Fantastic Find Update

Well,unfortunately, I never heard back from anyone about that fabulous sideboard I posted on yesterday. I went back to the site to try and send a follow-up email, however I did not see the posting any longer.

I hope whoever ended up with her, enjoys her and treats her well. If it doesn't work in your home, please post it up there again, for free, and find me!!!

Martha's Basement

A while back, I posted about the guest house of none other than Martha Stewart. Being a moderate fan of some of her stuff, I figured it might be nice to see some of the other rooms in her home(s). When I came across some photos of her basement today, courtesy of Martha Stewart I have to say I was pretty disappointed. The spaces were purely functional. Neat and orderly, for sure. However, pretty and dream-worthy, not so much. I actually thought some areas, like the laundry area, seemed kind of industrial. However, on a good note, they all seemed pretty attainable and resembled what I think a lot of "real people" have in their basements. So, just for that, I'm gonna post the pics to show you all, that despite how awful you think your basement is, or how little money you have to put into re-doing it.... you can still make it look like Martha's....

Yes, Martha's basment has storage, and there's nothing all too fancy about it. Racks hold screens and storm doors amd simple storage shelves hold labelled plastic totes. One thing I do like, is the metal risers she has her furniture on. These babies will keep her furniture safe, in case of flood.

Apparently she lucked out and got a pair of terracotta sinks with her house (not shown), so that worked out well. The large countertop has been padded and covered in muslin, which is a great soft surface for folding or ironing. Those industrial-looking wheeled baskets cart all the laundry around. Looks like her cats are like mine, and love fresh laundry!!

This is certainly the opposite of what I imagined the Domestic Diva to use as a craft station...but essentially it has everything she needs! I am loving the kraft paper roll right on the desk and may have to get one for myself!

Sweet Find: fingers crossed!!

So I occassionally peruse the different classified sections of different sites for buying/selling and trades, hoping that I will find a good deal. Mostly, I am looking for house stuff like furniture I can re-finish. Well, I have yet to find something amazing......

Until today that is!!

I am in dire need of a new sideboard. The Barrister's cabinet we re-finished this summer doesn't quite look right. Enter this beauty I just came across:

I absolutely love this Mission style. Apparently, this is solid wood as well, and looks in great shape. Best part? They price! They're giving this baby away for free!!! Only stipulation is that you need to come and pick it up yourself!! Well we have a truck so I think that sounds wonderful!!

I may want to paint/stain it a different color as it's a far different wood color than anything we have in our home..... but I love the style and it looks nice and solid. I have an email into the "seller", and hope to hear from her soon.

I'll keep you posted!

Build Your Dream Home

Ever had the problem of wanting to build a house, but not loved the plans that are out there? Can't find something you love?

Why not head on over to Better Homes & Gardens and find plans you love.

This site features a variety of different plans. There are duplexes, lots of ranch-style homes, small homes (even under 100 sq. ft., and of course much larger homes. You can even browse homes with narrow floorplans. How neat is that.

What's even better? Love something you find? Buy copies of the floorplans, right on the site!! Now while I've never purchased floorplans, I found them a bit expensive, but whose putting a price on your dream home?

Here are a couple of the exteriors that I liked:

The Lansdowne

The Winston

Sad Day in Print......

I was almost in tears when heard the news!!! One of my fave magazines (yup, in my top 3) Domino is shutting down shop!

Apparently, despite growing it's readership dramtically in the last 4 years, they haven't been able to keep up their advertisers. BOOo!!

Don't believe me, read about it here .

Well, a fond farewell to you Domino. You will undoubtedly be missed. Thank you for showcasing a different side of decor!

Small Space Tips

Now that we'll be moving to a bit of a smaller space, with a different style configuration than we've been used to, I've been doing a lot of thinking of how to best maximize the space.

Thankfully, downsizing has become popular in the last couple years, and there were plenty of tips. Here are some, I picked up, via Style At Home .

1. Go vertical. Use all the space in your house. Adding shelves above doorways, or even right up to the ceiling maximizes storage and unused space.

