Jewelry Organization

If I had to name just one thing that makes living in a small home workable, that would be ORGANIZATION!

You absolutely must be organized if you are going to live WELL in a small space. If two things get out of place the house can feel like a disaster.

Sometimes you have to get creative with your storage and organization. For instance, my coat closet was turned into a pantry and my foil/plastic wrap/baggie storage is just inside my utility closet. Sometimes you just have to think outside the box.

So, for a year I struggled with my jewelry!

I LOVE jewelry!!

Mostly costume jewelry…lots of bold and beautiful costume jewelry. My best friend says I’m quickly morphing into Maxine! :)

But whatever! I like Maxine. LOL

I use to have small drawers in my old dresser where I kept my jewelry for years. But that furniture was too big to bring to my new, small, house. So, I had to sell it…and away went my nifty little drawers.

When I got new furniture, the dresser didn’t have those little drawers.

And a jewelry armoire was definitely out of the question due to the space limits.

Found on Home Decorators

I bought jewelry bags to hang in the closet. They work great for earrings and even ok for bracelets. But my necklaces got all tangled and were hard to see.

Found at Bed, Bath and Beyond

I considered hooks on the backside of my closet. But I would have had to move my clothes out of the way all the time, plus I could see my clothes pushing pieces off of their hooks or hooks snagging my clothes…so, that was no good.

Then one day, I finally came up with a way to see all my jewelry and to still be able to get to it easily and not have it tangle!

My system isn’t necessarily pretty.

Well, actually that’s not completely true. I think it’s quite beautiful with all these gorgeous necklaces just hanging there as their own art. But I guess I should say, it’s not been gussied up…nothing to dress up this area…just the jewelry itself.

I guess I could have added molding, like a picture frame. Or I could have painted a big square some pretty color where the jewelry lays. But I’m ok with this. It’s not seen by anyone by me anyway.

I used plain old white cup hooks that I measured out every couple inches and leveled them and then occasionally filled in blank spaces for bracelets. I still have room to add to if I need to. But most importantly…it’s out of the way and easily accessible!

Wanna know where this is?

I put my jewelry on the back of my bedroom door!

It’s not glamorous…but it’s totally and completely FUNCTIONAL…with a tinge of simplistic beauty.

This has been one of the best things I’ve done. I’ve been using this ‘system’ for a couple months now and it’s worked out fabulously!

The only downside is, the jewelry clinks when you open and close the door. Some thin padding covered in pretty fabric would quiet that I’m sure. Or heck, even just some fabric framed out with molding would quiet the clink effect. But for me, this is fine. The only time my door gets shut is when I’m looking at my jewelry. We never close doors in my house. :)

But if glamour is more your style, then you should visit Courtney over at Scraps and Scribbles.

She whipped up some fantastic jewelry holders during the “Great Jewelry Organization of 2010” as she calls it.

And in case that doesn’t give you enough inspiration and motivation to get your jewelry organized, here are a few more examples from Better Homes and Gardens (or at least I THINK that’s where I got these! Don’t you hate when you forget to copy the link and just save the picture. SHOOT!)

And this one which I think is quite stunning!

And this vintage looking display.

If you have any jewelry organizers you’ve made or even purchased, post a comment with a link to this post…I’d love to see them and maybe you'll give someone else some great ideas too! :)

Until next time….

Recycling

I have a confession - until two months ago, I didn't recycle.

Every week my trash can looked like this, piled high to the brim with things to go to the landfill.

I live in Indianapolis, Indiana.  We do not have curbside recycling.  Or at least, not that I was aware of.  Alot of the Kroger's have recycling bins in the parking lot, but they only take limited stuff and even when I put things to the side to recycle, loading it into my car and dumping it was just too time consuming. 

So, usually I would get frustrated with my garage overflowing and would add my recyclables to my landfill trash just to get it out of my garage!

But more and more I am becoming aware and scared of our consumption and waste.  I WANTED to recycle.

I started a google search and found out that we do indeed have a recycling program here in Indy!!

Granted it's not free.  But it's not expensive either.

All I had to do was call our Mayor's Action Line. 

They took my name and number and put me in contact with the company that does curbside pick up in my area.

For me, it is Republic Waste Services of Indiana.  They brought me a 96 gallon trash can.  No need to bag my recyclables!  Just throw them into the huge can and put it out on the curb every other week.

