Transforming a Coat Closet Into a DVD Closet
What do you do with a coat closet when you don’t need it for coats anymore? What do you do when you have DVDs taking over your house? How about making a DVD closet. I had this great idea and luckily I have a handy Hubby to carry it out. This is the before:
Here’s the blank slate. Is this the tiniest coat closet you’ve ever seen?
Putting in the supports for the shelves. I wanted the DVDs to fit perfectly. We have a problem with kids trying to put DVDs in sideways and on top of one another. They won’t have that option anymore, because the shelves are just the right height and depth for DVDs:
Time for the shelves now. This took a lot of measuring and cutting. Luckily Hubby doesn’t swear or there could have been some bad words said at one point of this project:
Now it was my turn to take over with the painting. Hubby isn’t allowed to paint anymore. He’s not very patient and really doesn’t enjoy it:
This is where the DVDs used to be stored:
Taking up a lot of room in my small dining area. I am so happy to get this space in my dining area back:
The kids helped me put all the movies in the new closet:
PG-13 movies are on the higher shelves (they have to ask first for these), PG movies are in the middle and G movies are on the bottom shelves:
You’re not going to believe this, but we couldn’t fit all the cartoon and Disney movies in the closet. Luckily we have storage for those in the TV stand. What do you think? I love this new storage area for all of our DVDs and I’m pretty confident it will stay like this because of the custom fit shelves:
Oh, how I do love an organized closet!
I’m linking to:
Organization Party for LUFF’s at Our Suburban Cottage
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps On The Porch
Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick
Make It For Monday at Cottage Instincts
DIY Day at A Soft Place To Land
Talented Tuesday at My Frugal Family
Trash to Treasure at Reinvented
Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage
Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
Get YOur Craft On Thursday at Life as Lori
Creative Cats at Poppies at Play
Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors
Victory of the Week at Design-aholic
Toot Your Horn Tuesday at Silly Little Sparrow
Filed under Closets, General organizing | Comments (21)
We Have a Winner
Actually we have 2 winners! Lanae, owner and designer of Forgotten Freckles was gracious enough to offer headbands and flowers to 2 winners. Have I told you how nice she is and beautiful and talented? If you didn’t win you can still go over and visit her. Her prices are incredible and her work is beautiful. If you want a new, stylish accessory to wear for cold days these are just what you need. She also has tutu’s and other lovely accessories and she’s adding new products all the time. So add her in your feed and check back often. Her button is going to be on my sidebar (under sponsors) if you forget where she is.
Okay, okay I’m getting to it. The winners are:
Heather – the herber family
Lori – life as lori
Congrats Ladies!
Contact me to let me know of your final color choices and Lanae will get those sent out to you. She does great work and she’s fast.
Thanks Lanae for this wonderful giveaway! You’re awesome!
Filed under Giveaways | Comments (2)Peek Through Last Week (January 24-30)
Sunday- It was my birthday. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as hard on me as some have been in the past. I think having it on Sunday helped. We went to church, I got phone calls from the kids, I opened presents and Hubby fixed me a nice dinner with cheese cake for dessert. Turning 48 wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
Monday- We have a new tradition Hubby started last summer. Every Monday night we get take-out or go out to eat as a family. Amanda was begging for Chinese food today, so we went to a little place just a couple miles away from our home. On the menu: lemon chicken, ham fried rice, regular rice, steamed vegetables and beef and broccoli. Yum!
Tuesday- I had to take a drive up to Ogden to get some medication I needed. Ammon came along for the ride. It was so good to have that time alone with him again. We got a treat (and a Sprite) and talked and he took a little 10 minute nap too. I used to call him my backseat buddy, because he would go everywhere with me. We’d go shopping, to the post office, appointments, run errand, go to lunch, etc. Since he started 3/4 day kindergarten we just don’t have the time together anymore. I really miss it!
Wednesday- The kids have been off-track for 2 weeks. It was a perfect time to help Zach make the volcano he got for his birthday. He had a great time mixing the plaster, pouring it it the mold and painting it on Tuesday. The next day he was excited to make it erupt. It didn’t turn out to be an eruption, mostly a gurgle, but Zach was proud of it. Hubby added red food coloring to the mixture so it would look more like lava.
