Happy week of Thanksgiving!!  It's hard to believe that we're already here.  I swear these months get faster every year.

Considering this is the Season of The Guest, I decided this week to focus on an area that gets a tremendous amount of use and very little attention: our downstairs coat closet.

Okay, so it's not a make or break space.  Most of the people who visit my home probably don't care if it looks gorgeous.  But it's a workhorse of a space that I look at every day and that is in some desperate need of a little TLC.  The pictures that follow aren't pretty.  You may want to sit down. #holdme

Yeah, so this is the current state of my closet.  Messier than a Trump 'do after a segway tour.

I honestly have no idea how it gets to this point.  I blame the cat.

Making it Clean

The first step was to pull everything out of it and sort it into piles: Trash, Relocate, Keep, Donate.

Trash and Relocate:

There wasn't a lot that needed thrown out - just a few tags and broken hangers.

Extra blankets got relocated to the bedrooms they belong to, the backpack went with luggage and the [exceedingly random] pile of washcloths was thrown back in the wash before being folded and put back in the linen closet (but seriously, how does that happen?).

After that I was left with the things that I generally wanted in the closet:  outwear, umbrellas, games, and a box of spare gifts.  But all of this needed sifted as well.

Donate:

I live in the northeast, so coats of varying weights are a necessity but they do tend to pile up.  I would much prefer to pare down to what I truly need and donate the rest.  After a quick sort, I found 9 (yep, NINE) that could go to a better home. I cleaned, and folded them and they're being donated to Burlington Coat Factory's Warm Coats and Warm Hearts Coat Drive. 

Donate a coat at Burlington and receive 10% off of your entire purchase!

I also kept a box nearby for Goodwill donations.  Superfluous hats, mittens, gloves and scarves made it into this box, along with games we no longer play, throws we don't need, gifts I'll probably never get around to giving and gym equipment I'm not likely to use (I mean, how many free weights and arm bands does one person need?).

Finally, I pulled all of my assorted hangers out and added them to a box of their own.  For a long time I've been wanting to replace them with matching coat hangers for both aesthetic and practical purposes (coat hangers are, in fact, better for your coats.  Who knew?).  In doing a little research a few months ago, I found out that dry cleaners are often in need of extra hangers and are happy to collect your old ones.  Perfect! (Any time I can avoid adding to a landfill, I'm a happy camper!)

Making It Pretty (And Using Gift Wrap as Wall Paper)

Once the extra stuff was out, the closet already looked MUCH better.  But I still wanted to make it a pretty space - something that made me happy when I opened up the doors to grab a jacket.

I started by giving the wooden shelf a fresh coat of white paint and cleaning the bar with a magic eraser.  A quick go over with the vacuum helped tremendously too.

I picked up some Bumerang hangers from Ikea.  Made of solid beech, eucalyptus, aspen or alder, these hangers come in white, natural and black and are only $4.99 for 8 (seriously good deal!).  I chose white to brighten up the space a bit, and made sure to have enough  for guest coats as well as our own.



As I've said before, living in a rental can be a little limiting.  I never want to sink too much money into something that can't go with me when we move, and many projects wouldn't be allowed anyway. But I really wanted to do something fun for the back of the closet.  Wallpaper can be expensive and is a serious pain in the rear to remove when moving (trust me, I've done it. #rookiemove), so I decided to try something a little different: wrapping paper!

Using a heavy, high quality wrapping paper and removable double-sided foam tape, I carefully measured, cut and adhered long sheets to the back of the closet.



I treated outlets the same way I would were I using real wallpaper: removing the face plates, cutting an X in the paper with a craft knife, cutting off any excess and then reattaching the hardware.


The results? A beautiful, neat space that makes me smile every time I open the doors.


Last but not least, I found some large pretty baskets (Michael's clearance for $5 each) for my gifts, then replaced things neatly on the shelf, bar and in the labeled drawers (Someday I want to replace the Sterilite drawer unit, but for now it serves its purpose).  I even found room to store our vacuum neatly! (Perhaps seeing it regularly will inspire me to use it more often.  Hey, it could happen.)

Finally, my favorite part: The Before and After!

After seeing how much I love the baby blue and gold polka dots on the back wall, I may add it to the sides along with some additional hooks.

