Laundry Room

We're living in exciting times. We have a black president. Electric cars are available and (somewhat) affordable to the public. And we have this little thing called Pinterest.

It's like someone read my mind, sifted through the tumbleweeds in there, and made my wish come true. Before Pinterest I would email myself things I wanted to remember, so my inbox was a jumble of recipes, crafts, hair tutorials, clothes, and a few dozen actual emails. Now I can organize all the wonderful things I find on the internet. Not that this is news to anyone on the internet...

The downside is that I am also bombarded by beautiful homes with elements I want to put into my dream house.* I am particularly weak in the knees for cozy yet organized closets and laundry rooms. There are so many good ideas it would take a monster of a house to contain it all.
*Dream house meaning keep dreaming, it ain't gonna happen any time soon.

Today, in an effort to tame the madness (and because I was bored at home while the hubby played tennis) I laid out my dream-yet-still-practical laundry room.

Most items in this layout are fairly standard. Fancy front-loader appliances: check! Folding surface, ample cabinets, and utility sink: check, check, and check! But what kind of architect (and Pinterest fan) would I be if I didn't add a few special items?

When I saw this pin, I fell in love with the idea of hide-away sweater racks. So smart!(5)

source unknown

Ever since I bought my laundry sorting best friend I knew I would have to incorporate some bins for clean clothes - one for each member of the family. (6)

And if I end up with a combination laundry/mud room (which just seems practical) then I have to have this super snazzy bench with coat hooks and hidden shoe cubbies. (10)

source unknown

What would you put in your dream laundry room?

Bunting Storage

Hey! Do you remember the bunting my gal pals and I made for my baby shower? Of course you do. Well it stayed hung up in my living room for quite some time but I finally took it down when I got all snazzy with my mantle over New Year's. For those of you keeping track that's about 18 months. Real classy.

Anyhoo, once the bunting was down I wanted to keep it for future use but didn't fold to crease it. So I wrapped it around a rinsed-out soda bottle and held it in place with thumb tacks. Genius, right?

OK, maybe not genius, but it is a cheap and clever solution.

Stones May Break My Bones, But Sticks Are Great For Holding My Purse

Allow me to explain that bizarre title. I just got the Sticks multi-hook rack and I love it. Love, love, LOVE it. And for just $20 you should, too. The Sticks is designed by Umbra and sold at The Container Store (among other places). It easily ups the cool factor of my foyer by at least 50%.

When it's not in use I can return the pegs to their upright and locked positions and this coat rack could pass for some sculptural wall art. But when I need a place for my purse or hubby's lunchbox I just flip down a peg for some much-needed storage space.

With 5 operable - and strong! - hooks that works out to a measly $4 per hook. How could you not want one? If you were ever inspired to do something I did, this should be it. This is way cooler than crafting with the contents of your recycling bin.

Project Closet

I am embarking on an adventure to wear everything in my closet. I have lots of clothes that I like, some I even love, but I am very bad about gravitating to a few favorites and leaving the rest hanging unworn. Well, no more! I plan to break free of my old standards and learn to see my clothes in a new light.

To help me keep track of what's been worn I whipped up some closet dividers (one for tops, one for dresses) out of cardboard from - you guessed it - the recycling bin. The process was so simple I didn't bother to photograph it. Instead I made you this handy illustration:

They look exactly like that. Except imagine them colored with sharpies and shoddily cut with scissors.

There are lots of ways to keep up with which clothes have been worn or not - rotating the item on the hanger, a hidden safety pin, etc - but I wanted the easiest possible system. I hung the divider at the back of my closet. After I wear an item I move it behind the divider. Easy peasy. As I mentioned before I am keeping track of tops and dresses, but not bottoms since I rarely build an outfit around skirts and pants.

I decided to make it easier on myself and only keep up with the clothes I wear during the work week. Which means I am still free to adhere to my weekend uniform of skinny jeans, ribbed tank and cardigan. That's not changing anytime soon.

If I were a super-fantastic blogger (HINT: I'm not) this project would include outfit posts, accessory close-ups and such. Sadly my new work schedule - four 9-hour days and a 4-hour Friday - means there is no daylight before I leave and when I get home I want to play with my son before he goes to bed. Sorry, Internet. You're playing second fiddle to an adorable, giggling toddler. I might pop-in if I come up with something particularly inspired, but this is not some sort of 30-for-30 type deal so don't expect daily documentation.

That being said, I'm looking forward to dusting off some beloved but neglected things from my wardrobe. Care to join me in the challenge? All you need is a closet, some cardboard and mediocre scissor skills.

Jewelry Storage Gets An Upgrade

I've talked about my jewelry storage already - here, here and here - but as usual, I have re-organized it. Again. Also as usual, I took on multiple tangent projects at the same time which makes it REALLY HARD to write a cohesive post about it. This is me trying my best.

