I'm Cleaning Out My Closet - My Craft Closet That Is!

 

Hi everyone! I hope that y'all are having a wonderful holiday season and that you have had lots fun quality time with your friends and family! We have been blowing and going at the casa the past few weeks: we hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the first time this year and were busting at the seams with 14 guests (but so worth it and so much fun); we have had work Christmas parties, friends' Christmas parties and family Christmas parties; and my Mom and I got to preview the first hour of Season 4 of Downton Abbey!!! It's going to be a GREAT season...even though I was absolutely positive that my crush Matthew (sigh) was going to have a full recover after his little fender bender (tear)....

 

 

I mean come on ladies...can I getta "Meow"!!!!! We also hosted a "May the December 14th Be With You" party where we had friends over, Matt cooked a massive batch of chili, and we watched the final three Star Wars episodes (it was originally supposed to be a "May the 4th Be With You" party on May 4th...but we weren't in the house yet, so we improvised). After each episode, we watched the the Family Guy version and it was awesome how they track the original story lines!

 

 

One thing that we haven't done over this holiday season, however, is decorate the house. Although I was not too happy about this at first...Matt's view is that we need to clean up our existing messes before we create new ones.  And considering that we have been in the house for three months and I still have two rooms and two closets that look like this:  



I can't really argue with his logic. So the first mess that I am tackling is my craft/wrapping closet. This closet was an unexpected bonus room for me. When we first started remodeling the house, we thought that we had to keep the A/C unit and furnace in their existing location on the second floor of the house, but subsequently found out that we could move all that gear into the attic. ***Yeah*** Once everything was relocated, we ended up with a large closet that I decided to turn into my super girly craft and wrapping closet.  The plan was to create a space where I could keep all of my gift wrapping supplies and crafting supplies nice and neat and organized. You can see my original plan for the craft closet here and here. Although it was 100% empty clean when we moved in, it began filling up with boxes and such as we unpacked and, unfortunately, quickly turned into this hot mess:

Eeek!!! This was completely overwhelming! I have a hard enough time keeping my closets organized when they start out somewhat put together...but it is completely different when things have become so bad that I am scared that I will be swallowed by the avalanche of crap stuff that comes tumbling out as soon as I open the doors.

So I gathered my composure, went back to the holy grail of organization instruction and guidance (a.k.a. www.IHeartOrganizing.com) and followed Jen's step-by-step process for organizing a mess.  First, I removed all of the content from the closet. Second, I organize everything into piles by category (in this case: trash, craft and wrapping supplies, storage containers and miscellaneous). 

The next step will be to go through the craft and wrapping supply pile and further organize it into easy-to-manage categories (e.g., jewelry making supplies, ribbons, wrapping paper, bow making supplies, paint, etc.).  I will show you that in the next post...but for now, let's take a quick a look at how the closet looked after I removed all of the junk!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better!!!! As you can see from the walls and the ceilings, I decided to go super bright with the paint colors. I did this because there are no windows in the closet and I wanted to make it as bright, cheery and girly as possible. So I chose a bright pink for the walls and a bright yellow for the ceiling. I also added built-in cubbies so that I can easily categorize all of my crafting and wrapping goodies.

 

Above the lower cubbies, I added two sets built-in wall shelves for additional storage options.

 

The white wall space above the lower cubbies and between the upper wall cubbies is going to get some fun wall paper. However, because the closet was previously filled to the brim and the wall was not accessible, the wall paper will be installed in next week. ***Yippy*** I wanted some high contrasts and thought that a black-and-white wall paper would fit the bill since the black would pop off of the pink walls, yellow ceiling and white cabinets. I found this awesome paper, which has a similar Moroccan pattern as the Walker Zanger tiles that we have in our master bathroom shower, and immediately fell in love!

 

Thanks to some poor Photoshop work, you can get the general idea where the wallpaper will go.

The space between the wall cubbies is designated for my wrapping paper and ribbon. I plan to install several dowels between the cubbies where I will hang the paper and ribbon....kind of like this:

 

or this:

 

 

And to kick up the girly factor even more (as if pink walls and a yellow ceiling weren't enough, ha!), I also added this pretty little crystal light that I found on Overstock.com. 

 

 

I love how the light looks when it is on and the cool shadows that it throws on the ceiling.

