The Snowball Effect ~ Part Three

As you may remember, when I moved my shelf from my bedroom to my office, I was left with a blank wall.  

Original shelf location.

No fear!  (I said to myself)  I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  I would put my fab green accent chair and a lamp there and then fill in the empty wall with a collage of pictures.

I started shopping for frames.  You might be surprised at how many frames are out there in thrift stores.  It took a bit of driving around and sorting through, but I found a nice collection.  I also had a few of my own.   Then I took them outside and spray painted them all white.  When you put up a group of frames that are varying shapes and sizes, it's wise to keep them all one colour.  I planned what I wanted in each one. It's nice to have a variety I think.  I chose some photographs that were special to me.  

Also a sweet poem that my oldest wrote for Mother's Day.

 I framed an old bill from my dad's commercial fishing business.  (He has been retired for years)

And I bought a cheap blackboard and framed it to use as a spot to write myself inspiring notes.  

(Radical by David Platt is a book that I am currently reading.)

And then, a hitch.  I fell into some free furniture.  Really nice and useful stuff that I could not refuse.  I suddenly had a great wardrobe that needed a home in my bedroom.  I tried it on the blank wall but it didn't work there.

So I moved my vanity from the wall it was on and put the wardrobe there.  The green accent chair looked nice with it so I added it.

Which left me with the vanity.  There was nowhere else for it but my empty wall.  I was really set on the collage though.

So...

I was feeling pretty happy with things.  But green accent chair kept whispering to me as I passed by, "I'm lonely!"  So, I decided to give him some company.  I have had a full length standing mirror since I was a teen.  I've thought of painting it about a million times.  Here it is in the back corner of the closet area in our room.  Of course I did not remember the before picture until I'd taken it apart so I just propped it there.  Sorry.

I had wanted to try spray primer so decided this was a good project for it.  I took the pieces of the mirror outside and primed.  

It worked great!  And before you knew it ~ presto ~ a friend for green chair.

In case you are wondering what is going on with the wall behind the mirror...that is where I store my scarves.  It is one of those Ikea wire hanger thingys with the little clips.  I tied a piece of ribbon and hung it from each clip, then strung my scarves through each one.

And that is the end of my snowball adventure.  There were a few residual effects...but we'll discuss those at a later date.

HAPPY LAST DAY OF SCHOOL EVERYONE!!!

Shelf Arranging

One of my favourite spots to arrange is the shelving on the top of kitchen cupboards.  

I find this space is handy for:

~storing rarely used items

~prettying up the kitchen

~introducing an accent colour

~creating a seasonal look

Here is Darla's new summer kitchen look.

(Many, many apologies for the photo quality!  I clearly need to get out my instruction manual and...you know...read it.)

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

And the shelf got a redo also.

Before

After

When you are choosing items to set out on shelves, less is usually more.  Stick to a few colours and try to find a theme.  For example, on the shelves above the cupboards I did white with some purple and green and stuck mostly to platters and serving dishes.  I kept the same colours on the shelf above.

I want to say a big WELCOME to my new followers!!  I'm really excited to see you all hanging out over there (on the left side of the blog).  Please ask questions if you ever have any!  

The Snowball Effect ~ Part Two

What was I to do?  

  That filing cabinet had taken up a big spot in the office and now that spot was empty.

I decided to grab the opportunity for a little office make over.  

For many years we've had these two tall faux wood shelving units.   They were driving me crazy and I'd been thinking of painting them so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.  One was in the office and one in my bedroom.  

Bedroom

I emptied them and painted them white.

Then I wallpapered the backs.

This was my first wallpaper experience.  The first shelf went okay.  The second caused a bit of grief but overall, I'd do it again.

Next I called Darla in to help me purge books.  Thank-you Darla!  We went through all the piles and got rid of quite a few.  I also purged a lot of fabric, and made piles with the rest to store on the shelves.

Things in the bedroom and office were a bit of a mess for awhile during the whole process.

But sometimes you need to live with a bit of chaos to get to organization.  I went through every drawer, file box, and folder in that room and got rid of everything I didn't need.  

Then it was time to load the shelves.

Old file boxes...

...got a new look.

I dug out an old bread box I'd painted years ago...

...and repainted it.

I rearranged and sorted books into categories...

...until I was happy with the overall look.

Then I worked on the other areas of the room.  This little stool got covered with fur.  

Now he reminds me of the footstool in Beauty and the Beast.

I was so tired of this light wood colour and of the actual drawer unit.  But, it was useful and I was trying not to spend much on the redo. 

A coat of paint and some knobs made it feel like a new piece.

I did buy new photo boxes to match.

The sewing area got tidied up.

My chair moved across the room and I added some wall art.  

The big white frame I bought at Salvation Army, painted and replaced the picture with my favourite Mom saying.  

"A Mom should have an aroma of love."

The lamp had been in my kitchen but it fit better here. 

My desk.

(This was a find from the Re-Store a few years ago.  I painted it and added a new drawer pull.)

I found this desk organizer at Winners and could not resist.  It and the photo boxes were my only "new" items.  Everything else was second hand or from another room in the house.

It took some time and patience and work, but I was able to create an office space that I loved without spending big bucks.  I hang out in here a lot so having it efficient, organized and pretty was important to me.  

Now remember that faux wood shelf?  The one that was in my bedroom?  The one that left a big ol' empty space on my bedroom wall?

Stay tuned...

The Snowball Effect ~ Part One

It all started with this:

Can you find it in here?

My storage room was not looking pretty or organized.  And while I will take most of the blame for not putting things back in their place...I do have to blame the cedar chest as well.  It just wasn't practical.  Every time I wanted something in it, I had to open the lid, move the trays inside, get the item, then replace everything.  If I left something on the lid...that too had to come off.   As you can see, I left quite a few somethings on the lid...so it was getting a little tricky to get in there.

There was a lot of wasted space along the wall here as well.

And this shelf was in an awkward spot.

It was driving me nuts to keep moving this basket to get into the drawers of the dresser.

So, I had Darla over.  (Remember, it's always easier to purge and organize with a friend!)  We emptied the entire room.  We sorted all the items and purged a lot of junk that I knew I would never use.  Some went in the garbage and some I donated.

The cedar chest came out.  

I moved the big shelf all the way to the of back of the room and put that big basket on top of it.  Other items got sorted into smaller baskets on the shelf.  

The dresser moved to the wall opposite the big shelf.  All my gift wrap got sorted and organized.

I found a shelf in my basement that wasn't being used and brought it up to store my future projects on.  I also found another big basket and fit it in under the shelf.

 

Another shelf that had not been in use came in to hold my paint and tools.

Ahhhh.  Room to walk, and everything in it's place.  This project leans more to organized than to pretty, but it's not a room that anyone sees but me, and by using storage units I already owned, it didn't cost me a penny to redo the space.

Oh.  And one more thing.  Now there was space to move our ugly filing cabinet OUT of the office.

Which left a big ol' empty spot in the office...

Stay tuned for Part Two.