Hidden Router

The world of WiFi has simplified the need for some wires, but in itself created a question of where to put the router, associated equipment and cords. We stumbled across an accidental spot in our small home that has worked well for keeping curious cats and toddlers out.

Do you see the basket under the end table in the corner of our living room? We'd had it there for years, but for a different purpose.

Turns out this basket is just the right size for all of our equipment and cords:

It's open woven design and top allow for plenty of ventilation but still blocks the view from Dylan and keeps the cat out. Perfectly hidden in plain sight. Where do you keep yours?

Read More

Adios Highchair

Last week Dylan's new booster seat arrived and we transitioned from the highchair. It's another one of those milestones that show me just how much he's grown - a bit bittersweet!

Relaxing in his SpaceSaver High Chair at two days old while we ate dinner.

We registered for, and received, the Fisher Price SpaceSaver High Chair before Dylan was born. In our small home it made sense as it could be used from birth to toddler and strapped into an existing dining table chair versus being a stand alone unit. I also liked that it could be converted to a booster seat by removing the tray, seat cushion and upper portion of the back. However, the booster option didn't work out for us as it is too high to push under our table. Thus I went in search of another option.

Our almost 3 year old boy sitting in his Soft Booster at dinner last night.

I ended up purchasing the Prince Lionheart Soft Booster. He was so excited when he saw the box last Tuesday morning and I pointed to it at the table. Every meal at home has been eaten sitting there ever since. He's definitely enjoying his new seat and his new spot at the table with us instead of beside it.

Update 10/21/12: While Dylan still enjoys his booster seat, I'm a little disappointed. It has "stuck" to our chair which I appreciate in that it doesn't slide off when he's getting in and out, but this has damaged the finish to the chair seat - both in looks and leaving it sticky. Some of my friends have had the same experience with similar seats from other companies. Something to keep in mind when considering this product.

Note: This review contains my personal opinion on a product we use. Neither a request nor compensation were provided.

Read More

Half Bath Shelving

During one of my many Pinterest browsing moments, I saw this image:

Source: Rate My Space - Master Bath Renovation

I knew immediately I wanted to do something similar in our half bath on the first floor. The layout is nearly identical and we could really use the storage space of built in shelving. Somehow our once remotely tidy bathroom has taken on a new, cluttered life now that we are in the age of potty training.

Many years ago, Trent & I made our own built in shelving for the nook that is in what's now Dylan's room. I confess, this time, all I did was pull one measurement (the width of the back wall) and then Dylan & I went shopping at Lowe's. That's right, no drawings. Just one measurement and a mental sketch. Really, this type of built-in is that simple - a few cuts, a few screws, a little touch-up and it's done. Find my "how to" post here.

Now, instead of a cluttered space, our half bath has a new tidy look.

All of the decorating elements were from around the house except the green ceramic planter and the carved frame both on the top shelf. Those I found this week at a thrift store for a combined total of $3.50! Seeing the "full" view in the after photo, I think I might make one more purchase - a dark brown trash can.

Read More

The Cat Drawer

I'm constantly on a quest to better improve the use of space in our small home and am quite proud of this idea. Backing up to when we bought our house in March 2003, it was just me, Trent & our 2 cats. The cats' litter box tucked away perfectly into the "nook" in our then computer/scrap/miscellaneous room. After Dylan arrived and we decided to turn that room into his room, the computer/scrap stuff moved into the guest room and the cat litter box moved to our foyer for lack of space anywhere else. Isn't that just a welcome sight? See our front door on the right? Literally walk in and "hello, cat toilet." ;)

The litter box lived in our foyer for about a year. A year of me grimacing as I walked past it constantly headed up or down the stairs, in or out the door. Finally I had an "ah ha!" moment. Let's cut into the dead space under the stairs and shove that box back in there. Ok, so it should look a little nicer than that, but there was my initial plan. Our laundry closet claims most of the under stair space (it's behind the closet door on the left), but then as far as we knew there was nothing.

Under Dylan's watchful eye, Trent cut the initial hole so we could see exactly what we were dealing with:

After leaning into the hole several times to take measurements and sketching up details, we decided on our size and pretty much maxed out the height & width. Trent cut the hole to the correct dimension. We added a base of 2x4s and slid in a plywood box we built to house the drawers. Our assistant helped with the clean up. ;)

Next we framed it out and added the drawers we built. We temporarily taped up the hole in the bottom drawer to keep our nosey curious cats out until we completed the project:

Added drawer fronts:

Finally, we added textured wall paper and wood trim before painting the drawers semi-gloss white to match the existing trim and closet doors. Screwed the frame for the cat door in place (we've left the actual door off while the cats adjust). Added bronze drawer pulls to match those in the kitchen.