 

Oh, and the yellow ceiling is actually a lot brighter than the honey mustard color that it is coming across in the picture. Once I got the closet clean, the next step was to hit my storage container collection:

 

 

For the lower cubbies, I designed them in such a way that I could fit four of the photo boxes from Micheal's in each cubbie. The boxes are about $2.99 a piece, but you can usually get them on sale for $2 each. That is some serious storage bang for my buck! For the larger items, I actually lucked out and found some pretty black faux leather storage containers from Home Goods that fit in the cubbies perfectly. SCORE!

Each cubbie can also hold two 12"x12" paper storage boxes (which you can see in the photo above). After playing around with the storage containers that I had on hand (I shopped the house and also found some other wicker containers that I previously picked up from Home Goods), this is what I came up with:

 

 

I want to get four more 12"x12" paper containers for the two empty cubbies on the bottom.  I also need two more white photo boxes for the top right cubbie. I plan to add the Martha Stewart labels to each of the large storage containers so that everyone can easily tell what is in each container. And I am considering wrapping the top of the photo boxes with some black and white material to add some interest...but that will happen some time in the future. So my next step is to get the "craft supply and wrapping supply" pile organized, out of the hallway, and into the closet.  I will keep you posted on how that turns out. But fore now, let's just enjoy a loverly before and after shot before we go!

 

 

Yeap, definitely better! Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!!!

What Goes Up (My Walker Zanger Tiles)...Sometimes Must Come Down (Part 2)

 

 

Happy Friday world! It has been a great week and I am super excited to help one of my good friends ring in her 40th birthday tomorrow at an "all gals spa day"...brang it! I am also going to get to work A LOT this weekend, so a few hours of relaxation are going to be just what the doctor ordered. And speaking of spas, our bathroom has made some major steps towards being completed this week. The last time we visited the master bath there were some issues with the size of my beloved Walker Zanger Tile feature wall and alignment/centering of the travertine tile surround. So unfortunately, what went up, had to come down.  Here is a quick pic of the issues:

 

 

It is never fun having to go back and redo work because it wasn't done correct the first time.  But you are going to have setback in a renovation...and you gotta learn to roll with the punches. Fortunately, this issue only required one day of work to fix. The blue outline in this picture below shows my proposed changes to make the real life feature wall more closely resemble the size and layout of the feature wall that has been dancing with the sugar plumbs in my head for the past several months:

 

And here is what she looked like after undergoing her outpatient surgery:

  

Sooooooo much better! It is absolutely amazing how gaining a few inches of trim can have such a major impact (that's what she said...WaaWaaWaaaaaaaa). It's difficult to tell from the picture, but enlarging the area containing the Walker Zanger tiles makes the space feel so much larger and the ceiling taller! It basically had the exact same effect as when you add crown molding to a room...which causes your eyes to go up and out making the space appear bigger. So needless to say, I am thrilled with the result. If you are keeping tabs, that would be score #2 for "Speaking-Up-During-Construction/Renovation-When-There-Is-Something-That-You-Think-Is-Not-Right".  So let's take a another look at the oh so exciting Before and After shall we:

 

 

The next item on the To Do List was installation of our plumbing fixtures. We picked oil rubbed bronze fixtures to play off of the dark vanity that we installed. 

 

And can I say YUMMY!!!  This girl is in L-O-V-E, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!

 

The shower is made for two, so Matt and I each have our own shower head.  We also have four body sprays and an overhead gravity rain shower. I cannot wait to start my mornings belting out "Splish Splash I was taking a bath SHOWER!"...and believe you me, this will happen!  I just need to figure out how to work it into mine and Matt's Jungle Trilogy Mashup (a.k.a. Welcome to the Jungle, Jungle Boogie and the Lion Sleeps Tonight).  Witnessing this serenade is a real treat I tell ya! But I digress. The final step for the shower is the glass surround, which will be installed next week.  Oh, and I can't sign off today without giving a shout-out to my other love in the master bathroom - my claw foot tub and the cool telephone sprayer! Hello lovers!!! The color is a bit off in the picture due to a combination of bad lighting and my IPone camera that is on the fritz (after being dropped about 20 times)...so in person the various oil rubbed bronze colors are actually a lot closer in color.  It is all coming together! As of today we are officially:

 

 

until move-in! Woohoo!!! I hope that you enjoyed checking out the progress. Thank you all so much for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend! 

