Mission Organization Monday - Entry Way Solutions

This post has been moved and updated to now include cut sizes!  Find it on the new Domestic Deadline! 

Making Changes Before Hoarders Shows Up!

What you are about to see is real

My house is what it is.  There are five of us in a three bedroom townhouse, 3 of whom are 10 or younger.... it is what it is.

But, it's yard sale time again around here!  While I have visions of finding a great chair to add to my master disaster of a bedroom (the vision goes with it when it's cleaned up and in great shape), I'm holding strong.  I've already taken over one car load to the church and plan on taking over a few more.  PLUS, that big bulky entertainment center is getting picked up for the sale.

I've got big plans, they've been brewing for almost 9 years now, that entertainment center was supposed to be there for a few years...  So, it is going, the cubbies in my entry way (right picture above) are moving to the tv wall with the others, making a whole wall of them.  New cubbies, better suited for our needs are getting built.

BUT I NEED YOUR HELP!!!!!

I can't for the life of me decide what color to stain/paint everything!!!!!  Below is a bit more of my color scheme.  I threw in the picture of my dinning room because you can see it right when you walk in the house, from the front door, right through the living room.  The clock was a wedding gift and we stained the table below it to match.  The hutch in the dining room is much darker than the "clock table."  The carpet is a shag of multiple colors of blues and browns.  Couch is a tan micro-fiber type fabric.  I have punches of red and black.  The walls are mainly a pale blue, but the wall where the tv goes, that also goes into the dinning room, is a turquoise blue.

Whatever I pick, the entertainment wall and the new entry way cubbies will stained/painted the same.

When I put these pictures together, the "cherry" color of the table (the color of the current entertainment center) is what jumps out at me as the obvious answer.  This is what my mom suggested.

However, I was also considering black because of my photo wall:

And because I love how great this looks in my entry way:

But I really love the way white built ins look, like this:

Source: honeywerehome.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

Or this:

Source: ballarddesigns.com via Emily on Pinterest

But since I'm only having cabinets half way up, I'm probably going to add some open shelving on either side of the tv, so I can make them look pretty like on the wall to the left of the tv below:

Source: fivedaysfiveways.com via Emily on Pinterest

I'd love to have a fire place like this, but I do also like the combo of two colors:

Source: houzz.com via Emily on Pinterest

For a while I was considering buying new pieces and really like this:

The finish is kind of a gray-brown stain, which to me kind of blends shades of black with shades of brown.

So, please, please, please help!  Leave me a comment with how you think I should finish my tv wall and cubbies, I'm starting this weekend!!!!!!!

Peace be with you,

Spring Break Kitchen Reveal

This post is being updated and moved to the new Domestic Deadline.  Watch for it there soon!

Crafterbowl at the Pinkapotamus

I'm so excited to be participating in the Crafterbowl over at the Pinkapotamus this week.  This means I'm tasking you to vote for me in TWO contests this week!

First, go vote for my shower curtain turned Easter dresses over at The T-Shirt Diaries, you can vote once every 24 hours through Friday... it's a very close race!!!!

Next, check out my Crafterbowl entry... our secret ingredient was FRAMES!  I took this as the perfect opportunity to do something I've wanted to do for a while... Make a memory wall for my girls' room.

I started with tons of thrift store frames, all with texture, some were insanely ugly, but had great texture and since each was $1 or less, it was worth it.  

Spray paint, spray paint, spray paint... and then a bit more if need be...

I used several colors of paint I had on hand that accented the girls' room.  Once they were painted and dried, I used left over cork place mats to fill the frames, since the cork was thin, I doubled it up.

Trace the size of the frame before cutting the cork.  

I love the way the textures really showed through as a solid color.  Hanging them up was the most expensive part of the project... I used command strips, but they are totally worth it (no paid endorsement there, I just think they are awesome).

My girls are getting older and have been wanting their room to grow up a bit (but they still aren't ready for me to paint out all my hard work, good thing since I'm not ready either).  This enables them to hang up their art work, pictures of friends or other memories and change them whenever they want!

Now, GO VOTE!!!

Peace be with you,

Art Wall, aka, Stop Putting Pictures on my Fridge!

This post has been updated and moved!  You can now find it at the new Domestic Deadline, just follow the link!

Flash Back Friday - Beaded Stem Wine Glasses

When IronFish and I were registering for our wedding, I couldn't find wine glasses that I loved.  I also didn't see the point in registering for a dozen plus wine glasses with no place to put them in our tiny New York apartment.  That didn't mean I didn't want wine glasses though.  A few 50 cent glasses, a spool of fishing line, a few thousand left over seed beads and a dab of epoxy and 2 weeks later I had wine glasses!  Yup, pre-kids I could actually spend my evenings stringing seed beads onto yards and yards of fishing wire. 

