Why I'm Glad I Reorganized My Closet

I posted a picture similar to this yesterday on Instagram, of all the clothes I cleaned out of my closet and dresser drawers.

That's a large pile, and that's a lot of clothes. The picture is actually deceiving, because in real life the pile is way more impressive. I didn't do a typical before and after photo shoot with this one like I would normally attempt to do, but I will show a couple post-closet organization pictures. My only before shot is of one of my dresser drawers.

Yep. That's real.

The closet wasn't terribly unorganized, but after you clean out that many articles of clothing, a closet deserves to be freshened up a little bit more.

Organizing tools I used:

-Before, my scarves were all stuffed into one box and kept on the top shelf. As you can see, I own a whole lotta scarves. And I wear them a lot. So getting them up and down from the top shelf as a 5'1" person was super annoying, but the bigger issue was that I never bothered to dig too much for new scarves. So I'd just wear the same three scarves over and over because they were on the top of the box. Now, they're all individually hung by shower curtain rings that are looped through the wire shelving. Now they're all out on display so I see them easily and will wear them all. They're also arranged by color, which was a whole new concept for this girl but was carried throughout the whole closet.

-Before, old purses were tossed into a messy pile on that same top shelf. Now they are also hung on the bottom shelf on those same shower curtain rings.

-Before, my skirts were hung by being folded in half to drape over the hanger. I always hated this, because they'd be super thick and bunchy and hard to see when you're browsing your closet, but I couldn't figure out how to do it differently. Until one glorious day when I saw skirts hung by the waistband from hangers by clothespins on Pinterest. And I thought that was pretty genius, so I did it.


Why I'm glad I did it:

When I was going through my clothes trying to decide what to put into the "getting rid of" pile, I tried everything on. I literally tried every piece of clothing on that I own, regardless of whether I thought it would fit or whether I thought I liked it. That's the problem with having too many pieces of clothing: you collect and collect and collect and instead of cleaning out the old stuff you just get more stuff, and then you go to get dressed one day and are 100% convinced that the only outfit you look good in is in the hamper because you wore it yesterday. And honestly, that's just not true. It can't possibly be true. So I tried everything on and saw it all with fresh, new eyes. If it fit and looked good, I kept it. If it didn't fit or I didn't like it, I tossed it into the pile, no emotional attachment allowed. I was truly honest with myself about what fits and what doesn't as well as what I like and what I don't. What's the point of going through all this if I'm going to keep a lot of clothes that are just going to go back into drawers or on hangers that I won't pay attention to again? By doing this, I feel like I have a whole new wardrobe. I got a thousand ideas for how to wear my clothes differently and how to pair them with each other in new ways, and I have no excuse to whine or be down on my options because I know for a fact that everything I own right now fits me and looks good on me. It's so exciting...I got a whole new wardrobe for free! (Actually, I'm planning on getting at least some money from Plato's Closet by selling that massive pile, so it's like I'm - hopefully - getting paid to acquire an entire new wardrobe!)

I'm also glad I did this because I took an oversized, ridiculous wardrobe that's been collected and added to since I stopped growing in the seventh grade. I've gotten hand offs from my sisters and roommates, I've thrifted, and I've Black Friday-ed with the best of them, and the result is a million articles of clothing that I never wear. Articles of clothing that take up space, have been moved at least seven times, and serve me no purpose. And now that all those unnecessary articles of clothing have been removed from the equation, I have a much more logical wardrobe. I had four black cardigans. Four. Yes, they're all slightly different, but I just don't need four black cardigans. No one does. I have been collecting jeans for YEARS, and yet I was able to whittle myself down to four pairs that fit and are comfortable and provide more than enough of a variety style wise. I'm realizing that there is so much beauty in having a smaller wardrobe that is more useful and practical than having a big one just for the sake of having it. I've always struggled with getting rid of something because of the "maybes": maybe one day I'll figure out how to make that skirt look cool, maybe one day I'll fit into those jeans again, maybe one day...it doesn't matter. If one day I am the size of those pants that I'm getting rid of, I can buy a new pair of pants. For now, it makes no sense to keep them. Or the black cardigans.