 

 

Vintage Bathroom Remodel - Part Two

 

Happy Monday everyone! I hope that you all had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend and were able to enjoy a lot of QT with your mama's and babies!  Matt and had a great weekend and had fun on our "Tour O Mom's" yesterday.  It was wonderful to spend time with everyone...and in honor of Mother's Day, here is one of my all time favorite pictures of my Mama and me from our last pilgrimage to the mother land - AKA Disney World - enjoying hot cocoa and cookies at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

 

 

We are both HUGE Disney nuts and this picture pretty much sums us up perfectly when we are there...100% kids 100% of the time.  I mean, what's better than sporting your ears, stepping back into childhood and leaving the real world behind at the Happiest Place On Earth?  Not too much in my book!

 

 

After looking at these pics, I am geared up for another trip to Disney World!  It doesn't take much I tell ya! So now, let's venture from the Happy Place on Earth, to "Jennifer's-Soon-To-Be-Happiest-Place-On-Earth-At-Some-Point-In-The-Near-Future-Please-Dear-Lord".  Today we are heading back upstairs to the Guest Bathroom.  So much progress has been happening over the past few weeks, it's amazing!  I get super giddy just thinking about it!  Last week I showed you where the Guest Bathroom started before the remodel kicked off and the beginning of demoing the old gal.  And here is what she looked liked once demo was complete, all the 1960's wall paper, tile and drywall was removed and she was down to her bare bones.   

 

 

Don't worry, she's not modest! Once we got her down to the studs, we repositioned a few walls to create the new and improved Guest Bathroom with a Shower Room and a Vanity/Storage Room, which you can see highlighted in yellow in the blueprint below.

 

 

Here is the Vanity/Storage Room after the plumbing was relocated, the new window installed, the dry wall was up and fully taped and floated.

 

In this room, we are going for a retro 1920's feel with white subway tiles, basket weave carrara marble floors, medicine cabinets, dark vanities and hotel style linens.  Here is my inspiration board for the room.

 

 

The first things that have arrived are the vanity and linen cabinets.  My plan was to install a double vanity against the outside wall under the window so that two people could get ready simultaneously and there would be plenty of natural light in the space.  However, my goal was to make it look like an old piece of furniture that had been converted into a vanity, like the Restoration Hardware vanity above on my inspiration board...however, without the Restoration Hardware price.  Here is the design drawing that I put together for the cabinet makers.

 

 

 

The vanity is two 36" sink bases connected with three 12" wide drawers in-between.  I chose this layout because I think it will provide lots of storage space under the sinks, along with drawers for items like tooth brushes, hair brush and hair dryers, etc.  And here is the vanity after it was installed (minus the feet and counter tops).

 

 

We picked dark java cabinets for the vanity...but unlike the Master Bathroom cabinets which are Rustic Cherry, these cabinets have a classic smooth finish.  We felt that this would help contribute to the retro feel that we are trying to create.  We also chose the java stain instead of black paint because we wanted to see the pretty grain in the wood.  Also, although the vanity will provide lots of storage, I wanted to add additional storage in the room for linens and other bathroom necessities (because one of my big goals with this remodel is to become organized, and for me to be organized, I need lots of storage so that there can be a place for everything and everything can be in it's place).  To create the additional storage, I decided to put two large floor to ceiling linen cabinets on the wall opposite of the vanity.  Here is my design for the vanity cabinets:

 



Because the bathroom is somewhat narrow (it's 8 feet deep), I needed to conserve space with the linen cabinets so that the room didn't feel cramped once they were installed (especially since the linen cabinets are also stained java).  To make this happen, the linen cabinets are only 12" deep.  However, as you can see in the picture below, 12" is plenty of space and will provide lots of storage - WOOHOO!

 

 And here is her twin on the opposite side of the door.  They still need their doors and crown molding, but this at least this lets you see how the cabinets will fit in the space.

 

 

I am telling you, these bad boys are going to send me to storage heaven! I absolutely cannot wait until I get to start filling them up the linens for the upstairs bedrooms and all sorts of fun bathroom goodies for our guests.  One things for sure, I will be spending lots of time over at I Heart Organizing to get plenty of ideas and inspiration on how I can organize this space and make it pretty! So here's to visions of loverly baskets and Martha Stewart Labels dancing in my head!!!  So how about y'all...do you have any good bathroom organization ideas or tips that you can share with me, because I need all the help I can get and would love to hear them!  Thanks you so much for stopping by and I hope that you have a wonderful week!!!