2. Lighten Up! Banish the dark-hole feeling by adding more light to your space.

3. See clearly. Adding glass shelves to your windows is a great way to maximize storage, and also can provide a bit of privacy without window "treatments".

4. Coffee what??Just cause it's a coffee table, doesn't mean it only has to serve one purpose, using a storage chest or ottoman, increases your storage. This tip is especially great for people with children!

5. Soup up your sofa table. Using a low bookshelf behind your sofa, gives you a nice decorative top for display, and even more storage below.

6. Floors that go on and on.... If you keep the same flooring throughout your space, it will create a longer visual line, and make the room look bigger. Different flooring chops a space up.

7. Window framing. Adding a low bookshelf below your window uses that lesser used space.

8. Use your outdoor space. Extend your living to decks, patios, porches.

9. Use your hallway for something other than walking. You know that long, unused, unattractive space? Try adding box shelves to extend your storage. If your worried about the clutter, add some doors to the mix.

10. Multi-tasking tables. A great idea for a nighstand or even end table is to use a wicker hamper. Beneath the lid, store extra linens or blankets. This works fantastic in a small guest room.

11. Who says that coffee table is just for your cuppa joe? Table top always cluttered?? Buying one with shelves/drawers provides storage and rids you of visual clutter.

12. Studly shelves. Build storage right in your walls. Maximize of the space between walls studs, and carve out little shelving niches.

13. Pare-down. Buy less pieces, but make them bigger, to cut down on visual clutter. To that same effect, choosing upholstery, with simple, untextured fabric, is more clean-looking.

14. Functional feng-shui. Arranging furniture so that they do not block windows and doors, visually opens the space.

Storage Ottoman - Update

You may remember months back, in the summer, when I started the re-upholstery project of an old, ugly storage ottoman I'd had for years.

I don't know where the thing came from, but it was at my parents' place and I adopted it, as a vanity stool for my bedroom. Later, it became a media cabinet for my stereo, and when I left home, it served as a stool again, but stored all the sentimental things from my infancy.

The ottoman was a homemade piece from someone and while not attractive, certainly served a purpose. I found some gorgeous textured fabric this summer and began the process of upholstering it. Unfortunately, due to not having a sewing machine at the time, the project was put on hold. However, by the time I got a sewing machine this fall, the base had become buried in our garage due to an unexpected construction project sitting unfinished in our storage room, by the builder.

Anyhow, I've gotten my second wind, and hopefully, will get working on it this weekend, if I can track it down. I have had the top sitting in the spare bedroom closet for months and love how it's turned out. I hope the base will make me equally as happy.

As well, I think I have a great place for it in the new house - in lieu of leather cube ottomans in the front entrance... this ottoman will serve as a bench, and storage!

Not your average nightstand.

Years ago, mom built me some nightstands. I designed the style and she put them into being. However, they weren't 100% sturdy. Most notably, the drawer. Unfortunately, I tend to put a lot in the nightstand, and the bottom continually fell out. As well, it stuck when being pulled out or pushed in. Struggling to open the drawer, usually meant some wiggling, and often, an over-eager opener ended up knocking everything from the tabletop, to the floor.

Also, while the nightstands were in scale with my old Double-sized bed, they are way too small for the new King bed. So, I've been searching for new ones for a while. Initially, I was planning on purchasing the stands to match the new dresser ( even though I don't like the matchy-matchy look, these were perfect). But not only did the store I worked at, close down, but I would prefer not to spend that kind of money on nightstands.....

So I've come up with a design idea, I just have to try it out logistically.... I'm really liking the size of the Ikea Malm chests of drawers, either 2 or 3 drawers.

I am leaning towards the three-drawer, just because I think the scale is the best. The black-brown color works with the rest of furniture in the space. However, in keeping with the style of the dresser, I think I would like some similar hardware. Item E is the best online picture I can find. However, at Walmart of all places, I found the exact silver knobs that we have on the dresser.

At either $59 or $89 per chest, plus about $10 for the hardware, at less than $100 a nightstand, I think it's a great idea.

