Now That We Are Moved In, It's Time To Organize!!!

 

I still cannot believe that we are finally moved into the house!!! I keep pinching myself to make sure that it is not a dream. However, when I realize that it is in fact true and that all those millions hundreds of boxes stacked around our house are really there, I start to feel like I am in a bit of nightmare.  EEK!!!

 

 

But hey, let's keep it real, I would WAY rather be dealing with "Revenge of the Boxes" than still waiting to get into the house. So whose complaining...NOT THIS GAL! We basically spent all day Saturday moving the remainder of our belongings from the apartment to the casa so that we could have everything in one place (and because Sunday was our last day) and started the long unpacking process on Sunday. We decided to adopt the "snowball method" (thanks to my brother's advise) and get one room unpacked at a time, starting with the most important - the master bathroom and closet.  Matt tackled his clothes in the closet while I started unpacking and organizing all the stuff that was "supposed" to fit in the master vanity. I say "supposed to fit" because we I have WAY more bathroom stuff than any one human could possibly ever need in a lifetime would fit in our vanity.  As evidence, here are all the "Master Bath" boxes that we had in storage (you can't tell from this picture, but the poor tub is full of boxes too):

 

 

 And here is all the stuff that came over from the apartment:

 

Seriously, it is a bit ridiculous! Oh well, onward and upward.  So first things first, I had to come up with a plan of attack. Here is a diagram of our master vanity and the drawer layout:

 

 

As you can see, Matt and I each have six 3" deep drawers, two 8" deep drawers and under-sink storage.  I also have a 1.25" deep drawer over the knee space.  So we have lots of drawer storage and a good amount of storage space under the sink:

However, we do not have a linen closet in our master bathroom. Back in January, I showed you how I organized the bathroom in the apartment and the linen closet played a staring roll in my organization plan. Basically, I stored all of my bathroom products (divided into seven categories) in separate bins inside the closet:

 



Although this plan works flawlessly if you have a handy linen closet near by, it is an epic fail when you try to fit everything under your sink!

So, that meant I needed to head back to the drawing board to come up with a new organization plan for our master vanity. It was a bit cramped in the bathroom with all the boxes, so for Phase #1, I created a staging area in the master bedroom to give me room to see everything:

I first moved all the organized bins from the apartment to the staging area. Then I unpacked all the boxes from storage and added the new products to their respective category:

Now that I could see what I had, Matt and I ran over to Container Store to pick-up some much needed supplies and came back with quite the haul! 

 

Now that I had my supplies and my bathroom products separated into more easily manageable categories, it was time for Phase 2: Go through each pile and figure out what will be kept and what would be trashed /recycled (because nothing is worth donating).  I decided to start with my makeup, because who doesn't love playing with makeup???

As I have mentioned before, I have a serious hording problem with throwing things away, and makeup is no exception!  I had a Caboodle (the same one that I have had since 5th grade...no hoarding problems here I promise!!!), a travel bag (the same one that I took to summer camp for the first time in 3rd grade...okay, so maybe a little problem), a 12"x12"x12" metal basket, a ziplock bag, and two makeup bags full of makeup, as well as my airbrush kit. 



That my friends is a serious amount of makeup!!! As I went through everything, I again separated the makeup into categories: (1) eye shadow, (2) blush/bronzer, (3) foundation/powder; (4) eye liner; (5) lips; and (6) brows:

I also made a trash pile of products that I don't use anymore, that were super old, or that were basically empty (all those mascara tubes that I kept because they had a tiny bit left at the time and now are a dried up mess, yummy)...which turned out to be the biggest pile by far:

Evidently I have kept some of this make-up for over a decade and found some serious gems:

Can I get a "What! What!" for blue glitter eyeliner, blue eyeshadow and hot pink lipstick! They are so money and take me back to the sorority days!  Holla!!!  I planned to store all of my makeup in the center 1.25" drawer because it was the largest drawer (approximately 19" deep by 17" wide):

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the drawer is only 1.25" deep...and all the super cool containers at the Container Store that could work for drawer storage were too deep (the smallest ones that we found were 2" deep).  As I was wandering the aisles looking for inspiration, I came across the drawer liner section of the store and found this soft, thick, white liner that was a bit tacky on each side (not tacky in the sence that residue would get on you, but tacky in the sence that it would stick to the drawer without tape): 