Thursday- Pack Meeting was tonight. Zach earned his Bear, a gold arrow, three silver arrows and the art belt loop. Hubby painted his face with the Bear symbols for his advancement. He actually earned everything 3 moths ago, but they haven’t had a Pack meeting for a while. He’s now a Webelos and ready to learn new and exciting things. I need to buy him a new book and neckerchief for Webelos.
Friday- Emilee started piano a couple months ago. She takes lessons from a neighbor. She practices a half hour everyday and is doing very well. We just have a keyboard for now, but hopefully within a few months we’ll buy a piano.
Saturday- Amanda has a snowboarding pass to a local resort. A bunch of her friends have passes too, so parents take turns dropping off and picking up. It was our turn to drive up. None of the boys were able to go this time, so it was just the girls. This is a tired, hungry, sunburned girl after a day of snowboarding.
That’s my peek into last week. Hopefully I have someone in the family reading this.
Filed under Family | Comments (3)D.I. and Savers Thrifty Finds
I have not been thifting in such a long time, so I took a couple hours on Friday and did some shopping. I was a little disappointed, but still was able to bring home a few treasures.
This little bird was only .25 cents. So cute!
I paid $4 for the punch bowl, the cloche (not really, but I’m going to use it as one) .75 cents, pyrex for $1 and the little green bowl for $1.
I love these bowls. I paid $3 for all four. Aren’t they pretty!
This small dessert plate was .75 cents. I have 3 of them now. They’re Johann Haviland/Bavaria Germany.
I paid .75 cents for this dessert plate too. It might be going on my plate wall. It’s Ballerina by Universal. I would love to find more of these.
I found 2 of these dinner plates for $1 each. They are Creative Plantinum Star Burst.
And these are my very favorite. I found 2 of these for $1 each also. They are Ballerina Mist by Universal. I love the slight blue/green color. I’m going to be searching for more of these.
I knew this was Ikea as soon as I saw it. I think it’s a shower curtain and it looks like it’s never been used. I paid $1.99 for it. I might make pillows for the boys out of it. I’m not sure yet, but I love the fabric.
Well, that’s it for the shopping this week. Not too bad for only $16. 50. I really think people should start decluttering and organizing right now, so I can take advantage of their cast-offs.
I’m linking to:
2nd Time Around Tuesday at A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words
Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Thrifty Thursday at Bloggeritaville
Filed under Decorating, Thrift Store Finds | Comments (12)Last Day to Enter the Forgotten Freckles Giveaway
Today is the last day to enter the giveaway for these adorable headbands. Forgotten Freckles(don’t you just love that name) is offering a headband with a flower to not only 1 but 2 of you lucky viewers out there. Lanae Davis is the owner and designer. I love her stuff! She does beautiful work and she’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Here’s a little sample of some of the choices you have:
(Lanae’s the beautiful lady on the left)
These are just a few samples of the beautiful work she does. She letting you choose any color band and flower from the wide range of color choices she has. I told you she was nice. All you need to do to enter is go over to Forgotten Freckles and pick your colors if you were to win (scroll down to the bottom of her site and you’ll see all the color choices). Come back here and leave me a comment letting me know your color choice of headband and flower. The giveaway will close Saturday, January 30 at 11:59pm mountain standard time. Good luck and leave a comment at Forgotten Freckles too so Lanae can feel the love.
Have a beautiful weekend!
Filed under Giveaways | Comments (5)Florals, Toiles and Stripes, Oh My! (And A Giveaway)
As I was making my bed the other morning, I realized I have a lot of different patterns going on in my room. But they all blend well together because of scale and color. I limited the colors in my room to black, white and green. I wanted pattern, but also wanted to feel relaxed and not overstimulated while in my room. Here’s what fabrics I used.
Duvet Cover from Ikea
Pillow covers from Ikea
Pillow from Jo-Ann’s
Fabric for pillows from Jo-Ann’s
Fabric for pillows from Jo-Ann’s
Fabric for pillows from Hancock Fabrics
Fabric for chair seat from Hobby Lobby
Pillow from Target (side one)
Pillow from Target (side two)
Valance from Target
Hat boxes from Hobby Lobby
Light switch cover I made here
File folders from Wal-Mart
Would you have that much going on in your room? It’s actually very relaxing because of limiting the colors used. Now I just need to paint the furniture. I’m thinking black with maybe one white piece. I’ll be painting the walls too. What do you think?
