Organizing the bathroom closet

Over the weekend, I was all prepared to get my spring decorating on and hopefully lure the warm weather to arrive with my springy vignettes. I opened the closet door in our downstairs bathroom, where I keep most of my decorating stuff. And I...was...afraid.

dun...

dun...

DUN! (that's scary music)

It's not like it doesn't usually look like this -- I'd like to say it doesn't, but it does. But for some reason these days I've had such an urge to get things organized, and as I stared into that closet, I realized I couldn't just grab my spring candles and birds and shut the door. I had to get this closet whipped into shape.

First, a bit about this closet. We have two full bathrooms in our house, including this one on the first floor with the disaster closet. Since it's just the two of us, the upstairs bathroom closet is really home to all our regular necessities -- towels, toiletries, medications, etc. That leaves a lot of space in this downstairs bathroom closet, space that I apparently filled with tchotchkes. It's also home to most of our cleaning supplies, and one big bag of dog food.

I started by pulling everything out of the closet (and getting the hubs' sneakers out of the way).

What really needed sorting were all my decorating stuff -- lots of candles and candle holders, some vases, little animal figures, etc. I weeded through it all and got rid of the stuff I didn't want anymore.

I decided to organize my candles by season. Is that a little type A? I used an incredibly high-tech and adorable organizing method ... the Ziploc bag and the Sharpie marker. We spent a good chunk of money on our puppy's surgery, so I did not want to spend any extra money on cute organizing supplies when a plastic baggie could do the trick.

I also used this super-awesome organizing trick called "empty your coffee into canisters and reuse the plastic containers to hold your rock supply." I seriously have lots of rocks. That's kinda weird, isn't it? They make great vase filler!

I scrounged up a couple empty plastic bins that were hanging out in the basement for my candles, rocks, and acorn and pinecone collection. These are going upstairs into the craft room, where they really belong.

Once all this stuff was organized and out of the way, it didn't take long to get the rest of the closet tidy and organized. Ready to see it?

Oooh, so pretty.

Peeking from behind the dog food is this little shelf I was storing in the garage that I put to work to make some extra space. Those baskets hold little odds and ends -- I'm hoping to make some cute labels for them.

A couple spare bins and baskets lying around made for handy-dandy cleaning supply and toilet paper storage.

Other baskets hold dish towels, dish cloths, tablecloths and light bulbs.

The big basket with the green-and-white liner is a hamper for towels and other laundry that needed to get tossed somewhere. This keeps it out of sight and off the floor.

There's still lots of room for the dog food, the mop and bucket and the vacuum, which isn't pictured here but definitely fits. 

Seeing all this order when I open the closet helps me breathe a little easier. It's nice not trying to jam stuff in and stack things on top of each other when I go to feed the dog or get the vacuum -- or go in search of my sea foam scented candles to bring some spring into my living room.

A little before and after action...

So, my spring decorating still isn't finished, but that's okay, because they're predicting snow on Friday. I guess I have time!

Before I sign off, a little update on Colby, who had surgery on his knee, if you recall. He had his two-week follow-up and the vet said he's healing nicely and looking great. Unfortunately, he's not enjoying being cooped up with no activity and has started taking it out on his crate when we leave him during the day.

Yep, he bent the bars with his mouth! So now he's on doggie sedatives so he doesn't break his teeth. Poor little guy. 

I can't wait until he can run and play again!

A springtime terrarium centerpiece

A couple weeks ago, a friend asked me if I was interested in going to a class at a local greenhouse on how to make a terrarium. I didn't know a lot about terrariums, but I was intrigued, so I said yes!

The class included all the supplies we needed -- a glass container, rocks, charcoal, soil, moss and plants -- plus a handy-dandy handout on how to care for them. I seriously, totally kept all the little tags on my plants so I could tell you all what I planted in here...and I lost them.

So, I wish I could tell you what I've got growing in here, but I can't, except that I remember the low-growing green one is called baby tears. I remember that because it kind of bummed me out, but the plant was pretty so I used it.

The instructor said to keep the terrarium in medium light. It makes a lovely spring centerpiece on the dining room table.

Every few days I give it a mist with a mister. I'm really nervous about keeping it alive, since I'm got a pretty black thumb. So far, so good.

I'd love to find a tiny, adorable little animal figurine to put in here. I'm on the hunt for just the right addition.