PART 1 - THE OLD WAY

When we moved into our house I basically duplicated the exact set-up I had at our apartment: necklaces on the branch or the board, rings in my industrial jewelry holder. Or at least that was the plan.


You guys remember my cheap yet awesome industrial jewelry holder, right? Wasn't it cool? I thought so, too, unfortunately the movers didn't realize it was delicate and so it got damaged when we moved. So sad. It's not entirely ruined, and I might fix it someday, but for now I have learned to live without it.

Rest In Peace, my friend
at least until I re-purpose you

So what does that mean to you? It means my rings went back to being stored in my hideous, dying-to-get-rid-of-it jewelry armoire. Remember this. It will be on the quiz come up later.

shudder

Another unfortunate incident: I broke my necklace branch. But I was able to repair it with some [alleged] quick-dry epoxy and now it's almost as good as new.

PART 2 - THE EGG CRATE

I have this tendency to fixate on things. Like, the second I decide I want something I have to have it YESTERDAY. It's a sickness, I know, but sadly I have no intentions to deal with it.

So, when Sherry from Young House Love tweeted that West Elm had ceramic egg crates on clearance for $5 the wheels started turning. "Some ceramic egg crates would be perfect for storing my rings. They'd be so pretty sitting on my vanity." When she posted a follow-up tweet with a 15% online discount I whipped out my wallet so fast I left skid marks in my purse.

image from West Elm

Then yet another tragedy* struck: I got an e-mail from West Elm saying the egg crates were back-ordered with no plans to be re-stocked anytime soon. No! The horror! HOW WILL I LIVE WITHOUT SOMETHING I'VE BEEN OBSESSED WITH FOR 48 HOURS?!? I was furious. How can a company think they have something in stock, sell it, then later realize they had oversold the item? THIS IS THE INTERNET AGE, PEOPLE.
*I may not have a rational grasp on what constitutes tragedy.

I tried to put the whole thing out of my mind, but I was still obnoxiously inwardly sulking. The universe must have been rooting for me because the very next day I stumbled upon a ceramic egg crate while browsing and hating myself for not being rich at Anthropologie. It wasn't as much of a steal at $14, but they had stacks and stacks of them all laid out in front of me, with no one trying to fight me for them. Sold!

[sound of angels singing]

In a turn of events that won't shock any of you, I sorted my rings by color.

[more angels singing, this time with Bono and Elton John - it's a benefit concert]

You know me, I can't resist the detail shots.

PART 3 - THE COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY DRAWER UP-FIT

As you can tell from all the pictures and babbling, the project could have ended there. I had fixed the necklace tree and I had somewhere to display my rings. But was that good enough for me? No.

As I was dusting the vanity and putting my things in just the right spot, the itch to keep organizing set in. As I've said in an old post "I originally thought I could store my jewelry in my vanity but the drawers were too big to keep everything organized and visible." Well, not anymore. I was no longer content to have ANYTHING still in my jewelry armoire so I set out to make the very deep drawer work for me. I say "drawer" because I left the other 3 drawers alone. Someday they might get the up-fit treatment, but for now I need the deeper drawers to store socks, long underwear, etc. Yes, I wear long underwear in the South. I AM THAT COLD NATURED.

Echo... Echo... Echo

So I carried my drawer out to our wood shop. At this point I would like to point out that this project involved drill bits, power tools and absolutely zero husbands. Girl power.

To make the drawer more functional I wanted to create a false bottom within the drawer, which would effectively give me 2 smaller spaces instead of the one cavernous one. To do this all I needed to do was install some spacers (all the same height) to support the false bottom, and then the false bottom itself. I just grabbed some pine scraps for the spacers then stood them in place so I could get an idea where to pre-drill my holes. Pre-drilling was necessary because I didn't want to risk splitting the (old and brittle) drawer sides when I screwed in the supports. I also ended up pre-drilling through the pine spacers after I split the first one with my wood screw. Live and learn, right?


Here's a shot of my drawer side after the installation of the spacers. Since I drilled through the sides only - and not the front - of the drawer no one will ever be the wiser about my little modification. And for all you vintage furniture lovers out there, I would not have drilled into the dresser at all if I thought it was worth lots of money. But since I got it for free from my mom, who got it for free when the previous owners of her house left it behind, I don't think I'm at risk of ruining anything priceless.

After the spacers were installed my next step was to create the false bottom. I grabbed this already stained board from our scrap pile. It used to be a shelf several apartments ago. The matching brackets were long since lost and it's too small to hold much anyway. Plus, what was I thinking with that hideous olive brown stain. Best to hide it in a drawer.


A few quick cuts with the miter saw and I had my false bottom. For those of you without power tools, A) this could be done with a hand saw and B) what's wrong with you? power tools are awesome!