Clothes are a sensitive area for most women. We can love a shirt one week and feel obese in it the next. We get caught up in every new trend that there is because we get tricked into thinking that nothing we have at home is good enough anymore. I'm not suggesting (at all) that we should ignore fashion and never buy a new piece of clothing, but I am saying that maybe we need to spend more time becoming best friends with the clothes we already have that flatter us and make us feel confident. The clothes that we forgot about because they were buried under a mountain of other clothes that should probably be sold to Plato's Closet. I'm totally smitten with my "new" wardrobe, and I'm super glad that I finally made the decision to find it hiding in the mess.

A Little Bit Wicked: a brief review

It's been a while since I've written a book review post, and it's because of all the DIY posting I've been doing. I had an epiphany a couple weeks ago that showed me how single-minded I am with everything in my life: I get excited about reading all the books I own so all I do is read. But then I get excited about making pretty things for my house and all I do is make pretty things for my house. I get excited about a new TV show and it's literally all I consider as an option when we're picking something out to watch. I truly want to be someone who can read and craft and watch TV shows and spend time with friends, but all in one day instead of separated by the month. It will be a serious challenge for me, but I think it's a valuable challenge to tackle.

That being said, I started this book and got about a third of the way through before I got bit by the DIY bug, and so for the next month or whatever I would just stare at that hot pink hardback sitting on my nightstand and think "I should just finish you, but I'm not feeling it." The first third was good, I just didn't feel like continuing to read it. Funny how putting a book down will totally kill it for you. And I couldn't move on to another book until I finished this one; I got it as a Christmas present at least six years ago after begging Santa for it for months, and I haven't bothered to actually read it till now. I owe Kristin at least the decency of finishing her book, for crying out loud. So when I got a nasty cold over the weekend and spent a couple days on the couch, I chose one to catch up on some movies I'm borrowing from friends and one to finally finish this book. You're welcome, Kristin.

I have mixed feelings about Broadway/Hollywood star Kristin Chenoweth's autobiography A Little Bit Wicked, and so I therefore am not entirely sure what I'm even going to say about it even as I'm typing. That's probably not the best way to write a book review - even a brief book review on a little-read blog - so I'll keep it short. I love her on Pushing Daisies, love her in Wicked, and love her in just about every tiny role she's had in various movies. Her writing style is pretty much exactly the same as how she speaks out loud, so one would think that I would love her book as well. I'm honestly not sure if it was the long break in the middle of reading it, or the fact that I was beating a cold while reading it, or the fact that her story telling made me go insane from bouncing back and forth through time and subject matter (much like what I'm sure my own story telling is like for other people), but I just didn't love it. I mostly just pushed through. I really do love Wicked, but I have seen exactly one show on Broadway and exactly one show off-Broadway, and that's it. That's my total extent of understanding of anything theater. Or musicals. Or anything that is most of Kristin's body of work. If it hasn't been turned into a movie or been given to me by a college roommate through some heavenly ordained moment of goodness (talking about Wicked, here) then I haven't the faintest clue about it. For the most part, she assumed her readers would be well-read on all things Broadway and theater and musicals and that made it hard to follow. As a small sidenote, I also had a hard time with some parts in which she discusses her faith candidly - which I very much appreciated - but I just don't agree with some of her bigger stances and that made it awkward for me. Not a deal breaker and not anything worth slamming the book shut, just things that don't mesh with the Bible that I read. Beyond that: she made me laugh out loud more than once, and she's still the cutest little blonde in Hollywood. She better get the role of Galinda when they make Wicked a movie, and they cancelled Pushing Daisies way too soon. Those were my thoughts before I read the book, and they're still my thoughts.

Crock Pot Cinnamon Applesauce

I love pumpkin as much as the next girl, but I think the apple has taken quite the underrated back seat over the last couple years. There's not much that will make you feel more like fall has arrived than making your own applesauce in the crock pot and getting to smell its cinnamony goodness all day long.

Ingredients:
10-12 small apples OR 6-7 large apples
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice

Peel, core, and cut apples into small squares. Put all ingredients in the crock pot on high for 5 hours and stir occasionally.

The original recipe asked you to blend the apples after the 5 hours had passed. I opted to not lug out a whole other appliance - what's the point of a crock pot if not to have very little work for me? - so I used my trusty potato masher instead. I went the whole first year of our marriage without using it at all and now I have two whole recipes for it! (Someday I might even use it on actual potatoes.)