How much better is that?! 

Next on the list: Putting up [a baby-proof] Christmas.  No pressure there...

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week, friends!

If I'm allowed to toot my own horn for a minute, I'm pretty darn awesome at finding good stuff on Craigslist (toot toot!).  I know the places to look, I know how to negotiate, I know what things are truly worth and I know how to be safe about it.  Furthermore, I'm pretty darn awesome at knowing the right questions to get the best furniture... err, well, usually.  Alas, sometimes I miss something.

In the case of my gorgeous nursery dresser, I missed a pretty major question in the negotiation process.  "Does it come from a smoke free home?"  Yeah. Oops.

So, I found myself with a piece of wood furniture that I planned to put my baby on...that smelled like nicotine.  Not cool.

Luckily, there are ways to get smoke/pet/food odors out of furniture.  These handy tricks are good to know if, like me, you enjoy recycling and up-cycling old furnishings (and occasionally your brain goes on vacation during the discovery process...)

Bad Smell Killers


#1. Baking Soda
Yes, the does-it-all kitchen staple does this too.  Fill a small bowl or cup with baking soda and place in each drawer.  Close the drawers and leave it there for 1-2 weeks.

#2.  Furniture Cleaner with Orange Oil 
After using the baking soda, give the entire piece a good wipe down with citrus based furniture cleaner.  Orange oil is comprised almost entirely of limonene, which is not only highly scented, but also a very effective solvent.


#3.  Sunshine!  
If possible, set your furniture outside on a sunny, low humidity day (Amazingly, sticking it out in the rain will not do you any favors...).  Open all of the drawers and allow the sun to bake the piece for a few hours.  The sun will kill off any mold or mildew that may be adding to the problem and the air circulation will help air out the porous material. 


#4. Shellac That Puppy
If your furniture STILL has an odor, shellac can be used to seal the wood and squelch the smells.


#5.  Sachets & Scented Drawer Liners 
When the smell is gone (or all but), add sachets or scented drawer liners for a much prettier scent.  Cedar blocks also have a wonderfully woodsy smell and keep moths away.



For my dresser, I was amazed at how well the baking soda and orange oil worked (I may not have even needed the orange oil, but I figured a good cleaning couldn't hurt anyway).  I did wind up adding mildly scented drawer liners, but that was mostly because they were gorgeous!


I'm not likely to forget to ask that question again, but it's good to know there are solutions if I do!

Do you have any nifty tricks for getting rid of unwanted smells in furniture?

While nursery work and office/guest room final touches continue (and I will most likely write a bit about that later this week), I'm actually not writing about either of them today. 

I don't know about where you live, but here in the Northeast, it's been ceaselessly and mercilessly cold these past few months.  Like, Quit Your Job and Hibernate Til Spring cold.  And, at the present moment, all I can think about is jetting off to somewhere tropical and warm.  The lack of money and giant, third trimester belly, however, make that a little less than likely.  Boo.

Instead of pulling the covers over my head and giving Old Man Winter the one finger salute, I decided to bring a little spring and summer reminder into my home with a tropical sunset-inspired arrangement. (I'm a big believer in treating yourself to flowers every now and then, and I haven't done it in a while.)

I bundled up in every layer I have available (when you're already the approximate size and shape of a beach ball, adding a few more coats really doesn't make a difference. You just kind of turn into a Zorb.), and headed to Produce Junction - my new favorite place for finding amazingly priced flowers and plants (I highly recommend doing a little research to find regular farmers markets in your area).

After perusing their pretty posies, I finally decided on 1 dozen snapdragons in fuschia and canary yellow; 1 dozen snapdragons in orchid purple; and 1 dozen roses in a super-saturated coral shade.  I also grabbed some Phoenix Palm ('cause nothing says "beach" quite like a palm) and a bit of tree fern for some fluffy green texture.  All told, I spent $13.  (Whaaaaaat?! That's crazy talk.)



Once home, I set to work snipping the ends on the diagonal, stripping the leaves and pulling off any blooms that would rest below water level.

Leaves and blooms that hit below the water line can cause bacteria build up and kill your pretty arrangement faster!

