Wednesday Decor // Our Bedroom & My Vanity

There are two rooms I'm very proud of in our house, whoops there are three - our bedroom, the living room, & our office.  These are the three main rooms I'm going to highlight this Homevember with bits from other rooms thrown in.  The first room is our bedroom! I really like our room - at first it was very hard to decide on how to decorate since we both have very, very different tastes, styles, ideas, etc.  But I think we did a good compromise - I hope Zach thinks so too, even though a lot of my things seem to spill onto is night stand - but the Make it Monday from this week is supposed to fix that!  On to the pictures of our bedroom & my vanity!

 View from standing in the doorway facing into the room

 View from the left corner of the room, the door is to the right

 DIY from Monday, check it out here

 Bird's eye view from the left corner

 Bird's eye view from the door way

View from standing by my vanity

Our room, if you can't tell, is very tiny.  And actually when I'm not lazy the bedroom often looks like this though I have been lazy lately.  Often the overflow of make up ends up on Zach's night stand - but those new decor boxes are supposed to prevent that!  We haven't added any artwork yet and I'd like to add mirrored doors to the closet, but I'd say it's pretty nice.  Here's where everything is from:

Bedspread - Walmart.com // Sheets - Amazon.com // Standing mirror - yard sale, painted // Dressers - mattress place Virginia // Nightstands - Big Lot's (I almost missed out on a matching one for Zach, phew!) // Vanity (comes with the mirror propped up on the tall dresser) - Amazon.com // Mirror over vanity - Big Lot's // Lamps - brought from our own places before we met

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Wednesday Decor // Three Ways to Use Shower Hooks to Organize

I don't know if you know this but I like to use things in unconventional ways.  It's called being creative.  I've had this problem since I was little, honestly.  But one thing I'm proud to use unconventionally are shower hooks.  Not the circle ones but the s-hook shaped ones - ones that have an open end to hook over the shower rod & an open end you put the shower curtain on.  These are AWESOME for so many things.  Honestly, I continue to ponder what else I can hang using these little hooks.  Here's how I currently use these hooks in our home:

Coffee Bar - you may remember this post of a DIY coffee bar.  One of the first DIY things in our home.  I still love it & we've added some fun & some funny mugs to the collection!  Anyway, these s-hooks are great to hang on a curtain rod in two rows to hold all your mugs.  We're trying to get away from duplicates - like the green & black mug sets that both Zach & I owned before moving in together.  I just love that all the mugs are on display.  It also frees up some of our cabinet space since we have very few top cabinets for dishes.

Bathroom Storage - I can't decide which is my favorite way to use these hooks, honestly, but this is the one I'm the most proud of.  Hang the hook over a towel rack to hold your hair dryer, straightener, and curling iron!  I also use a hook over the shower curtain rod for my floofy loofa sponge thing.  It also works to put hair ties if I have them in my hair when I get in the shower.  This keeps your floofy loofa thing from falling if it has a suction cup or getting in anyones way if it's hanging from nozzles & knobs.  You could hang these loads of places in the bathroom for anything you need to hang.  I even think you might be able to use them as towel holders if you have too few metal bars and too many towels.  Hmmmmmm...

Purse Storage - I found these double s-hooks at Meijer a while ago & these are great for hanging your purses in the closet!  We have a part of our closet that just goes back into the nethers.  The rod just goes & goes & goes.  You can't really see anything back there so I hung a whole package of these hooks there to hang my purses.  The double hook means double the storage!  Even though they are in the back they are more on display than if they were in a drawer or in a bin.  I've switched my purse out at least twice knowing that I can see them all at a glance.  Also, yes that Vera Bradley backpack there is in my favorite pattern & I want to wear it so bad but I'm scared to get it dirty!

This is my all time favorite home storage tip ever! These things are so dang versatile!  I want to hang one from everything!

What is your ultimate home tip? I want to know!

xoxo, Moe

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Dorm Dec Wednesday // Craft Room Essentials

Well, I'm not living in a dorm any longer but the oh so awesome artsy house we are looking at in Indiana is most definately small.  The lower level is a giant garage with workshop for both Zach & I, wired already for a kiln, has a bedroom & a bathroom.  The upper level is a lot like the apartment above Zach's parent's garage, with a living area, dining area, kitchen, bathroom & teeny tiny bed room.  I hope that we get this house because it is just the right amount of artsy with a little bit of fartsy.  I think it will fit our needs right now & am so down for the large work space.