After 5 hours and lots of occasional stirring and mashing, here's the final product.

It doesn't look that pretty, I know, but it was super yummy and smelled even yummier. Hello fall!

Notes:
Even though I had 10 medium-sized apples - you think you're capable of eating far more than reality when you're standing in the middle of Costco - I decided to use only 7 because my crock pot was filling up pretty fast. It really does reduce a lot over the course of its time in the crock, though, so I think in the future I'll put more in after all. I also didn't peel the apples, because I simply skipped over that line in the directions. It turned out fine, but I will probably peel them in the future just because the occasional piece of apple skin is annoying.

This was super yummy, but it also would have been extra super yummy with some vanilla ice cream. Mmmm...next time. 

Who's Excited for a Sequel?!

I AM.

Last year I got super excited when the trailer for The Hunger Games came out, showed all my classes multiple times, and then posted it on my blog. I've been geeking out about the Catching Fire trailer for a while now, but I figured I should share my excitement on the blog again. It's only fair. Because this trailer is AWESOME. Just sayin'.

The Evolving Personalized Picture

I need to start by saying that right at this minute there's a mouse living in my kitchen and I don't have any mouse traps. When we spotted our first (enormous) black snake this summer after moving in and I demanded its death and hubs said "no, they're helpful," he asked me if I want snakes or mice. His intention was to show me how little I wanted mice in my house, but it didn't work because I loudly and adamantly said "mice!" And I meant it. And I still mean it. But if I could really have it my way, I wouldn't have either one. Officially on the to-do list for tomorrow: buy mouse traps and then install them everywhere.

As far as the real point of this post goes, I revisited a previously adjusted project to tweak it for (maybe) the last time. This project originated for our anniversary in July, when I decided to frame the monogrammed letter pictures hubs had gotten when he lived in South Carolina. You know, those cool things where each picture is of an architectural detail that is shot in a way that makes it look like a letter of the alphabet? And then you get the letters in your last name, and they sit in a drawer for lots of years and then one day your wife surprises you with them in a frame for your first anniversary. Except in this case, I put them in a frame that I decided I didn't like once we hung it up. So I painted it white to match the other frames in our room. Unfortunately, this part of the evolution didn't take long, so I didn't bother with a real picture at the time. All I have to show for it is two pictures I took so I could Instagram mid-paint job.

Obviously, this was the first of a couple coats of paint. You can see the wood that the frame originally was, and even though I love wood the shade of it just didn't match the rest of the room. It bothered me, so I painted it to match. Here's what it looked like after the paint:

I was super happy with the white frame...but I still wasn't happy. That yellow was just too intense. It was a good idea when I picked it out; yellow was one of our wedding colors which had great sentimental value, and it did look good with both the original frame color and the black and white of the photos. But in the white frame...next to the new wall colors...eh. The blue turned out brighter than I had thought it would, and that yellow was just too intense on top of it. So I decided pretty much three minutes after I hung the newly painted frame that I would do something about that matting...and I decided about half a second after that that it would involve burlap.

I've already posted a couple projects so far that have involved burlap, so I think I should take this moment to explain why, especially since I have many more burlap projects planned. Burlap is kind of a fad right now - if you believe anything you see on Pinterest anyway - and even though I've gotten lots of great ideas from said fad, I like to think I loved it way before the wave hit. I've had my burlap TOMs for at least three years and I wanted them for several before that, so I have a lot of credibility here. Regardless, here are some reasons why I love burlap:

1. It's a neutral color that matches most other colors and therefore fits into most rooms easily
2. It provides a lot of texture to your design palette
3. It's cheap
4. It comes in various forms, so it's easily adaptable to any project depending on what thickness and how tight a weave you choose
5. It's a pretty timeless fabric, so even though it's a fad right now it's not something that's going to be obnoxiously out of style in a couple years
6. It's got a very rustic, rough and country spirit to it
7. Depending on what colors and objects you pair it with, it can very easily embrace different themes or design styles
8. I used a lot of burlap in our wedding decorating so it has a sentimental place in my heart

Because of that list, I see places for burlap everywhere in my home. I've had to dial myself back a little in some of those cases (not every room in my house needs burlap curtains), and I have made lots of notes and mental plans to tackle those projects in other cases. I just love burlap. But back to the evolving personalized picture...

