(diva)logues

You are not too old and it's not too late...

 

Has anyone besides me been reorganizing and/or redecorating their home during all these snow and ice storms we've had lately?  

It's not like my house is really unorganized, but there's something about making things look newer, updated or less cluttered that settles my mind. 

You really do become what you surround yourself with... people, places, things. 

And a cluttered home can usually equal a cluttered mind.

 

And goodness knows I can clutter my mind on my own without my home assisting me further, thankyouverymuch.  LOL 

 

Among other areas though, I've spent quite some time in my office lately... throwing stuff out, reorganizing, etc.

But yesterday I stopped to read the inspiration board I made about 3 years ago as part of a Bloom Book Club night.  

I had literally pulled everything from my Pinterest boards at that time... just saved and printed each thing I wanted to use.  

 

Have you ever made an inspiration board? 

The concept of it is to have something you see daily that will help you manifest those things.  

Mine is in my office closet, but that door is almost always open so I get a glimpse of it every time I'm sitting at my desk.  

Honestly though... I don't read it daily.  In fact, I haven't stood there and read everything on it since I hung it there.  

So much for manifesting and inspiring me.  Whoopsie. 

 

But it all still applies.  I probably just need to keep all of it more in my daily sight...

 

In related news, I made some subtle changes to the room.  

I removed all the gold polka dots from the wall and hung an old clock that's been sitting in my basement for over 6 years.  It was from my old kitchen and never really went with my current decor anywhere in my house, but I'm kinda liking it again for some reason.  

Weird how your style changes, but yet it doesn't really.  

 

I also purchased a new set of actual wood drawers to put under the desk to replace the old plastic rolling one.  I mean, it's not like it matters that much... they're both functional... I just wanted it to look better. 

 

Bryn's art and creations are scattered throughout the room.  I didn't exactly ask for permission, but if you find something in the basement, I feel like it's fair game to give it new life and display it, right?  

Plus... she's crazy talented and I like to look around and see stuff that makes me feel happy. 

 

It looks a little more like an office than a craftroom now I guess?  LOL

 

Before...

After... 

 

Pegboard is an inexpensive way to add storage to your wall.

And that Chanel canvas... Bryn made it.  So cute!

I designed this t-shirt and then cut it up.  I know, me cutting something up?  Never happens...

Bryn made the St Louis canvas too.  Literally her handwriting and a free-handed interpretation of the city. 

I mean... I know I'm partial... but it's way too cute.

 

That's Bryn's self-portrait from 3rd grade on the wall above my desk.

It's been framed and hanging there since I moved into this house and I love it... 

More of Bryn's artwork on the wall with my inspiration board.  This room is full of things that inspire me... ♥

And this area changed slightly too.
Before...

After... 

 

I have a few scrapbooks.  Shocking I know.  

One of these days, I swear I'm going to start scrapbooking again. 

Even ordered and printed about 100 photos recently.

And they're currently sitting peacefully in a box... in the top of the closet... just waiting for that day to roll around again.    

 

 

What can I say except I should probably add it to my inspiration board...

XOXO

"Control... never gonna stop... control... to get what I want... "

 

Well here we go... heading into the holiday season!

The election just happened, as we all await the results. 

Annnd... it's still 2020. 

 

Gotta make the best of all of it though!

 

One of my favorite quotes is this... "The two things in life you are in total control over are your attitude and your effort."

And since a lot of what's going on in the world is beyond our control... what are some of the things you CAN do to feel as if you're not out of control this year?  Or any year for that matter!

 

One thing you can do is to clean up your environment.  This can include your home, your news feed, your circle of influence... minimize the "clutter."

When your environment around you is in disarray, what's within you is usually the same. 

 

 

Personally, I'm on a kick right now of organizing... or should I say reorganizing... every bit of this house. 

I'm throwing away, giving away and selling.

I've talked before about how I started selling my old clothes, shoes & handbags on Poshmark and other similar platforms.  It's a bit of work to get your stuff photographed & listed, but I've made almost $700 since the end of February on stuff that I was no longer using. 

I find it oddly satisfying to package stuff up & take it the Post Office.  Strange, I know. 

I even had cute little stickers made with my blog logo that go on each package I send. 

Who knows if anyone really cares when they get it, but it makes me happy...

If you're not already on there & sign up, you can use my closet name DIVALOGUES to save $10.

 

 

Aside from regularly cleaning out my closet though, even my pantry and my spice cabinet haven't gone untouched.    And well... I kinda like opening those doors now because organized stuff makes me happy. 

Are you seeing the trend here?  Ending up with things that make you happy & clutter-free.  That's the goal.

 

If you follow me on Instagram, I recently shared my reorganized spice cabinet on my Story.   Bought a couple Lazy Susan spinners to help organize some of the bottles...

Homeries Lazy Susan Turntable (9 Inch) - Single Round Rotating Kitchen Spice Organizer for Cabinets, Pantry, Bathroom, Refrigerator - Non-Skid Surface & Rimmed Edge - Pack Of 2

 

My favorite part though is that I was able to get rid of most of my vitamin & supplement bottles & put all the capsules into this little gem I found on Amazon!  Not sure where or how you organize your vitamins & supplements, but this little organizer can help reduce a lot of bottles taking up space in your cabinet or drawer...

Monster Supplement, Medication Pill Dispenser with Compartment Labels - Extra Large Pill Container Handles Almost Any Supplement - Includes Premium Lifetime Subscription to Medisafe App

 

 

And since I was already in the kitchen knee-deep in trash & giveaways... I figured why not make the pantry a little prettier too?  LOL 

I mean no one cares what it looks like except for me, but whatever.  Bryn might appreciate it too since she's a little organizer after my own heart, but aside from her, it's not like people walk into my house & check out the pantry.  

Although I guess if they're hungry, they might? I mean... there's also tequila in there too... 

 

I still want to do something different with the bottom 2 shelves & find a different solution for the canned goods & bottles, but for now it will have to do!

I've mixed & matched some old canister jars with new ones.  The plastic containers with a the white lids were found at the dollar store, but for most of the food I'm more comfortable knowing it's in a food-safe container with a tight seal. 

These glass canister jars are perfect.  I used a variety of sizes, but here's a good set of 2 (I bought 4):

Klikel Square Glass Kitchen Storage Canister Jars - Crystal Clear Food Storage Jars With Clear Lid And Bail & Trigger Hermetic Seal - 48oz, (set of 2)

I used a white chalk marker to write directly onto the glass container.  It also writes on my plastic containers too!

Easily wipes off with a paper towel if you make a mistake or change up the contents.

American Crafts 369907 Erasable White, 2 pack Chalk Marker

 

 

 

Of course EXERCISE is another great thing you can do for your sanity right now, or ANY year! 

 

Log off.

Move dat ass.

Go take a walk.

This beautiful weather won't last forever.

And you know darn well, you'll be complaining about the snow & ice soon enough. 

 

You got this!

We got this!

 

Attitude & effort.  That's where your control is. 

 

God Bless America!

 

XOXO

Mid Century Glam...

 

Well, I'm pretty excited to share a couple things.  On a whim I decided to redo my bedroom.  I've lived here 4 years and barely bought anything new, other than Bryn's bedroom furniture, when I moved in.  Believe it or not, I still had temporary shades behind the curtains in my bedroom so I just never opened them. 

