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!

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.

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.

The Office is Open For Business!

The office is done!  At least for the year 2012.  I managed to clean up the room and semi-organize my closets last weekend, all under the waterful eye of Pablo.

 

 

I still need to give my shelf a little attention.  For now it just holds random homeless stuff.

Next year I hope to change the lighting in this room.  The light kit on the fan is horrible.  It gives off weird directional light.  I haven't decided if I'm going to switch the fan for a light fixture or just get a new light kit for it.  I have the same situation going on in the guest room as well.

My other plan for the new year is to decide on a rug for the room.  I keep changing my mind so I'm going to put that off for a while.  The room is definitely an improvement over how it began.

It looks darker in these photos but in real life the room actually feels lighter to me. 

Odd Collections

I've collected a lot of odd things throughout the years.  I think this happens to everyone.  There's just something satisfying about creating a collection and adding to it.  One of my first collections was "Photos of McDonald's Restaurants Around the World".  It was a wordy and strangely specific collection.  I amassed photos with my point and shoot camera and via my dad's business trips.  I had huge dreams of turning them all in to a coffee table book some day.  I no longer take photos of foreign McDonald's restaurants but seeing unique ones in new cities always stirs up a smile.  And I still have a thing for coffee table books.

Later in my teens I got really into Gumby and had quite the impressive collection of Gumby  licensed products.  I sold the collection on Ebay for a handsome profit.  As a flight attendant I started collection magnets of the states and countries I visited.  Still today I can assemble about 85% of the US on my fridge if challenged, though the magnets live in a drawer now.  When I started skiing in high school and college (recreational once or twice a year) I would collect pins from the various mountains I skied.  Lapel pins that I would attach to my neon green poufy ski jacket that screamed "TEXAS" to all the native Colorado skiers.  As a matter of fact, I think the pins are still on that jacket. 

Lapel pins are probably the one collection I still keep up with today.  I received several during my time as a flight attentdant and then have picked up other ones along the way.  I don't have tons but each one I do have comes with a special memory.  I've been lucky to visit a few cities hosting the Olympics.  Last year I attended my first World Series game.  This year the UT Co-op handed out Red River Rivalry pins with purchase.  I would take each pin and stick it in my lapel pin Ziplock baggie.  Not an exciting display of my collection.  With the office renovation in full swing I decided I wanted to put them in a shadow box.  Shadow boxes are not cheap but I found one at Michael's on clearance for $8 since a piece of wood had broken off the interior frame.  That's at least $20-30 in savings.  What a deal!

I considered painting the wood first, but it grew on me.  I punched my pins into place and then hung it in my office.  I like that I see it when I walk in the room.

I still have plenty of room for growth, which is good.  I probably only acquire 1-2 pins a year.  I like to think of it as my own version of a charm bracelet.  Oh wait, I have a charm bracelet and collect charms for it too!  I forgot about that.  Excuse the mess of my office.  I'm starting with that far wall and slowly working my way across the room.  Making progress.

I feel like my collection is now official and not just a plastic baggie I've held onto over the years. Now if I could just track down those old ski pins...

Orange Accents

 My office transformation is coming along.  I finished painting all the trim white and am now dreading painting my ceiling.  Hopefully I will get it all done this week.  I'm not letting myself buy the blue paint until I'm done.

In an act of procrastination, I started working on some of my orange accents for the room.  I basically just searched around for old decorative items in my house that I wasn't currently using anywhere.  I bought a can of orange spray paint and also picked up a $2 can of Oops Paint Orange. 

The first items I painted were these brown cardboard boxes.  I subscribe to Birchbox gifts and receive a box full of beauty product samples each month.  The boxes are nice and sturdy so I've been saving them thinking I'd eventually come up with a use for them.

They turned out great and are going to be awesome organizational boxes for my desk.  I think I'm going to spray paint a couple more since I have a few.

I turned some little candles orange along with an old shabby chic style bird house.  The bright color turns everything into modern little accents.  The orange frame was picked up at IKEA, already orange, for $1.99! Now that I have a few inspiration pieces in orange and white, I should probably get back to addressing my ceilings.  Rats.

Laundry Line

My laundry room is probably closer to a large closet than an actual room.  But compared to my past, it feels like a room.  At my condo I had a stackable that filled up an entire laundry closet.

Now I have a room/closet that I can actually walk into.  It has cabinets and wall space and a real door.

I've been trying to make use of all the space in my house in the most practical manner and this laundry room is no exception.  Occasionally I have clothes that don't go in the dryer.  When this happens I dry them on a fold out rack.  This rack doesn't fit in my wee laundry room so it usually ends up in the dining room.  And because of "out of sight out of mind", it usually remains there for a week or so. 

While I have no floor space for a drying rack, I decided I did have plenty of wall space and overhead space.  A light bulb went off and $10 at Home Depot later I had this:

A new clothing rod above the washer for drying clothes!  It makes it so easy to hang something up while I'm in the middle of moving loads to the dryer. If I'm too lazy to put the stuff away once it's dry, at least it is hidden behind the laundry room door and not in the middle of my dining room. 

I made sure to measure everything before installing the rod so that I would still have easy access to the top of the washer and to the cabinet shelves.

I'm pretty excited with my new install.  Maybe it will help get me a little more excited about actually doing laundry. 

Closet Organization

I have mentioned before how thankful I am for all the closets in my house.  After years in a condo with only 2, it's like a whole new world for me.  I'm still slowly figuring out how best to use them all.  One of my closets is next to my laudry room, right at the entrance to the living area.

Closet seen here, behind the green table

This closet is oddly deep, almost square on the inside.  I've got games and such crammed in it, some random shirts hanging in there and then my Dyson.  Basically just stuff that I haven't found a better place to store.

I decided more shelves might actually make this closet more useful.  Instead of throwing things on the ground, or placing them on shelves so high that I can't reach, I can add more shelves down the back wall.  Brilliant, right?

$40 in supplies at Home Depot and I was ready to go.  I screwed the long rails into the back of the closet and then added my adjustable shelves.

Before I get my new shelves too filled up, I will probably add 2 more shelves to the track.  Not bad for about 30 minutes of work!  And don't worry, even with the shelves there is still penty of room for Dyson storage.