Quick Clean-Out

Just dropping by to share a quick clean-out project from last night!  It seems like I have great plans to go home after work and clean-out different areas that have gotten out of hand but then when I actually make it home cleaning out is the last thing I want to do!  I'm planning to have a yard sale in two weeks so I'm trying to slowly make my way through the areas of our house!  Last night I tackled 3 areas - coat closet, cabinets in the keeping room and under my bathroom sink.  

Here's the awful/messy before:

 And the after! 

That whole top shelf on the right is hair products that have been accumulating!  Anyone else have one of those baskets?!  The space in front of the hair products holds a basket with all my "daily" items (deodorant, make up remover, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc) and I pop it back in after I get done using it each day.  The bottom drawer has clear containers that hold nail polishes, extra make-up remover products and travel size removers and in the front are all the samples I get from Sephora, etc.  I LOVE clear containers.  I'm on a mission to slowly replace all my baskets and bins with the clear ones from Bed Bath and Beyond and the Container Store. 

Hope you're all having a great week!

My little organizing buddy is always a huge help!

Closets thru the Years!

I confess... I have a deep burning love for CLOSETS!  Well, storage in general, but especially closets.  I thought it would be fun to take a trip down closet memory lane.  I could kick myself though, I don't have very good closet pictures at some of my houses so we'll have to make do with what we have.  I'm also not including my "current" closet because I have some changes in plan for it (minor ones) but it's still not photo ready!

First up, my college apartment closet:

Unfortunately, this was move in day and I never took another picture of my closet the other 3.5 years I lived there!  I do remember thinking that was the smallest closet EVER and got pretty creative with storing TONS and TONS of stuff in it through the years.  Plus, I can recall at least two times that the stupid wire shelf pulled loose and everything was in a heap in the floor.  Enter mom (remember her alter ego Shelf Expert) and we re-did the shelving and it never came down again!

After college, I moved into my first house in Cleveland, TN.  I may or may not have bought the house for the closet.  It was ah-ma-zing.  Again, I didn't do it justice with my pictures!

 

I loved that it had the little room (where I had a spot for ALL my jewelry) and then it went right into this awesome space with hanging on both sides!  I bought the shoe cubes that have been with me now at 3 houses and still really like them for my shoe storage.  They can be used like this or stacked (below).  Love love love this closet.  My first house had a lot of awesome storage in general.

Next up on the closet tour, Baton Rouge.  I wasn't so sure about these closets in the master bathroom at first but I ended up really liking this set-up.  There was one larger closet that had a lot of shelving and hanging space and then another smaller one with shelves and double hanging.  I'm not a big "folder" so I didn't think I would be able to utilize the shelves (at first) but have no fear, I filled those babies up in no time. 

I stored empty storage baskets on the top shelf, winter pajamas/boots below that, lighter weight pajamas, then purses and more comfy clothes, then jeans, shorts and some more purses and finally, on the bottom shelf, in the pink bins I had bathing suits, house shoes, tights/slips, etc.  The shelves ended up being awesome and I loved having my purses so easy to get to.

The before...

And the after!  Pretty self explanatory.  But, this is only my warmer weather clothes.  Didn't need many winter clothes in the B. Rouge!

This was the other closet off the master bath.  I ended up storing all my books on these shelves and it worked out great. 

These hanging rods housed all my cooler weather clothes.  Loved having a closet just for my winter clothes that wasn't completely accessible!

 

Bathroom Cabinet Redo

Our master bathroom has basically zero storage.  When I first saw the house, I knew this would be a problem, especially since my house in Baton Rouge had AMAZING storage in the bathroom and I got totally spoiled from that.  As part of the deal, I had the builder add extra cabinets in the master bath and the laundry room.  Over the last 2 years my cabinet hasn't stayed as nice and neat as I would like.  So, I gave it an overhaul.  I found these cute little baskets at Michael's and even snagged them when they were 50% off.  Win win.  The top shelf still looks a little messy but it's actually organized up there.. promise :-)  

With the 4 baskets across it's a perfect fit but still a little snug for my liking.  

The before... because who doesn't love the "before" pictures?

The after!  Well, the almost "after"

These baskets are the perfect size for corralling all the odds and ends

Yes, I have a love for little "purse" soaps and a hate for germs. 

The baskets felt like they were missing something so I added a cute little label with an even cuter little clothespin!  Who doesn't love a bling-ed out clothespin?!  I got these at Michael's -- they were only $2.99 for 12.  Score.

The finished product!  Makes me smile every time I open the door!