For 4 years, people.  SMH

So when I mentioned to my friend, who's an interior designer, that I was thinking about possibly buying some new furniture... I posed the question... if you were going to redo this room, what would you do with it? 

And that day, we ended up in a store looking at furniture and accessories, buying paint & within days the room was complete.  And no more temporary shades either.  I actually have some blinds and can open the windows every day.  Hello sunshine in my room.  It's the little things that matter! 

 

 

Ok then... here's some before & after photos from my bedroom...

Before...

After...

Before...

After...

Before...

After...

 

I love it!  So happy with the dark blue accent wall & the pops of animal print & of course fur! 

It's all SO me & it makes me really happy to walk into this room now. 

XOXO

Mirror mirror on the ceiling...

 

Looking for a fun and easy way to jazz up a basic "boob light?" 

Or worse yet... the builder's grade light most of us get in a walk-in closet? 

 

Maybe I shouldn't really care so much about the lighting in my closet, but since I kinda like staring at all the shoes I rarely wear while I'm mostly in workout gear... I figure I should also like the lighting as well.

Although... since I don't exactly have a handy-man around anymore... any projects I attempt on my own cannot include rewiring of any sort.  Good grief, I had enough trouble changing out a doorknob a few weeks ago... so no way I'm attempting anything electrical just yet!  But the new doorknob is super cute if I do say so myself, so I'm kinda proud.  LOL

 

Anyway... I've had this project pinned on my Pinterest board for quite some time and finally decided to investigate some mirror options online that would work for this project.  Here is the image for my inspiration and the directions they provided seemed easy enough:

 

I found a mirror on Amazon that had the perfect dimensions... and let's just say I was also crossing my fingers that I measured correctly and the mirror would come out without an issue. 

Stonebriar Round Decorative Antique Gold 24" Metal Starburst Hanging Mirror for Wall, Modern Boho Decor for the Living Room, Bathroom, Bedroom, and Entryway

 

That actually ended up being the most time-consuming part... trying to get the dang mirror out.  And yes, I had pliers to pull up the clips behind the mirror, and yes I guess I thought it would just pop right out like a picture in a frame.  However, I'm pretty sure they must've super-glued it on so as to keep it secured through any force of nature.  But being the true determined Taurus that I am, I persevered and the next thing I knew it was shattered into a million tiny slivers all over the carpet.  #winning

So... if you need to figure in vacuuming time... the project MIGHT take more like 20 minutes than 10 minutes. 

Here's what I started with...

 

I removed the dome and then placed the frame of the mirror around the circumference of the light fixture.  There's about a half-inch to spare, which is good because I didn't need to paint or do anything to make the light look as if it wasn't all attached together. 

I added 4 screws in between spokes around the frame to attach it to the ceiling.  I also decided to hit the top of the screws with a gold Sharpie paint pen because I didn't like that the silver screw heads stood out next to the gold frame.  I should probably go back & add another screw because clearly they aren't equidistant, but again this is my closet & I'm the only one who's going to really see that minor detail...

Bryn was at school as you know, so I did this project by myself.  The trickiest part, aside from avoiding shards of glass on the carpet, is obviously holding the frame in place, while trying to attach it to the ceiling.  But with a little patience & elbow grease it is totally doable!!

Quite honestly I love it so much, I'd do it in other rooms except I had already changed out all the ugly builder's grade light fixtures when I moved in.  Although I guess I could hit the boring entryway light.  It looks pretty Mid Century Modern to me, so if you love that style as much as I do, this is an inexpensive way to add new life to a boring light.  I'll likely go ahead and add this to my other closet as well!

 

As for the shoe storage if you're interested... that's been around since I moved here and I miss having actual shelves, but these were an inexpensive solution that allowed for an organized display without having to remove the wire shelving.  Because why not have a nice little display of shoes you rarely wear?   SMH

SONGMICS 5 Tiers Shoe Rack Space Saving Shoe Tower Cabinet Storage Organizer Black 39"L Holds 20-25 Pair of Shoes ULSH55H

 

And on that note... happy Friday!  Hope your weekend is off to a fabulous start!

XOXO

 

 

The world is your runway ♥

"World turns black & white... pictures in an empty room... "

 

Do you ever sit in the same place every day & stare at an area that is completely uninspiring?  Not that every area of my house needs to be inspiring, but it does help if I like to walk into a room.  Or in this case, sit in a room.  And let's be honest... the sight of my teenage daughter's room drives me nuts, but I've learned to just close the door and ignore it. 

Maybe college will make her a bit more tidy?

When I moved here 3 years ago, I went from a very large 565 sq.ft.  craft room, to one the size of a very small bedroom, and a wardrobe closet that went from an entire converted bedroom to 2 small walk-ins. 

I'm not complaining.  I know I was fortunate to have that & that I'm blessed beyond measure with what I have now. 

But suffice it to say, I had to get rid of a few things & decide what I was really using & what I was just holding onto for no good reason.  And let's face it, it was less to move if I just threw it away or gave it away. 

Trust me, I know how to organize &/or purge.  I've been Marie Kondo-ing things before Marie Kondo was even born.  Minus the "thank you" part.

I also tried to do this move as inexpensively as possible... repainting or repurposing furniture I already had, using things in different ways, and basically seeing how things ended up with my personal life before making any crazy changes or big purchases. 

 

To make a long story short here, I got tired of looking at the closet in my craft room & decided to reorganize it with some shelves.  Once again though, I didn't get St Louis Closet Company on the phone like I did in my old house, I did this on the cheap.  Man would I love to have them come do all my closets though.  And I'd be lying if I didn't say I'd like to someday have another bedroom converted into my closet again.  It's on my vision board though.

I had 2 goals in redoing this closet... get the scrapbooks off the floor & into a more organized space, and find a place to put the vision board I made a few months ago during Book Club at Bloom Fitness Studio.  Technically when you make a vision board, you're then supposed to hang it somewhere you'll see every day... and well... mine's just been sitting on the closet floor inspiring no one. 

I'm not sure how long I'll be in this house, so for now I'm creating spaces to work for how I want to live in it, but I don't want to do anything too crazy that may not give me any return on my investment if I move. 

 

 

I started out with 2 shelf units.  And then once I got started & realized it wasn't working out like it did in my head, I ended up buying a 3rd set. 

Sterilite Heavy-Duty 5-Shelf Ventilated Shelving Unit, Gray (2 Pack) | 0155V01

 

I realized while going through everything that I've still got a lot of stuff in this closet that I haven't used in the last 3 years.  So technically speaking, if I haven't used it in that long, I probably don't really need it.  However, in addition to pitching stuff, I kept a lot too.  Don't ask me why because I guess the honest answer is, I like to look at it, since clearly I don't seem to use it!

I could say the same for a lot of stuff in my wardrobe closet too.  I just like to look at it.  Like some kind of wanne-be fashion collector. 

And then I'm reaching for a hat & workout clothes... and I'm out the door in that boring get-up once again.  Insert big sigh...

 

I digress.  Back to the closet... it may not look totally different, but it FEELS different to me.  And as for my soon-to-be-interior design major daughter, she walked in midway & said... "I really don't think those poles look good like that."