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Since I was planning on storing my makeup brushes in the drawer, I knew I needed a liner to protect the inside of the drawer.  And that is when the lightbulb went off!  Instead of trying to use baskets and dividers to store my makeup in the drawer, why not just lay it all out??? Once we got home, I measured the drawer space and cut the liner to size.  Then I started laying out my makeup and brushes in the drawer, starting with the makeup that I use most often (my daily work makeup kit):

I then continued sorting through my "keep" makeup pile and pulled out the other products that I use fairly regularly when I want to mix things up or am going out.  I kept the products organized by category (e.g., eye shadow and color pots, eye liner, blushes/bronzers, lipstick, etc.), fit everything together like a puzzle, and ended up with this:

And I absolutely LOVE it!!!  I have all of my "go to" makeup displayed in an easy to identify manner and because the liner is a bit tacky, everything stays in place when I open and shut the drawer.  This is also good, because it will force me to adopt the "one-in-one-out" method and only buy the makeup that I really need.  I then put all the duplicate makeup I have in a travel case and stored it, along with my airbrush makeup kit (which I use daily, but which didn't fit in the shallow drawer) in one of my 8" deep drawers. 

 

I am so excited that I have jumped my first organization hurdle and love how my makeup drawer turned out!  No digging and unloading when I need to find the products I need, I just simply have to open the drawer and TADAH, everything is at my fingertips!  This little project gives me confidence that I just might be able to accomplish my goal of an organized house with a-place-for-everything-and-everything-in-its-place!  As the late great Neil Armstrong said:

 

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Now it's time to keep this ball rolling and to tackle the rest of my bathroom products! But in the meantime, let's take one more look at the "Before and After" shall we?

 

 

 Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope that you enjoyed it and have a wonderful week!!! 

 



Let There Be Light! - Lighting Design for the Casa (Part 1)

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope that you are having a great week so far. We are trucking along on the house and have finally ordered all of our light fixtures! Woohoo!!! There is something about ordering the lights that makes me feel like we are getting close to completing this beast of a project (please sweet baby Jesus let it be so!!!!). Although it took a year of wading through thousands of options, picking out the light fixtures has been a blast! In my view, light fixtures are just like a good pair of glitzy chandelier earrings...they are a super fun accessory that can add some serious glamor to a room. And bringing some girly glam to the casa was very important to me because the tan/cream/bronze color scheme that we have selected for the first floor could very easily turn the house into a "Super Masculine Mancave" (my husband's ultimate fantasy) if I didn't force down Matt's throat add these pops of bling to each room. However, it took so long to pick the fixtures because of two major restrictions we have at the house. The first restriction is beyond our control...we have 8 foot ceilings. This makes life tricky because Matt and I are both fairly tall (6'1" and 5'9.5"), so there are several places in the house where we need fixtures that sit somewhat close to the ceiling (basically everywhere that a light isn't over a table or in the stairwell) so that we don't knock our cabezas every time we walk through the house. Unfortunately, I have discovered that "flush mount light" actually translates to "ugly as hell" in most languages. Which brings us to my second restriction, which is 100% self-imposed...NO BOOB LIGHTS!!!!!

 

 

Please don't get me wrong, I have nothing against ta-tas that are attached to a gals chest...however, I take serious issue to boobs that are attached to my ceiling. Maybe its boob envy, but I just don't like the idea of making our ceilings have a better figure than me! So after several hours of scrolling through multiple website, here are the flush mounts that have made the cut:

 

1. Visual Comfort Small Basil Flush Mount (for the Wrapping Closet) 

2. Pottery Barn Capiz Flushmount (for the Light Blue Bedroom)

3. Cone Shape Matte Silver Flushmount Ceiling Chandelier (for the Guest Bathroom)

4. Maxim Lighting Hi-Bay 2-Light Flush Mount (for the Study)

5. Quoizel Josslyn Flush Mount (for the Laundry Room)

6. Savoy House Alsace 3 Light Semi-Flush in Reclaimed Wood (for the Living Room)

 

The first five lights are either chrome or polished nickle because they go upstairs where we have grey walls and white trim in the Guest Bathroom, Study and Laundry Room, robin egg blue walls and white trim in the Light Blue Room, and bright pink walls, white trim and yellow ceiling in the Wrapping Closet (although Matt thinks that I am nuts, but it's super cute and my one Über girly room in the joint).  The light for the Living Room is wood and oil rubbed bronze, which hopefully will look pretty with the cream/tan walls and dark trim.  I cannot wait to see what these guys look like installed! That's all for now. Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!!!