Here's a look at the completed project (and glimpse of our freshly painted door & shined kickplate that I mentioned needed a little TLC):

The top drawer is for miscellaneous stuff (hats, gloves, etc). The bottom drawer houses the cats' litter box and the Litter Locker:

We intentionally designed the drawer to fit the two pieces in this manner so the cats have to walk down a "hall." This design along with the small piece of carpeting helps keep the litter in the drawer. The very bottom is lined with sheet vinyl to allow for easy cleanup - which thankfully has not been an issue so far. Seems the cats like their new private space.

Can I brag a minute and say how much I'm loving this?? I dreamed it would look good (and probably drove Trent nuts talking for months about how we should do this) and am pretty darn proud of our hard work. It took many hours over several weekends mainly while Dylan napped for us to complete it but so worth it. And, it was fairly easy on the pocket - about $150.

Linked up to IHeart Organizing.
Shared with Nate Berkus Show here and with BHG.com's I Did It! here.

Read More

Small Space Organization {Entry / Mudroom}

I love seeing photos of the mudrooms in houses - beautiful, well organized spaces. In our little home, the only entry is our front door. The foyer area is small which limited options, but we managed to create a little bit of a mudroom space without a cluttered look.

Front door with key rack and bench:

Directly across from the front door are the coat closet (door handle on the left) and the secretary (a wonderful catch place for my purse & other extras):

The bi-fold doors in the background house our laundry closet.

Read More

Organizing the Closet (again)

Trent & I spent last Saturday shopping at the outlets in Myrtle Beach since it was overcast and rainy most of the day. We both needed some new clothes and found many good deals. However, fitting the new stuff into the closet once home was going to be challenging as it was overflowing. I decided to set aside time this weekend to go through my clothes.

Before I started:
The shirts stacked above the drawers and those hanging on the bottom are mine. What a mess! Between those 2 spots and the bottom 2 drawers, I managed to clear out enough to fill one big box to donate.

Here's the same area after:
The space is small so it's awkward trying to get a good shot. I have some other shelves to sort through to the left of the drawers. Hopefully I'll get to them tomorrow. It is nice to have some breathing space in there again.

While sorting through my clothes, I came across a cute striped tank top I bought about 4 years ago and had never worn. Oops. It sat too low on me so I had planned to take up the straps. Instead, it disappeared into the closet until I came across it yesterday.

And, as you can probably guess from the photo, it took on a new life last night as a bag. Totally adorable.

Read More

Stamps & Ink Pads

I was asked today on a thread at Two Peas in a Bucket how I store my stamp ink pads. In keeping within the restraints of my small scrapping room, I try to keep my stash & tools to a minimum. So far, that means most of my stamps and all of my ink pads fit into one of the drawers in my Crop In Style unit.

I wasn't much of a stamper until I discovered acrylic stamps. I love being able to see where I'm placing the stamp and the thin profile. Much easier to store versus the larger mounted rubber stamps. The few rubber stamps I have are in a black bag by Generations. It sits on top of my other stamps since it's easy to move out of the way.

My stamp ink pads, acrylic stamp blocks, wet wipes (cleaning tip I found on Two Peas some time ago), and a few small packages of Studio G stamps from Michael's fill the right hand side of the drawer.

On the left under the rubber stamp bag are my acrylic stamps. I store a few of the Autumn Leaves stamps in their original packaging.

The rest are stored in CD cases that I labeled with my Dymo label maker.

Finally, my foam stamps are stored in Making Memories jars as mentioned in this post: Small Space Organization {Scrapping Desk}.

Read More

Project Complete: Laundry Closet

After work I picked up the final piece for our laundry closet renovation: the Whirlpool Work Surface. Now that it's in place, the room is complete and I have before & after photos to share. Click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

First, a look at the closet two weeks ago. On the upper left side, the step ladder hung on a pair of screws. I bumped it multiple times over the years while loading clothes in the washer and it fell on my head - not fun at all. There were 2 wire shelves along the back wall. Everything was shoved up there and, like the step ladder, items would fall on your head when you tried to get something down. Again, not fun. I really should have worn my hard hat in there. ;) Then on the right side, we kept two folding chairs between the wall and dryer. Otherwise, that space was wasted.

