Accessories Storage and Laundry in the New Closet!

If you follow me on Instagram, this isn't even close to a surprise, but I'm so head over heels I gotta mention it: I lurrrve my new jewelry storage. It's all gold and sparkly and looks more beautiful on the wall then any of my pieces do on me.

Previously, my necklaces just hung on 3M hooks and all my earrings were stored in a jewelry box on our dresser that also houses our wedding rings...and my Princess Kate knock-off from back in 2011 when I was "Katie Middleton" for Halloween. #TBT

hahaha, never gets old.

Back to the issue at hand, both the earring holder and the necklace corkboard were really easy semi-DIY pieces. One afternoon, some craft paint, and a little bit of fabric gave me both of them.

The earring holder was actually a boring ring holder I picked up from The Container Store. I kept trying to come up with a better way to store earrings than the little foam semi-circles, but since I wear studs almost exclusively, I couldn't think of any better way to securely hold them on a wall.

Since this piece and everything similar are just solid colors that are too neutral, even for me, I decided to take a little bit of fabric and just tuck it in. It only took about one quarter of a fat quarter, so roughly 1/16 of a yard. Once everything was tucked nice and tight, I spritzed some spray adhesive heavily enough that it soaked through the fabric and made my tuck-job extra secure. Done!

The necklace organizer is just an old corkboard that I stenciled with gold paint and then some hook tacks (also from The Container Store). To take it up a notch, I modge-podged/stapled some black ribbon around the perimeter. Gives it a little extra texture I wouldn't have gotten from painting it.

To finish it off, I hung a belt rack diagonally and spray painted a basic wire hamper gold.

Considering this was the corner of the closet I previously used to hang seldomly worn coats and dresses (including the rest of Katie Middleton's get-up), this is a HUUUUGE upgrade in terms of both style and functionality.

We should be getting the last piece of the closet next week so there will be a lot to share in the very near future! Tootaloo for now.

Closet Update

Woot woot! The closet is here, it is in, and it is ready to be loaded up!

It took three long days, a few late nights, and 4 hands blistered from all the screwing, cam-locking, dowel-hammering fun! And, out of 43 pieces, we only broke one part (albeit a big one and we're still debating whose fault it was; we'll say it was Ikea's fault for the sake of our marriage.)

What you see is only my side. Pat has half a side, but the other half is the piece we broke. It'll take about 2 weeks before that piece's replacement arrives, so until then he has to live in three and a half very small-yet-well-organized feet.

Here's a quick look at the journey we took to get to this point:

This is definitely, positively, absitutely (who got the HIMYM reference?) not a reveal. There's still a lot to be done in here and many more pictures and updates to come.

Until then, friends...

In the Meantime...

Yes, yes, yes, all the excited and commotion around our house is about the arrival of our new closet next week. We have a lot to do to prep, mainly taking out the old set-up so we have a blank canvas for the next unit.

On the to-do list:

• Purge contents
• Pull down wire shelves
• Patch holes
• Paint
• Build units and install
• Fill 'er up again
• Add molding (eventually)
• New light fixture (eventually)

Buuuuuut... we still have to live and function around our current closet for 6 more days, so there's really no sense in starting those projects until just few days prior to our closet's delivery. While we wait, I shifted my attention downstairs where (instead of putting away Christmas decorations) I decided to move the dining room set into the breakfast area.

I've really, really been avoiding this as a possibility since we moved in. I'm a hardcore, ride-or-die formal dining room fan. You can't have Thanksgiving dinner in a breakfast nook. I guess since we're currently about 11.5 months away from our next formal dining room meal, I broke down and said, "it's now or never." Might as well be now.

It was a simple shift really, just Pat and I lifting a table with 4 minutes to spare before the Bagel Bites came outta the oven. But the change is ah-mazing. I don't know why we didn't do it sooner (I mean, I do, but I didn't wanna...). The whole area looks much more done, even though it's totally not.

Ba-da-da-da-da! I'm lovin' it!

The only downside I can find is this leaves our dining room empty. I'm swimming in ideas to get the office downstairs and re-purpose the other bedroom. I guess we'll file this one under To Be Continued...

Note: I took all these pics around sunset, to serve as a flawless example of bad lighting. That's why they all look really yellow and grainy. I'll redo them sometime soon, when I'm not in the middle of a Love It Or List It marathon.