To make the most of my tall snapdragons and large bloom roses, I selected a wide mouth pedestal vase that would make the most of their size and create a major presence.  For stability and extra color, I mixed several batches of vase gems and sea glass (color just makes me happy!)


I began the actual arrangement using the palms as a border and creating a vertical, one sided shape (which basically just means that this particular piece is being created to be viewed from one angle.  In this case it will be displayed on my buffet).

I then began adding longer sections of snapdragons, creating symmetry with length and color.  By working from the outer edges of the arrangement in, I also begin creating a support structure for the flowers in the center.


Once I had the skeleton in place, I began adding the roses (also known as Face Flowers or Focus Flowers), starting at the front of the vase and low point of the arrangement, and working my way up.


Using additional blooms as well as greenery, I filled in the rest of the spaces, making sure to add a variety of heights and colors.  Once I was pleased with the overall shape and fullness of the arrangement, I moved it to its display spot and made the final adjustments there (trust me, it's so annoying to have it JUST the way you want it and then have it all shift around when you move it!).
Voila!


As I happened to have some flowers left over, I threw together a smaller arrangement in a low square glass vase for the dining room table.  Two coordinating arrangements for $13? I feel warmer already. 


As I said, I'll most likely be posting about one of my other projects in the next couple of days, but this little dose of summer has certainly brightened my week so far!!  Go treat yourself to some gorgeous!


**One quick final note: The reason I decided to use these flowers in particular is because, according to the ASPCA's website, they're all non-toxic to cats.  As I have a little furry ninja who enjoys getting his 5-A-Day through all things off-limits, I try to be careful of what I bring into the house.  While I still do my best to discourage him, I'm not foolish enough to think that when I'm not around he heeds my instructions (he is a cat, after all).  
 If you have pets, I highly recommend looking into non-toxic flowers and plants to be on the safe side.  No pretty decor is worth their health!  

As you know, my husband and I are expecting our first little one at the end of April (and by "little one" I mean a baby.  It's not an oompa loompa or anything.)  Considering we live in a fairly small rental townhouse, this has sent me into a bit of a streamlining/decluttering frenzy.  The big issue?  Room for a nursery.

Though our place technically has three bedrooms, they are all very small and oddly shaped.  Up until now, one was our bedroom, another the guest bedroom and the third was our office.  And, while the baby probably WOULD fit in a desk drawer, I have a feeling that might be frowned upon by general society.

It quickly became pretty clear that we needed to somehow merge the office into the guest room before starting on changing over the smallest (and wonkiest shaped) room into a nursery.  As you might imagine, this is no small task.  I've spent the past few weeks playing large scale Tetris (with the help of my loving and oh-so-patient husband who somehow puts up with my OCD).  I have to say, it's coming together far better than I expected, but it is definitely still very much in progress.

One of the first problems was that, as I said, both the office and the guest room are quite small and were already crammed with furniture.  Figuring out what I could live without and how to finagle all of the remaining pieces into one small space together was daunting.  In large part this is due to the fact that nearly nothing in either room is there purely for looks but for functionality. (In fact, I never actually got around to styling the guest room at all.  It was more a mishmash of whatever I had that got the job done.)   So herein lie -

The Issues: 

1.  Combining 2 rooms worth of furniture

The Guest Room Contained:
1 Tall wood shelf (brown)
1 Queen sized bed (no headboard due to lack of room)
1 Bureau (another refinishing project I have yet to start)
1 Outdoor console table (don't judge - I told you the guest room was a mishmash!)
2 Nightstands


The Office Contained: 
2 Tall bookshelves (black)
1 Printer stand (plus file storage)
1 Leather topped antique desk
1 Tufted leather desk chair
Shredder/Computer tower/Trash Can, etc.


2. Each room had a different color scheme 
The office had a seaglass and black palette (with leather colored accents)
The guest bedroom was done in mostly cobalt blue and white

Not the worst of issues, but still something to consider.

3. Continuation of Storage: 
The Newly Renovated Guest Room had to be able to store all of the junk that we'd already barely managed to shove into each room.  This included my husband's clothes; musical instruments; spare blankets; photo albums, magazines, and a variety of books; craft supplies, camera supplies and wrapping supplies; computer, printer and all things related... so yeah.  A lot of stuff. 