Really?  You really think I was going to leave it like this?  I'm space planning right now.  There will be another shelf on top, but I had to order it.  LOL

 

Literally still laughing out loud even typing this.  SMH.  She clearly doesn't have much faith in me, but trust me... I've taught her everything she knows.  And man am I envious of what she's about to learn!!  So wish I could see all her projects & sit in on her classes!!

Here's some non-recent BEFORE pics though.  There was quite a bit more clutter & boxes of stuff that were in the closet prior to these old pics that were taken, which ultimately lead to me doing something about it...

 

And AFTER...

Here's an inexpensive over-the-door shoe organizer I used for all my paper punches. 

Everything on the wall is basically just random stuff that inspires me, makes me happy or reminds me of my former paper-crafting days, which by the way, I'd like to return to soon.  3 of the things on the wall are Bryn's art work, which I always love to display...

And yes, I did make all the greeting cards, minus a few that I purchased & just stuck in there...

As I mentioned earlier I had a pretty big craft room.  Within that space, I went from an entire gift-wrapping station, featured on Great Day St Louis several years ago, to a couple shelves now.  And actually I was featured on Great Day St Louis again with the rest of my craft room a year later.  So I'm pretty proud to say that you CAN downsize & still have a space that is organized & functions just as well... even if it's not TV-worthy. LOL

I agree it's probably odd to have your printer in a closet, not to mention a paper cutting board as well, but I like the fact that for aesthetic purposes, these "work" items can be hidden when I close the door to the closet.   But for my own purposes they're still at hip level & easily accessible.  And as you'll also notice, I left the original closet shelving alone, figuring it was something the next owner wouldn't have to mess with replacing if I ever did move.  Annnnd... it allows for additional storage anyway...

The zebra rug makes my heart very happy. 

 

And by the way... just in case you're wondering about the shoes in the first pic, they're also something I just like looking at.. because I mean... calf hair & animal print... are you kidding me?  And well, I like wearing them too, but I can't say they're good for anything fitness related. 

 

Steve Madden Women's Cliff Sneaker, Animal, 8 M US

Fashion over function,  I say... LOL

XOXO

"Rock on gold dust woman, take your silver spoon, dig your grave... "

 

Happy February... happy apparently 6 more weeks of winter... happy Justin Timberlake rocked the halftime show... and happy I-think-I've-already-posted-on-here-more-in-the-last-month-than-I did-all-last-year.   Go me, with that resolution! 

The other day I posted photos of my craft room.  You can see that here if you missed it.  And thank you so very much for your kind comments & positive feedback! ♥

Continuing on with more of the tour... these are photos from the first floor.  I'll do another post soon with the rest of the 2nd floor once I get everything edited.  My favorite app for editing photos lately is A Color Story.  It's great for lightening up photos, especially for rooms that do not get a lot of good natural light.  And it's easy to edit right from my phone since goodness knows almost all my photos are taken with my phone these days, while my Canon just sits there collecting dust.  Pitiful.  But when phone cameras are convenient AND take good quality photos... I mean... why bother?? 

So this old TV armoire was the inpsiration & starting point for the whole room.  I really wanted it to be a funky, bright statement piece.  And at the time, I found myself "pinning" a lot of painted furniture on Pinterest, so I decided to tackle it based on some suggestions of paint that promised minimal prep work because sometimes I'm lazy...

Velvet Finishes paint is made specifically for furniture & requires no sanding or primer... just a clean surface of course.  The color I chose is HANDSOME.  Literally.  And figuratively in my opinion.  LOL

I really love how it turned out.

And while I was at it, I painted old tables that used to be silver or black with a can of gold spray paint.  All of this took place in the garage & let's just say that I shouldn't have left the can of spray paint laying on the garage floor.  Because while the newly painted beautiful blue armoire was still sitting there, I decided it would be a great idea to back up my car over the can of gold spray paint, causing it to explode & violently spray gold paint everywhere, including onto the blue armoire AND my tire. 

I mean... I'm totally into bling & sparkle as you probably know...  but a gold tire was a little much.   

So... I suggest you don't do that & you'll likely not need 3 coats of paint on your furniture.  Ahem...

Oh & I spray painted the knobs gold for the armoire too.  What can I say except it's easy to get on a roll once you get a can of paint in your hands...

 

As I've said before, Bryn has a great eye for design & is very creative & artistic.  She made a couple of the pieces of art hanging in this room based off inspiration found on Pinterest.  White canvas, black paint... again... it's very cheap to make, but would cost a lot more money to buy it...

Design on a dime was my motto, so repurposing what I had &/or altering things I purchased at Ikea was how it all went down.  It was really a mix of mostly old stuff with some new stuff thrown in.  I also decided to just leave the paint on the walls white for now so I could play with more pops of color & pattern in all the rooms. 

Again... very different from my other house which had more color on the walls there.  

This Ikea light makes me really happy.  So cheap, but such a cool piece that also catches your eye.  And I love the shadow it casts on the ceiling at night...

I'm an 80's girl & I will always love my albums.  Gotta love that record player I received as a gift a few years ago so I can still play the albums too...

There are quite a few references to Bloom in the accessories in several rooms of my home.  Kinda love that place...  just sayin'. 

That print of the girl dancing was a gift & has my name in her body.  Are you kidding me right now???  So cool...

 

More Ikea purchases with the counter stools & chairs.  Cheap white chairs that had an aluminum base to them that I again used gold spray paint to change the look.  Honestly I think they look less "cheap" with the gold, but they also match the room better that way too. 

The kitchen table was not cheap, so I figured I could get away with mixing that almost farmhouse look of the table with modern chairs. I found it a few years ago at West Elm.  Love love that store.  Wish they were local.  

As for the corks... I'd like to say I didn't partake in drinking all those bottles of wine, but I'd be lying.  So try to focus on the cute little Bloom ornament instead...

 

Recently I organized the pantry after getting inspiration from The Home Edit on Instagram.  Again with my design on a dime motto... most of what I used as storage was found at the dollar store.  And I had almost paid like 5X that amount at Target, but decided to look there first instead...

These chalk board markers will write directly onto glass or plastic surfaces & then easily erase with a paper towel too...

I almost painted all the cabinet door pullls gold too, but my laziness kicked in & said... You know... you can mix metals & stick with some silver stuff instead of all gold, DUH. 

Plus I really don't like anything to be too matchy-matchy anyway, so laziness won out. 

But I do have a goal to get a backsplash & also get rid of the ugly sink & faucet.  I'd like to switch it out for a big white porcelain sink with something gold & yummy like this faucet.  Be still my heart...

This fish is totally my buddy & I'm not ashamed to admit it. 

We get each other.  In other words, he doesn't bark & wake me up in the middle of the night so he's totally low maintenance. 

He gets that I'm not low maintenance & sometimes go out of town for a week leaving him without food.  And that I'm not great about cleaning the poor thing's bowl regularly. 

I mean... he's like Gloria Gaynor & will survive my occasional bad parenting.  Honestly though, I probably care way too much about that fish, but it's really the only living thing in my house other than maybe an aloe plant, when Bryn's not with me. 

You're my boy, Blue...

Moving on... this is just the main floor half-bath right off the entryway.  And surprise, surprise... there's more gold spray paint! 

Are you getting sick of it yet? 

At least it's not gold polka dots. 

We'll get to more of that on the next post... much to Bryn's dismay...