Have you ever made a terrarium? Any tips for keeping it alive -- I think I'll need them!

Yarn and twine eggs for spring {DIY}

Hi all! I hope you had a great Easter. We had a low-key day because we've got a recuperating pup on our hands. Our poor little guy had surgery on his knee last week. He's been limping on and off for months and other treatments weren't working.

Finally the vet said surgery was the only way to keep him from completely tearing his ligament and losing the ability to use the leg at all. Now he's got a bionic leg with a metal plate and six screws! (If you're curious, the surgery he had is called a TPLO surgery.)

I do not like the cone of shame

He's got six weeks of being cooped up, and then another six weeks of getting his full mobility back. It's going to be a loooong April. But in the end he'll be able to run and play like a normal dog without any more limping or threat of tearing his knee ligament. I can't wait for that day!

Since he's still recovering from the surgery and is in pain and getting used to staying in the pen (and to the cone of shame), we decided to stay home this weekend and keep an eye on him.

So, I took the opportunity of a weekend at home to do some crafts. I have to admit, I hadn't done any Easter or spring crafts -- in Maine, it doesn't feel much like spring in March, and in fact we still have some snow piles that need to melt. So I wasn't really feeling inspired.

But then I found in my craft stash some plastic eggs I bought last year from Target and never did anything with.

I whipped out the hot glue gun, some jute twine and some yarn and got to work. I simply started at the top and worked my way down, gluing as needed.

I did the twine eggs first, and then decided to try yarn. I kind of wish I had done them all in yarn -- I love the pops of color! I'm feeling the need for color these days.

I would say the yarn was harder to use than the jute. The jute was more forgiving if I didn't quite line things up or got a little too much glue under there. The yarn was pretty thin, so there are a couple itty bitty gaps where the egg color peeks through, especially on the bottom. But I'm not going to stare that closely at them.

Greens, blues and neutrals are like my favorite combo.

And while Easter is now over, I think these eggs make great spring decor and can last through April and May.

I've got some other spring touches in the works, so stay tuned!

How to make a penny-top table {DIY}

Hi all! Hope you're having a great St. Patrick's Day weekend! :)

Today I'm sharing a Pinterest-inspired project by my lovely sister, Lacey. That's her on the right. Isn't she cute?

Lacey had an old side table she wanted to revive...and she also wanted to replace her boyfriend's hand-me-down bedside table with something a little more fun. This project accomplished both! I'm going to let her take it away.

I bought this side table from a local discount retailer, in my college days and loved the size of it. It worked perfectly next to a sofa, sitting in front of a window, or even as a bedside table. So you can imagine my distress when the finish started to flake right off the table! I didn’t want to get rid of it, but couldn’t leave it the way it was. Enter Pinterest and the various pins I’d seen on penny tables. Why not give it a try on my already ruined table? Plus, if it was successful, I had a perfect excuse to get rid of my boyfriend’s ugly bedside table (furniture even his grandmother didn’t want) and use this instead!

How to make a penny-top table

Step 1: Painting the table

First things first, sand down all of the flaking finish already on the table. Usually, sanding is a pain in the butt; however, when the surface of the table is already flaking off in your hands, it isn’t too difficult. After sanding, I painted the entire table black (just your basic black paint in eggshell, I believe).

Step 2: Adding a railing around the top of the table

After reading many tutorials on penny tables, I chose to add a thin railing around the table top. This acts as a stopper for the glaze. Other tutorials recommend wrapping packing tape or aluminum foil around the table to give it an edge. While it had worked for them, I was afraid that the tape or foil wouldn’t hold up against the spreading glaze and opted to add a permanent edge. Besides, you can get 8-foot long pieces of this thin molding for just a few dollars at Home Depot. 

My father helped me measure and cut 45 degree angles into these pieces, so that they would fit perfectly around the edge of the table. Because the pieces are fairly narrow, we were concerned that nailing them in place might cause the piece to split. Instead, we used some gorilla glue to attach them to the table, and then stacked heavy books on top to act as clamps (if you have actual clamps, that may work better, but alas, I did not, so I put my old college textbooks to use). After they were attached, I painted them black as well.

Step 3: Shining the pennies

We wanted an array of colors of pennies — some shiny and new looking, others duller, and some that almost the black color of a penny that’s been around a long time. I diligently separated out the various colors and decided to shine some up for the first category. 