So since this place will have a huge room for a studio/craft space.  I have been thinking about what the absolute essentials I'd need would be.  I decided to focus on storage today & want to share with you 4 Craft Room Storage Essentials:

Craft Room Essentials by fivesixteenthsblog on polyvore.com

Desk Storage - I am an orgainzed person when it comes to work but that doesn't really translate well into my home.  There are papers & folders everywhere.  I am hoping that in my new studio I'll have specific desk space so I can organize. I'd really like an in & an out box & storage for note pads, pens, etc.  Having things right at my fingertips is going to be the best!

Supply Storage - I'll have a lot of glazes, buckets, tools, etc that I'll need to store.  Shelves & baskets are going to be the thing I'll need the most.  I'll also need shelves to store pots as they dry, come out of the kiln, etc.  I think those cheapo storage shelves might be just right for this at the start.  Plus the workshop may have built in shelves already... I can't remember.

Shipping Station - Hopefully, orders will be coming in & going out pretty frequently so I would like to have a station that I can designate as shipping.  I like this filing cabinet because I can put stamps, markers, paper, tissue paper, invoices, etc all in there organized so I don't have to worry about where things are! Then just stack up the boxes waiting for the post office.

Baskets for Yarn - Since I will still be knitting & crocheting I am totally excited for fun yarn storage.  If I can see all the colors I have I won't buy more right? Hopefully!

Zach is heading back to look at the house tonight & hopefully make an offer on it.  It is such a perfect little place with all the things we'll need. And all I want to do is get this moving thing started but it is so hard.  I am not allowed to have a POD by the HOA rules where I live now (I am so pissed!) but don't feel comfortable driving a uhaul by myself nor can I afford it!  I don't know what to do y'all, I really, really don't.  I am getting so sad.  700 miles felt so close and now it just seems too far.  I have an opportunity to start a dream....and I just can't get their yet.  I want to cry!

I just want to live in a nice house, make nice things, have a nice guy, support myself, and be happy.  Is that too much to ask??

Sorry to end this post with a downer but go over & check miss Kaelah's awesome positive inspiration post today.  It cheered me up!

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Make It Mondays: DIY Faux Woodgrain #2 - Vanity Tray

I am still totally in love with my woodgrain contact paper.  I was over at a friends house the other night & not only did I find a needle point portrait of a man with a mustache & a kitty but I found a really cute vanity tray.  It was gold with a mirror in the bottom.  It looked kinda like this:

from Vintage by Alex Keller on Etsy

I knew I needed one! But let me tell you, I don't need anything else in my bathroom in my apartment so I couldn't see going out & searching thrift stores for one.  It stuck it the back of my head for a while but then I realized I had some divided lunch trays & some of the wood grain contact paper.  I got these trays my freshman year of college when I worked at a party supply store.  I thought they'd be cute to use in my little dorm room as dishes!  I bought them in three colors: orange, lime green, & blue.  After moving into an apartment, I stored them away at my parents house & really haven't thought twice about what to do with them.  I loved them so much & I am so glad I could give them new life!

What you need:

Contact paper, tray, paper to make a template, pencil, scissors

start off by making paper templates for the divided parts in the tray.  I cut a piece of paper big enough to press down in the divided parts.  I ran my fingernail around the edge to push it down into the part to make it fit.  Then I just cut around the indentation.  The hardest one was the long one.  Make sure that your paper fits back in the way you want so the contact paper with fit that way too.

Trace your templates on the back of the contact paper.  Make sure you flip the template over when you trace it so it fits in the right spot.  I used the corner piece twice since they are just mirror images of each other.  Take the cut contact paper & make sure it fits how you want it.

Remove the backing & press the contact paper down on the tray.  This is the hardest & tedious part!  The good thing is you can remove & reposition it a bit because the tray is plastic.

I cut out a little heart of a contrasting contact paper because I thought it was adorable!

Then stick it in your bathroom or vanity! We have a huge side counter part in the bathroom at my parent's house so thats where I staged it.  I think it would also look great on the back of your toilet for candles & lotions.  You could even use one of the sections to put your rings/bracelets if you forget to take them off when you get in the shower.  Just don't knock the tray in the toilet!!

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