Oscars Night

Last night I hosted my Second Annual Oscars Watching Party!  I put up my decorations inside the house. This year even saw the addition of a red carpet.

I also put out enough food to feed seven armies.  Or at least, to feed a dozen girls as they vigorously judged celebrity outfits.

I was excited to have all three of the new Lays flavored chips to serve!  I'm not a huge lays fan but just had to know what Chicken and Waffles chips tasted like.  I think the Sriracha flavored one were my favorite.

It was a fun night with awards for Oscars Bingo and then I guess I can't complain about the Oscar Ballot contest since I took home the winning pot!  Is it wrong to invite people over and then take all their money?  At least it's an improvement over last year when I took home the least correct predictions award.

The awards ran a little late but good times were had by all!

Glutton for Punishment

I have killed nearly every green living thing that I have brought into my house, not to mention several green things outside.  My outdoor skills are improving (slowly) but for the most part I've switched to fake plants on the inside.  This weekend I decided to give indoor plants another shot.  I really wanted a large plant in the living room.  I decided on the Fiddle-Leaf Fig.

It has beautiful big leaves!  In it's native habitat these things can grow to 40+ feet but since I'm growing it in a container I hope to grow it up to about 6 feet.  That is, if I don't kill it first.  Anyway, it's beautiful and was only $9.99 at Home Depot.  I'm really tempted to get more but I guess I'll see how this one works out first.

It is supposed to get a bunch of bright, filtered light.  Hmmm.  I may have to put it closer to a window for day to day living, and then move it back for company and such.  I'll keep you posted if I can keep this guy alive!

Pinterest Solves Problems

I don't even remember what kind of search I was doing on Pinterest that led me to this fabulous idea.  I was probably scrolling through the DIY area.  I had added a shower caddy to my shower several months back.

We went through the honeymoon phase where I loved it but lately I was more annoyed with it.  It interfered with my shower head hose and I was always knocking things off.  Enter Pinterest.  Someone had posted using an everyday hook to hang the caddy anywhere versus having to hang it on the actual shower head.  Genius!

While picking up stuff for my closet remodel, I grabbed your basic coat hook.  I just picked it because I thought it was pretty.

It works great!  I can't believe I've never thought of this.  I guess this is the first time I've ever had to deal with a molded one piece shower before.  Anyway, not only does it no longer get knocked about by my shower head, now I no longer have to maneuver around a stream of water when trying to find my face wash.

Sometimes Pinterest puts a little too much pressure on you to be creative and crafty but other times (like this) it really helps out with solutions to everyday problems!

Shoes are Settled In

I am now proud to report all of my closet items have found homes back in the closet and my bedroom floors are now clear.

My heels went up in the shelves.  I will probably end up adding a shelf or two to hold more.  My ballet shoes and flip flops are in containers on the bottom shelf.

I bought a shoe cubbie for more storage.  I bought two but after putting the first one together I realized they don't fit my taller heels very well.  So one will stay and the other one is getting returned.  I'm just glad they are no longer all over my room.  While it seems I may have an excessive amount of shoes (not that I believe there is such thing) this is after I tossed about 10 pair to the donation pile.  I also got my side shelves reinforced.

Now I'll be able to store off-season items up top and get them out of the way.  Glad to be 100% done with all of this!

Biscuit Update

Biscuit is still loving life.  She recently redid her crate with a new Molly Mutt duvet.  The old one had several holes from the previous owner and she was enjoying digging on the holes.

Hopefully this one will stay in one piece for a while.  She is also still obsessed with the squirrels in our yard.  In her defense I really think the squirrels taunt her.

They get in the longest staring matches until the squirrels finally run off.  All of this excitement wipes her out by the end of the day.  Excuse the photo, but she's not the most ladylike sleeper.

We are both excited about spring around the corner.  We have had a few nice weekends and have really enjoyed jogs at White Rock Lake.  Biscuit also enjoys rest breaks.

I'm glad she has adjusted so well.  Even if she does torment Pablo on occasion.  Let's be honest...everyone torments Pablo by their mere existence.  He's not the most social character.

Closet Finish Up

I have been working on my closet after work each night and it is now about 90% complete!  The rods all got hung up.

I also put up 12" shelves above the two top rods.  I was going to do another 1"x4" support along the length of the shelf but I think I've decided to go with an L bar support instead.  I still have to buy those but they should be a snap to install.

It was exciting to start moving all my clothes back into my closet.  It's been driving me nuts having them spread all over the house.  

It definitely feels more spacious than my last configuration.

