Closet Makeover

Two things you should know: 1. This post may be quite boring. 2. I'm almost embarrassed to post it. Often people comment about how clean my house is...well, for the most part it is, but don't look in the closets. I have a 5 year old and a 2 year old, so you know there is a mess somewhere. Oddly, if the room is spotless, but the closet is still messy I feel like the room is messy. So a couple of weeks ago I tackled my kids closets. See Savannah's before picture above and below.

It had become quite dis-functional and post-Christmas I needed it to function more than ever! I began searching the internet for closet organizing tips and to my surprise I didn't find much! Most sites were only trying to sell me their organizational storage systems. Other bloggers didn't have much to say about it either. So this post is for someone who, like me, could use a few suggestions.

The first thing I did was to sort through everything - clothes, toys, STUFF, and get rid of things! I suggest making 4 piles: 1. To keep. 2. To toss. 3. To donate. 4. To store. I think I had a trash bag full of things to toss, and a trash bag full of things to donate. From there I organized her clothes. As you can see above I color-coordinated them which not only looks nicer, but makes it easier to find things.

I also organized the top shelf. I was able to create so much room just by getting rid of things. Also, I did find a tip about using clear tubs for clothes that are being store for the next season. That way if you need to pull a few things out you know which tub they are in without digging through it!

I also moved an old shelf into the closet to maximize space. When you can store stack things up you save so much space! This could be done with an inexpensive bookshelf or organizer found at Walmart or Target. I also read that clear tubs make better toys boxes. When you child can see the toy they want they are less likely to dump the toy box! This has worked for Savannah.

For small toys I bought a couple of cute tubs at Target. Before Valentines Day they were only $2.

Purses and bags were hung on push pins on the side of the closet. I think command hooks would be better, but I was trying to use what I had on hand. One tip I found online that I love was to use a tall trash can for dirty clothes instead of a laundry basket because it takes up much less floor space!

So there are just a couple of tips for a neater looking, more functional closet. If anyone else has any helpful tips please leave comments! I love hearing from my readers.

Simple Valentines Decor

Nearly every girl likes hearts. We start doodling them on our homework in elementary, we put them next to our name in high school, and we post them on Facebook status updates no matter how old we are. Valentines Day is the perfect time to use hearts in your home decor. I wasn't actually planning on re-doing my mantel since my winter snowflakes have only been up for about a month, but then my sister sent me a picture of her Valentines mantel, and I changed my mind. Here is her mantel - I love her window!

It has been an exceptionally mild January anyway, so I wasn't really feeling the snowflakes anyway. I decided to make another burlap pennant because this project is so simple but looks so good! Plus, I plan to use it for photo sessions with couples, so I'll get a lot of use out of it after using it on my mantel!

I added a small string of heart shaped lights and two red candle lanterns. All of these items are from the dollar spot at Target - love it!  I also added some heart picks to my arrangement.

I love them. I'm also in love with the lighted sticks which were an after Christmas clearance find.

I made my coordinating burlap place-mat as well since I had lots of burlap and its just so easy to work with.

I love stencils! It looks so good, but its truly so simple.

I spray painted some chipboard letters - we're talking 75 at Hobby Lobby and I love them! I plan to use these for photo sessions as well, so my Valentines decor is turning out to be really functional.

I attempted to make a no-sew pillow case for my couch...however...I wasn't thrilled with it so it got demoted to the front porch. It looks perfectly fine out there.

I hope you've enjoyed this little tour of my Valentine's decor! I would love to see yours! Upload a picture to my Facebook wall if you would like to share. 

She Sells Seashells...

I have long wanted to create a gallery wall in my home. I often check them out on pinterest and eye the gallery frames in the pottery barn catalogs. However, they can be quite pricey (starting at around $15 a frame.) As I formed my plan for Savannah's new "big girl" room, I decided that I would finally create such a wall. It was about this time that a friend of mine shared with me a new business that she and her husband have started creating custom vinyl decor. This would the perfect addition to my gallery wall! I decided to use pictures of my kids from the beach to match Savannah's hibiscus Hawaiian style bedding. I ordered a custom vinyl that says "she sells seashells by the seashore." Then I hunted for frames.

Because my goal was to spend very little on this project, I did not order fancy gallery frames. Instead I got the absolute cheapest that Hobby Lobby had to offer and they were 50% off of the sticker price. They ranged from $2 to $3.50. All five of my frames totaled $12.50. I was so excited to come up with a design. I tried several different layouts centering around my vinyl phrase.

Of course, these frames are only available in one brown color, so I spray painted them white with some paint that I had on hand. I sprayed a very thin coat so that they would look weathered and "beach-y." Then to imitate the look of mats without purchasing anything expensive, I used scrapbook paper - which only costs about thirty cents a sheet - in various styles and colors to mat the photos I had chosen.

Finally, I was ready to put everything on the wall! I measured some and eye-balled some of it. The first thing I did was apply my vinyl since it would be the center-point. The instructions were simple. I laid the phrase face-down on a flat surface and ran a card over it. This made it super simple to peel the backing off of the word art.

After applying the art by placing it and slowly peeling the plastic away, I carefully placed and hung each of the pictures around it, and I am in love with the final results! (I had to bump up the contrast in these pictures. Although you can see the art easily when standing in the room, my camera had a little bit of trouble capturing the white on pale pink.)

I added some real star-fish to the wall. Little touches like this make a big difference in the overall look.