 

I am linking this project to The Blackberry Vine, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Crafty Confessions, Home Stories A to Z, Today's Creative Blog, Elizabeth and Co., Coastal Charm, Hope Studios

Vintage Bathroom Remodel - Part 1

Hi guys! Well it's Thursday and I hope that you are ready for Mother's Day this Sunday! The weather has been amazingly beautiful here in Houston this past week and I am hoping that it stays that way throughout the weekend.  We are enjoying that last bit of cool before the sweltering summer heat that Houston is famous for hits.  So fingers crossed that it continues in honor of all the awesome mamas out there!  And speaking of enjoyment, we are also continuing to enjoy progress at the house.  Things are starting to move at a fast pace and our new move-in date is set for June 27th.  Considering our original move-in date was December 15th, I'm not holding my breath...but hopefully everything will continue smoothly and we will be back home in time for July 4th!  One of the areas of the house that has seen a lot of progress is the upstairs guest bathroom.  We have the cabinets installed and they are getting ready to start on the tile.  However, before jumping in on those pics, I wanted to first show you the state that this poor little room started when the demo began.  In one of my first posts, I told you that two of the driving motivators behind this renovation were the dangerous stairs and the tiny bathrooms.  Both bathrooms (we had one upstairs and one downstairs) were mirror images of each other and had a toilet, sink and tub.  However, they were only about five feet wide (I could seriously touch both walls when standing in the middle of the room) and were only functional for one person at a time.  In this floor plan, you can see the bathroom highlighted in yellow and can also see the general layout of the room. 

Not only did the layout of the room need help, but it's design was born in 1967 and apparently had a serious case of "failure to launch"...so all the finishes were in desperate need of updating!  Seriously, the bathroom had mustard yellow tiles with maroon accents, red and mustard yellow wallpaper, linoleum floors, and dark wood cabinets and wood shutters.  I am sure she was all the rage back in the 60's, but it was high time this little gal got a makeover and was brought into the 21st century.  So without further ado, here is what our little guest bathroom looked like when you first entered the door.

 

You had a small linen closet to your left and an angled sink on your right.  Then, once you turned the corner, you had the shower on your left and the toilet on your right. 

You can see in the pictures that we had added crown molding.  We did this when we first moved in when we thought that we would just freshen the room up a bit by removing the wallpaper and giving it a new coat of paint.  However, that wallpaper was applied with 1967 wallpaper glue, which will not be removed without a major fight.  So we never painted the crown and it went to the large dumpster in the sky along with the rest of the carnage once demo was complete. But I digress, so back to the tour. Here is the view of the sink from inside the shower.

And this is a view looking around the shower wall back towards the entrance of the guest bathroom.

And finally, here is a close-up of the wallpaper.  Like I said, it must have been FAB-U-LOUS back in 1967, but fast-forward 45 years...and it was TIRED and needed to go.

Just outside of the guest bathroom, there was an entrance into unfinished attic space.  This is where the A/C unit lived and where we stored our luggage and other items that were not heat/cold sensitive.  You can see the attic space highlighted in yellow along with the guest bathroom in the floor plan below.

And in this photo, you can see the entrance into the guest bathroom on your left and the entrance into the attic space straight ahead.

Here we have a view of the inside of the attic space.  This area is about five foot wide and, since it butts right up to the bathroom, I thought it gave us the perfect opportunity to expand the bathroom.

 

Since this is currently the only upstairs bathroom, I wanted to create two separate rooms in the space: (1) a room with the shower and toilet, and (2) a room with the vanities and linen closets.  By putting the shower and toilet in their own space, it allows for two people to get ready in the bathroom simultaneously - one in the shower while the other finishes up in the vanity room.  You can see the bathroom highlighted in yellow below and the general layout of the space.

So now that you had the tour, I thought I would leave you with some fun demo pictures...here we go!

Ba-bye vanity and miniature linen closet!

Adios mustard yellow tiles!

And may you rest in peace sweet wallpaper.  You had a good run...but it's time to dim the lights and say goodnight!

 

So that's all for now.  I will follow-up with the post-demo pics and the new cabinets soon! In the mean time, thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!!!