Thoughts???

Hardware Haven

Over at Casa Thibault/Savoy, we like updating our pieces with new hardware. In fact, in thinking a lot about the new place, and the new pieces I would like to bring into it. I realized that a couple of the pieces will require either updating, or adding hardware.

Thankfully, years ago, my mom turned me on to one of the most amazing stores. Lee Valley has the largest collection of hardware I've ever seen in my life!! My mom gets the catalogues and it's no surprise I've perused through on occassion, selecting dream hardware for every piece in my life.

Anyhow, I've been thinking alot about what pieces will be lucky enough to make the move, and one I had forgotten about it a jewellery chest I designed, and mom made for me years ago. Why haven't I mentioned it before? Well, it's been sitting, unfinished for years, in dad's basement! Unfortunately, while she buolt it for free, it was up to me to pay for the hardware and anything else to add to it. Which was totally fair, but not something I could afford.

But, it makes no sense to leave it sitting, wasted in the basement, so I am going to splurge this year and buy myself some hardware, and maybe flock the drawers. Since the cabinet was designed with the idea of an Apothocary Chest/Library card catlogue in mind, I chose the same style of hardware ( Item B in the photo) . However, this cabinet, has a ton of drawers, so it's gonna be costly.

For now, this is on the to-do list, and I am giving myself til the end of the year to do it. Don't worry, I don't plan on taking that long, and I will post pics as the project takes shape!!

Enter here!

Living in an apartment, and then an oddly laid out townhouse, I've never really had a great front entrance. Mind you, I never really had a lot of house guests, so it was never much of an issue.

Now that we're moving into a home of our own, with a proper front door and entrance, and I'm thinking about what I will need to furnish and decorate the space, I figured it couldn't hurt to use Style at Home's check list on what you need for a properly outfitted front entrance.

1. A closet - you might be laughing, but not everyone has one. A rolling coat rack, armoire, coat rack or row of hooks are all alternatives to this.

2. Row of hooks. This is especially necessary useful who have kids. If you don't have space for hooks, or your interior is quite formal, these can go on the back of closet doors.

3.Containers for mitts, scarves and hats. Especially living in a cold weather climate, it's important. Whether you put them on the top shelf, or even on the bottom of the closet, it's important to have them, and be able to grab them and see what's in them.

4. Boot or shoe rack. But make sure it's something where the footwear doesn't sit in the water, which can wreck some leather footwear.

5. A place to sit . Whether it's the stairs, a bench or a stool, people need a place to sit and put on their shoes.

6. Tabletop or shelf. A place to toss small everyday items like your keys, wallet and sunglasses. Plus, you can put anything you want to take with you, when you next go out on this table.

7. A home for your keys. The most commonly misplaced item, needs an important home. A bowl, tray or dish atop a table or shelf, or inside a drawer is ideal

Take a Load Off Out!

When doing up the contract for our new house, one of the things I negotiated with them for, was a front loading washer and dryer. Not only do I think they look so much nicer, but I think that from a space-saving/maximizing perspective, it makes so much more sense, to go that route.

We recently found out, that the builder has agreed to upgrade our set to front loaders. YAY!! Now, they'll still be builder grade I'm sure.... but at least I have the ability to add a counter to the top and make the whole thing look like a built in.

One laundry room, in particular that I am quite taken with, is Sarah Richardson's from Season 1 of Sarah's House I love everything about the space!!

I don't think there is a thing in this space that I don't like, and I am particularly fond of the metallic backsplash.

I'm really going to try and re-create something similar to this space when we finish our laundry room, however I am thinking it coudl get pretty expensive, and I may have to lower my budget and do with something a little less "glam" , like Sarah did in the Season 2 of Sarah's House.

This, equally as pretty room, was done on a much lower budget and still creates a bright, fresh effect that's perfect for a laundry room.

What do you think? Got a great laundry space? Send me your pictures of post a link to your site!

Plug it!!

