Master Closet: Displaying Oversized Necklaces

A few months ago I purchased a closet/wardrobe consultation from a local stylist, Wendy Pilch, of Spendalla.  She and I had a really fun hour digging through my closet and putting outfits together.  Wendy is an amazing stylist and can put together amazing outfits using things you already have, give you suggestions on what to buy, and helping you accessorize (I was clueless with scarves!).  Highly recommend it as a birthday gift to yourself :)

Anyway.... When I pulled out my jumble of necklaces out of my dresser for accessorizing, it became pretty clear to me that I needed a new solution.

Fortunately I  had this really cool hook purchased nearly 2 years ago to hang a robe or two in our closet.  It was too cool to be covered by a robe but I had not found the right purpose or place for it since then.  So, it sat on the floor of my closet where Handy Hubby and I kept stubbing our toes on it!  

I finally found my solution.  Now I had to find a location.  I thought about hanging it on the door of the closet, on the bedroom wall, and in several other possible locations.  In the end, I decided the wall just inside the closet was the best possible location. 

I knew Handy Hubby wouldn't be super thrilled because this is technically his side of the closet... but oh well.  I wanted easy access to my pretty stuff.  Ten minutes later, the hooks were hanging beautifully with only one extra hole which is thankfully nicely covered!

The best part was hanging my pretty (mostly bargain) finds on the hooks.  So easy to grab a necklace as I run out of the closet.  I used the hooks but also the tips of the fleur-de-lis.  Bonus!

Now I have so much more space in my regular jewelry storage.  I can actually find things!  How do you organize your long or chunky necklaces?  

Doorways Safehouse Project Update

I posted a few weeks ago (here) about the renovation of a local safe house run by Doorways.  The main construction is being done by Sagatov Associates but we have recruited 6 amazing local interior designers, an office space designer, and two of my wonderful neighbors to each take on a room in the house.  The house has 4 bedrooms, a living/dining room combination, a play room, 3 bathrooms, and 2 staff offices.  It's a lot of rooms in a relatively small space!  The designers certainly have their work cut out for them in these spaces.

We'll have some better before pictures in the next couple of weeks.  The picture above is pretty old and fortunately it's not quite as bad as this right now!  But, this is the main hang out space for the women and families who live here.  

I want to introduce the designers who are working on this project... Please go and check out their websites and work.  They are all amazing and have real dedication to this project.  I'll share their design ideas for you in the next few weeks.  

Heather Cichelli from Casa Mila Design

Anna Kucera from Gracious Living Design

Linda Kosovych from LSK Fine Arts & Design

Nicole Lanteri from On My Agenda

Jessica Centella and Kiera Residents Understood

Kate Fallon at Studio K

In addition we have Washington Workplace enlisted to help redesign and reorient the staff office space in the rear of the house.  This space is critical since this is where the 24-hour emergency hotline is answered, and where the overnight staff sleeps (or doesn't sleep as the night may go).

Finally, I am going to try my hand at redesigning the basement office which is fairly gross right now.  Here's a preview of the "before".  Plenty of room for improvement!

Each of the designers is working on their design plans.  Doorways staff has given their feedback and now we are confirming paint colors and ensuring flow between the spaces.  We are very grateful to Sherwin-Williams for donating the paint to this worthwhile project.  

If you are interested in financially supporting any of the designers above with this project, please go to the Doorways website, and put "Safehouse - Designer Name" in the box for "additional information".  These designers are making a tremendous effort and donation so I know they will appreciate any help they can get!  

Behind Closed Doors {Magnet Wall}

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have had a little inkling that I had a magnet wall planned for the house.  I have been intrigued with magnet walls for a long time but Elizabeth's room was the perfect place to give it a go.  She previously had a disaster of a bulletin board behind her door.  It was a hot mess. I didn't take a true before picture but here is the area right before I took down the bulletin board and (cute) frog barrette holder.  She won't wear barrettes any more (wah!!).

My friend Colleen recommended some magnetic paint that she found on Amazon with good reviews.  It seemed better than the Rustoleum version which I heard is stinky and doesn't work all that well.  after reading all of the reviews, I learned that I had to paint at least 4 coats using a foam roller to limit texturizing the wall.  This stuff is THICK so be sure to stir it well.  I gathered my supplies and started a couple of coats just before we started painting the walls.  

Soon, the wall looked like this.

After a few more (and some paint on the other walls...

After I tested it with 4 coats, I realized it would definitely need a couple more.  I called it quits after our full day of painting.  Sunday morning, I rolled on two more coats before painting the whole wall blue.  Fortunately, two coats of the blue paint covered it beautifully.