That yellow really needed to be covered. By burlap.

This part of the project wasn't insanely hard to pull off, but it wasn't super easy either. The original matting didn't have those holes cut out; I had to spend a whole lot of time measuring and remeasuring to get the pictures where they needed to be and then I taped them down. So the idea of doing that all over again...with burlap...I wasn't excited.

First: I cut the burlap to size, an inch or so bigger than the original matting on all four sides.

Second: I traced a box where the pictures all are onto the burlap, slightly smaller than the picture to allow for wiggle room and overlap. I didn't want the Sharpie to show when I eventually glued the pictures down onto it. Because the burlap I'm using is such a rough and loose weave, it was really see-through and allowed for easy tracing, as you can see by the picture.

Third: I glued down the burlap to the matting. Because it was so see-through, I was stumped for a couple minutes here. I didn't really want to glue it onto the yellow matting and have it show through, thus defeating the purpose of this entire thing. But instead I glued it to the cardboard back board that came with the frame originally - which is the same color as the burlap so it wasn't obvious - and would use the yellow matting in the back as the back board instead when I put the whole frame back together.

I used that same all-purpose glue again here, which I am a huge fan of.

 

 

Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth: Here's where I messed up several times. I had traced the picture placement with the burlap just sitting on top of the original mat, but when I stretched the burlap out to glue it down tight onto the cardboard, the tracings all moved around and didn't stay in logical places. To be honest, I knew this was going to happen, I didn't know how to deal with it so I pretended it wouldn't happen, and it ultimately bit me in the butt. The burlap was secured tightly, but the Sharpie was all wonky and crooked and made for a challenge as far as covering it with the photos. I tried to eye ball it the first time, and they were all crooked and not in a straight line. So I started over, measured with an actual ruler this time, and tweaked their placements and the measurements until they were all in a straight line, all at equal spacing, and all covering up the original Sharpie lines. And I'm telling you, this was no fun. But it happened and it worked, and I love the finished product.

 

 



It's so much softer than the yellow, and it also matches the room a lot better. I have a couple burlap items already, but I have plans for a couple other key projects coming at some point. Even though I love a good accent color pop in a room, the yellow just wasn't doing it for me and I am much happier with the burlap. Because the answer to everything, class? That's right. Burlap.

One more before and after:

Yeah, the answer is always burlap.

Laundry Room Makeover: Paint Edition

I honestly wasn't even trying to be clever with that post title and resemble a famous TV show title, but I'll leave it.

A little while ago I posted pictures of all the paint colors we've changed in the whole house so far, which included the laundry room. I've painted a couple other spots in the room since then, though, and I wanted to highlight the changes since we moved in. I have a few key changes left to make, but they're very low priority and probably won't happen for a while. So rather than wait until the room is completely done to show you, I'll just show you its progress as of now.


When we moved in, there was either an ancient washer or an ancient dryer, but I can't remember which because it was hauled away pretty quickly when our new washer and dryer were delivered. (Have I mentioned yet how expensive buying a house is?) The laundry room space is awkward because it's also the stairway to the basement, it's the path to get to the garage, and there's an additional door to outside. So it's an awesome space because it's tiled and perfect for a mudroom, what with the exterior and garage entrances, but it's not the most open and functional layout. It's really more of a catch-all, afterthought room. It is, though, pretty great for keeping the dog bowls out of my kitchen and Captain's trail of water bowl slobber off my hardwood.

There's a perfect little nook for the washer and dryer, slightly wider than the washer and dryer themselves. (Part of the awkward space of this room is that there just isn't a good place to stand to take a decent picture.) I decided I wanted to spread them out and leave the empty space in the middle, like you see here. My plan then was to fill that middle space with a little storage unit and to top the washer and dryer with a counter top for folding clothes. We found a reasonably attractive - and very cheap - laminate counter top in the very back of Home Depot. We put a rubber matting down on top of the appliances in order to help protect them from the counter top and help keep noise down during any instances of the dryer shaking and vibrating. My dad and the hubs built an extremely solid wood frame that the counter top ultimately was attached to, and the whole thing floats attached to the wall a fraction of an inch above the washer and dryer to also help limit damage and noise.