So one of the biggest things I have been doing in the planning and designing of our new house is ensuring that all the logistics are taken care of. Yes, I know everyone knew I would take care of all the decor-like stuff like paint and cabinet colors and stuff, but I think very few thought I would have the foresight to think about the structural planning.



One of things I have been very careful to factor in, is making sure everything in the house works for us. Part of that, includes making sure all the electrical, telephone and cable outlets are located in places that make sense.



You can bet I was happy when I made sure to look, and found out that the 2 smaller bedrooms do NOT come with telephone or cable outlets, as a standard. No sir! Those are extra, and they don't come cheap.... However as we do plan on using one of them as an office/craft room and the other as a guest room (and both potential children's rooms down the road), we definetly need to factor these in.



Now, my only concern is chosing where we want them located..... this is where a problem comes in. Cory (who didn't even think to check, and then just scoffed at me when I mentioned it, as though it should be standard) believes that we should be fine with just choosing one wall on each room and popping it in there. I, on the other hand, think it might be a good investment to put an extra one in each room. This way, we can move furniture around and placement isn't dictated strictly because of where outlets are located.


(Photo from SuperStock.com )
What do you think??



Cory felt that we could probably just do this ourselves and save some money down the line. However, I feel that anything electrical is best done in advance. My theory is that then you have to get a contractor in, to cut holes in the walls and ceiling, and then figure a way to run the lines from the basement all the way to the 2nd floor. Plus, then you have the patch work job from the damage the contractor made. Wouldn't it just make more sense to have it done now and not have to worry about it??

To See or Not to See....

I've got a little bit of a challenge. When we initially signed the contract for the new house, I said I was okay with the choice of front door.

Now I am thinking I hate it.

The door that comes with our model is full glass, similar to this : The glass on it, is mottled, so you can't really see through, and initially I liked the idea that it would let it so much light.....

But now I am thinking I don't really want people to be able to see into the house at all. From a privacy standpoint, even being able to see whether there are lights on, farther into the house, feels like a problem for me.

The other option we have, is a door similar to this one:

There are still windows in it, to let in light, but I won't have to worry so much about privacy, or seeing the back of wreaths thru the door, for that matter.

Well, as luck would have it, as I was writing this post, I heard from the project manager and spoke with her about it. She's gonna look into making sure we can change our door if we want.

What do you think?? Do you have either of these door styles??

Custom Creations

So, upon further inspection of our new house last week, it was determined that we will be losing some closet space in our new home. Yup, the walk-in closet in our masterbedroom, is a little smaller, and laid out a little different. Plus, the addition of a little window, means we lose all that wall space. Booo!! :(

Here is a closet, that although, won't work in our space, are realistic enough looking to re-create.

This would be an ideal sitation, with shelves, lots of hanging rods, and tons of purse storage.

The only thing I don't like about these hanging rods, is that there seems to be way too many hangers crammed in each section.... it looks like you wouldn't be able to grab a pair of pants out of there...

I love that they've maximized the space under shorter items like tops for shoe storage.

Also, loving the idea of having a drawer for clutches, mine are currently in clear rubbermaid totes.

A true jewelery chest! If only I had that much stuff!! But this might be the ideal time for me to get the jewelery cabinet my mom made, out of my dad's basement!

While I am getting rid of my vanity station in the new house (we have a en suite bath), I have always loved this one and think a cabinet like this might be perfect under the window for even more storage!!

Anyhow, while I love this closet and the vanity, both from Domino , and it would be prefect if I was on my own, I will be sharing the space again with Cory. (We have put separate walk-ins on the wishlist for house #2 lol). So I'm gonna use the afternoon to peruse more practical solutions and I'll show you what I find.

Give me that warm feeling

I've been really getting into looking at different flooring options for the new house, wondering what we'll be able to afford with the flooring allowance we budgeted for the new house.

Ideally, we will do some sort of tile and hardwood combination for the main floor and leave it carpeted upstairs. However, I haven't been feeling to great about the idea of cold floors in the winter and have been reasearching ideas to warm it up, since I can't really afford to do in-floor heating options.