Since each stem is one strand of beads, if a glass breaks I can just put the beads on another glass!

The fishing line is epoxied on the top and the bottom only, not the whole stem.  Maybe I need a glass one wine now....
Peace be with you,

I'll be linking up to some of these parties, stop by and check out the talent!

M: Made by you Mondays, Made with Love Monday, Making the World Cuter, MMM @ CRAFT, Just something I whipped up, Organizing Mission Monday, A Round Tuit, Motivate me Monday, DIY, Sharing Monday T: Sew Cute Tuesday, Handmade Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesday, TCB, Topsy Turvy Tuesdays, Take-a-Look Tuesdays, Too Cute Tuesdays, Giggles Glitz & Glam, Gettin’ Crafty With It, It’s Sew fun Tuesday W: We Did it Wednesday, Night Owl Crafting, Sugar & Spice, Tea Rose Home, Upcycled Awesome, We’re Organized Wednesday, What I Wore Wednesday, What’s Up Wednesday T: Make It Wear It, Frogs & Snails, It’s Stinkin’ Cute, Making it with Allie F: Fun Friday Finds, Fingerprints on the Fridge, It’s a Hodgepodge, Chic on a Shoestring, Fantastic Friday, TGIF, I’m an Organizing Junkie, Spunky Junky, The Shabby Nest S/S: KISS, Funky Fresh, Weekend Wrap Up, Nifty Thrifty

Mission Organization Monday: Living Room Catch-All

Sometimes just a little freshening up makes such a big difference.  The first wall one's eyes sees when they enter my home is this wall:

I know, it's bad!  It's a catch-all spot.  It's the spot where IronFish drops his work bag, keys, watch, wallet, etc.  It's the spot where my kids put papers they think are mine and/or thing they think I might want.  It's the spot where random things that no one knows where to put end up until I do something about them.

Yup, inside those little drawers is just as bad... more homeless things mixed in with a few things that belong there!  I decided the only way to deal with this was to clear it all off and only put back what needs to be there.  After a good hour of sorting trash, recyclables, things that belong and things that didn't, here was the result:

I got the little drawer thing on the left as a gift with purchase and the colors are right for my house.  I flipped the drawers around, the small left one is for my husband's things when he comes in from work.  The one on the right is for my random things that I want/need but don't have another home (the extra shopper's cards, keys I only need occasionally, etc).  The top drawer is stuff that no matter what, ends up on that table...  I sorted out the two table drawers too.  The one on the left is all neat and organized with things that really should be there.  The one on the right... well... it's now the official home to all the stuff that didn't have another place and didn't end up in the trash or recycling.  I'm OK with a junk drawer as long as it doesn't multiply when I'm not looking.

On the right side of the table is a little phone charging station, our home phone and my beautiful hand calla lilies my daughters made me for mother's day in the pretty vase JuneBug made me at school!  Now we just have to keep it neat and tidy!

Oh, that large basket below?  That's wear I stash extra purses, bags, backpacks, pool bag and computer travel cases.

Peace be with you,

Memorial Trees

Thankfully the weather man was wrong today, it was beautiful!  But alas, my back is bothering me, so I laid low today.  O-man has been patiently watching the workers get the pool by my house ready and it occurred to me that this weekend is Memorial Day... which means that pool will be open this weekend!

With Memorial Day approaching, I decided to spruce up my "mantel" with a more summer-y theme.  We don't have a fire place, but we do have a TV cabinet in our living room with a nice big surface on the top so this acts as my mantel.  I've taken to changing it out periodically and since blogging, by season and holiday!

Many of my various holiday decorations are stored right inside my couch in the living room itself, so I pulled out a few of the trees I made for Valentine's Day, red and white.  Now we just needed blue.  In March when I made St. Patty's Day decor, I picked up some of the blue clothes line from the dollar store.  Glad I remembered today that I'd thought ahead! 

Now my "mantel" is sporting the right colors for the first half of the summer... I'll have to think of some new trees for after the 4th of July!

Peace be with you,

Bit O'Green - Anthro Inspired Decor

The past few days we've been busy with family.  O-man is officially 3 and is making great potty training progress (extra people in the house have been helpful!).

Projects have been minimal but I did finish up a little something to add some green.  I saw this frame on Anthropologie.com a few days ago.  It is totally not my home decor style, but I still thought it was really cool ~ but not for $98!!!

I still think this would be really cool to make, especially if I have the right place for it, but with the $4 of dollar store supplies still on hand from my green trees and about 15 minutes of my time, I came up with this little cutie:

I think it's a cute little touch to my front door, I'm off to link this up to some parties after I serve up some Peanut Butter Chicken from my crock pot.... I hope it's a yummy as it smells!

Peace be with you,

PS - I'm linking this up to CSI's green week project: