults, but for two little boys, the crates work.

B was so thrilled with the bench! When we loaded the books into the crates, B said, "I am putting my fiction books in this crate, and my non-fiction books in the other crate."

I don't think I've even been prouder.  I almost said, "Yeah! Great idea! Do you want to use the dewey decimal system or the library of congress system?" I reigned in my nerdiness though and just gave him a big kiss.

As thrilled as I was with the crates, I knew it needed one more step.

A pop of polka dot fabric! I wanted a pin dot, but Hobby Lobby didn't have it. This big dot works though.

The fabric was about $4.  The orange pillow is a pillow cover from Hobby Lobby that I used a 40% off coupon to make it about $4 or $5. Again, I used another pillow from our living room that was getting a little old to fill the pillow cover.

Suddenly, what was an awkward, wasted space, is now my new favorite space in the whole house!

The view out the window is gorgeous! I really wanted to space to feel magical like a special little hang out just for the boys.

I am just loving this bench and reading nook!

And so are the boys!

All the pictures of the bench perfectly styled are pretty, but I love this picture most of all.

This is how, I've been finding the bench every morning piled with B's sleeping bag, stuffed animals, dinosaur book, and a flash light. B has been falling asleep there every night, and I couldn't be happier.

If you are keeping track, the total spent on this bench was...

crib sheet $15
blanket $15
fabric $4
foam core board (to put fabric on) $3
pillow cover $5
TOTAL $42

The Reading Nook is not done yet.  I still have to dress the walls, and I might do something fun with the ceiling.

I just love that a wasted, awkward space is being filled with many supplies I already had to make something magical!

Blessing #222 - B's Dresser

This year for Christmas, we decided to give the boys a room makeover. Their rooms were struggling majorly, and they were both really excited for it.

For the past three weeks since we got back from Georgia, Shad and I have been working in their rooms.  I can't wait to share several projects, but first I will start with Brandon's dresser.

Here's what we started with....

It's a mid-century modern $5 yard sale find! I'm terrible about taking before pictures so Shad snapped this picture for me right before he sanded the drawers.

When we asked Brandon's opinion for his room, he wanted camouflage and hunters. At first, I was really not excited about that style.  I wanted a bold orange and navy combination, however it wasn't my room so camouflage it was.

Shad and I brainstormed for the room, and decided to do rustic camouflage.  When I showed Shad East Coast Creative's Anthropology Knock Off Ordinal Dresser, he loved it, and we decided to try that on B's dresser.

First I painted the shell with black chalk board paint.  I really wasn't sure how this dresser was going to turn out, and the chalkboard paint would give me a solid black look or a different look when it was primed with chalk.

Shad sanded the drawers and I stained them with weathered oak stain.  Weathered oak was gray but not too gray.

I painted the numbers, and finished the drawers with polyurethane.  The hardware was problematic and we debated over what kind of hardware to use for a couple days.  Finally, we found a knob that we both really liked.

Here's the finished product!

This picture is more true to the actual color of the drawers, and I had to put the decoy we got B for Christmas on there!

Until I painted the numbers, I was really unsure about how this dresser was going to look.  I'm so pleased with how my knock off of East Coast Creative's knockoff  looks! It's just perfect for the rustic look we are going for in B's room.

Blessing #221 - Christmas Home Tour 2013

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here! I just love Christmas! I am the designate Christmas Nut in our family! Every family needs a Christmas Nut.

This Christmas, we are going to be in Georgia, and although I've been so excited for Christmas, I just didn't have decorating motivation.  Last Thursday though, I decorated up some mantles.  I decided to just use what I had and go with it.

Here are a few Christmas scenes from our house.

Originally, my Christmas pyrex display was pink flamingo, green, and white, but it became this hodge podgy mix of pieces....AND I LOVE IT!

Normally, I have some chalkboard art in my pantry, but this year with my apron collection, I decided to close the door and add a little tree.

This shelf isn't perfect, but my motto for decorating this Christmas was, "Close enough!" I had to have one of my favorite Buddy the Elf quotes somewhere in my house!

This fall, I found a lot of wooden ornaments, Shad and I both loved them and I love how they are showing up in our Christmas displays.

The nativity is one of my favorites.

In the dining room, I didn't plan on decorating this mantle, but I had some gold sticks, a gold sign, and my nativity. They looked surprising good together.  The green on the bucket kind of messes with your eyes, but I just didn't feel like painting it....Close Enough!

My most favorite addition to our decorations is in the dining room.  Shad and I have been looking for ceramic Christmas trees at yard sales for as long as we've been yard saling. Then one magical day in an over 50 community yard sale...we found three!

Both Shad and I remember our Grandmothers having one of these.  I just love that we have them in our house!

OH! When I bought the white one in the middle, the guy told me, "I used to sell those trees door to door at Christmas time. They were made my prisoners at a local prison, and I worked there."

I just looked at him, "Are you telling me the tree was made by prisoners? That just makes me love it more!!!"

We still have our eyes out for more trees to add to our collection.

On our dining room table, we put a pink poinsettia that our landlord gave us.

In our hallway, I also put another one in an old mop bucket.

On our tree, I changed out the mesh and ribbon.  When we put it up the middle lights were out.  I didn't have time to fix it, and really wanted to get the tree up so....Close Enough! This is our tree before we put all our special ornaments on it.