After selling the old washer & dryer and removing the shelving, we cleaned and repainted the room. It's now a nice off-white with a slight yellow hue. The new washer & dryer allows us a bit of extra wall space above and the work surface on top of them provides for a spot to fold laundry as well as holding the detergent & dryer sheets.
Instead of 2 shelves on the back wall, we have 3 shelves plus one on the right side. All are on standards & adjustable so we can change them in the future as our needs change. While we did clear out a few miscellaneous items we no longer needed, the closet holds 90% of what was in it before and a few additional items. If you look on the bottom shelf where the Clorox & old detergent bottle are, you'll see we still have some space to fill.

Finally, the step ladder and 2 chairs are hanging on the left wall on a ladder hanger. Now all 3 are out of the way and they won't come crashing down on me. ;)

Doing the laundry is almost enjoyable now. :) Certainly less stressful since I can open those doors and not see a mess (nor have items falling on me!). And, to top it all off - we came in under our budget.

Read More

Project Renovation: Laundry Closet

Next Friday marks 5 years since we closed on our home. We were young, rent was high, the market was good so we bought an inventory home from a builder & worked a deal. It had been sitting for 3 months and they were willing to move it. In our young minds we thought This will be our starter home. We'll stay 3-5 years, build up some equity and move. Uh huh. Well, as I said at the beginning, next Friday marks 5 years. ;) LOL

Since then various ideas have popped into our young, optimistic, we can do anything little minds. Of course, time & money as well as occasional common sense has prevented some of these ideas from fruition. But now that we are staying longer, we have started a list of projects we want to complete. It includes the recent master bedroom painting & picture moulding ledge.

Since those were checked off, we scanned the list for the next project and chose to tackle the laundry closet. It's a little spot (5.5 feet wide by 3 feet deep) stashed under the stairs. The first step was shopping for these:

We bought them 2 weeks ago and requested delivery for yesterday. That gave us time to sell the old pair, tear out the shelving, patch the walls, paint. I even scrubbed the baseboards while I had the opportunity. The floor was still quite clean from its scrubbing in December - I just had to clean up the mess we made removing the shelves.

Today we made two trips to Lowe's buying additional odds and ends. Almost everything is in its place. We have a few small details to finish. Hopefully tomorrow we'll knock those out. Then on Tuesday it will be complete. Why Tuesday and not tomorrow? Because after much pondering, reworking & contemplating during the last 24hrs, today we went out and bought one more item: the work surface. Of course, no one has them in stock so the best we could do was order one for pick-up on Tuesday.

ETA 3/25/08: Click here to see the completed room.

Read More

Small Space Organization {Master Closet}

When Trent & I purchased our home almost 5 years ago, we were both more than excited. I came across a book advertised in a magazine I was reading called Our House Journal. Basically, it's a scrapbook for the homeowner with pages set up with prompts, pockets to hold ideas, and a few sketch sheets. This book has been great for keeping up with the little details around our house from paint and fabric colors to ideas on how we'll remodel a space. One of those spaces is our Master Closet.

The Master Closet is 7'-0" wide by 3'-6" deep. Not overly large. When we bought the house, the closet had metal wire shelving - a single shelf on each side high enough to hang dresses and two 3'-0" wide shelves in the middle spaced to hold shirts or slacks. Sadly, I never took a photo of this setup. But, trust me when I say it barely held my clothes which meant Trent's were in the guest room closet.

Reworking the Master Closet layout was our first big project inside the house. In January 2004, we went to Lowes with the intention of purchasing additional wire shelving pieces to improve the space. As we were looking at the options, I realized none would work. They wouldn't fit within the size and current arrangement. Being the professional designer I am ;) - I dug in my purse for some scrap paper & a pencil and begin sketching a new option. Below is the much nicer sketch I created later for our journal which illustrates the before and after:

We ended up buying multiple wood veneer closet pieces by ClosetMaid. It took about 2 days because we had to remove the old shelving and patch & paint the walls. Then construct and install the new pieces. We did reuse the 2 wire shelves that were originally on the side walls. They are both on the right side wall now and stacked so Trent & I can both hang shirts & slacks.