This "shelf" was a bright turquoise blue color when I purchased it, but I decided to paint it gold & use it to store extra toilet paper... a decision that Bryn suggested when we found it at Hobby Lobby. 

Love that she can see beyond the obvious in that brain of hers.

As for the cat photo, I think I probably found the inspiration from Pinterest.  Decided to make my own version of whatever I had seen... found a photo of a cat with it's tongue sticking out somewhere online, then added the text Dat Ass & printed it.  What can I say except it makes me laugh & I thought it was good bathroom humor...

 

OK then...

More to come soon with the rest of the tour. 

Happy Monday & I hope you have a great week ahead!!   

Hold my beer and watch this...

 

Decided to start getting some photos to post a little house tour on here, based on some feedback I received.  I may do it over the course of a few days though, so it's not one big mile-long post.  Which it seems this one might be anyway. 

That being the case, I figured I'd get Bryn on board for cleaning her room since, well, the bed is rarely made & clothes are always all over the place... mostly the floor.  And if I'm going to post photos, there should at least be the illusion that her room is untouched by a teenager.  Nothing but realness here, folks.  Honestly, I've given up on arguing about it & most of the time I just close her door so it's out of sight. I'm all about the old trick that if I can't see it, then it doesn't exist.  However, if she caves & gives me a clean room once a week, I'm good.

 

So we had this conversation...

Me:  Soooo, Bryn...  I need you to do me a favor.

Bryn:  What is it?

Me:  I need you to clean your room so it's photo-worthy.

Bryn:  Why is a TV station coming to film it?

Me:  laughing... Uh, no, but that's funny.  And is that the only way I can get you to agree? 

 

Two things are funny about that...

1. Is it too much to ask for a kid to clean their room without a tv crew coming over?? 
2. It is probably weird that we have had that happen at my old house twice. 

 

Great Day St Louis came over to film my craft room back in 2010 & 2011.  And I went back to look at the links I provided on my blog, but I guess there's no archives for video that far back on KMOV because apparently it's been deleted.  Which stinks since I have no recording of it either. 

But I did save this screen shot from the 2nd episode on their website.  Bryn & I were both sitting at our desks pretending to be working...

Another illusion that I sit at home in high heels to do scrapbooking.  Only on TV, folks, only on TV...

The topic for that episide was "mom caves" so they did an interview & video about the entire craft room. 

The first time they came over though was to do a shoot on my wrapping paper station.  A friend of mine knew Claire Keeling who used to do their interviews back then & she told her about my craft room, so they called me.  Here's some pictures from the prep for that shoot.  The drawers I had installed were extra long so they could hold rolls of wrapping paper.  And all the cards on the counter were cards that I've made.  She asked me about the larger of the two card spinners.  It was actually an old paint chip card holder from a paint store that my sister didn't want anymore so she gave it to me...

The room was pretty big... 565 square feet of bliss.  If you were ever looking for me back then, it was highly likely that I was in that room.  I have significantly down-sized to a small bedroom for my craft room/office, but I love it just the same.  You can see the old room in it's entirety & read more details about it here. 

 

And here's my current room.  It's a lot less pink & green, and a lot more white.  And it's a lot smaller.  The zebra print rug HAD to be there again though even if it does take up almost the entire room.  I love that thing...

I'm not crazy about the scrapbooks being in all different colors/patterns.  May invest in the same color for all of them eventually.  There's even more inside the walk-in closet too.  I've used that closet as an extension of the room, so it's where I have my printer, cutting board, card spinners & additional storage.  Not quite like the other "wrapping paper station" I once had, but I can close the door to the unorganized non-pretty stuff so that makes me happy...

 

You'll begin to notice that I have those gold polka dots on the wall in a few of the rooms in our house.  They're self-stick decals that I found on Etsy.  I love them.  It gives the illusion that I have a wall-papered wall, but much easier & they're removeable if I ever get sick of them.  Bryn sarcastically asked me at one point if I was going to put them in every room.  I said, "Well I don't know... I just might!"

She's got a really great eye for design, but her advice on polka-dot excessiveness fell on deaf ears. 

Kind of the same way she ignores my request to clean her room... 

 

 

"I see your true colors shining through... "

 

Sometimes I'll randomly start singing songs in my head.  There's pretty much a lyric that can be applied to everything in life as far as I'm concerned. 

Which is why I use a lot of lyrics for blog post titles, as you may have noticed. 

I may not be able to remember what I needed once I get to the grocery store, but that's probably because my head is filled with too much other useless information... like song lyrics for instance. 

 

In my next life, I WILL be the lead singer of a band.  LOL

 

Cyndi Lauper sings about seeing true colors.  Do you ever wish sometimes people could just keep things more black & white & mayyybe a little grey in between, rather than give you a 120-count multi pack of craziness?  Like the box says... "Surprise inside"

 

Yep.  There's a surprise alright...

 

I do love lots of color for art though. 

I tend to be attracted to bright colors & fun patterns when it comes to scrapbooking. 

I love pops of color in room decor.  Neutral room... plus pops of color & pattern. 

Bryn must have similar taste too.  I mean, duh.  She is growing up with me.  Poor thing. 

Recently she made these 2 canvases for her bedroom wall.  Just 2 blank canvases + a little paint.  Both were inspired by art or quotes on Pinterest.  All I could say when she showed me was "WOW!  I love it!"  She seriously amazes me...

Here's the inspiration I showed Bryn from Pinterest.  And by the way, when I clicked on the link to the actual image, it was for sale for a whopping $6,000.  Granted it's a pretty large canvas, but still...

She found this next image & used it for the other canvas.  Coincidentally I had the exact same quote, with a different image, pinned.  Great minds think alike...

Maybe I'm partial but I like her version of it better. 

 

Okie dokie then.  Off to hit the treadmill & move on with this rainy day.  And if the sun ever comes out, maybe we'll even see a rainbow.  Another mix of color that I like...

 

Fri-yay...

 

So I mentioned that I finished some pages for the scrapbook recently.  What I didn't mention is that I printed almost 1,000 photos last month that have been taking up space on my phone.  Not that I don't have probably 1,000 more that still need to be put onto pages, but just looking at that stack of photos alone makes me feel so far behind.

My own fault.

I used to be so on top of all our photos + telling stories while they were fresh in my mind.  So much detail in old scrapbooks that I would've never remembered years later, had I not put it onto pages soon after it happened.   But that was also prior to working outside the home again.  And while I don't work full-time, I do spend a lot of time outside of class preparing for it... memorizing, trying to come up with new stuff to keep my classes fresh, not to mention Bryn's busy schedule that I have to keep up with.

For some strange reason she's no longer content to sit & play in my craftroom while I'm playing with photos.  Miss those sweet days.

Anyway... slowly but surely I'll catch up.  If one can ever really "catch up" when it comes to scrapbooking. 

 

Here's some of what's been completed recently.  Working with bright colors &/or summer photos makes me wish for slightly warmer weather, I have to admit.  Love looking back at photos though & reminiscing.  I could spend hours looking at old photos... and sometimes when I'm on Facebook that's what I'm doing... looking at old photos & smiling about good times... or sometimes just shaking my head too...

 

And here's where all of this happens.  Just a small spare bedroom turned into an office.  I kept the walls white because I wanted the zebra print rug to take center stage.  Also really into gold lately & wanted a feature wall that didn't compete with the rug.  So I went with self-adhesive/removable gold polka dots.  They were so easy to apply... lots of sizes & availability on Etsy...