For our mantle, I planned on doing the same mantle from last year, but then I really wanted to show off my wooden ornaments.

I went nuts when I saw how they looked in the Dr. Pepper crate. I love it!

Here is a full view of our fire place.  We put a little heater in there just to knock off the chill sometimes.  (We can't light a fire in the fire place)

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my house.  You can find last years tour here. 

I'm sharing this post with A Thoughtful Place. 

Blessing #219 - Fall Mantel 2013

Fall is here! Fall is here! And yes, even though the highs this week are in the 80s, I'm still calling it fall!

For my fall mantle this year, I just kept it simple and pulled a few things together that I already had.

My favorite part of this mantel is the sign.  Psalms 126:3 is one of my favorite verses that reminds me of gratitude.

That board is actually the side of a drawer that we pulled out of a dresser.  The drawer fell apart, but I just couldn't get rid of the board.

I'm so glad I didn't.  I just love everything about this sign.  A board made new used to show a verse about what God has done for me. He makes broken things new!

Tomorrow, I start 31 Days of blogging! Last year, I wrote about 31 Days to Love you Home, and I can't wait to start this year!

 

Blessing 218 - Fall Bucket List

A couple of weeks ago, I shared our Summer Bucket List.  We had so much fun trying to cross things off that list so we had to make a Fall Bucket List.

I looked for a few chalkboard bucket list on pinterest, but I really didn't find the look I wanted for my pantry.  Thursday, I took a little time for myself, and just started drawing.

I knew I wanted a tree, and I really liked the placement of the title. However, I decided to take this one all the way to the ceiling.

Once I got to this point, I decided I wanted to add a little color.  I used sidewalk chalk to add some red leaves, and highlighted them with a little yellow.

It was really nice to start and not really know where I was going to end up.  It was very relaxing to be creative in this way.  (I realize that sounds a little weird, but I'm one of those people that needs to be creative to be happy.)

Yesterday, I was trying to get some pictures of the bucket list when I heard some shuffling feet across my kitchen floor.

Now it's been a while since he's done this but....

Boom! Photo Bombed!

In case you can't read because of Collin, the items on our bucket list are...

1. boiled peanuts- They don't sell them around here, but I can make some.

2. apple cider

3. apple picking

4. camp fire

5. jumping in a pile of leaves (Brandon added that one)

6. hay ride

7. Operation Christmas Child

8. caramel apples

9. put pumpkins on the porch

10. trick or treat

We might not get all these items crossed off, but we are going to have a lot of fun trying!

What's on your list? I'd love to hear!
 

Blessing #217 - School Command Center

When B came home from his first day of school, I almost broke out into hives when I opened up his folder filled with school papers. School papers make me nervous.  Why?

One day last year, I dropped B off at school only to see every other kid carrying a stuffed animal.  I had forgotten it was "stuffed animal day" and I had to rush home and get B's monkey. I must have misplaced that paper.

Last year during parent teacher conferences, I walked in for my conference only to find out I was five hours early! Fortunately, B's teacher was very understanding, and just laughed and worked me into the schedule.  I don't know what happened to the paper with my appointment date.

On the first day of school this year, I had to send a note to let his teacher know that I was picking B up from school. I couldn't find a single sheet of paper so I sent the note on a paper towel.  That's right! I was trying to set her expectations low.

For all those reasons, I kind of freaked out at the sight of the first school papers.  I knew I had to do something different this year.

Determined to change, I decided to turn this little corner into a school command center.

Yes, my poor little "it's August but my calendar says March" corner would be perfect for a school command center.

Here is the finished corner....

I love, LoOoOoVe, LOOOVE it!

Here is the breakdown.

1. I have had this L for forever, and finally found just the right spot for it!

2. The most important thing I wanted in the school command center was a place for school papers. After the success of clip boards for my kid's art display, I decided to try them for school papers too.

This clip board is where I put papers that I can't sign immediately or paper with important dates on them.

3. This clip board is for store coupons that we are always losing. Guess who is going to get a free mini candle from Bath and Body Works this weekend? Me! Because I didn't lose the coupon!

4. I used a pocket just like the one I used for lunch box notes for notes to the teacher.  B's school sends home forms to speak with the teacher, and now I'll actually know where they are! No more paper towel stationary! I added a little vinyl to the clip boards and the pocket just to make things clear.

Wait! While I'm on the subject of my labeling obsession, you have to see this.  Because Shad drinks sweet tea and I drink unsweet tea, our fridge can get a little confusing.  So I labeled the tea pitchers.

I know that was random, but I just had to share.

Back to the school command center.

5. I knew I wanted to put a sign in that spot, but I didn't know just what I wanted to say.  With this being right as you walk out of the house, I thought "Be Awesome Today" was perfect.

6. My calendar says September now! I don't quite know how I want to work that calendar yet.  I'm thinking about using washi tape.

7. A command hook holds our library bag.  That is a thirty-one bag that I painted using this method.

It turned out great.

8. B's book bag is not heavy with books so a command hook is perfect to hold it on the wall.

The corner is a little crowded, and if it was in my main living space, I probably wouldn't like it.  However, this is in the mud room, and we mainly walk right through the mud room.

So far, the little school command center is working great for us. I haven't broken out into school paper hives, and I haven't missed an important day yet. A few hooks and command strips have brought a lot of peace to our school day mornings.

Note: I am sharing this project with A Bowl Full of Lemons. and I Heart Organizing.