I have a few photos on the pages below of our progress. Of course, the cats were both very curious and kept an eye on things - note Cali yawning and Chester found the shelves to make a great napping spot. ;)
We spent about $300 on the wood veneer pieces. For a more functional space, it was worth it. We've easily shared the closet for the last 4 years and still have enough room. :)

2ps blog challenge:
What are your scrapping plans for the weekend?
I would like to work on my Disney album a bit more. Also need to finish uploading photos to be ordered. Those 2 are top on my list.

Read More

Small Space Organization {Scrap Space Nook}

The "nook" is my nickname for the bit of "leftover" space between the closet and window in our scrapping/computer room (see bottom right corner of the floor plan). The house was new construction and owned by the builder before we bought it. While walking through, both Trent & I had the same thought when we saw this funny little space - it would be the perfect spot for the litter box and be a great spot for built-in shelving.

The first part was easy. The shelving, however, we didn't get around to until February 2005 - almost 2 years after we bought the house. The project took very little supplies. Some wood shelves and 1x4s from Lowes plus white glossy paint. Cutting and fitting the shelves was a bit more challenging because we quickly discovered how unsquare the walls were! The end result was worth the effort. Now we have a great spot to store some memorabilia, photo albums, and books. Although, I confess I do occasionally eye it for additional scrapbook supply storage. ;)

For decoration on the small wall between the nook and the closet, I selected 3 of my favorite postcards I've received and framed them in simple clip frames. The frames are 5x7 and I backed each postcard with black cardstock to help unify the images.

** For details on how to build the shelving, see my "how to" post here. **

Read More

Small Space Organization {Crop In Style}

Probably my favorite new scrapping piece is my Crop In Style modular unit. It's a combination of four pieces - (2) Accessorizer cubes with added inserts and (2) 3-drawer Organizer cubes. I constructed a base for them to sit on using wood 2x4s and base molding. That idea I lifted from a user at Two Peas - abrandstetter.

The top left cube holds my patterned papers in a Cropper Hopper Vertical holder. I have them divided by theme and a few by category using the Cropper Hopper paper files and page planners. The latter are great when you want to organize papers with scraps or certain flat embellishments. For example, I use one of the page planners for my Disney papers and keep stickers in the smaller pocket.

Also in the top left cube are two magazine files - one for scrapbooking magazines I'm keeping for reference and one to hold blue plastic document holders I bought from the Target dollar spot. I keep chipboard shapes and 6x6 papers in the document holders. Next to them are the Pioneer Space Saver photo albums I mentioned in my Photo Organization post.

The top right cube holds my albums horizontally. I personally prefer to store them this way versus standing upright. Also it enables me to lay a few recent and/or in progress layouts on the top album until I'm ready to place them into their album.

The drawers along the bottom hold a variety of fun scrapbooking goodies. I added labels using the same font (Two Peas Old Type) that I used on the foam stamp jars. They are categorized as follows: alphas, ribbons & punches, tools, embellies, stamps, and misc.

The alphas drawer is as the name says - a drawer dedicated to alphabet embellishments [except stickers....I'll cover that in another post]. I split up all of my various alpha embellies (metals, plastics, chipboard, etc) by letter into large Cropper Hopper embellishment boxes. I labeled each box with the appropriate letter or symbol using some Making Memories alpha stickers from my stash. The boxes fit perfectly (with a few extra to spare) and still leave some space in the back for larger alpha and chipboard items that won't fix in the boxes. Another $$ saver tip here - I'm using index card cases by Better Office Products to house some of those larger items. These cases sell for $1.00 at CVS and are basically a freebie when I shop using my CVS ExtraCare Bucks.

Next to the alphas drawer is the embellies drawer. I keep those items separated with a Crop In Style Drawer Divider. I choose not to use the middle insert so I would have larger, rectangular spaces for some of the bulkier items. In the front you might notice the Cropper Hopper 3x3 Embellishment Bags. I recently bought a second package of those. They are very handy for storing little items such as brads and sequins.

The final drawer I'll share an inside photo of is the ribbons & punches drawer [pardon Cali's tail - she was curious ;)]. I don't own very many punches so it's easy to share the space with these two items. I keep them separated with an old paper file we had laying around collecting dust. I was about to add it to our donation pile when I realized how perfectly it divided this drawer.

Read More

Small Space Organization {Scrapping Desk}

Each year after Christmas and with the New Year on the horizon, I tend to get into a spring cleaning mood a bit early. This year I thought I would share some of the scrap room organization ideas I've incorporated over the past year. I'm going to break it up into multiple posts over the next few days. Hopefully, you'll find a bit of inspiration. :) Click on any of the images for a better view.