 

Stop by here if you want to see some more funfilled "Non-Boob-Light" fixtures.

 

I am liking up with Love of Family and Home, My Repurposed Life, Design Dining & Diapers

 



What Goes Up (My Walker Zanger Tiles)...Sometimes Must Come Down

Happy Thursday everyone! The weekend is almost here, so time to get ready for some fun! We are going to watch Bob Schneider tonight (he's one of our all time favorites!) and we have some birthday gatherings to attend this weekend...so it should be a busy, but fun one for us. I wanted to pop in real quick before the shenanigans start and give you an update on the master bathroom. As I mentioned in back in April, renovations do not always go as planned, and sometimes you can hit a bump in the road. So far our biggest bump was the H-U-G-E error that the builders, engineer and inspector made with the structural support for our house that could have caused the whole thing to come crashing down if any wind picked up...Eeek!!! Although that was more of a Mount Everest sized bump, we have had lots of other smaller bumps throughout this year-long renovation (some mountains and some mole hills). But we have somehow managed to either fix them or come up with work-around solutions...so my advise when doing a renovation, always try to stay nimble and look at those bumps as fun challenges to overcome instead of disasters that can ruin your day.  Our latest bump was the feature wall of Walker Zanger tile in our master bathroom shower. We were super excited to see it once it was installed, but when we got to the house, we realized the final product was not what we had envisioned.  Here's a picture of what it looked like installed with some notes highlighting the issues:

 

 

The first issue was that the area with the Walker Zanger Ashbury Tiles were too small (we'll call them the "Walker Zanger squares")...I love this tile, so wanted to have as much of it as possible on that wall.  Second, the field tile (which is the travertine tile) was not centered on the Walker Zanger squares.  I am totally "Type A" and saw this as soon as we walked in the room.  Although it might not seem like that big of a deal to some people, I knew this would drive me absolutely batty every time I saw it.  And the third issue is that the space between the two Walker Zanger squares is too wide. Although the Walker Zanger squares are centered above and below and the chair rail, this made the bottom Walker Zanger square feel too low and stubby.  But the good news of this pic is that our tub has arrived!  It hasn't been installed, so isn't in the correct location, but I am in L-O-V-E with this cast iron beauty! I don't know about you, but I think that claw foot tubs are super sexy, MEOW (see there is a silver lining to every storm cloud)!!!  But I digress, so here is a basic sketch of how we plan to fix the tile issue:

 

 

1. Widen the Walker Zanger squares by 2.5 tiles on each side

2. Make the top Walker Zanger square go all the way to the top tile

3. Make the space between the two sets of Walker Zanger squares smaller

4. Center the field tile (i.e., the travertine tile above and below the Walker Zanger squares)

 

So here we are today at the beginning of the "fixing stage" with the border tiles removed. Breaks my heart!!!

 

 

Oh well! The quicker we rip this band-aide off, the quicker we will be one step closer to finishing this project. Good times!!! So that's all for now. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Thursday!!!

 

 

 

 

Vintage Bathroom Remodel - Part 3

Happy Monday everyone! I hope that you had a wonderful and relaxing weekend. Things were busy here in Houston, but very productive at the house. As I mentioned last week, not only is painting in in full swing at the casa, but the tile in the upstairs guest bathroom is finally being installed and I am super excited to show you how it is turning out! Back in May, I introduced you to our oh-so-loverly guest bathroom and gave you the low down on my plans to give our tiny little "Ode-to-1960's-Wallpaper-and-Tile" guest bath a cool vintage makeover and bring her into the 21st century via the 1920's.  I also showed you the newly installed cabinets in my Vintage Bathroom Remodel - Part 2 post here. But, just to jog your memory, here is the layout of the original bathroom below highlighted in yellow:
 

As you can see, it was a small three piece bath with a single sink, a toilet and a five foot tub.  And here are some shots of the bathroom in all her 1960's wallpaper and tile glory:

 

The first picture shows the view into the bathroom from the hallway.  And this next picture is a view of the toilet and tub (with my back towards the vanity):
 

Although the bathroom had a fun 1960's vintage feel...it was the wrong era for my vision and just too small.  In order to allow two people to get ready in the bathroom at the same time, we decided to expand the bathroom so that we would have a vanity room and a separate shower room. The floor plan below shows the new bathroom highlighted in yellow (with a pocket door that can separate the shower room from the vanity room).