You may notice my false bottom has 2 pieces. That is only because the dimensions of my existing board weren't big enough to cover with one piece, so I cut it in half (length-wise) and then rotated the pieces 90 degrees so the length became the width. If you're confused, just look at how the grain runs on the long board and then in the drawer - you'll get it. If I was buying new materials to make this I would just get a bigger board, but I was trying to make it work with what I had on hand.


You also may notice that it would be very hard to get the boards back out to access the bottom of the drawer. I have a solution for that, too. I just used a 3/4" bore bit to cut a notch on the end of the board.


TIP: It is impossible to drill only half on a hole, so I rigged this up to help me out:


It's just the board I want to drill into clamped together with a scrap board (which has to be the same thickness, btw) to create an easy-to-drill-into solid surface. To make myself look smart my life easier I also started with a pilot hole before I broke out the big bit.

After that all the hard labor was done the drawer and I got to come back inside and enjoy the sweet miracle of air conditioning again. Remember how I told you nobody would ever see my modification from the outside? I was totally right.


Here's the empty drawer just waiting to hold my treasures.


And here's me demonstrating the false bottom action, Vana White style.


And lastly, here's what you see when you remove the false bottom. Fascinating stuff, I tell ya.


PART 4 - CAN'T. STOP. ORGANIZING.

So even after the drawer building, branch gluing and ring sorting I still had the urge to keep organizing. Also, I still had the urge to pull craft supplies from the trashcan. In this mini-project I made a bracelet box using a toilet paper tube, a paper grocery bag and a decorative paper box (which I never photographed because I suck at life).


I wrapped the brown paper around the tube (logo side in), secured it with tape and then stuck the tube inside the cardboard box. I intentionally cut the paper slightly too long so that the tube would hold itself in place with tension.

pictured: tension

My dainty bracelets are clasped around the tube while my bangles just fit in the sides. At this point I should mention that I don't wear bracelets very often so this solution works for my lifestyle. If I was a wear-bracelets-everyday gal this little project would probably fall apart in no time flat.

PART 5 - THE BIG PICTURE

I finally stopped organizing stuff and took pictures to show you my progress. Hooray!

The new and improved vanity top. Forgive the baby monitor; facts of life, yo.


My earrings are stored on an earring stand I picked up from Urban Outfitters a while back. As usual, UO put a bird on it.


Inside the modified drawer - make-up, perfume, travel jewelry clutch on top...


... scarves, bracelets, old earring stands on the bottom.


I used my repaired necklace branch to display short/chunky necklaces...


... while my long necklaces - which I am amassing at an alarming rate - are on the necklace board.


So that's what I did today. What did you do?

Where The F*@K Do The Towels Go?!?

I'm usually quite the Wordy Wendy* but it's late and I'm tired so this is going to be brief. Ish.
*Shut up. That's a saying.

It's hot. We've been swimming a lot so I stocked up on towels. I have nowhere to store them so they've been living in my laundry sorter. Not so hot.


I finally got fed up and decided to put them somewhere. Anywhere. The top shelf of the coat closet was available but not exactly user friendly. Probably why it was empty to start with, except for two lonely rain ponchos.

not pictured: tumbleweeds

But how can I add functionality without spending lots of time or money? When in doubt, raid the recycling bin. Diaper boxes to the rescue!


I won't give you play-by-play photos of the next few steps because they are crazy simple: cut flaps off box; put box on shelf; put stuff in box. Awesome, right?


I also put some over-the-door hooks on the linen closet to hang the towels while they're wet.


And while I was on an organizational hot streak, I added a hook on the wall to hang our ponchos.


I promise, as soon as I get a job I will try to stop raiding the trash for craft supplies. Really, I do.

Old Hooks Get A New Use

If you've spent even 5 minutes in the South during the summer then you know that swimming pools are ESSENTIAL. I don't have my own pool but my in-laws have a community pool in their neighborhood. Luckily for me their neighborhood is just down the road from our house and they JUST HAPPENED to leave their pool key at our house, um, all summer.

What with all our pool lounging we frequently have wet swimsuits laying about. I'm a hippy who likes to save water so I generally like to wear a swimsuit twice before I wash it. I also can't stand putting wet clothes in the laundry hamper so I have to dry them first. Sadly I don't have anything fancy to hang our swimsuits on. What's a girl to do?

Luckily for me, I'm kind of a genius. Remember these:


I had a few leftover after my closet re-do project and I thought they would be perfect for drying wet swimsuits.


I just hung them on my incredibly useless over-the-toilet towel bar. You see, we're casually-hang-your-towel-on-a-hook people so this towel bar has seen zero action since we moved in.


Have I mentioned how much I like free solutions? What do you think?