The room where I "play" is the smallest bedroom in our house - 10 feet by 10 feet - but carries a LOT of responsibility. The computer area, my scrap space, and cats' litter box all squeeze in. Until about 3 months ago, the treadmill lived in there too. Yup, chaos! LOL :D The floor plan to the right will give you an idea of how tight things are.

My scrap desk is located opposite the door. I like this spot where I can see the tv and see the furkids coming and going. Sometimes they just lay in the hallway outside the door and watch me or nap. ;) LOL The desk itself was the first official "scrapping" furniture purchase I made when we bought the house. I got it at AC Moore for $50 using a 50% off coupon. That's just the start of my "deals" [remember, I'm a big coupon-er and money saver ;)] in this space.

The light fixture next to the desk was a hand-me-down from a friend who was moving. So glad I scooped that up as it gives me excellent lighting when working on my projects.

The wallboard and shelving are from Pottery Barn. It's a discontinued item called "Wayne Modular." I was eyeing it in their catalogs and online late last year, but it was out of my price range (the board alone was over $100!). In January, they slashed the prices by up to 90% so I managed to get 2 boards, 2 shelves, 5 ledges, and 1 pin board for about $120 (original price about $600!). The other board hangs over our computer desk, but that will have to wait for another post as this one is already getting long.

On the ledges over the desk, I keep a variety of embellishments and tools in Making Memories storage jars. The top ledge has the large size jars with foam stamps. I've added a simple MM metal rimmed vellum tag to each and printed the stamp types in Two Peas Old Type font.

The ledge below it has a collection of 12 of the smaller MM jars with buttons, tabs, flowers, etc. The jars are flanked by two metal tin containers I picked up at the Target dollar spot in the spring. The one on the left holds my MM paints and the one on right right I use for miscellaneous loose embellishments I'm currently using.

Read More

Small Space Organization {Key Rack}

Ever have that "where are my keys??" moment just before you need to leave and you're already running late? Well, years ago I bought a simple wooden mail & key organizer from Target to hang by my front door to prevent moments like those. It served it's purpose well, but a few months ago I was ready for a change. And, as you can see in the photo, we weren't exactly utilizing the mail section (minus the junk in the bottom) and the key hooks were overloaded.

Searching around online, I found a simple key organizer that I absolutely loved at Pottery Barn. Nice clean lines. Lots of hooks. But, I didn't want to pay the asking price. This looked like something I could make myself for less. So instead of point, click, buy ... I drove to Michael's and Lowes Home Improvement for supplies:

• (1) 9"x12" white frame
• (1) 12"x12" plywood sheet, 1/4" thick
• (4) coat hooks
• (8) screws, washers, and nuts [The screws that came with the hooks had pointed ends which wouldn't work. I bought flat ended screws and finished them off with nuts on the backside.]
• white primer & white glossy paint in spray cans [from my shed ;) ]
  

Here's the end result which hangs proudly next to my front door:

Read More

Small Space Organization {Kitchen}

My husband & I own a relatively small home. While we purge regularly, our lack of storage space can sometimes make things feel and seem more cluttered. Here are four of my favorite small space organizers:

Gravity-Feed Can Rack from The Container Store
This rack fits perfectly in one of the upper cabinets in our kitchen. We typically keep multiple of a single canned food type so the rack makes it easy to locate exactly what we want and see whether or not it's time to restock.


Socket-Pocket
Replace any outlet cover with the Socket-Pocket and instantly add a small pocket to hold your electronic device while it's charging. Each package contains 2 Socket-Pockets. We placed one in our kitchen for cell phone charging.


Sink Front Tip-Out Trays by Rev-A-Shelf
Small plastic trays to add in the "wasted" space behind drawer inserts at sinks. We added a set of these in our kitchen to hold sponges, bottle brush, etc. but they could also be used in a bathroom or laundry room.

Tray Dividers by Knape & Vogt
Our kitchen has a very skinny cabinet to the left of the stove. Basically, it was useless to us. It had a shelf in it and just wasn't deep or wide enough to hold much of our kitchen items. I found these dividers online and picked them up from Woodworker's Supply. Then came the fun - convincing my husband to help me literally rip the shelf out of it so I could put these in. Now that "useless" cabinet holds all of our baking pans and cooling racks.

Read More