One thing that I came across in my travels in LEATHER FLOORING!!! I love the idea of this!! I still get the smooth surface that's easier to clean than carpet, but I am thinking that the hide would be amazing underfoot!!! My only concern is how well it would hold up in a high-traffic area.



Anyone have any experience with this??

Kitchen Goodies

My personal email box is always full, I get a lot of emails about hot, new items from all over the place.

While perusing sites this afternoon, here are a few kitchen-themed beauties available over at Delight.com . Some are pure kitchy goodness, others are utiliarian and practical, either way, I love them all.

How cute is this cake? Looks a lot more labour-intensive than it is, which is great for me, Heck, being as the mold is silicone, apparently you can even use it to microwave a cake in 6 minutes!!!! I mean, I think I prefer the oven... but you never know, I can be pretty lazy. At $40.00 this is a great little investment, I am thinking of picking up!

One of Cory's favorite thing to make, is his McSavoy Breakfast Sandwiches ( basically his version of McDonald's Egg McMuffin.), but he can't find egg molds he likes.... I wonder if these egg poachers will work for the same effect??

As frequent entertainers, I am always hunting down the bottle opener for guests. This little beauty sticks to the fridge (is apparently very strong) and works with any bottle. Since it doesn't have to be removed, there's no worry of losing it. Plus, it doesn't clash with your decor.

I dont know bout you, but I am always leaving my glass somewhere at a party and then trying to track it down. Unfortunately, my drinks aren't usually in wine glasses, so those little glass charms don't work for me. But this "Hello my name is..." coaster might!! Plus, after the party, they're magnetic so you can either stack them or stick em to the fridge.

ust the act of someone cutting onions, burns my eyes... These Onion Goggles should do the trick, also available in pink, these airtight goggles, prevent dinner prep from ruining your makeup!

Wired for Sound

Our new house that is!! Yup, one of the hottest things right now, Home Audio Systems, is something Cory and I were pretty interested in having in our house.

We both like to entertain, and are big music fans, so we were excited to feature this option in our home. The showhome has a great system that allows each room to listen to something different: I could be listening to classical from my cd player in the front hallway and bathroom, listening to the movie playing while I'm in the laundry room, or even blasting my ipod in the office. Too Cool.

We've decided that we're definetly getting this option, now the only thing is to decide where we want to put speakers and whether or not to just get the wiring done, and then do the speakers ourselves down the road, to see if we can save some cash.

Ideally, I'd like to have a speaker in each of the bedrooms, two on the main floor, two outside, two downstairs...but the price is getting a little high if we do that.... and even though I think technology is huge right now, and it would definetly help with re-sell years from now... I can't help but think about it.

Just hoping someone out there in Blogland has done this, and can give me some info on what works for you, what doesn't, what you would have done different, and even if you don't have it, what you would do if you could..... Thanks!!

One Stop Shop

I love being able to get everything for my home at one place. But let's be honest here... the quality of home stuff at Walmart isn't necessarily what I want to outfit my entire home in.

Insert Home Depot where you can everything decor-like for your home, including furniture!!!


In their recent Dream Book they featured a ton of beautiful bathrooms:

This "asian-influence" bathroom is simple. Using paint has the biggest effect in this room. They also used Corian to build a surround for the tub.

A clean-lined vanity in dark wood, ties into all the dark wood accents throughout the room. Keeping accessories sparse is a big part of the appeal.

To me, this bathroom is the epitome of glamour! Something about cramy white/grey marble that's so clean and perfect.

Keeping the color palette limited is what works in this room. Love the vanity!!!

A powder room is the perfect place to really go all out with something vibrant, since it's such a small space and really packs a punch. This retro glam bathroom surely doesn't disappoint!

Best Upgrades

In making the decision to build our new house. Cory and I have been very conciously making design decisions that will affect us in the long run: in terms of Re-sale.

We certainly don't intend on being in our house forever, so we have to take into consideration what would be appealing to other people when purchasing a home.