Close up of the adorable label/clothespin

 

 

Fiesta Store and some Random-itis

This past weekend, I made a mad dash back to WV for a friend from college's wedding.  I drove to Princeton Friday night and stayed at my parents.  Saturday morning my mom (aka my wedding date) and I made a little detour and went by the hospital in Charleston to see Lauren after she had Baby Logan.  Then, we made our way on up to Morgantown... after of course, a stop at the Everything Fiesta! store in Flatwoods.  I have always loved this store and have stopped their countless times on my many trips to and from Morgantown.  When I first started getting into Fiesta, I would stop there and buy 1 or 2 things and have slowly built up my collection.  Such a fun, beautiful, bright store!!

I wrote down some things I want to make sure to add to our wedding registry and also grabbed a few seasonal items that were on sale:

I think their Christmas Fiesta is a little on the plain side but decided to get a few of the serving side pieces to use with my everyday Fiesta during the holidays.  I don't understand why they put the tree on the bottom of the plates and then it's just covered up with food!  Regardless, it will make up a cute table come the holidays.

I also picked up this large mixing bowl to use as a fruit bowl.  I love the pop of color it adds to my kitchen!  It also tells me I need to get some more fruit!

This is the last purchase I made there.  This bowl was marked down to a fab price because it's a VT color!  They had a whole section of items that were maroon and orange they were clearancing out.  I mean really, what were they thinking with the store being so close to WVU?!  Oh well, love the shape/size of this guy, he'll be a nice addition!

I'm finally getting ready to pack up all my Christmas decor but wanted to share a few last things from this season!  First, is how I have displayed our Christmas cards the last 2 years.  I picked up this little Christmas tree holder at Ace Hardware of all places last year.  I like seeing it "fill up" as the days go by in December.  Only downside is that a lot of cute cards/pictures get covered up.

Here's a snapshot of our 2012 Christmas card:  I used one of our engagement pics on the cover and some pictures from Christmas 2011 on the inside and back.  No wasted space on our card!

 And, to end on a sweet note, my amazing fiance surprised me with this beautiful bouquet of flowers last night after work!  Isn't he the BEST?!  I think I shall marry him ;-)
 

Favorite Things: Day 2 - Around the House

Today’s favorite things are going to be items “around the house” – this was easy because as I walked from room to room I just took pictures of things I have out/am using.

Almost every room in the house has a Scentsy!  I LOVE the scents and that I don’t have to worry my cats are going to catch their fur on fire or burn down the house with their endless jumping from object to object.  I started selling Scentsy last October and I’m pretty sure I’ve put my profit back into buying more for my own personal collection.

Over the last year or so I’ve also developed quite the thirty-one collection.  I have to admit though; I use these totes for EVERYTHING.  I’m not really into their purses but the utility and organizing totes have my name all over them (literally, hah).  Right now I have one holding wedding magazines and my binder, another for items I’ve ordered for the wedding, one has my Scentsy samples, there’s at least 2 in the back of my car with either returns or errands and another stack that’s getting ready to be used to pack for our Christmas trips.  I love getting them monogrammed and have recently started getting them with my future “G” instead of “K”!  I think it’s cute when they say “Games” “Snacks” etc but I feel like it’s too limited for me – I want to be able to use the bags for whatever for a long time to come.

In my quest to re-organize the house, I’ve fallen head over heels in love with the OXO Good Grip Clear Containers.  I picked this set up at Target and can’t wait to fill it up with all our snacks.  Love that their clear and stackable!  I told myself I wasn’t going to buy these and just add them to the wedding registry but I couldn’t resist… I’ll just add another set to the registry... problem solved!  I'll have to do another post about how I used these in my snack cabinet. 

 

True story.. I had this post in draft while working on it, and decided to go get a set of these for my mom for Christmas.  I ran by Bed Bath and Beyond last night and grabbed their boxed set (pictured below) and well... let's just say now I need to go get ANOTHER set.  I actually decided this wasn't a good gift set because the containers are tall and skinny vs short and fat and I don't think they hold as much per container as the set from Target.  These are filled up with items from a huge tin of Christmas goodies Adam bought from someone's kid at work that's in Boy Scouts.  We weren't really eating any of it because they were in bags, down in the tin, and well, that was too much work.  Now they are easily accessible and fun to look at!

Another organizing must-have are the Rubbermaid Interlocking Containers.  I first mentioned them on this post.  I’ve since organized another drawer in the kitchen.  I’d love to get some more of these, only issue is that the closest Container Store is a little over 2 hours away.  Bummer.  I did pick up a different but similar product at Target so I’ll try those out and let you know my opinion.