And that shelf is a story for a whole other day.  I repainted a total piece of crap brown shelf I found on a local online buy/sell group.  Many thanks to a bestie for going with me for that purchase, as I may have turned around & gone back home without it had I not had someone else with me concerned for my well-being...  LOL

Random other things are in the room that inspire me... like Bryn's artwork of herself from 3rd grade that I put in a frame... some bling (found the sequined XO in the dollar bins at Target)... some fur (purchased recently from Home Goods)... a dress form wearing an old Zumba tank top... and of course a big piece of pegboard on the wall for additional storage & organization in the room.  It's cheap & easy to hang.  Directions for hanging it found here.  I purchased my pegboard & hooks from Home Depot, but I'm sure any major hardware store has it available. 

I found the ribbon holders at Michaels and I got the clear bins several years ago from Target I believe.   So many things you can use pegboard for.  Search for it on Pinterest & you'll find lots of inspiration!

 

TGIF tomorrow!  Looking forward to starting my morning with my awesome Friday Zumba friends!  Always a BLAST!  Also looking forward to doing conditioning/Zumba at a local school for a girls swim team in the afternoon!  So happy to have the opportunity to give those girls a fun break from the pool & hopefully turn them into Zumba lovers like the rest of us! 

Love love LOVE my job!

Have a great weekend, everyone! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Sometimes I thank God for (un)ANSWERED prayers..."

 

Garth Brooks was just in town.  While I did miss this tour, I've seen his Vegas show twice. 

One word:  AMAZING. 

Obviously amazing enough to pay that kind of money twice. 

And I really wasn't the biggest fan going into the first concert... I mean, sure I liked some of his big hits.... but I definitely was a fan afterward.

 

And speaking of which... lately the last couple times I have been really thinking about something or praying about something... I almost immediatley get an "answer." 

It's a little strange & also a little reassuring at the same time when an answer comes within a day from an unexpected place. 

I guess it means I'm doing something right.

 

In other similar news... I feel like the universe MIGHT be telling me not to do wallpaper in my dining room.  However, in true Taurus the Bull-stubborn-can't-be-told-no fashion... I keep persisting anyway. 

I just want to do ONE simple feature wall, dang it.  Is that so difficult? 

Yes.  Apparently it is. 

The first week in October, I ordered wallpaper.  A month later I emailed them to inquire about the status of my order, as I'd heard nothing by that point.  That resulted in a train of random bi-monthly emails stating that my order was on back-order again & again, each time with a later date than the last.  The last email stating the end of December for a ship date, when we all know damn well, they were pulling my leg yet again. 

Finally I said... thanks, but no thanks... cancel my order.  Homey don't play dat.

So... I went on a search again for another wallpaper. 

And apparently I don't pay much attention to small (ok important) details like measurements when I order, because I kind of thought the dimensions were in FEET not INCHES and ended up with this much wallpaper...

 

Wow.  I'm not even sure WHAT exactly I could cover in my house with that little wallpaper. 

You'd almost think the company would've emailed me & said, "Are you SURE that's ALL you need or is it possible you might need another glass of wine instead?" 

Although I swear I placed this order after class one afternoon so absolutely no wine was to blame... just stupidity.

Or maybe I sweat my ass off  that morning & my brains too?

 Yes, that's it.  I was delirious. 

And don't pay attention to the furniture.  The leaning mirror is staying, but the table & chairs have finally been sold & are on their way out this weekend.  Still need to sell the china cabinet, but once again I'm determined. 

Because selling old furniture means buying NEW furniture.  

 

Suffice it to say, I've now hopefully ordered the correct amount of wallpaper.  It was that or just give up & chalk those 2 sheets up as a loss.

And well.... I just don't give up that easily. 

Probably why I've ended up in this teaching profession.  It's not something you can give up on or feel defeated by quickly.  Definitely need to grow tough skin & keep pressing on. 

Or in my case... sweating on.

And by the way... if you happened to catch what was in the reflection of the mirror... Bryn made some art on a canvas for me to hang on the wall.  It replaced another canvas with yellow flowers on it, that had been bugging me since I put it up.

It was inspired by something on Pinterest. 

I know.  Here we go again with Pinterest... yawn... 

Here's the inpsiration... 

 

And here's her interpretation of it.  She used more circles than I would've, but I actually kind of liked it, especially with the view from the kitchen & the new stair railing...

 

 

Oh how I love that girl. 

 

And one of these days I need to quit taking pictures with my phone & start using my good camera again.

 

New year's resolution...

 

 

"Mmmm Mmmm yeah yeah... "

 

TGIF!  Finished up the week with an awesome group at Zumba today... with even a couple of my friends driving about 30 minutes just to do my class (love them!).  So very thankful for ALL the awesome people this job has brought into my life.  Really.  I could not be more thankful!  Such a blessing!!! 

And if my morning wasn't already awesome enough... I came home to an amazing new railing.  I almost started jumping up & down, but told the guys installing it that I was going to contain myself.  So unlike me.

FINALLY!!! 

This has been about a 2 month process... but SO worth the wait.  And actually I've been waiting about 14 years for a more contemporary railing...  so to see it come to life makes me very happy. 

We started with getting the old carpet ripped off the steps.  Our contractor put in hardwood, stained a dark mahogany.

 

That difference in itself actually looked so beautiful that I told him I almost didn't even care that we had an extremely hazardous open hole in our kitchen for over a month before the railing was installed...

 

But the project was completed today...

 

 

Huge thanks to my contractor, David Walker, and to Missouri Ornamental Iron Company for making it all happen!   

Evidently this is only the 3rd time they've ever made this type of rail design.  And one other time was for a news Channel 4 anchor's loft.  Pretty cool. 

 

And on that note...  I better start packing.  We are headed to the desert for Thanksgiving. 

Warm weather, family & friends... couldn't be more thankful...

 

"It was sick man, like hands in the air... and then this cat walked in... you know not like a cat like a feline cat......"

 

I do what I have to do to get to my craftroom... even if it means walking out the deck door, down the steps, across the patio & into the basement door... since that's where my craftroom is located.  And don't think I won't climb through a window either.  You can't keep me away.

During one of my many trips outside/inside...  which is probably becoming confusing & intriguing to any watchful neighbors...  I walked out onto the patio at around 10:30pm in the dark & had a random cat jump out & scare the crap out of me.  It's not the first time this cat has been seen around my house either.  In fact, if it's the same cat I think it is, it gave birth to kittens on our front porch last year. 

Not only are my daughter & husband allergic to cats, but I also texted my friend who's highly allergic & told her to stear clear of my house for awhile.  Sooooo weird.

Oh & I'm not the biggest cat lover either.  Why does this cat love us so much? 

Anyway... the reason for this craziness... our steps are finished & need to dry a couple days before we walk on them.  And even then, it's no shoes for at least a week.  And they are freakin' amazing.  It's an insurance man's nightmare around here though, so it's a good thing Bob has sold himself plenty of liability coverage because we have no stair railing for awhile. 

We ripped out the carpet & wood railing...

 

And now have very dark stained wood in it's place... with an iron rail that will eventually be installed. 

 

 

Small children & drunk people or anyone with limited sight or balance, are not welcome in my house for awhile... LOL

The pictures don't really do it justice.  If you're local & ever looking for an awesome contractor though, I can refer you to him.  Very very happy with his work.