Another Amazon review tip was to use strong magnets (also known as neodymium magnets or rare earth magnets) if you want to hold paper up.  They are easily found on Amazon.  I picked up some of these pushpin style magnets to hold up her masterpieces.  Just two of these little guys held up her oversized "getting to know you" school poster.  

She also received a set of magnetic poetry for kids for Christmas (I may have tipped off Grandpa) which has been fun for all of us to play with, especially Handy Hubby...

You can see the slight texture in the paint in the picture above.  It was tough not to have texture but super thin coats seemed to be the way to go.  I just wrapped my roller in a grocery bag between quotes (I waited about an hour or so between layers).  

So, that's the secret behind the door.  I love that when you take all of the magnets off, you cannot even tell it's a magnetic wall.  In the long term, it will be a great place to hang certificates, photographs, and other childhood memorabilia that deserves display.  Perhaps the best part is that only she really sees it since you have to close the door to see the wall - it cannot be seen from the hallway.  

Any fun projects at your house this weekend?

Elizabeth's Room Evolves... AGAIN! {Reveal}

I cannot wait to share the pictures of my daughter's room.  Although I was skeptical about changing the color, I am so glad we did.  I think I like it even more than her original room!  So, without further ado...

And a before and after...

Sorry about the wonky color in the pictures - I took the photos at various times of the day and night.  

We ended up keeping all of the hard furniture, ottoman, and bean bag. I even kept her duvet cover but just used the white background side instead of the pink.  She has so much pink stuff, it just made sense to keep some of it and perhaps phase it out as she gets older.  We an easily do that now that the big stuff is changed out.  

I ended up changing out the curtains as well.  Although I liked the embroidered sheers, I decided that something more substantial would look better.  These are basic panels from Ikea - total cost $32 for four panels.  I hemmed them to just below the window frames because I was so tired of them getting caught in her bed linens.  They stay neat now without my intervention!

What do you think?  Did you like the pink more?  I know... it's a tough call!

Elizabeth's Room Evolves... AGAIN! {Chair}

When we last left off in the Elizabeth room saga, I was talking about rugs and paint.  My goal was to keep all of the furniture because this was supposed to be a "quick change".  Hmm...

I had been thinking for quite a while that the chair was not working in her room generally. Although it was cute, it was not comfortable for reading or really sitting for any period of time.  It was also very small so I could not read the kids stories.  I had explored some other options on Overstock and other discount sites but with no real luck.  Some good contenders for $400 dollars but nothing that really struck me.  It had to be neutral to withstand any future fits of redecorating. This World Market chair is completely adorable and I almost bought it but decided it was no larger than the current chair.

Then I started thinking about Ikea...

Winner! So cute - compact size, washable slipcover... Yet, big enough for reading.

My mom and I took a quick trip to Ikea over the Christmas week.  We picked up a couple of small treasures and this chair.  You can imagine Handy Hubby's face when I told him he had to pack the chair as well as Christmas gifts in the car for the trip home from my brother's!  hehehe

It's so perfect though...

What do you think?

Elizabeth's Room Evolves... AGAIN! {Rug}

When I started thinking about Elizabeth's room redesign, I first thought we could just paint and all would be fine, but alas... no.

The bedding was not going to work, and then it quickly became clear that the rug was not going to work.  There was not a speck of blue in either and the contrast would be too obvious.  Bummer.  Bedding I knew I could replace for under $100 and then sell her old stuff.  I achieved both of those goals so net net I only paid about $25 for Elizabeth's new blue bedding.  I'll show you the new bedding in all its glory week, promise.

But, the rug was a bigger problem.  

First, finding a rug with blue in it that is neither too gray or too teal/green was a more difficult prospect than I expected.  I definitely wanted a pattern and I didn't want it to be too light (she is 6 after all).  Given the chance, Elizabeth would have chosen a light blue shag rug but, as I said before, 6 year olds get to advise but not pick.  I pick.  I promised her it would be cozy like her current rug but not shag.

After a bit of trial and error, and several trips to HomeGoods (no luck there - what has happened to their selections anyway?!).  I found one rug on Joss & Main but it arrived with large dirty footprints all over it.  And it was too green, so that went back.  Then I found the great trellis rugs on Overstock.  They have a TON of varieties, but I liked this one...

I had a 10% off coupon before Christmas so it came out to about $160.  Really not bad considering the quality. I first thought I would pick the blue but then I started to wonder if I should go with something more neutral and settled on the slate.  It has a tan background and the blue was less prominent so it wouldn't be an issue if it was slightly off from the other blues in the room.

It arrived and I fell in love.  The blue is perfect with the walls and the background will not show any dirt.  Woohoo!