So there you have it. My first gallery wall. A big thanks to Stacie and Joel for making an awesome piece of custom art! You'll definitely want to check our their business, Wisdom on the Wall, by following this link! They have several great pre-made designs if you need inspiration or they can make a custom vinyl of your choosing in variety of colors and fonts! Its an inexpensive way to make a big impact on a bare wall. I am slowly finishing Savannah's room and I will be completing it soon. I'm ready to focus on Christmas, but I'll admit that I'm not the greatest multi-tasker! I am happy with the way things are shaping up, and I especially love sitting on the edge of her bed and seeing this.

Welcome to Fall

Welcome to fall at my house. Allow me to take you on a little tour. My first small project was the front porch. I got this little bench from my mom. She purchased it at an estate sale for just 50 cents. I painted it black and decided to use it to make my own little pumpkin patch.

My wreath on the front door was something new that I made for this year. Grapevine wreath (extremely inexpensive) and rosettes made out of burlap and remnants of material. Simple but I love it.

Come on inside and imagine that it smells like pumpkin spice, Chex mix, hot apple cider, and all of the wonderful things that fall smells like.

I am thrilled with how my mantel turned out. I wanted to do something really different this year. I went with the creamy white pumpkins (remember those bright orange dollar tree cheapies?) and who could forget the leopard candle pillars?

I think they turned out quite nicely! I love them. The white pitcher is a loaner from my mom. I love all the white and how it makes the orange in my garland pop. The garland was my one splurge item and even with it the entire look on my mantel cost less than $20. My favorite addition is my "Thankful" banner.  This idea came from Pinterest. I used burlap (which is very budget friendly) to make the pennants and an acrylic paint to stencil the letters. I debated putting it up closer to Thanksgiving but I need the reminder now as much as ever. I have much to be thankful for!

I have pumpkins everywhere. Standing alone, in groups, on pillars, in bowls... I had fun trying to think of creative ways to display them.

I had plenty of burlap so I decided to make a place-mat for my kitchen table to tie my theme into the kitchen.  I love think it turned out perfectly.

My centerpiece is a mix of random fall items and my candles. These cylinders also cost $1. Who says decorating has to be expensive? I think they look beautiful.

I added a splash of fall to my light fixture and found myself wishing it had a darker more worn look. I wonder how hard that would be to change... For now it is just fine. (If you look closely in the picture below you'll see I stood on my kitchen counter to take it...that may give you a good laugh. How funny I must look sometimes when I'm working on a blog post!)

Even my soap gets seasonally swapped out and I don't feel funny about posting that because based on the crazy selection of fall soaps I saw this year, I'm not the only one who does this!

I hope you've enjoyed looking as much as I enjoyed creating. Thanks for reading. Happy Fall to all. 

P.S. I'm linking up!

It's Fall Y'all (Autumn Link Party)

Painting Pumpkins

 

(Image by Pottery Barn)

So it is finally fall...my favorite season! For the past few weeks I've been looking at Pinterest and my Pottery Barn catalog trying to find inspiration for autumn decor. I love bringing the outside in, and fall is a great time to do that! This season I've been particularly taken by white pumpkins. Don't get me wrong, I still love the big bright orange ones too but these little cuties in the Pottery Barn catalog caught my eye. If only they weren't $20 a piece (and up...) I don't want one pumpkin in my house. I want to set them out in pairs, fill my mantel, etc... I definitely couldn't do that at $20 a piece.  Fortunately I've learned that a lot of things can be reproduced for a fraction of the cost if you use your imagination and a little big of paint. So I headed to the Dollar Tree...yes, where everything is a dollar, and found this rag-tag group of pumpkins in need of a makeover.

As you can see they are foam and plastic...and they look a little bit cheap and shiny. The orange is not quite right either. But they were a dollar. You know what else is $1 just about anywhere? Craft Paint. The first thing I did to these guys was spray paint them white with cheap (97 cent) spray paint from Walmart because they orange was pretty bright and I wanted to get it covered quickly.

After spray painting them I took at creamier white and dabbed it on the pumpkins with a sponge brush. Then I also used some brown craft paint to add depth by dabbing it in the contours. (This is not pictured because this post is just a preview.) I also tied some brown string around the stems. They look so great, but I am not going to show you the finished product just yet since I'm still working on finalizing my decor. For my mantel I also wanted a creative way to display some of the pumpkins. I liked this look in pottery barn where the pumpkin is displayed atop a bowl/pillar.

(Image by Pottery Barn)

Again the price is not budget friendly at $39 and I'm actually not totally crazy about that style, just the idea. I decided to look for some white candle pillars. I found a few but still didn't want to pay $10 a piece for them. Then I found these little babies at Dollar Tree:

Are they leopard? Oh my...nothing a little white spray paint white won't fix. $1 a piece? I'll take them. You'll have to wait to see them finish product when I share my finished mantel. I'm really pleased with how it turned out! Lastly I decided to paint a couple of the small pumpkins a little differently by giving them a brown undercoat for a really distressed look. I started with this:

I used a muted brown craft paint and painted a thin layer over the entire pumpkin. I actaully like the way it looks here. I distressed some pumpkins like this last year. But I had more plans for this little guy.

Over the brown I dabbed a layer of vintage white using a sponge brush again, and I love my finished product. So it was a busy day of painting and my hands and fingernails look awful...but it was well worth it for the money I saved and the results! Can't wait to share the rest once I'm completely finished. I will leave you with a little sneak peak...