 

And this is a big weekend for Bryn.  Gateway Region club volleyball try-outs are on Saturday & Sunday.  She has 3 try-outs she's picked out of many many teams from which to choose... 2 on Saturday & 1 on Sunday... unless she's selected to be on the team she's really trying for on Saturday & then there's no need for the Sunday try-out.  She's a little nervous but I think she's ready.

 

But first Zumba on Saturday on morning... and THEN we hit the volleyball courts. 

Priorities... BOOM.

"No sleep til Brooklyn..."

 

If you like interior design blogs, check out The 26 Best Design Blogs recently posted on Domino.  And Domino, by the way, was one of my favorite magazines EVER before they pulled the plug on their paper publication.  In fact, I still have almost every edition of their magazine that was only in existence for a few years. 

And that's not TOTALLY odd.  I've heard a lot of people that coveted that publication, still own most, if not every, copy. 

Although I will admit to being odd. 

In a good way of course...  not in a that-girl-needs-to-be-locked-in-a-padded-room kind of way. 

And it's the only magazine I've saved.  I recycle everything else.  Promise. 

Anyway.... back to Domino's list.  I had some of the design blogs they mentioned already on my Feedly list, which I use to organize all my favorite blogs (mostly scrapbooking blogs).  But I ended up adding the majority of their list of favorites to my feed. 

 

And remember the other day when I posted pics of our living room & how much I love West Elm... and how I could literally live in their show room because I love that store so much?

Well I guess I've loved that store for some time now because I was organizing all our scrapbooks in the craft room... finally getting them all lined up chronologically by year with labels.  16 years of memories in all those books...

But while scanning through each book trying to figure out what year it was... I came across this page that I made 6 years ago using a page from a West Elm catalog.  I added a cut-out photo of Bryn & me on top using pop dots so it looked like we were standing in that room.  My journaling at the bottom reads "I think I could live in a West Elm catalog." 

The picture of us was from 2008, the year I turned 40 & chopped my hair short right before my birthday.  And coincidentally there's a gallery wall in that room, which I also just finally did in our living room.  My favorite part of that gallery wall was & still is that print that says Brook Lyn.  Brook(e) would've been a name I would've used if I had another girl & Lyn is my middle name. 

Clearly my mom wasn't into spelling names the way everyone else spelled them.  My first name wasn't different enough?   LOL

Not that I would've named her Brook Lyn, but the bold impact of that print is still cool to me.

I'll leave those strange names to celebrity babies.  North West anyone?  

Plus Bryn & Brooke would've sounded cute together. 

Bryn was such a little cutie.  I miss that age. 

 

Okie dokie then.  Enough reminiscing... enough of North West, West Elm & interior design... I shall return next time with some scrapbooking.

I've actually finished some pages lately.  

Because what else is there to do when it's raining every day?  Besides Zumba, of course...

 

"Once she's been to where she's gone to... she should know wrong from right..."

 

Well this is kinda coolio. 

West Elm has my living room Instagram pic on their website with a "shop this look" link to buy their rug...

 

 

 

Also... I saw a gallery wall on Pinterest that inspired me to do the same thing on a wall in our living room. 

This was my inspiration...

 

... and here's what I did in our room that replaced one large canvas I had on the wall to the left of the armoire...

 

Thankfully when my over-opinionated interior designer daughter walked in from school yesterday she noticed it immediately & said, "Oh that's cute!"  

It adds a little more color to the room anyway. 

My contractor came over yesterday to replace the screen door on our deck.  When he was finished he came downstairs to say goodbye & found me rummaging around in the unfinished basement area looking for stuff to hang on the gallery wall. 

He said, "You're always busy doing something, aren't you?"

I just laughed & said, "Yeah... never usually something very important though." 

 

I'm guessing by now, he's also observed my habit of not taking a shower the minute I walk in the door with my workout clothes on.   

He's probably starting to wish I'd be busy doing that instead.  LOL

 

Wallpaper for the dining room is on order.  This saga to be continued...

 

"Broke into the old apartment... this is where we used to live... "

 

I've said many times before that our house has been a work in progress since we built it.  Many things, big & small, have changed in the last almost 15 years that we've lived here.  My favorite projects have definitely been my craft room & my closet, but believe it or not... a new stair railing is pretty much going to rock my world, as I've wanted to replace the old one for YEARS!!

Our contractor just finished painting our living room grey & our kitchen white.  Both rooms were in 2 different shades of taupe.  Should've taken a "before" pic, but did find this still shot from video that shows the old color combos...

The railing has been ripped out.  The stairs are now under construction, with the crappy carpet coming up & hard wood stained to match the kitchen floor going in it's place. 

The grey on the walls + new accessories has given the room a pretty different look.  I need another new pendant light in the living room.  The one there now is only a couple months old (it replaced a ceiling fan), but I'm not loving it.  I need more of a statement piece & that one just isn't cutting it for me. 

 

We have a temporary "railing" up now so no one falls down the open hole & breaks their neck but this is the new railing that will eventually be in it's place.  I'm not sure who's more excited about it... me or our contractor who told me this railing I picked out is "bad ass."  I said, "Yes, I know!!"  LOL

 

A lot of stuff in our house, old & new, is from West Elm including the new area rug.  I love that store so much, I could literally live in their show room & be a very happy girl. 

I had a friend comment on Instagram about the Infamous pillow on my couch.  It's from the new Juicy Couture line at Kohls.  I'm just sure I'll be infamous for something when I die... probably for nagging people to come do my Zumba class.  LOL

Here's the "before" of the kitchen...

And the "after"...

Eventually there will be new granite countertops, but for now just new paint.  It brightened the room up a little.

While the contractor is hard at work during the day, I started on the dining room last night.  We need new furniture in there, but that will have to wait.  Repainted it for now, but I'm determined to find some kind of funky patterened wallpaper.  Found one that I thought might work & finished putting up 2 strips of it last night at 11pm just to see what I thought about it during the daylight.  My interior design opinionated daughter, who's just as obsessed with watching HGTV as I am, kindly told me this morning that that paper overlapped & you could see the line. 

Really?? Because I had no idea that I was a hot mess at putting up wallpaper. 

Ripped those suckers off & I'm back to shopping online.  I didn't like the paper anyway.

Where are the Property Brothers when you need them? 

Need to re-do the master bedroom & the lower level family room... both with new paint & furniture. 

Every project feeds into a new one. 

Work in progress...

 

Oh & by the way.... Zumba anyone?  LOL

"Heard a bang, bang, bang... down they go... it's just a job you do..."

Just a quickie today...  

My new dress form inspired me to clean the craftroom.  Or maybe it was the Zumba tank on the dress form?  Actually, hosting a party is what got my butt in gear to clean the room, but the dress form initially inspired me.  It's just a silly little thing, but it sure makes me happy to look at.  

And since the room is more clean than it's been in a long time (or probably since the TV crew was here both times)... I went ahead & took some updated photos of the room.  Let's face it, it won't stay like this for long.

And wow.  I can actually create on my table right now... even though we all know I'll probably end up on the floor. 

Why is that? 

You can see photos of the room in it's entirety here.

If you missed the 2 TV appearances on KMOV Great Day St Louis you can see December 2010 here and July 2011 is here.  Not sure why they mispronounced my name on the 2nd shoot. 