I’d read in other tutorials that Tarn X is the perfect way to do this. You simply pour some Tarn X into a bowl with your pennies, swish, rinse and dry. Piece of cake, right? I found out otherwise. 

Two important things to note: 1. Make sure you rinse these thoroughly. Think you’ve been thorough? Give it another rinse. 2. Make sure to dry the pennies thoroughly too. I recommend laying them out on an old towel for a while. If you put the pennies into a plastic bag together and they’re not fully rinsed or dry, you’ll ruin a bunch of pennies, like I did (completely stripped off their copper color).

Step 4: Laying out the pennies

On our first attempt, my boyfriend and I started laying out the pennies and working our way in towards the center. Do NOT do it this way. Sadly, your table will not be a perfect size to fit the pennies exactly. I recommend working from one side of the table to the other. Luckily, we had not begun the gluing process yet, so we could start over. 

What NOT to do

As I mentioned, your table won’t be a perfect size to fit your pennies, so you’ll probably end up with some awkward spacing like I did — there was a strip of unused space down one side of the table. 

We considered centering the pennies in the table to create equal empty space on all sides, but were concerned that we wouldn’t be able to get it perfect. Derek suggested cutting pennies in half to fill these spaces. However, it still took some finagling to get the pennies to be the exact size we needed. In the end, cutting pennies may have been more trouble than it was truly worth, but it came out looking pretty great!

Step 5: Gluing the pennies

After we decided how we wanted the pennies to be laid out (we chose to alternate face up and face down, and a mixing of penny colors), we started gluing. 

We glued some pennies with super glue and some with Gorilla Glue. If I were to do it all over again, I would NOT use Gorilla Glue. The key thing with Gorilla Glue is that is expands as it dries, so I ended up with glue expanding between the pennies that I later tried to cut away with razor blades, and even colored some black with a sharpie to try and hide it. It ended up not being very noticeable after the glaze was applied, but it still bothered me that it happened at all.

Step 6: Applying the glaze

After doing some research, I used Parks Super Glaze Ultra Gloss Epoxy (purchased from Home Depot for about $40). Some reviews of this product complain about it not self-leveling as well as it should, or the formation of bubbles. One person actually used a blowtorch to remove the bubbles during the drying process. Needless to say, I was quite worried about this step!

But it actually went very well. (Note: for this step, you need a room available that is well ventilated, and where the table can be left for a day or two to fully dry.) We followed the directions in the Super Glaze booklet carefully, and were very careful. One addition to the supply list they give you is to have a small foam paint brush handy. It helps to get the glaze into the corners of the table. 

Some small bubbles did form, but we were able to pop them by blowing on them. No blowtorch needed! 

It’s not professional grade. If you want a professional product, they have glazes that cost around $100 to give you a smoother, bubble free surface. But I have no complaint over how it turned out! I couldn’t be happier :)

In the end, everything went extremely well. The finished product now sits next to my boyfriend’s side of the bed and is a vast improvement over what was there before.

Even the kitty likes it!

Isn't this table so adorable! I just love it. I'd like to pay her to make one for me :)

Are you itching to cover something with pennies, or have you already given it a try? I'd love to hear about it!

New chairs for the front room

Hey everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. It was beautiful here in Maine -- sunny and mid-40s. It made me ready for spring, but sadly spring is still a month off for us here in the Northeast.

Sorry I was MIA this past week. The hubs and I are two weeks into a 6-week weight loss challenge, and let me tell you, it has been quite time-consuming! Not only have I been walking/running/working out every day, but we've also spent lots of time planning out our meals to a level we've never done before. I swear all I do is sleep, eat, work, and work out. Phew! But it's getting us great results so I'm definitely sticking with it.

I'm popping in today to share a furniture addition. So, like months ago I shared a plan we had to turn our dining room into a sitting room, and move the table into this awkward spot next to the kitchen.

Here's what it looked like with the dining room table.

Well, we lived with this change for a few months, but we just decided it didn't work out for us. It's funny -- it was the hubs' idea to pull the switcheroo in the first place, and finally I agreed after weeks of hesitation. And then, it was the hubs who said, "I don't know if I like it this way." I guess we just really missed having a formal dining room, even though it's not often used. Is anyone else as indecisive as us? This is why it's good to live with things for a little while before fully committing.