It costs only $6 a month!!

It's well worth the cost to me.  It's convenient, which had become very clear I needed in order to do it.  I feel better doing it.  I feel like I'm contributing to the solution, instead of being the problem!

And since we started our curbside recycling....we are down to 1, sometimes 2, trash bags a week!

So, along with our dumpster diving, Goodwill hunts, upcycling and revamping to make pleasing home decor...please take the time to recycle just our plain old trash as well! 

Do some research, Google, call your mayor's action line, and find out what your options are for recycling in your area!

One of my absolute favorite sayings in the entire world is by Mahatma Gandhi...

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Let the changes begin with us, and others will follow suit! :)

Until next time...

No Function Friday – Dollar Tree Frames

I may have mentioned it before, at some point along the line, briefly…I have a slight obsession with the Dollar Tree.

So, once again, this week’s ‘No Function Friday’ craft comes from, where else, the Dollar Tree.

You’ve probably seen these ugly frames. Or if not these, something just as awful I’m sure.

My first step was to spray paint my frames with Valspar Sky Blue.

And then I used good old plain craft paint in white and white washed my frames. I just kept going over it until I got a look I liked.

Now, the frames are perfectly fine like this…quite beautiful actually. So you could easily stop at this step. But, once again, I prefer an aged, weathered look. So, I kept going.

I rubbed my best friend, Ralph, all over the frames. Like this:

For those of you not familiar with Ralph…that would be Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze which I purchased at Home Depot. It’s a little pricey, but I haven’t even made a dint in the can! It may seriously last me a lifetime and I’m not even kidding!

I put it on pretty thick, then wipe it off with a scrap towel. This will leave quite bit in the crevices. So, I take a super cheap-o small paint brush and kind of stipple the glaze around so it isn’t quite as thick in the crevices. That’s my technique…you may like the look with more in there.

This step you just keep repeating until you get aged look you want. I wasn’t getting quite enough, so I repeated probably three times.

Then once again I used my Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Walnut Stain and put it on my fingers and ran it around the raised portions.

Since this isn’t really meant for a frame, it’s really meant for paper and something with fiber, it takes awhile to dry. I let it dry at least one day. Then seal it with polyurethane.

And this is what you get!!

And

$1 EACH!!

If you had to buy the paint, that’s another $3 or so, but I had that on hand too.

So, here it one more time:

And

In case you were wondering…the first one is my favorite!! ;)

Until next time…

Oh, and I will be linking up this project to the following parties:

 

Exciting News!

I've got exciting news!!  Thanks to Tammy over at Life is Not Just Paper and Glue and her fantastic and easy to follow tutorial, you can now subscribe to Where Beauty Meets Function via your email!

If you are anything like me, I'm still a little old school I guess, I prefer to receive updates to my favorite blogs via my email account.  It's still the easiest way for me to stay connected!

Some of you might already be signed up via your email.  I am...is it dorky that I receive my own blog updates in my email?!? ;) 

Anywho...when I updated my layout recently, the option to subscribe via email went away.  But it's back in a new way...and I'm so excited!  (No, it doesn't take much to excite me, OK?)

<----  Over here to the left, under my mugshot and description, is the box to sign up. 

Just enter your email address, hit the "Subscribe" button.  You will receive an email asking you to click on a link to verify your subscription and that's it.  You're done!  :)

And please...if you ever have a suggestion, see something that might improve my blog or something that's gone all squirrely...please let me know!

And don't forget to visit Tammy's awesome blog!  THANK YOU TAMMY!

The Bathroom

So, OK, I might have a slight bit of ADD. Back in the beginning of my blog, I told you I would take you on a tour or my home so you could get an idea of who I am, my decorating style and my taste...and well, whether I actually had any taste.

We made it through the living room and….yeah…that was pretty much it.

So, I guess I should take a slight step back, and today I’m going to introduce you to my one and only bathroom.

It’s small.

Actually small makes it sound like their might be at least ‘some’ room. So, “small” doesn’t do it justice.

No…it’s TINY! Minuscule! Pint Sized! Teeny Weeny!

Luckily, there are only two of us. At one time there were three, for the brief period my, now ex, boyfriend lived with us. We’ve learned to work with it though.

* Never wait until it’s an emergency when you have to GO because someone

  else just might be in there.

