Now, I love my shoes as much as the next girl but with kids they are NEVER stacked neatly (in our house at least.) I find it more productive to save my nagging for "Drop that knife NOW!" rather than PLEEEEASE line up your shoes neatly so I don't go insane."
Another trip to the good ol Salvation Army (affectionately known as "The SAL.") and now everyone (even little Junior) chucks the shoes in the basket.
After removing them, of course.
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I met with the personal organizer on Monday. I consulted her because I have so many bits and pieces in my studio (fabric, sewing notions, paint, brushes, tape, scissors, big paper, little paper, watercolor paper, canvas, stapled canvases, magazines, power stapler, yarn, knitting needles, magazines, kids' artwork - get the picture?)
I just can't figure out how to organize it so it's easily accessed and still looks good. Her first suggestion was this art frame which comes in different sizes and colors. It holds 100 pieces of kiddo art (or adult art) behind the display piece and you can change out the front whenever you want. Super idea. I think we might put one downstairs and upstairs. The next task I have to complete is to list every single type of item I want organized. She actually thinks it will be a simple job since I don't have a bunch of papers and junk to go through - definitely encouraging.
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While puttering around the Studio today I decided to try my hand at arranging some books by color. This has been making the blogrounds recently and is probably the most logical way I can think of to organize one's books.
I've just hung my other Frida painting in the Hemingway room (Look at index to right to view more photos of the room.) For those of you who are new to Casapinka, let me recap the basis for the Hemingway room. In a nutshell, very conservative husband, very UN-conservative wife. Wife wants husband to have a room other than his study where he feels at home. He loves literature and the whole Hemingway look - plantation shutters, subtle barfy wall colors, dark floors and a conservative couch with MATCHING chair, dark tropical fan. Or, if you are more visual go here to visit a slideshow of the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. This is husband's mothership.
The readers of Casapinka have convinced husband that pillows should be done in a contrasting fabric but wife still feels she needs a small corner for herself in this room. Enter Frida. There won't be any more Frida heads, but this is my little art corner, since I sit in the chair off to the side. Husband can't even see the Fridas! I've left space to the right of the new Frida for some other pieces, and if you remember, I'm a bit scared to hang my own art so am moving slowly with it. I realize that the new Frida is a bit higher than the old but I think with the other pieces it won't really matter. Besides, when you're standing on a soft chair with a baby screaming in the background, your toddler trying to pour the gin you've disguised in a Coke can down the baby's throat, you just want to get the thing hung without anyone bleeding. Ya know?
After reading the March 2007 Domino (p. 90) I bought some eco friendly coiled flourescent bulbs for the green bird lamps. These are supposed to be "kind" fluorescents and truly, I don't feel like walking with my hands over my bum, as fluorescent lights in a dressing room cause me to do when trying on swimsuits. Good thing, too, because it would look strange to walk around my own house with my hands over my ass.
What are you doing to contribute to sustainable living? If you're at a loss, visit Ideal Bite for a simple "tip a day." If everybody does something small, it adds up to something large.
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Here is the custom built bookcase for my studio. It came about because I posted a question last month on an open thread at Apartment Therapy:
"Anyone have any experience with the Expedit bookcase from Ikea? Quality? Appearance? It's awfully inexpensive so I'm a bit worried. There is a similar one (white - I want white) at West Elm and a big one at DWR. Anyone know any other sources for something similar? I've looked at furniture stores and nobody has it."
The responses were very helpful. I didn't realize that the Expedit bookcase was virtually a household name. I learned that it looks good but is a notorious pain to put together and will break apart if moved. I really didn't want to buy something almost guaranteed to end up in a landfill.
Expedit from Ikea - $179 plus shipping.
The Collins room divider from Pottery Barn for an astonishing $1200 plus $150 for shipping. There are two bookshelves featured side by side.
I spoke to Anna and she thought the Expedit style would be great for organizing all my art supplies, magazines and books, and that we should wallpaper the back. My thoughts exactly! I decided to ask Jimmy and Mark (my handymen) if they could build me one. They were ECSTATIC. Nothing like a woman who knows exactly what she wants, and they were itching to build something instead of lay hardwood floors. I gave them the measurements, told them how many compartments, and showed them the other bookcases featured above. I wanted it to be moveable, sturdy, and the back to be separate so I could wallpaper it (to see confused handymen tell them you want to wallpaper your bookshelf.) Nevertheless, they built it, added three coats of glossy white paint, and a week later it was mine. All for $325. In the words of Jimmy, "You ain't gonna buy nothin' this sturdy unless it has a gas tank."
There is also this bookcase from West Elm that is $549 plus shipping. It is smaller than I wanted and has casters. I could just imagine my three year old wheeling it down the stairs.
You don't have to live in an apartment to benefit from AT's great advice. Even someone like me who isn't keen on the mid-century modern aesthetic still gets a lot out of their posts. So, thanks Apartment Therapy and readers; I couldn't have done it without you (and I know you secretly love the pink room!)
One last view because I'm just so darned happy with it.
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A lot of our time is spent in the unfinished Hemingway room. As we do over the house, I am reluctant to put everyone's things back in his/her room because we simply do not have the storage or oganizational items needed. I feel very strongly that I don't want to just "Wal-Mart" it (as hubs does) but slowly, and thoughtfully put things together. For example, I want the kids' room to have a closet organizer/hooks/another dresser/storage etc. and to very neatly box up all the recently outgrown clothes and give them away. I would like to make our bonus room (pictured below) half playroom, half tv room. We haven't put things into our closets and my study (crafty things for example) for the same reason. We only have one dresser and are on the lookout for another.
This is a long-winded way of saying that toys are collecting in the Hemingway room and it drives me nuts. Out daughter drags stuff down daily. I just put a wood box in the corner that she can fill with toys but without me constantly on top of it, the above happens. That brown basket is for diaper stuff and works well so I'm not running upstairs everytime junior poops. I would love to hear how you all handle all the small things that accumulate when kids are around.
Our television armoire was also in need of attention. It had collected dust from sanding the hardwood floors and overflow from the holidays was placed on top. I'm not certain how to solve the visible wires underneath it, but since this won't be its final resting place, I suppose I can let it rest for the moment.
Although walking into this room makes me cringe, I feel so strongly about not buying storage just to turn around and dump it in a landfill, that it shall remain this way until we get the rest of the house going. I know it's shocking but I want to be honest in this blog and have you all see the full picture (but husband will probably kill me for posting this!) For those of you who don't know, there are loads of boxes because we moved here last summer when I was heavily pregnant and couldn't be bothered unpacking things like cookbooks and paperbacks, so there they sit. That carpet is what was in the Heminway room before we ripped it up. YECCH.
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