 

After resolving the space and layout issue, my next task was to create a mood board so that I could see how all the different design elements worked together. This is my original mood board that I created for our "vintage guest bathroom (circa 1920) with a hint of modern flare":

 

 

One of the major design elements that I wanted to incorporate into the vanity room was a "tile floor mat" using a combination of basket weave carrara marble tiles and 12"x12" carrara marble tiles.  The "tile floor mat" in this picture was my original inspiration for the space:

 

 

However, in order to work for our guest bathroom, I had to modify the design of the "tile floor mat" from a rectangle to a large "T" shape. This drawing shows the placement of the vanity and linen cabinets as well as the layout of the "tile floor mat" in the vanity section of the guest bathroom:

 

 

And here is how the floor looks installed:

 

 

I am so excited how it turned out and absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!! It is exactly what I envisioned and feels so crisp and clean! Here is another view where you can see how the floor works with the vanity, linen cabinet and wainscoting:
 

 

Happy days, happy days, happy days!!! The shower room section of the guest bathroom was too small for a similar floor mat; so we decided to carry the 12"x12" carrara marble tiles throughout that space. You can see the shower room highlighted in yellow below:

 

To keep with the vintage feel in the shower room, I chose white subway tiles for the shower surround.  However, with the white carrara marble floors and white subway tiles, I was afraid that the space might end-up looking a bit too institutional with all the square lines. So, to break things up, I added a herringbone feature to the back wall of the shower surround, which is illustrated in the drawing below:

 

I also made sure that the herringbone feature was centered on the pocket door between the vanity room and the shower room so that our guests would see it regardless of which part of the bathroom they were in.  This is what she looks like installed (and please note that the herringbone feature is centered on the door, I was just standing at the wrong angle when I took the picture):

 

Again, I am LOVE with how it turned out!!! The white subway tiles are so bright and cheery and the herringbone feature adds just enough interest and spice keep the space from being boring! Here is a close-up of the herringbone feature.  J'adore!!!
 

I am so giddy-like-a-school-girl with how everything is coming together!!! It totally makes all the heart-ache and stress of this year-long remodel fade into the background when I get to see my visions come to life!  Here's to hoping that I am going to be as in love with the rest of the remodel as things continue to progress!!! I hope that you are enjoying the progress and updates as much as I am. But before we go, let's have one more look at the the before and after (well, progress) pictures!

 



 

SO much better!!! Thank you so much for stopping by and have a wonderful week!

 

UPDATE: CLICK HERE TO SEE AN THE FINAL BATHROOM!

 

 

 

I have linked this post to Our Delightful Home, It's So Very Cheri, The Blackberry Vine, Him & Her, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, A Stroll Thru Life, Today's Creative Blog, Coastal Charm, A Diamond in the Stuff, Ladybug Blessing, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Elizabeth & Co., Hope Studios, Sugarbee Crafts, Nap-Time Creations, Salt Tree, The Winthrop Chronicles, My Repurposed Life, For the Love of Family and Home; Design, Dining and Diapers

 

Primed and Ready!!!

Good Monday morning to you all! I hope that you had a great weekend. It was HOT this weekend in Houston (109 degrees on Saturday); however, the sun was shining, so I was a happy gal! But what is crazy, Houston's 109 was nothing compared to Vegas, which recorded 127 degrees with sidewalks clocking in at 150 degrees. Yowzers!!! That's-a-one-spicy-meat-a-ball! Things are also heating up at Casa de Mosley - the painters arrived last week and started priming and prepping all the walls and woodwork.  I have been so excited about this major step towards completing our project that I have been running around like a crazy person (a la Paul Revere style) shouting to the rafters and anyone that will listen that "The Painters are Coming! The Painters are Coming!  The Painters Are Coming!!!"





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Last week I showed you the wainscoting that we added throughout the house. And here's the dining room wainscoting all primed and ready to go!

 

I absolutely LOVE how the wainscoting looks primed and how it is all coming together! The painters still have to put a skim coat over the middle panels on the wainscoting to make it them super smooth, but we are definitely heading in the right direction! Here is a closer view of the dining room wainscoting.

And here is a view taken from the front corner of the dining room looking back towards the living room.  As you can see, they also have the crown and baseboards all primed in there too!