If the pile wasn't so high on the trellis, I would order one in another color for the living room!  The best part... doesn't shed. Elizabeth's old Pottery Barn Kids rug shed like CRAZY.  There were tumbleweed wool balls rolling down my hallway for the first 6 months!  Crazy annoying for someone who despises vacuuming (and thus only Roombas).  But, it was in perfect condition so I was able to sell it for $125 on Craigslist.  I swear, there is a resale premium on anything Pottery Barn!  So, the new rug netted out at less than $50.  Handy Hubby does not enjoy my redecorating math because it does not include the value of his time. Hah!

So, that's the new rug. Pretty, isn't it?  

Elizabeth's Room Evolves... AGAIN! {Paint}

I was looking back at the blog archives and saw that almost exactly 2 years ago we made some changes to my daughter's room to make it more her for the longer term.  Now here we are 2 years later with some more drastic changes.  Fortunately the cost was relatively reasonable overall, but I'll break that down a bit later.

After a lot of thought, I decided that we would paint her fabulously pink room blue.  At first I was sad and then I started to get excited just as I usually do about decorating projects. So, Handy Hubby woke up to his worst nightmare last Saturday morning: me in my painting clothes.  Haha.  He tried to roll over and go back to sleep but then fairly quickly came to his senses and got out of bed. After breakfast, we sanded down the putty covered holes we had covered the night before, taped off the baseboards, and moved the smaller furniture and rug out of the room, and put down drop cloths.  Actually, Elizabeth sanded most of holes - she earned her new room makeover!

We also removed her cherry blossom wall decal which was not quite as easy as I had hoped.  

Elizabeth pulled most of it down and then I scraped the residue off with a putty knife. Then I washed the wall with low-odor paint thinner to get any remaining residue off.  It took about 30-45 minutes total but you can not tell it was there. 

Then I cut-in while Handy Hubby rolled the paint - Sherwin Williams Emerald matte paint in Hinting Blue.  After lunch we rolled a second coat and then we had this.  

The paint wasn't quite dry in the picture above so it looks a little spotty but it dried nicely.  We probably could have done just one coat on the sheetrock walls but the plaster walls absorb paint like nothing else so that definitely needed two coats.  By 3 p.m., we were pretty much done.

I really love the color!  It's not very bold and in the sunlight, it's a bit washed out and beachy which I like.  I really hope she likes it for at least 5 years or Handy Hubby is going to lose his mind!

Lots more details to come.

How do I pick paint colors?

Unfortunately there is no magic answer to how I have picked paint colors in our house.  Although I have a few basic principles, I do not have a consistent methodology.

I generally start with a fabric or a solid idea for a neutral that will go with a lot of different fabrics.  If you have, or plan to have, a dominant fabric in the room, then it's best to pick the wall color from the fabric.  If you do the opposite, you'll never get the color just right unless you happen to be really lucky. 

I tend to choose vibrant neutrals - no real tans or beiges.  I have some bright creams (such as in our master bedroom) and one taupe (in the basement guest room).  Our main house color is straw yellow and that extends from the attic stairs to the basement family room.  

But, for Elizabeth's room, we broke free from the neutrals with a pretty pink (Quaint Peche by Duron). As you may have read a few weeks ago, she proclaimed her distaste for pink and really wanted her room to be blue.  I loved her pink and green room but had to admit that it really was no longer "her" and needed a little updating to get her to the tween years.  I hope. 

I started with a new quilt.  I needed some pink in it because I didn't want to lose everything in her room that was pink.  I found this Cynthia Rowley quilt.  You can still find it on eBay.  It's adorable - still young and fun but not too babyish.

Next I grabbed a bunch of paint samples at my local paint store.  Dropped them all on the bed and narrowed down my choices to two.  I wanted to be careful that the blue wasn't too purple or periwinkle because that was not the look we were going for.  Definitely wanted pale blue.  Well, I wanted pale blue and she wanted saturated blue.  I won.  Six year olds do not pick paint colors in this house.  I bought 2 sample quarts from my paint store and then Handy Hubby slapped them up on the wall for me.  My main tip with sampling is to do it unless you are really brave or the room is tiny so repainting won't kill you.  My other tip for sampling is to paint a large swatch on more than one wall because the colors will look different from different angles and in different lights. 

This picture isn't a very accurate reflection of the colors unfortunately - I snapped this at night so the lighting was horrible.  We went with the color on the left (SW Hinting Blue) instead of the one on the right (can't remember the name).  The one on the right had too much purple/periwinkle going on, although it was slightly closer to the quilt color.  Hinting Blue also looks great with the quilt but it's a color that both Elizabeth and I liked a lot.  Not sure how many times that's going to happen in the course of our lives!

So the color is picked!  Now on to painting...

Happy New Year!