#1. Flooring - It was a non-negotiable for me to go with carpet and lino for our main floor. This area is just too high-traffic to have carpet, and lino looks cheap (cause it is!) Plus, knowing that we have animals, and are intending on adding a couple more to our family, it only makes sense to forgo as much carpet as possible. So, while we haven't made our flooring selection yet, you can bet that we've written into our mortgage an allowance for flooring. Ideally, a combination of hardwood and tile would do the trick, but alternatively, we'll settle for some laminate.

2. Electrical Wiring -If there is anything you are planning to add down the road, that would require making holes in the walls/ceiling or floors, is best done in advance. We've made sure that our house is able to do the following: pre-wired for air conditioning, roughed-in Central Vac, wired for both alarm system and sound system. We plan on doing all of that down the road, so doing it before the drywall, saves time and money. **As well, take a good look at where your outlets are placed in your rooms - are there adequate outlets?? Are they in locations that make logical sense? Having a brief idea of where you will place furniture and appliances, is a good idea.

3. Future Development Mapping - Does your house have a basement that you plan on finishing down the road?? Ours does - so we took a look at floorplan ideas on how to best finish the space (courtesy of our builder). Glad I did, cause we made sure the rough-in for the 3 piece bath would be in the right spot. Same thing for our laundry room. ** I also took into consideration that since we have a walk-out basement, I moved the location of the French doors to the outside, so they'd make sense. I also added stairs down from the deck and a concrete pad outisde the doors.**

Here are some options we had, that we chose to forgo:

4. Specialty Painting - yup, there's a premium charge if we want to paint in more than one color, or if we want to have a feature wall color. Why on earth would I pay someone to paint?? Plus, doing it yourself allows you to choose paint from any supplier

5. Fixture & Hardware Upgrade - Everything from the light switch plates, towel bars and cabinet pulls can be upgraded. Seriously?? This stuff is so small. If your builder standard stuff is REALLY that ugly. Save yourself some moola and head over to your local hardware store. You'll have to do it yourself, but it takes no time. ***p.s. The light fixture in our dining area is a ceiling fan - uh... NO!!! I'll be switching that out at the design center. If I can't find anything pretty, I'll take the cheapest fixture and a cash credit to source my own option.

6. Decorative Touches - Did you know that a lot of builders do not include tile backsplash or tub surround?? If yours doesn't (ours does), do it yourself. Your local Building Supply store probably has a DIY Workshop. Your tiling options will be limit-less and you'll feel so proud when you're done. **Down the road, we'll probably add a stone wall feature to our fireplace wall.**

**Photo courtesy of Style At Home

A House Says A Lot....

It's true that you can tell a lot about a person by looking inside their home. But what about when the house speaks for them??

I love the idea of word art for walls, or canvases even. So you can imagine how excited I was to find this site .

With beautiful ideas to personalize your home, there's a variety of stuff to please every style.

With vinyl wall quotes, monogrammed canvases, and lucite letters, you can really personalize your home.

In our new house, one thing that was a non-negotiable with me, is that we had to upgrade the floors!! There was no way I was gonna shell out a ton of money, for Builder-grade carpet and linoleum for the main floor. So we've written in a flooring allowance and will make the decisions in the next couple months, as we start visiting the design centre. But we're pretty sure we're going to do a collaboration of some sort of tile and hardwood or laminate, depending on the cost.

Anyhow, while I love the idea of not having carpet to worry about from a cleanliness perspective ( this is especially good, since we have animals). I am a little worried about adjusting to not being as able to pad around barefoot without slippers. I have decided though, that I'd love to do a nice area rug for the carpet, just to cozy-things up!

I've been looking into the idea of using carpet tiles, because I like to price point, as well - we are spillers and I like that I wouldn't have to worry about ruining a whole rug... if something gets stained, I can just throw it away and replace it! :)

Here are some of the FLOR options I am liking:

My favorite so far has to be this Botanical pattern in blue. Each box has tiles with the botanical in three different sized patterns.

I am liking the colors in this Lane Change Stripe as well, but think it might be a little too moderny-popish for us.

This beautiful blue is my accent color throughout the house, and with 4 shades of the same tone, mixes it up a bit. But might be a bit too blue for Cory.

