Saturday, March 8, 2014

My Pantry

I love organizing and making someone else's pantry pretty.  I can do it all at once from start to finish.  I know some people think it's silly to spend time and effort on a place behind a closed door but think of how many times a day that door opens!  I want it to be pretty and functional!!
So mine is a constant work in progress, I always try to recycle and reuse containers and things but little by little I am buying matching containers and baskets.  I do not love plastic but I do still have some because they are functional.  I just added some washi tape and labels :)
I use quite a few of those wire rack shelf helpers to add extra shelf space.  Someday I will build wooden ones and paint them to match.


Progress!!  




Next step is pulling everything back out and painting!  After spring break I am hoping to tackle that project.  For now, this is much more functional.  I keep the big costco containers of snacks tucked in back and just fill the glass containers as needed.  I feel like we are wasting much less food because everything is visible and not getting shoved to the back with a few crumbs left.  
We are almost free of the plastic rubbermaid containers in here.....one more trip to container store should do the trick!  :)  
Happy Organizing!!  












Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Girly closet makeover

Challenge:  Make this little girl's closet functional and pretty!!  
I will post pics from the rest of the room update soon, it was already very cute but we needed to brighten it up a little bit for the big girl!!  
First task, sort out what you have.  Get separate bins if you need to.  Donate!!!  Have a bin to keep, toss or donate.  
Figure out storage needs.  We determined that we needed a mix of drawers, cubbies for shoes, shelves and baskets.  I also had my handyman build some shelves for that deep back corner that is a waste of space.  I had him build them extra deep and tall to accommodate different sizes of toys....doll houses, ponies, etc.  :)  
I love removing closet doors and adding curtains if possible because it gives you full use of the closet.  I love the clean look of the doors but sometimes function wins, in this case we get function and style!!  
The shelves were painted white and the back wall painted hot pink to match some of the other bright colors we brought into the room.  
We were on a set budget so I went with the stacking closet maid shelving system from target.  I did the cube shelf for shoes, some drawers with stacking shelves.  All of the large canvas bins came from Home Goods.  
I also did some bins up top for clothes that are too big, donations and misc.  
We moved dresses to the long side and utilized the entire upper shelf for a storage system.  

Closet Before 





Closet After 







I enjoyed this project so much!!  I love little girls rooms.  Stay tuned for the remainder of this room update, it's soooo cute!!  
And I'm sure I will be posting my own closet in the near future.....every time I organize for someone else, my storage space changes too.  :)  
I really love the pop of color in this closet, makes it look so finished.  

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Easy Laundry Room Sign

I'm revamping my laundry room (post to come) and I wanted something fun and inspiring.  I had this frame sitting in my closet for the past year, I got it on clearance I knew I would find a use someday!  
I removed the backing and just covered it up.  


I took a piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper and used my handy photo splits to stick onto existing artwork. 



I cute a piece of white card stock to 10x10 and then I printed out my saying onto card stock and cut that to 9x9.  Stick it all together and put it back in your frame.  The staples that hold your backing may or may not be able to be reused, just bend them back into place or just use a staple gun to secure if the original ones fall out.  


Cute huh??


Linking to:
Addicted 2 DIY
GREEN wILLOW POND

Sunday, February 16, 2014

DIY Chevron Photo Frames

I love being able to take leftover scraps and turn it into something cool!  I had some leftover balsam wood from a previous project that's been sitting out in the garage and I got some navy frames from a garage sale that I really liked but were too small to go on the wall I wanted them for.  So I cut the wood (all by myself!), I'm not so good with a saw but I'm getting there.....and they actually came out straight, yay!
I painted the boards in a grey and white chevron and mounted the navy frames to the boards and attached some clips so I can change out snapshots whenever I want.  


First step, cut your wood to size.  I wanted mine a few inches bigger that my frames all the way around so just measure accordingly.  
Next I painted the boards white.  

This picture is a little hard to see the lines but once paint is dry I measured out the board and drew a line with pencil down the center horizontally and the one vertically.  Then I cut the squares in half again by drawing another evenly spaced line vertically through both sections.  I kind of depends how tight you want your chevron to be.  



Taping can be a little tricky, you just want to make sure all of your points match up and intersect at each of the points on your squares and I used exact o knife to make sure all of the points were exact.  
I painted a kind of sloppy coat of grey paint on, I just used a cheapie chip brush on this because I wanted it to be a little distressed looking.  


Peel off your tape and Voila!  Beautiful chevron background for free!!  Next I mounted the frames directly to the wood using liquid nails and just set a bunch of heavy books on top overnight.  


My kids loft is ever changing and will change again but for now I like this new addition!!  :)



Linking to 
Boogieboard Cottage




Addicted 2 DIY

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Turn mediocre pictures into a work of art!!

I love my iPhone.  Sometimes I download apps with very high hopes only to be completely disappointed.  Not this time!!!  I'm completely addicted.   I stumbled across one called WATERLOGUE and it's super cool.  I can't stop!  
This app takes random pics from your phone and turns it into a watercolor.  I haven't blown anything up yet but I'm gonna try....stay tuned.  
I haven't gone out searching to take beautiful photos...yet.  So these were all just in my phone and I think they are cool!!  
This is not a free app, but at the $2.99 price tag and rave reviews, I thought I would give it a shot.  


This is an old pic of backyard.....don't look at mess.  



Took this at random little boutique and I liked the sign, I took the picture so I could copy :)
Love the colors the watercolor picks up!


Super amazing lunch spot called the Farm at South Mountain.  Yum!!  And so cute!!  



Not sure what I'm going to do yet but I think I may start with these beauties....stay tuned for transformation!!





Friday, January 31, 2014

Quick Goodwill makeover

I love goodwill....sometimes.  I hate the smell in there but I have found some fantastic things.  It's usually a quick 5-10 minute trip when I go drop off my donations.  I got this round tray for $1.99, I already had the rectangular one.  2 quick coats of dark walnut spray paint and I have new kitchen cabinet accessories.  Yay!  

This had a little bend in the bottom but doesn't matter, just put it where no one can see it!  :)  



Thursday, January 30, 2014

Pantry Love

I love organizing!!  Here are a few before and afters for some pantry projects.  Must be functional but why can't it be pretty at the same time?  Glass containers are from walmart, baskets mostly from Target, a few from container store.  I love that place but the closest one is an hour away so not a frequent stop!!