A small shelving unit I've had since high school sits perfectly in that space and holds laundry supplies not frequently used, and there's a hamper that sits in front of the shelves that stores random towels and rags that get dirtied in between laundry days.

Now that we've got that part taken care of, here are some other before shots.

It's an awkward space, right? You can kind of see the door to the garage in the far right side of the top shot, and that other door leads to outside. Right now it just leads to the yard but in a couple summers when we redo the deck we'll incorporate that door as well. The rest is easy enough to figure out I guess. White walls, and kind of a forgotten space. The basement's not finished so we don't go down there too often right now, the garage doesn't have any cars in it yet, we use the other back door, and I only do laundry so much with it just being the two of us. So pretty much the primary users of this space are the dogs, and hubs when he's doing a lot of work in the mud outside and has to come inside this way. It doesn't have to be too pretty, honestly. And this is how it stayed for several months until the end of July when I got itchy to start painting and remembered that I had left over gray and mint from the guest room and book room. I knew I didn't have that much, but I figured I'd see how far I could stretch it. My plan was to paint almost everything gray but make the wall behind the washer and dryer and the wall behind the slop sink the mint green. That's basically what happened, except that I didn't have nearly as much mint left as I thought so it ended up being the wall behind the washer and dryer and a tiny part of the pass through wall. And that's fine for now. (Yes, I have plans to change it one day and I even have the paint that I want to use, but I'm honestly painted out right now and it will require buying primer so it's a project for the future.) We did end up having to buy a ton more gray because of the horrible shape of the walls, but paint is cheap.

Having a slop sink means your cool counter top that was meant for folding clothes actually becomes the spot where all the paint and paint supplies are stored for a couple months. And your slop sink gets disgusting.

It is a dark color, and it's a whole lot of wall space to cover in such a dark color, but I think it works. A ton of natural light comes in through that door which brightens it up, but I'm really just such a fan of anything other than white walls so any color would be a huge step up from what it was.

From the first wall I painted in this space, the part that struck me that most was how awesome the gray looks against the white trim and white door to the garage. I know that the trim and doors are the same white in the guest room, where this color came from, but I think it was something about dressing this space up specifically that really hit me. I loved it so much, because it made the whole space look intentional and clean. Sharp, even. So when I finished painting all the walls and took a step back, all I could see was that wood piece in the pass through window and how bad it looked against the gray. It needed to be white like the trim. I was super excited about coming to this conclusion and made a mental note to get that done at some point...and then I turned around. And saw the enormous railing system around the staircase. With all those stupid spindles. Which was also wood, and which would also logically have to be painted white.

Here's the part where I explain what my family reading this already knows: I really, truly, and completely hate painting railings and spindles. Every summer for as long as I can remember (even though it probably started sometime in high school) I was my dad's personal slave from June till August. I power washed the whole house, the shed, and the shop every summer. I painted all their exterior doors, including the doors to the shed and the shop, every summer. I painted the floorboards of the front porch every summer. And yup, you guessed it, I painted the railings and spindles of their front porch every summer. (To be fair...some summers I was able to skip the spindles. But those were rare.) There was literally nothing I whined about, dreaded, and hated more than those blasted spindles. Their front porch is huge. And I will admit that I've done my fair share of bragging about the fact that A. as a married woman I'm not on their work load anymore, B. my house is now brick and therefore never needs to be power washed, and C. my front porch has no spindles. So you can imagine how exceedingly bummed I was to realize I needed to someday paint this stupid staircase in my laundry room.

The day came. Even though I wanted so badly to get away with two coats, it took three. I sucked it up, I did it, I hated almost every minute of it, but it's done and I survived.

And it looks fantastic.

I painted the whole railing system you see there, including the floor boards and the first stair which was wood, the wood in the pass through looking into the laundry area, and the wood from the support structure Dad and hubs put in under the counter top. You can't really tell from these pictures but I still need to paint the hand railing down the stairs, but after that it will all be done. And honestly, it looks so good. So much cleaner and fresher and, like I said before, intentional. And even though this is a mud room/basement stairs/dog food area/laundry room, I like that.

I said before that my plans with this room aren't done, but for now I'm really happy with it.