I’m linking to:
Filed under Decorating | Comments (4)Valentine’s Day Mantel
I started out with this mantel, but I wasn’t happy with it. It was a little too symmetrical and too sparse.
So then I added the vinyl cutouts and moved pieces around a bit. Better, but still not exactly what I was hoping for.
By adding a few more birds, some berry garland and the banner I finally got the look I was going for.
I’m happy with it now. The banner was made from the alphabet cards I bought at Joann’s, again. I love how I can keep reusing them.
I added some heart cards, I made, between the words to add some color to banner. Here’s how I made the cards. I cut the inside of a doily out.
I pleated and gathered it to form a circle then adhered it to the red circle.
I cut black and white paper the same size as the alphabet cards and adhered the circle to the card. It still needed something so I added the crystals.
I only spent $4 on my mantel this year. I’ve been on a “trying not to spend money on crafts” thing lately and just using what I already have at home. I found I’ve been more creative with my supplies and have been using more of them since I started challenging myself.
I’m linking to:
Mantel Party at The Stories of A to Z
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Victory of the Week at Design-aholic
Creative Cats at Poppies at Play
Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors
It’s So Very Creative at It’s so Very Cheri
Make It For Monday at Cottage Instincts
Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative
Valentine’s Day Craft Party at Ramblings from the Sunshine State
DIY Day at A Soft Place To Land
Talented Tuesday at My Frugal Family
Get Your Craft On at Today’s Creative Blog
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage
Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
Get Your Craft On Thursday at Life as Lori
Filed under Crafts, Decorating, Holidays | Comments (19)Mod Podged Light Switch Cover
I love Country Living Magazine and the ideas I get from perusing through the pages of the magazine. It seems like there’s something I want on every page. I found these, and fell in love, but couldn’t pay $16 each. Especially if I wanted one for every room of my house.
So what’s a girl to do? Make her own, of course. I thought I’d start with my bedroom, so I raided my scrapbook paper stash searching for the perfect paper to go in my room. I love this pattern and thought I’d be happy with it for a long time. I cut it close to the size I’d need, but left extra to wrap around to the back of the cover.
I applied the mod podge to the cover and centered the patterned paper where I wanted it on the cover. I used the roller again to make sure to get out all the bubbles.
It was at this point when I realized this was going to be a little harder than I thought because of the curved edges. So I decided to do 2 sides at a time, by applying the mod podge on the edges and back and holding the paper in place for a few minutes. Then I sat it down and let it dry a few minutes before I did the other 2 sides.
I cut off the excess paper on the sides, applied the mod podge and wrapped it around again.
I folded the corners like if I were wrapping a present to get them to lay flat. Then I held it in place for a few minutes again. I sat it down and let it dry some more before the next step.
To cut out the hole for the switch I used these tools that are actually for ceramics, but they worked. Any small sharp knife or blade would work. I used them to make the holes for the screws too. I didn’t worry about them being perfect because they were going to be covered by the screws anyway.
Then I applied 2 coats of mod podge. It’s going to be touched a lot so I need to be able to wash the surface off.
Wait for it to dry and then put it back over the switch. Ta-Da!
I really like it. I tried to center the pattern over the switch. I was only off a little, so I’m pretty pleased.
While I was looking through the scrapbook paper I found one that will match the hall bathroom perfectly. I think I’ll have to make some more this weekend. I could probably do every switch cover in my house for under $16. Especially if I just use paper I already have.