It's Dee-na, not Dee-anna.   Ahem. 

"Wrap it up... I'll take it..."

Don't you love when you find something perfect that you weren't even looking for in the first place?  The other day when I was shopping... I found a sequined zebra print dress form.  I literally gasped out loud when I saw it (just ask Bryn) and then grabbed it for my closet.  It's now holding my aunt's vintage fur coat that I inherited when she passed away last summer.  It's very special to me...

 

More closet photos here.

A few days later I went back and purchased another dress form for the craft room.  I had 20% off store coupons both times, so for $40/each I thought they were a STEAL.  This one is just a plain black shimmery material, but I put an old Zumba tank on it for fun.  So... a combination of my love for fashion & Zumba in my craft room... which is perfect since that's where I practice Zumba all the time...

More photos of the craft room here. 

Those craft room photos are from about 3 years ago.  I need to take some updated shots to include the new dress form, but I probably need to clean the craft room first.  Ughhh. 

"Keep it in the closet..."

 

Well... it's finished.  St Louis Closet Co. did an amazing job transforming Bryn's old bedroom into my closet.  She has a newly decorated room in an old guest room now, which is actually a bigger room for her too.

This is the 2nd time we've used St Louis Closet Co. for our closets.  (Bob has the walk-in closet they previously did for us in the master bedroom all to himself now).  The designer I worked with gave me exactly what I wanted.  And I had lots of fun filling the closet after they installed all the shelves & drawers on Thursday... 

 My aunt's vintage fur coat I inherited...

 I ordered the chandelier from Lighting Universe.  The zebra print carpet & chair were ordered online at Walmart.  I never shop at Walmart... I hate Walmart... but when I googled zebra print rug, it came up.  Both were pretty inexpensive.  So for a few moments I liked Walmart.  LOL

The dresser/drawers went into what used to be the closet in this bedroom.  Just took off the doors & painted it the same color as the rest of the room. 

And yes, that's a disco light sitting on the black ottoman off to the right.  A friend suggested I needed one so we could have a closet party in there.  Ask & you shall receive! 

And you can fit quite a few crazy dancing Zumba girls in my closet.

Hooks from Target for belts & necklaces...

What time is it?  Oh it's time for more bling...

Just used cheap little plastic hooks from Target for some of my hats...

Lots more hats on the top shelf of my closet.  I might have a problem.  But there's never a bad hair day when there's a hat to throw on...

 And thank you random photo bomber.  Silly girl.

Dream come true for sure.  And many thanks to Bob for going along with this crazy idea.   Although I think he's happy having a bigger closet for himself too!   

"My body tells me no... but I won't quit, 'cause I want more..."

2 intense work-outs today... I am officially wiped out & ready to just sit in my craft room & create.  I got up to do the 6:30 spin class & then subbed a Zumba class at 10:45.  Was so happy that 2 of my hot & sassy friends showed up to dance with me, too!  We were rockin' the Y today... fo sho!   

I mentioned recently that my parents attend MANY weddings every year.  This really wouldn't be of any concern to me whatsoever, except that every time they have another one coming up... my mom asks me to make a card for her.  I NEVER EVER HAVE WEDDING CARDS ON HAND ALREADY MADE.  Why I don't make many of them in advance is a question I can't answer.  I must be nuts.  Or a glutton for punishment.  I don't know.  And even Bryn rolls her eyes when I tell her I have to make another wedding card for Grandma.  It's become kind of an inside joke around here.  Hahaha

Anyhoooo... for this particular wedding, it's actually a distant relative so we're invited, too.  They're getting married in New York, but having another reception in St Louis since that's where all of her family is.  We'll be out of town for the celebration, so I'm just sending a card/money.  I actually kinda wish we could go, too, because it's being held at the City Museum.  Bryn's been there, I don't know... at least a half dozen times?  And I've never been there.  And I know it's really cool.  One of these days... maybe this summer... I'm going!

So... back to wedding cards.  I try to keep random wedding stash on hand.  If I see something wedding-related at the store, I'll buy it.  For this card, I used a SRM Congratulations sticker sentiment and some really old paper, but I think the dimensional sticker is really cute, even though it's pretty dang old too! 

I machine-stitched a piece of vellum on top of the patterned paper to keep it from looking too busy.  And the inside of the card has another CONGRATS sentiment sticker...

 

On another note, I recently purchased a brown + white zebra-print area rug from West Elm.  My intention was to put it in our living room, but after staring at it there for 24 hours I picked it up & moved it to the family room in our finished basement.  I love it there.  It gave that room some new life... since it's some really old furniture in there that I've been wanting to replace for a long time.  Funny how just one different thing can liven up a room, even when the furniture isn't your favorite... 

I also happen to love a pop of animal print in just about anything.

Especially shoes... just sayin'.  ;-)

Craft Storage Ideas...

I found out yesterday that my craft room was featured on the Craft Storage Ideas website.  There are lots of other inspiring craft rooms there as well!  Check it out... it's a fun site! 

You can see more of my craft room right here.  Things have changed a bit since I posted that back in 2010... like our gecko & his little home that's been added to my room... but you get the idea.  ;-)

Off to Fed Ex... to send off 3 new pages, 4 new cards and 1 new mini book that I created using the brand new "Exit Here" collection from Nikki Sivils.  One of my new pages was posted on her blog yesterday.  You can see it here.  I LOVE that new collection!  If you're attending the CHA trade show... you can check out all the new projects & collections in her booth. I will also be posting mine here soon, so stay tuned for that...

And we have video...

Found out from my friend, Jodi, that this was online.  To see my TV appearance from this morning click here. 

Happy mail...

   

When I ordered my decal dry erase wall calendar from Pottery Barn Teen on Monday, the website told me the item was on backorder until August 30th.  I was suprised when I received a shipping notice email the other day and the UPS site said the delivery date would be the 27th.  Love when that happens!  So, with the help of my little assistant, Bryn, we got it hung up & I added our September calendar to it.  (Cannot believe it's almost September!)  I bought a package of 8 double-sided dry erase markers at Target the other day... they have a different color on both ends.  So you have 8 markers, but 16 different colors.  Of course I used almost all the colors to write everything down!  I'm easily amused, what can I say?

Also delivered today, was a big stack of photos from Austria.  I need to get serious about making a mini album for that trip...

Ordinarily I print my photos at home.  But when I have a huge amount of photos, like from a big trip, I have them printed through Snapfish.  Depending on what special they're running & which one is the better deal, I'll either have them shipped to me or I'll pick them up at the store.  This time it was cheaper to have it shipped. 

I still need to work on CHA photos, too, but one mini at a time.

Our weekend isn't too terribly busy.  I'm getting up to do Zumba & run in the morning, while Bob & Bryn drive downtown to pick up his race packet.  He's running in a 6K race on Sunday morning & the finish line is home plate at Busch Stadium.  Bryn & I will be sitting in the stands with the camera, waiting for him to finish.  Should be fun!  He's already told me more than once that there will be no "Game Night" for him tomorrow night so he can get up & function for the race on Sunday (ie... no wine + popcorn). Hilarious!  There's always next weekend though & I'll be waiting with the popcorn popper! 

Hope you enjoy your weekend! 

Is this cool or what?