This has to be one of the most random finds of the year but one that’s totally practical for me.  It’s a set of 3 remote control switches for outlets!  One of my pet peeves is when I’m reading in bed, I have to get up to turn out the lamp on my nightstand because it’s just a little too far away to reach without falling out of the bed!  I was in Bed Bath and Beyond a few weeks ago and could hardly believe my eyes when I saw these sweet little remotes.  LOVE them!  I have my 2 nightstand lamps and the bedroom Scentsy on the remote.  Now I can even enjoy my Scentsy right up to the minute I fall asleep.  Genius.

iPad 2.  Adam jokes and says it’s like my shadow because I carry it from room to room with me.  It’s like my little buddy.  I seriously don’t know what I did before I had an iPad!  Lugged my laptop around I guess.  We have both the iPad and the iPad 2 and iPad 2 gets bonus points because not only is it lighter than the original but it has FaceTime!  I love getting to FaceTime with friends and family; technology really is amazing.

Brothers label maker.  Go ahead – laugh but secretly I know you’re jealous if you don’t have one.  My biggest complaint with the label maker is that there’s a lot of wasted label on the side once you go to print it.  Plus, I’m guessing I left mine on the first time I used it and ALL (there’s like 10 batteries!) in it died and I had to replace it the second time I wanted to use it.  I do enjoy seeing my beautiful labels though!  I bought pink tape to use in my scrapbook room when I have time and decide where I want everything to be.

As naughty as they are... the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy.  I actually really liked the story, as predictable as it was at times and all.  I can't wait to see the movie.  Funny story.. this spring I was reading the first book 50 Shades of Grey - at Adam's parent's house.  Adam's dad asked me if I was preparing to be in the Gray family by reading the book.. I just laughed and said if it's going to be anything like the book then I want out now!! ;-)

My next favorite is something I found at Barnes and Noble in Henderson, NV this past January.  I've always been someone that kept a journal but then I would go long periods of time without writing and it seemed like such a hassle to get caught up.  Enter the One Line A Day Give -Year Memory Book.  I've really enjoyed jotting down a line or two night each night about what went on that day... even if most days are like Groundhog Day.  It'll be fun to look back in a few years and see what we were up to - especially since I've always been like "Can you believe a year ago today we were XYZing?!"  

Another 2012 discovery was Tervis!  These are such fun drink containers.  I love that they don't sweat and I don't have to worry about my wood getting water stains!  What's even funnier is that one of my sweet friends gave me an early Christmas present today and it was a pink Tervis with my *new* monogram!  So here's the picture I was going to post and one of my new tumbler...

My Velata Fondue (basically chocolate Scentsy!) also had a lot of use in 2012.  This has been something fun to pull out when we have visitors or take a trip home.  There's also a few of these being given as Christmas gifts this year! 

...and there you have it!  I just looked back through my list and these really are my favorites because I've even given everything on here as a gift to someone this year!  This was so much fun to compile.  Stay tuned for tomorrow's favorite "beauty" items! 


What are your 2012 favorites??  Anything I need?! 

Lucky Tree #3

After begging last Christmas and starting my begging earlier in the year this year, Adam finally caved and agreed to putting a tree up for me over the door on a ledge that I swear was made JUST for a Christmas tree!  It was def. the perfect last touch to our decor this year.  (On top of the candles I bought for all the windows... :) )

Step 1:  Get 22' ladder ready to go!

Step 2:  Get strong fiance to climb 22' ladder while holding assembled 6.5' tree and not falling!

Step 3:  Admire tree from the inside.  Nice work babe!

Step 4:  Admire tree from outside.  Perfect!!!

It's so pretty I may never take it down ;-)

Thursday happenins

Where has this week gone?  Too bad it's not Friday yet, I'm ready for a low-key, pj-wearin', stay-at-home kind weekend!  Monday night I threw the turkeys and pumpkins back in their storage totes in the basement and drug out the remaining Christmas decor.  I have a love of putting seasonal garland on my stair banister.. it just screams holidays.  One of the things I wanted in my house during the search was the wrought iron rungs .. and I got it :)  Here's the staircase "undecorated:" 

Looking festive for fall

 

Ready for Santa

Tuesday night I tackled putting the Christmas decor outside - nothing fancy, just a prelit wreath on the door and a few prelit trees in urns on either side of the entrance.  I have wreaths for the windows but I'm not sure I have the energy this year!  Maybe this weekend?? 

 

Mason nappin' in the garland

 

 

 

 

 

While I was working on the lights I decided I had better tackle some laundry, so I rounded it up.. and made a heap in the keeping room...and sorted it.. into 12 LOADS!  We do have quite a bit of additional linens given the guests for Thanksgiving, but sheeeesh, that's a LOT of laundry.  Wish me luck.  It's 2 days later and I still have 3 loads to go.