I’m linking to:
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Victory of the Week at Design-aholic
Creative Cats at Poppies at Play
Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps On The Porch
Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick
Make Your Monday at Twice Remembered
Inspired Ideas Party at The Shabby Chic Cottage
It’s So Very Creative at It’s So Very Cheri
Make It For Monday at Cottage Instincts
Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative
DIY Day at A Soft Place To Land
Talented Tuesday at My Frugal Family
Get Your Craft On at Today’s Creative Blog
Trash to Treasure Tuesday at Reinvented
Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage
Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
Get Your Craft On Thursday at Life as Lori
20th Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home
Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple
I Made It Without My Hubby at Shanty 2 Chic
Craftaholics Anonymous Support Group at Craftaholics Anonymous
Filed under Crafts, Decorating | Comments (33)Keeping and Storing Important Papers
Sorry I’m late today. It’s Why Not Organize Something Wednesday. I’ve been asked in the past, “What papers, bills, statements, receipts, etc. do I have to keep and for how long?” Since it’s the beginning of a new year and we want to purge some of those old papers, plus we’re thinking about getting all our paperwork together for tax purposes I thought now would be a good time to go over what to toss and what to not. In January of last year I did a post on a Retention Schedule. You can go over to that post from here and you can print out the sheet if you’d like. Just remember, this is what I have learned from others and what I have done for years. I’m not an accountant (nor do I play one on TV). I have never ran into any problems, but if you have any questions or concerns, it might be best to speak to a real live accountant.
Here’s how I file things I still need to get my hands on through out the year. This basket sits next to my desk and I have everything, I need, readily available to me. You can go here to find out more about filing.
There’s a file in the basket marked “taxes”. I put everything in there I’m going to need to be able to file my taxes for that year. Most papers from mortgage companies, credit cards, utilities, etc. start coming in about now. All you need to do is stick them in the file until you’re ready to work on your taxes. I think April 14 is a good day. Just kidding (you accountants out there).
Okay, I’m not one to keep things I don’t think I’m ever going to need again, but I keep all my tax papers along with copies of the filed tax return forever and forever. Call me paranoid, but in this case I’d rather be safe than sorry. They don’t take up much space, so I don’t have a problem with keeping them. This will be the only time you will hear me say you can put papers in a manila folder and pack it away. Just make sure the description and year are on the outside. I just wrote mine on with a sharpie marker. You can use a label maker, but I didn’t want to waste my tape on something that’s packed away in a box.
Then pack it away in a bankers box. It’s the perfect size, they stack well and they’re cheap. Okay I probably should have used the label maker for the box, but it’s in a storage area so I really don’t care (or maybe I do and I’ll make a label later).
I keep all my tax folders in one area, by year, so if there is a problem I can find them easily. Wow, that was a boring post. Sorry about that, but I hope I gave you some good information about keeping and storing important papers.
I’m linking to:
Victory of the Week at Design-aholic
Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage
Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie
Filed under Office, Paper | Comments (4)Sweetheart Tree
Remember these branches I cut off my tree in the front yard?
Then I brought them in the house, put them in a tall vase and added snowflakes to them for a winter tree.
I decided I wasn’t quite ready to throw the branches away and try to come up with a new centerpiece right now. So, I pulled out my Valentine’s Day tote and searched for things to hang from the branches.
Okay, I love it! The little bird is an ornament I bought after Christmas years ago. That’s the best time to buy ornaments, especially one’s you’d like to use for other holidays.
I really love red. You already know that, if you’ve seen my living room walls.
I love all the pretty hearts too.
Sorry, I’m just playing with my camera now. That’s probably enough pictures. Anyway, these branches are for sure staying up till after Valentine’s Day.
Maybe till after St. Patrick’s Day. Wouldn’t they look great with shamrocks hanging from them? Come to think of it they might look great with Easter eggs hanging from them too. Okay, you’re right. I might be getting carried away. Well have to see.
I’m linking to:
Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design
What To Make Wednesday at Sew Cute Blog
Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage
Get Your Craft On Thursday at Life As Lori
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous
Creative Cats at Poppies at Play
Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps On The Porch
Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick
Make Your Monday at Twice Remembered
It’s So Very Creative at It’s So Very Cheri
Make It For Monday at Cottage Instincts
Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative
Valentine’s Day Craft Party at Ramblings from the Sunshine State
DIY Day at A Soft Place To Land
Talented Tuesday at My Frugal Family
Get Your Craft On at Today’s Creative Blog
Trash to Treasure Tuesday at Reinvented
Filed under Decorating, Giveaways, Holidays | Comments (24)