I like that this one has more than one color in it, to give a really textural appearance to it. Plus, we can see it looks really nice with couches similar to our color! :)


The perfect combination. This Seagrass style has our three colors: cream, turquoise and chocolate!! Plus it's a Martha Stewart Design... so can't go wrong!

Lastly, we are both surprisingly attracted to cowhide rugs. Unfortunately, our kitties seem to have a disliking to any real hides: leather couches, rabbit fur moccassin boots - they sense a need to destroy the prey. So I am not sure I want to take my chances in shelling out all that money for a real hide, when I could get a similar look with Stampede:

Thoughts???

Dream = Reality

Our Mortgage paperwork for the new house is being completed today!! Needless to say, I am beyond excited. I faxed off the final paperwork this morning and that's all the file needed to be completed. My biggest dream is finally becoming a reality.

Knowing that we'll be in there in the summer, I know we're gonna want to hold off on buying so much new furniture right away, and maybe put all the money we have, into the landscaping.....

Anyhow, I'll be loading today with posts full of fun finds for our new place!!! Enjoy!!

De-cluttering...

Well, conincidentally, the New Year is also falling at the same time as my current obsession: Cleaning, De-culuttering and Purging.

I've been feeling pretty stiffled lately by the amount of "stuff" in our house, and with thinking about the new house a lot lately, I've realized that we will be moving into something a bit smaller, and with a different layout, that will require us to be very organized.

So operation - Clean Sweep is in effect.

For the next couple weeks, I will be squeezing in an area here and there and completely emptying, sorting, purging, cleaning and re-organizing. Tonight, I will be tackling the main bathroom, upstairs coat closet and the broom closet. As I go along, I'll post pictures of my befores and afters ( I'm relatively neat so there might not be such a transformation, but hopefully my purging will add extra space ).

But for the meantime, here are some beautiful organized spaces, care of Martha Stewart.

This pretty hall closet makes good sense. I love the idea of having the baskets and stuff below the rod, which makes it much easier to reach!! I'm gonna make a switch tonight and assess what new things I need to buy!

I am loving the idea of having tools mounted to the inside of the door. Right now, we just have a small tool kit, but this is very accessible. Definetly an option for the new house!

Oh WOW!! Talk about staging! I don't know about you, but MY medicine cabinet does not look this pretty, and I have half the stuff in mine. I guess that's because I don't only have travel sized, monochromatic bottles of stuff in mine. Also, this one is incredibly deep-looking. Mine is not. We recently got on board with using magnets inside ours as well!

This is a great idea. I have my own version, in the form of a collapsible plastic crate. works wonders, especially for transporting things into the house. I don't carry a lot in the car, but I can see this being perfect for someone with kids!

Gimme Some Frosting!

Don't you just love the effect glass doors have? They divide a space, but still let so much light in!! Only problem: Privacy!! Who wants to have everyone able to see everything going on, on the other side of the door?

Samantha Pynn recently featured a simple solution to this on her show Pure Design and I think it is a super easy, non-permanent solution that I will be tempted to try it in our new house, on our sliding patio doors in lieu of (eeeeeeww) vertical blinds!

Here's how to do it.

Frosting Glass Doors

Supplies:

~frosting (available at your hardware store)

~ painter's tape

~cutting knife

~smoothing tool

How To:

1. Clean glass exeptionally well with vinegar and water making sure to get rid of any sticky bits.

2. Apply a 1 1/2" border of painter's tape to the glass, inside the frame and use it as a guideline as to where to trim your frosting. You do not want it the be right to the frame, as over time, and the different seasons, the frosting will stretch.

3. Use blade to cut your frosting to size. A good tip is to cutthe "outside" of your straight-edge so as not to ruin your piece if you make a cutting mistake.

4. Mist the glass door with a solution of water and dish soap and apply vinyl. This solution will allow you a little bit of wiggle to correctly place your frosting.

5. Starting from the middle, use your Smoothing tool to flatten out the frosting. Working out any bubbles, and excess water.

6. Remove the painter's tape!