Tissue Box Cover

Every once in a while there's a DIY project that just doesn't go too well. I have a lot of these. Even in the most difficult project, though, I usually end up loving it in the end because all that difficulty led to even better ideas that make the project more functional and/or cute in the end. This particular project...I'm still not so sure about. I'm looking at it from across the room right now, and I can honestly say that I'm not sure how it turned out. I guess I'll let you decide. You...and time.

Tissue boxes are ugly. They're not necessarily all ugly, but I think it is a given that you can't count on finding a tissue box that matches your decor every time you go shopping. I wanted to deal with that minor annoyance by creating a tissue box cover, which would fit on top of the tissue box and hide the ugly. This way it would always match and I can be free to buy whatever super ugly tissues just happen to be on sale. This probably seems like an unnecessary DIY project...and it is. I'm pretty sure not too many people care what the tissue box in my living room looks like, but Sunday night football was on and my team lost to that punk Colin Kaepernick earlier this afternoon and I needed a project to keep myself busy. Because I'm really mad about that punk Colin Kaepernick.

Here's the tissue box I started out with.

The irony of this post is that this tissue box actually does match the room its in. But oh well. That wasn't really the point I suppose.

I decided the easiest way to make this box would be to use cardboard. Lucky for me we just got a piece of furniture that came in a large box, giving me enough cardboard to make 30 tissue box covers if I wanted.

First step: I measured the sides of tissue box, and added a half-inch to each measurement so the new cardboard box would fit around it. The top and two long sides are the same size (my measurements were 9.5"x5"), and then the short sides are obviously smaller (my measurements were 5"x5").

Second step: measure, draw, and cut out the hole for the tissues on the top piece. I'm the opposite of a mathematical, so this was not a very specific or concrete process. It involved some measuring and some eyeballing, but it worked out fine.

Third step: tape all the sides together. It's just a tissue box and won't be put through war or anything like that, so I just used scotch tape. It's a little fragile while you're going through the next several steps but it holds well enough for it's long-term purpose.

Fourth step: cover the cardboard with the fabric of your choice. I chose burlap, because it's kind of my goal to cover, upholster, and drape everything in my house with burlap. I still love it as a fabric, but I will now confidently say that it's a pain in the butt to work with. I mean...good grief.

I figured the best course of action for covering the box would be to wrap it like a present, even though I knew at some point there would be issues because this particular box is missing a side.

I used my good ol' all-purpose glue to attach the burlap to the box, but in hindsight I should have just used my hot glue gun. I was feeling lazy and didn't want to bother with it, but the burlap would have been easier to deal with and manhandle if I had used the hot glue gun. Next time.

I didn't really have any issues until I got to the corners. I continued to try to wrap it like a present, but the burlap is just too thick and the glue just isn't strong enough. The combination of the two was a bust.

That corner fold was like two inches thick, and mostly an air bubble. I needed to do something different. So I made some cuts and tried again.

I cut along each crease so I had four square flaps hanging off the ends of the box, then glued down the top and bottom two flaps, then cut the side flaps into triangles and glued them down. And by this time I was praying that my craft glue would dry clear, since it was a hot mess and smeared all over the place from my multiple attempts and mistakes. Even though it looks a little rough in this picture, it does actually look much better in person and a whole lot better than the original attempt.

Fifth step: Cut the extra fabric off the bottom of the box.

I will be honest here: I tried to glue that burlap down onto the insides of the box to keep it all clean and neat, but it didn't seem to want to stick all of a sudden, and I was getting tired. So I just slid the whole thing down over the tissue box with the burlap tucked inside, and it worked. So I chose the lazy route once more and left it.

Sixth step: cut the hole in the top of the burlap to poke the tissue out.

A little rough around the edges...not the most beautiful thing I've ever made...but overall not too horrible. I think it's better than the original.

Because I know you're dying to know: yes. The glue dried clear after all (not according to this picture, but as I'm typing right now I can't see the glue through the burlap anymore).

Like I said, not the most beautiful thing I've ever made, but it does its job and it's growing on me the longer it sits there. If I make more for other rooms in the house (my nightstand currently has a horrible hot pink tissue box), I'll use my hot glue gun and I'll know how better to start out folding the edges. Overall, I think it's cute and I'm glad I got something else crossed off my list.