The Process
1.  Evaluating Storage Potential and Level of Importance
The first thing that we had to do was decide what HAD to be included in the room.  Obviously the bed, the desk and the printer were in.  The black bookshelves from the office held a significant portion of our stuff and were pretty much a must as well.  This left the leather chair, the nightstands, the console table, the bureau and the brown shelf.

The next step was to sketch out a floor plan and see how all of the essential pieces could fit.  There was nowhere else for the bed to go, so it had to stay put.  The bookshelves and printer table replaced the console on the far wall (something narrow is required there to access the bed).  The desk was set up next to the bed, forcing me to pull one of the nightstands out of the room, and shimmy the other brown bookshelf over to the wall opposite the printer. This move meant I also had to pull the bureau where all of my husband's shirts and sweaters were stored.  Yikes!  

Movin' ain't purdy, that's for sure.

The console table was pretty much immediately pulled and shoved into the garage, as it never provided much storage but was only a temporary solution until we could get to that room.  One of the bedside tables also had to be stored, as the desk replaced it, but the other was small enough to fit between the bookshelves and the bed. The brown shelf and the bureau were a toss up as both provided function, but ultimately the bookshelf won as it gave height and balance to the side of the room opposite the black shelves.  

The bureau and the leather chair moved into the Soon-To-Be-Nursery as a temporary holding, until I could figure out what to do with them.


2.  Sifting, Sorting & Sacking 
The relocation of furniture, meant unloading everything in it, and dumping it in giant messy piles around the upstairs.  While I may have gained a few grey hairs stepping over these piles for a day or two, it did provide me with a great opportunity to sort through things that I normally don't think about and PURGE.  I sorted all of the books on my shelf, as well as some of my crafting supplies from the closet and created three piles: To Keep; To Donate; To Be Determined.

After going through everything, I wound up donating four large boxes of things we no longer needed or wanted.  This cleared up several shelves, which allowed me to start moving some craft and wrapping supplies out of the soon-to-be-nursery's closet. 
3.  Reevaluating Needs and Potential Solutions
Finally I had to come back and take a look at the primary issues that remained.

• My husband's clothes still had to be accessible
• Without the leather chair, there was no seating for the desk or for guests
• Many things still remained to store: instruments, blankets, camera equipment, etc. 

The desk chair was an easy enough solution.  We decided that until we could find something small that we liked, we would use an upholstered stool as a stand in.  The stool fits neatly in the knee hole, so guests aren't tripping over it getting in and out of bed, and its location is convenient and functional.  I'd like to recover it to coordinate with the room at some point, but that's a future project.

Regarding storage, my first thought was that we might need to buy a storage bed frame - something with drawers underneath.  The trouble was that a) they're expensive and b) the room is so small that only drawers on one side would open.  Not a match in heaven made. 
It was my husband that came up with the solution: bed risers.  Because our tiny bedroom didn't fit a proper headboard and frame, the mattress and boxspring had always sat on a low, basic metal bed frame.  With barely any room underneath the bed, I'd never been able to store anything there.  Enter the large, ugly hard plastic bed risers that my husband purchased on Amazon.
Okay, confession time: I REALLY didn't want to use these at first.  I mean, I put up a good ol' fight about it.  They're ugly and look like they'd break in a second.  However, in my desperation, I finally agreed to at least give them a shot.  And boy, was he right.


 The risers provide TONS of room under the bed: enough for instrument cases, bins of tissue paper and gift bags, kitty-cat storage and more.  Reviews on Amazon said that they were amazing, and the long white bed skirt covered the hideousness of the risers themselves, so the parts that I dreaded weren't issues at all!  Woot!

I considered buying additional under-bed bins for my husband's clothing, but it seemed so inconvenient for him, and it still left the problem of what to do with the bureau.  Finally, I decided to move the bureau out into the hallway and replace a small round table I had refinished.  To be completely honest I don't LOVE the bureau right there.  It is just a smidge too big and it still needs to be fixed up (although perhaps having it out in plain site will encourage me to get a move on it!).  But it's very convenient for my husband and it doesn't have much of a footprint which is a necessity in the small area.
  
Maintaining Momentum 
With a project this big, there are times when it gets overwhelming and I just want to walk away from it (which I do, from time to time, to maintain sanity).  But to make sure that I keep my spirits up and the momentum going, I always try to find the little details along the way that have come together well and make me happy.  Below are some of my favorite little mood-lifters.