I was looking through the new Pottery Barn Teen catalog today.  We get all the Pottery Barn catalogs here.  You order from them once & you're forever on their mailing list.  It's like Victoria's Secret... Bob swears we get 3 of those catalogs a day.  I think it might be more like 3 a week... he tends to exaggerate.  Either way, it's a waste of paper & it constantly provokes me to shop... which I'm sure is their intention.  Today I shopped immediately though.  I found this dry erase calendar decal.  It's a decal, so it goes onto the wall & is removeable, without pulling up the paint.  You use dry erase pens with it... 

The dimensions are perfect... 39" wide x 25" high... for where I want to put it.  I've been trying to decide what to do with the wall above our "share bins" in the craft room & this will be perfect, considering the craft room is essentially where our family hangs out...

If you missed the post on my craft room & what the heck our "share bins" are... you can see it here. 

The calendar is on backorder until the 30th... BOO.  I'll post photos once I receive it & get it adhered though.  And if you're more of a chalkboard kinda girl... they have a black chalkboard decal that is equally as cute.  I just thought the dry erase markers might be less messy. 

Have a great week!  

565 square feet of bliss...

But, who's counting?  Besides Bob, that is.  He reminded me of the total square footage of my craft room the other day when the woman that cuts his hair said she wouldn't mind having a craft room in her house, but doesn't have the space for it. 

He said, "Well, how would you like a craft room that's 565 square feet?" 

She said, "Whoa."

We built this room a few years ago in part of our unfinished basement area.  For me, it was a dream come true, as I'd spent years designing this room in my head.  It was fun to watch it all come together... a total labor of love.

So, here it is... in all it's pinkness.  It's the one room in the house (besides Bryn's), that I went girly.  Really girly.  You see CREATE as you enter the room.  I put letters on stretch canvas.  They were actually cardstock letters in my scrapping stash that I enlarged on the printer & then Modge Podged onto the canvas.  It was a very cheap way to add visual interest to that big plain wall...

 

 

I keep this set of bins here to store Bryn's ginormous family of Webkinz, as well as scrapping supplies that I no longer use.  I call it our "share bins."  I really do try to get rid of unused stash regularly and I make Bryn do the same... emphasis on the "make" part.  She doesn't really like to keep all her scrapping stuff organized.   

 

 

 

One of my favorite things about the room is the faux black board that I painted using a magnetic paint.  I taped it off & then painted a white border around it so it appeared to be a chalk board hanging there.  It holds Bryn's art work.  The chair is for Bob.  He sits there at night while I'm in here & watches the flat screen TV across the room.

 

I wanted built-in shelves to store my scrapbooks.  I can see now that I'm going to have to do some rearranging.  The basket of mini books is getting way out of hand & spilling over.  I have 15 scrapbooks (3 of them are upstairs in the living room), and they are all bursting at the seams, filled as much as I possibly could!  We all know there will be MORE, so eventually there won't be any fun stuff on the top shelf... just more books!  

My work area is on the left... Bryn's desk is on the right.  I had the 2 areas split up by the small wall to define the work spaces & hung a clock up there, so I know how much time I've lost track of while in here.  LOL

 

I ♥ ZUMBA...

 

 

The white table in the middle of the room is where I do most of my work... when I haven't ended up on the floor, that is.  Usually when I'm in the midst of a kit or some project, the table is a huge mound of stuff leaving me no room to create.  And I pity the fool that tries to step around my landmine of stuff all over the floor.  LOL. 

I have 2 Clip-it-Ups on the table, my paper cutter & a pile or 2 of paper that I want to use in the near future.  The pile seems to grow constantly, so I eventually have to tell myself to just put it away for now & get over it.  Underneath I keep the trash can & a recycle bin (removed for photo)...

 

 

We have a 3rd work area under the TV.  Our other laptop sits there, along with another printer & my sewing machine. 

 

I hung peg board (painted the same green color as the wall behind it) above this area that I call my wrapping station.  It's where I store my wrapping paper, ribbons for gifts, gift bags, etc.  The peg board is an extra place to hang things, like scissors, tape, glue gun, packing materials, etc.  I have a huge card spinner that I confiscated from my sister, a smaller card spinner & my baby blue typewriter...

Our craft room has been featured on a local TV news program twice.  You can check out the first time right here.

The cabinet doors open to a pull out drawer that has a bin to hold all my gift bags.  Next to that I keep extra school supplies and small gift items that I like to have on hand, just incase I need a quick last minute gift.

I wanted extra long drawers to hold rolls of wrapping paper.  The top drawer holds ribbon & decorative items for wrapping gifts, the bottom 2 drawers hold rolls of wrapping paper.

 

 

 

Here's views of some of my other storage ideas in the room for my scrapping supplies.  ..

My magazines are something else I try to put in the recycle bin reguarly.  I'll go back through old ones, tear out pages that inpsire me & put them in a binder.  I can tend to hoard magazines, too... fashion, scrapbooking, interior design, etc...

My paper collection is small compared to some (see below).  It doesn't look like a lot, but I've got it down to what I think I might potentially use.  If I don't think I might use it, it's in the share bins.  Out with the old, in with the new.  I have given away boxes full of product to friends & sold a HUGE bin of paper at a garage sale one year.  That paper bin was a popular spot at the sale, too.  Finally someone came in toward the end of the day & just said, "How much for the whole thing?"  Yes! 

 

 

Finally came up with a storage solution for my ever-growing collection of punches.  Most of the punches fit in this door shoe bag holder.  The extra large punches are in a drawer (a very deep drawer... plenty of room for more ;-)...

The ribbon storage isn't great, but I manage to find what I need anyway...

A box in this drawer holds all my ink pads.  Then I have my bigger stamp sets in here too...

Individual stamps in bottom drawer...

I have extra long hanging files in a couple drawers & keep my "scraps" filed by color.  I went through & purged this file drawer a few days ago & got rid of an entire recycle bin of scraps.  I keep the tiniest pieces of paper... thinking I might use it some day.  It's pathetic.  Out with the old, Deana, out with the old...

I have a few drawer organizers like this one, in some of the drawers...

Bryn has all her own stash, hanging files, etc.  I won't open any of those... too scary.  And does having her own stash keep her out of my stuff?  No.  She thinks I'm her own personal Michaels store.  LOL

I spend a lot of time in here, actually we all do.  It's really as much a family room as it is a craft room.

 

If you have any ideas for fun ways to organize in a craft room, please let me know!  I love to see how other people store all their supplies!

What is your style? Mine is...

38% Modern Elegance...

 

38% Contemporary...

 

24% Vintage Modern...

 

Although.... I kinda already knew that. 

Found this fun quiz on Beth's blog. 

Head over to Red Oak Lines!  Sarah is doing 2 giveaways! 

Have a GREAT week!

A bit of a headache today...

Spent the day painting Bryn's room.  I rearranged the furniture about a week ago when she was sick with the flu & sleeping in the computer room.  Thought it might cheer her up!  I started on it after her & Bob had gone to sleep.  (Seems that I do some of my best creative work around Midnight!)  I bought new bedding that matched her curtains and it looks like a "big girl" room now.  She loves it! 

Not sure if the headache I have is from smelling too many paint fumes, lack of sleep, or the one too many glasses of Valentine's Day vino I consumed with Bob last night.  Hmmm... probably a combination of all 3...