So, a few weeks ago we moved the table back, and again were left with this weird half-room kind of space next to the kitchen. Since we've got a table and four stools at our counter, we don't need any more seating for eating. We decided to use this space as the sitting room. I think maybe I've seen spaces like this called a front room? I'm not sure if that's what I have, but sitting room sounds like a place for old ladies and tea, and since it's the first room in our house, I think it makes sense to call it a front room instead.

I've always pictured a lovely, long window seat here, something like this:

Source: vi.sualize.us via Mindy on Pinterest

But that looks like a lot of work to build. And, to be honest, I had a window seat in my bedroom as a kid and I never used it. It was cute to look at, but it wasn't very comfortable to sit on. And I favor functionality over fashion, so the window seat plan was out.

Besides the window seat, I've also eyed these Nolan bonded leather chairs from Target. They have one in my local store, and I've sat in it a few times, and it's pretty comfy.

I'm usually hesitant to buy major furniture from a lower-priced retailer, because I do feel you get what you pay for. But the front room furniture will not be used frequently, so wear and tear will be much less -- and that also means I want to spend much less on it.

So, when a two-pack of these chairs went on sale for just $300 (they're usually $200 each), I pulled the trigger. (Guess what? They're on sale right now for $150 each!)

Luckily they had two in stock at my local store so I didn't have to pay online shipping -- sweet!

The hubs picked them up for me in his SUV and had them put together by the time I got home. I love when I don't have to do that part (I'm terrible at it).

The bonded leather is a dark espresso color, and the look is a departure from the rest of our furniture, which I like -- keeps things interesting. I'm hoping it's durable to puppy claws and easy to clean.

I think these chairs look more expensive than they are (just humor me if you don't agree!). They're not too big and don't take up much space, but they're big enough that my 6'2" husband finds them comfortable as well.

I staged the area with a little table I had on hand and some vases. I also had super-cute pillows picked out on Etsy, but the hubs lamented having to push a pillow out of the way to sit down. See, shortie me finds the pillow the perfect way to get comfortable on that chair, but for him, it's just in the way. So I promised him HIS chair wouldn't get a pillow, but that didn't stop me from getting a pillow for me!

I made this pillow from a fabric scrap I bought for a few dollars at a local fabric store and an old pillow form. (Full disclosure: I didn't even finish sewing it for this photo!) I staged the hubs' chair with a cream throw from -- where else? -- Target.

I'm hoping this space will be a nice, sunny, cozy spot for drinking coffee and chatting with friends.

As for what else I want to do here, I totally want a cowhide rug.

And I'd love to make a tree stump table or two for this space.

Source: blairpeter.typepad.com via Mindy on Pinterest

Now if only the snow would melt and I could find myself a stump! :)

Curtain turned into pillows {DIY}

Hi everyone! Hope you had a good Monday.

Today I'm sharing some pillows I made for our living room. Did we need pillows? No, we did not. :) But I just love changing out my pillows, especially if I can do it on the cheap by making my own.

I searched high and low for a geometric fabric I liked in the colors I wanted but came up empty-handed. Then I spotted the Farrah Fretwork curtain at Target:

So cute, right? And it was just $20 for one.

Lucky for me, I had pillows at home I wasn't using (remember, I love pillows!) and their covers were removable.

As you might recall, I'm not great at sewing, but I can usually manage pillows. My favorite kind of pillow cover to make is an envelope pillow, because it's removable and I don't have to handstitch it closed -- and because I'm too scared to try a zipper!

When I spread the curtain out and saw the hem, I realized it was perfect for making the envelope part. Don't know what I mean? You'll see soon.

The pillow forms were 20 inches x 20 inches, so I cut my fabric at 21 inches square, leaving a half-inch for a seam. For the envelope part, I cut the two pieces 21 x 15 inches and 21 by 11 inches, with half-inch seams on all sides, making the final dimensions 20 x 14 and 20 x 10. The bigger piece is on the inside, and the smaller piece goes on the outside.

With just a little cutting and sewing, I got two new pillows for just $10 each!

Here's the envelope back. See what I mean about the hem? That's the finished edge you see here. It saved me some time from having to finish the edges myself.

I was worried they'd be blue overload with our blue walls, but I don't think so.

And I even have some fabric left over to make something else!

Have you ever used a curtain to make pillows? Shopping the curtain or sheet aisle can sometimes score you some great fabrics and patterns for a cheaper price than shopping the fabric store.