I am still trying to decide the layout for everything and how to organize my shelves.  I have an area on the inside right where I will be putting in shoe cubes.

 I'm really glad I finally got this done.  Now everyone cross your fingers that it doesn't all rip out of the wall and come crashing down.

Construction Begins!

Sunday morning my paint was dry and I hit up Home Depot for my supplies.

Everything set me back about $200.  I paid a little extra to make sure some of my rods and hardware were "heavy duty".  Last thing I need is this closet collapsing on me.  I'm using a Closetmaid shelf system for the back of my closet.  It was $99 but worth the time and energy not to build the shelves myself.

I started out putting these together as the height of the shelving unit will be my guide for additional shelving I will install.

I was sure to follow the instructions carefully and make sure the shelves were level and well secured to the wall.  Again, don't want anything falling down on me.  It was pretty easy to get together and seems very sturdy now that I have it all in place.

I finished it up Sunday evening and decided I had enough time to at least get one rod up.  I was careful to measure everything and keep it level.

I went with heavy duty oak rods because they would be easier for me to size down than the metal ones.  I was going to paint them white but decided not to in case the hangers eventually wore off the paint and made it look tacky.

I got the rod hung at a perfect fit for my hangers!  Now all I have to do is throw up 2 more rods and a top shelf and I will once again have a closet.  Can't wait!

Painting the Closet

Once I removed all of the wire shelving from my closet I was left with tons of holes to fill.

Since these patches would need to be painted anyway, I went ahead and repainted the whole closet to match the bedroom walls (Behr Sterling).  I also lightened up the trim.

Not a huge change but it certainly freshened it up a bit.

Tomorrow I'll be back with some actual construction updates!

Cleaning Out My Closet

I grounded myself Friday night so that I would tackle cleaning out my closet.  What a task.  I removed every stitch of clothing, shoes, drawers, etc.  They are all now residing in my office closet, my guest room bed and strewn around my bedroom.  It's one big mess.  On a plus side, I was able to make a pretty good pile for donation.  Here is the finished product.

And then a picture after I removed all the preexisting wire shelving.

It is currently the neatest part of my room since my bedroom has now turned into one big closet.  Having things spread all over the house has certainly made getting dressed an adventure.

A carefully selected collection of clothes.  This is all I can wear until I get my closet back together.

Oh, and were you looking for some jeans?  I keep those on the nightstand.

The timing of my project worked out because today is bulk trash day and I was able to kick all this to the curb.

Everything that was in my drawers inside the closet was relocated to my new purple chests (socks, undies, etc).  Tomorrow I tackle repainting the closet!

Claustrophobic Closet

I realize that sometimes problems with your house really are not the house's fault.  Sometimes your shoe obsession is to blame.  Or the ever changing fashion trends that force you to acquire more clothing.  I'm not blaming anyone, I'm just saying some things need to change.  My house has plenty of space and plenty of closets.  Unfortunately my master bedroom has a small closet that wastes a lot of valuable space.

Excuse the bad photo and the oddly "staged" closet.  This is what it looked like when I first visited my house.    It is a small walk in closet with wire shelves that circle the walls.  And there are 24 inches of pretty much wasted space at the top of the closet.  I found out the hard way that this is not very reliable storage.

I have filled my closet to the max even while using other closets in the house and Tupperware storage for off season clothing so I knew it was time to come up with a fix.

Since I'm cheap, of course I looked for a way to do it myself.  And I decided I am anti-wire closet systems. Sorry, Container Store Elfa.  I'm sure you're great, just not for me.  After playing with plans and measurements, I decided to built a mostly wood walk in with a shelving unit on the back wall.  Here is a basic rendering of my plan.

I will have bi-level rods on the left and a tall rod on the right for organizing tops, pants and then dresses.  This configuration will give me 180" of hanging space versus the 126" available with my current U-shape single level system.  A 12" wood shelf will go along the top foot of the closet for sturdy, short storage of shoes, off season items, etc.  I will use the shelving unit for folded item as well as shoes and then will be adding more shoe storage once I'm better able to tell the floor and wall space I will have available.  It's ambitious and will involve some work but I think it will really make my life better.  A happy wardrobe is a happy Thea.

Finished Bathroom

I spent Friday night putting the guest bathroom back together and I'm really happy with the changes so far!  It really is a big change from what it looked like when I moved in as far as being lighter and a little less generic.  It only cost about $50 since I had all the paint already on hand.

Before

After

Now it really is time for me to stop procrastinating and get back to planning my new master closet remodel.