Since the primer is up, it was time for Mattey and me to buckle down and make our final decisions on paint colors for the walls and trim throughout the house. And here is what we have come up with so far:

 

The two middle colors are what we are using for the walls downstairs. The second sample board from the right is Ralph Lauren Suede Plaza Blanca, which we are using on the living room, the foyer and the stairwell walls. It is a deep rich cream color, which will give a lot of warmth to the rooms. We chose Ralph Lauren's suede finish (instead of regular flat paint) because the suede paint gives a subtle texture and added depth. I am all about layering textures when decorating, and using a suede paint is a super easy way to add a layer texture to the whole room in one fair swoop.  Our dining room walls will be the second color from the left, which is Ralph Lauren Suede Cordova Cream. Like the walls in the living room, foyer, and stairwell, we also are using a suede finish in the dining room; however, this color is just a bit darker than the Plaza Blanca and will help set-off the dining room from the rest of the downstairs space without screaming "Hey look at me!!! I'm different!!!!!"  Since tans and creams can become a bit boring, we are adding interest by going DARK with the trim (instead of your typical white). We have picked Benjamin Moore's Bronzetone 60 (the far left color on the trim sample board).  It isn't on Benjamin Moore's website, but you can get a sample made at any of their stores.  This is because Bronzetone 60 is actually a commercial color that they sell to manufacturers and is typically used to paint machinery. That might sound a bit strange; however, the color is FABULOUS!  It it super rich with a ton of depth.  We love the look of light walls with dark trim, and previously had this look out in our game room, which you can see below.

 

 

 

The walls in the game room were Ralph Lauren Suede Silver City and the trim was Ralph Lauren Turret Stair.  Although I love this look (and we are using the same color combo in the new game room), I thought it was a bit too dark and too tan for downstairs (I feel like we will be locked into a distinctly tan color pallet if we go this dark).  Instead, I wanted a lighter feel for the downstairs and more flexible pallet. The back room in the picture below is a good example of the look I am going for:

 



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 And here is a good example of how the dining room will look with the dark wainscoting and light walls.



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I think that house is so dreamy and am praying to the paint gods that our house will look as good when we are finished! Like the picture above, we will are using a light cream for the wainscoting on the stairwell.  Although all the other trim downstairs will be dark, I decided not to carry the dark trim up the stairwell. This is because we are painting the walls upstairs in the study and the hallway a greige color (so that it will blend with the Plaza Blanca) and painting the trim a bright crisp white, and I thought that dark wainscoting on the stairwell would be too much contrast with the white wainscoting and woodwork in the upstairs study and hallway, which you can see in the picture below.

 

 

The far left color board is Sherwin Williams Fleur De Sel and is the color that we chose for the walls in the upstairs hallway and the study. I wanted upstairs to be a grey and white pallet, but needed to choose a grey that would blend well with the Plaza Blanca since you will see the stairwell walls and the hallway/study walls when you are upstairs. This turned out to be a far more difficult task than I originally anticipated because the Plaza Blanca is a warm color and most greys out there are cool.  So in order for the two not to clash, I had to find a grey with some tan undertones. After trying about 15 different greys (greys are so freak'n difficult), I lucked upon Fleur De Sel. It is a pretty light grey with a hint of beige undertones and blends great with the Plaza Blanca. SCORE!!! For the trim and wainscoting, we are using Benjamin Moore's Chantilly Lace, which is the middle white on the trim sample board.  This is a super bright white and pops like crazy against the Fleur De Sel. I love it because it will make the upstairs hallway bright and airy (and this is super important to me since there are no windows in the hallway and the space could easily turn into a cave if the paint is too dark).  The color on the far right of trim sample board is Sherwin Williams Snowbound and is what we have picked for the ceiling color.  We chose this color because we needed something that will blend with both the Plaza Blanca and the Fleur De Sel...and Snowbound is a rock star chameleon that looks great with both colors.  And finally, the color block on the far right is Benjamin Moors Pure White.  We are using this color on the walls in the upstairs guest bathroom and the Laundry Room.  Although it is called Pure White, it is a lovely cool grey and works really well with the Carrara Marble counter tops that we have in the laundry room and guest bathroom. For the trim in those rooms, we are going with Chantilly Lace again to Keep Pop'n you proud Popper!  I am counting down the days till the paint is up so I can see how it all comes together!  I hope that you have enjoyed seeing some of our paint choices!!!  I'll keep you posted as the progress continues.  Have a wonderful week everyone, and if we don't talk before, have a very HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!  Thanks for stopping by!