* Make-up can be put on in the bedroom. Even hair can be done in the

  bedroom.

* We have to stagger showers…which works just fine for us.

* Storage is a HUGE issue…but we’ve made it work (for now – we are in need

   of some re-work soon…but we’ll work through that together here on the blog

   in the near future.)

So, here she is in her side by side, before and after state:

I painted the walls and the vanity, changed out the hardware, wall outlets, lighting fixture, floor, faucet and toilet. I'd love to change the counter eventually, but for now it will have to wait.

I took out the horrible mirror/vanity. Yes, I sacrificed storage and may decide to replace my mirror with another vanity/mirror that has storage, but for now this works and looks a bazillion times better.

The light fixture wasn't my first choice, but there was quite a mess behind the old one, so I had to go with something that had a plate big enough to cover the disaster.

I'm not usually a fan of the over the toilet shelves...but we needed the storage, so I went with the most stylish solution I could find (got that at Target on sale in case you were wondering).

I went against the 'rule' and painted a bit of a darker color on the walls, but it doesn't feel closed in or too dark. I stayed with a white shower curtain to keep a lighter feel in the room.

It's hard to get a good picture of a room that is so small. But basically, this is it! The ENTIRE, one and only, bathroom!

Until next time....

Our Newest Addition

I wanted to introduce you to our newest family member! Simba.

 

Simba is a Leopard Gecko.

 

Now, if you had EVER asked me prior to this, I would have told you that we’d never own anything but cats. And most certainly any sort of reptile would have been LAST on our list of pets. I mean…EWW!!!

But when Doodle fell in love with the neighbor boy’s Leopard Gecko, I begrudgingly agreed that if she wanted to use her own money and clearly understood that he was her responsibility, then she could get one.

Ok, that’s not completely true. I begrudgingly said we’d consider it…until my ex-husband called and told me NO, that was ridiculous, she needed to get fish instead, blah, blah, blah and then guilted convinced her that fish was a better idea. And me, being the timid and docile type that I am, said something along the lines of “No one’s going to tell me what to do in my own house.” Or something like that. ;)

So, while I mulled this over the very next day we brought home Simba.

And I fell IN LOVE!!

Total and complete love people!!

I, me, cat lover extraordinaire….am in love with a gecko! Granted, seeing as how he is all leopardy looking, and seeing as how I love leopard print…helps! But he is SO sweet!

He cuddles! He kisses! He eats crickets! Ok, that part is totally grody, but I’m willing to overlook a few minor imperfections. He comes to the glass of his tank when I talk to him! And I may or may not bring him to bed with me while I read or watch TV at night. And the cats may or may not be relinquished to the foot of the bed while Simba is there…instead of on my head which is their normal location.

This post is mostly for my family that read my blog, but I had to share my newest love! Who’d have thunk it? Right? :)

And yes, there is a real and relevant post coming later today.

Until next time....

Gift Bag Art

This week’s “No Function Friday” is so quick and easy!

Once again, my beloved Dollar Tree is at the heart of this artwork!

Obviously the spot above Doodle’s bed needed more…..a lot more!

It’s looked like this for a year (that's like a lifetime in design years!) while I tried to figure out what I should put there.

And then it came to me one day!!

I was standing in the Dollar Tree gift bag aisle (they have the cutest bags sometimes) and there they were!! Gift bags that matched the Doodle’s room!!

At first I was like, “Man, those would have been perfect if it was artwork.”

Then LIGHTBULB moment!!! I bought all four designs, and four frames (although I only used three) like these:

I sanded them and spray painted them white.

Then I cut gift bags from the dollar tree and put them inside.

It is THAT easy!

The hardest part was waiting for the paint to dry.

Now, since this picture was taken of Doodle’s room and before I got the artwork hung and new pictures taken…we’ve moved the room around of course! (Mostly because of our newly adopted leopard gecko and his tank/home!) Thus why no pictures WITH said artwork above the bed. :( We’ve got some more rearranging to do and now need to find a new spot for the artwork.

But here they are, all framed up and ready for a new spot!

And yes, in case you are wondering, I made her name plaque as well some time ago, well before blogging. These were unfinished supplies from Michael’s, painted with leftover room paints (from the last rooms).

Anyway…there you have it ladies, sweet, simple and CHEAP! :)

I'm going to link up to the following parties:

Until next time....