1.  The bookshelf wall isn't that different from how it was in the office.  A few things got streamlined, a few crafts were added.  But mostly the cute storage bars (from Ikea), the bright craft supplies that sit waiting for their next project and the shelves filled with my favorite books (organized by SUBJECT.  Colors be damned!) continue to make me smile when I look over at them.  (Added bonus, guests have plenty of reading material to choose from!)

Cute and easy storage wall for books, crafts and supplies

A small investment of 1.99 a box garnered me huge rewards in organization and style.

The (Current) Results 

Obviously there is plenty more to do: the bedding needs to be updated and tied together with the seaglass; the wall next to the door (where the brown shelf is) is in desperate need of some attention; some of my larger photography supplies still need storage; the lamps need updated.  BUT, large strides have been made and I'm really happy with the progress.  (AND, I now have an empty room to Nursery-fy, which of course I'll probably start while finishing this.  Because who DOESN'T need total chaos in their life?).

But today I'm celebrating the Where We Are instead of focusing on the Where I Want To Be.   It's about the journey right?



Click Here to Read Part 2!

I love having flowers in the house.  Bright, fresh-faced daisies, elegant but bold peonies, delicate wildflowers or even great lacy bunches of babies breath seem to bring the sunshine inside and add that "Oh these?  Yes, I just snipped a few blooms from my meditation gardens as I was strolling the grounds with Chauncy this morning," feeling to a room. 

Shockingly, my apartment complex does not, in fact, have a meditation garden, or, unfortunately, a guy named Chauncy.  This means that, generally, I have to buy my blooms and confuse the hell out of my husband by calling him Chauncy.  (Maybe I could rename the cat...)

The fact that purchased flowers are not exactly cheap (and I'm not exactly rich) means that I want to make them last as long as possible.  The all-knowing inter-webs have a slew of recipes for making your flowers last.  But which one truly works the best?

In order to find out, I'm conducting a Flower Power experiment.  (No goggles or Bunsen burner required.)  I'm taking the top 8 most common Flower-Water-Preservative suggestions and pitting them against one another in the Flower Power Death Match of Doom!  (Everything sounds better when introduced like a Monster Truck Rally.  Frankly, I think ratings of political debates would go through the roof if they tried it...)

The Experiment 

I chose roses to work with as they tend to be pretty common in arrangements.  Each rose was cut to the same length and added to a labeled glass with one cup of water.

The first glass is my control and has no additive.  The remaining seven received a preservative.  Below are the contenders

1.  1 Cup Water
2.  1 Cup Water + 1 tablet of Asprin 

3.  1 Cup Water + 1 Tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar & 1 Tbsp. Sugar

4.  1 Cup Water + 1/8 tsp. Bleach & 1 tsp. Sugar 

5.  1 Cup Water + 1 Copper Penny & 1 tsp. Sugar 

6.  1 Cup Water + 1 Tbsp. Vodka & 1 tsp. Sugar 

7.  1 Cup Water + 2 Tbsp. Sprite 
8.  1 Cup Water + 1/2 Packet of Grocery Store Flower Food 


Observations
 
- The Asprin water appears murky.  This may subside as it continues to dissolve, but it's something
to keep an eye on. Even if the rose in Asprin looks the best after a week, I may not be likely to use it in a clear vase.
- Likewise, the penny could be mildly distracting in a clear vase.  It doesn't look bad... I just have a feeling it might quickly draw attention away from the roses.
- Preservatives 6 and 7 seem like a party, and, should I partake of too much "Flower Power," preservatives 1 and 2 will help me the next morning!   Okay, perhaps this isn't as useful...




I can't lie - setting the whole thing up was kind of a pain.  But now that I have my odd-but-still-strangely-pretty experiment/centerpiece, I'm excited to see what the results are.  Stay tuned to find out which Preservative Powerhouse ranked highest and made my pretty blooms last the longest!

Functional, but boring.  It was in dire need of an update!

I love my new rug and ottoman!

DIY Lamp Re-Do

Ummmm... A pair of wingbacks for the cost of renting a van? Yes, Please!

Living Room Before and After