Even Easier Accordion File Folder

A little while ago I posted about my upgrades to the accordion file folder I use to keep my receipts. I had another smaller one laying around that I wasn’t using so decided it would be a good place to organize some of the miscellaneous things I cut out of magazines (products to try, hairstyles I like, etc). The original inserts were labeled with the months so I took those out and made my own on pink paper, added a coordinating pink paper to the inside front section only, and tied it together with a pink ribbon. It makes me happy.

Holiday Decorating Part III

Last in the series of holiday decorating for this year, a couple switcheroos (aka using fake snow and ornaments wherever possible) I like to make for the holidays.

First up, you may recall my serving tray full of coffee beans before….

Well, they’ve now been switched out for the winter wonderland version…

Off on the other side of the buffet is a pine cone and ornament display, using the last of the decorating items (the string is still yet to be used – really need to get to wrapping those presents!!) from my pre-Thanksgiving shopping…

So much more to do and take pictures of if only I wasn’t working all the time. I guess that’s what next year is for.

Holiday Decorating Part II

Included in the bag from my pre-Thanksgiving shopping were a few items to spruce up (no pun intended) our outdoor planter box. I’m really not good with plants so there was no reason to even pretend to attempt something real here. Instead, I bought three branches (with the pine cones already attached) from the floral section at Hobby Lobby plus two sprigs of the sparkly things. Everything was already half off so the total cost was only about $15.

I set up the branches the way I wanted them on the floor inside (it’s cold in Chicago!!) and cut the sparkly beads off of their stems so I could individually twist them around the branches. Once everything was ready to go I just took it outside and pushed the branch stems into the dirt I still had in the planter. I realize real gardeners might not still have dirt in their planters but I do so I may as well use it, right?

Even though you can see the fake wires in the detail shots, it’s not as unsightly when you’re a little farther away. Meaning inside, where it’s warm. Given that we’re surrounded by the more barren landscape of winter, it’s nice to still have something pretty to look at right outside on our balcony. Plus, I consider these to technically be winter decorations which means they can stay till long after the holidays. Hopefully not too long though. I’m doing pretty well with the cold weather thus far but that usually doesn’t last much past Christmas.

Holiday Decorating Part I

We bought this tree skirt on sale after Christmas last year. It helped to finally give some direction to my holiday decorating since I couldn’t quite decide on a color theme, especially one that actually fit in with the other colors in our house, before that. Now I can basically use whatever color I want and it still works. Including pink. Love it.

In my pre-Thanksgiving shopping, I found tubes of small ornaments in the dollar section of Target in these same colors. They were actually $2.50 a piece but I splurged on some anyway. We were also at a resale shop recently where I found some bright pink glass ornaments. I like to think they bring a bit of cohesion to our tree full of ornaments we’ve both collected since we were born.

We put our tree in a different spot this year so it’s now in front of 4 mirrors we have hung on the wall. I love the way all the lights reflect off of them at night.

The presents under the tree are still missing. The shopping is almost all done so now I just have to get to wrapping!

Pretty Accordion File

As a reward for actually following through with what I wanted to do this past weekend, and because the over stretched band has bothered me for a long time, I did a quick little makeover on the accordion file where I keep all of my receipts. (I keep them by month since I usually know when I bought things or could easily trace back to a credit card.)

I picked out purple scrapbook paper from what I already had here at home so that it would go with the purple tint of the file. Next, I used decoupage glue to stick the paper onto the inside of the front and back (double lining the back so it’s not just plain white when you open it up). And though I’m not the most skilled at using decoupage glue it seemed to come out all right. Just remember you don’t want a lot of excess glue since it will bubble. Finally, I tied on a piece of ribbon to replace the old broken band and I was done. Hopefully upping it’s pretty factor and effectiveness will make me want to use it more frequently.

Weekend Organization

I had someone at work last week comment that I’m the most organized person he knows. He only thinks this because he’s only seen my office at work where I have a well developed system, and the space, to keep things so. I was never anywhere near this organized until after I graduated  from college. Unfortunately, this means that I have still not fully mastered the maintenance of my organization systems at home. I can create them, and I do, but somehow things always have the tendency to get away from me.

I told myself this weekend that I was not allowed to do any more projects until I got my filing systems under control. So I set out to purge what was no longer needed, switch everything to the color coded hanging files I had previously purchased (green for investments, blue for both of us, pink for me, and yellow for condo association), actually use the pretty file folders I also already had anywhere sub-folders were needed (again, blue for us and pink for me), and label things accordingly. Ahhhhhh. So much better.

Sneaky Design

Most houses have at least a few characteristics or issues that are difficult to design around. A few of my issues were actually in my last post so I thought I’d share. Here’s the photo again that showed our new light fixture:

 

First issue – addressing the lack of storage. Especially in the kitchen. As I’ve mentioned before, there is not a ton of space in our two bedroom condo so the buffet and wine bar in that picture were definitely part of the plan to increase our storage space. However, my love for serving dishes still extended beyond what we could fit. So, we constantly have serving pieces displayed throughout the house as well. The two tier dishes off to the right are filled with coffee beans and tea lights right now but those will soon get switched out for Christmas ornaments. 

 

Second issue – covering up things I don’t want others to see. The ledges and artwork were specifically picked out to hide a few eyesores on the wall behind them. 

The box on the left covers old telephone wires that don’t need to be accessed regularly. Off to the right, however, is our thermostat so we did need to be able to get to that. The ledges and propped artwork turned out to be perfect. I actually sketched my plan and measurements before heading out to the hardware store and IKEA to find all of the right pieces to make this work. I’ve heard covering your thermostat can cause it to misread the temperature but we haven’t had any problems with ours.

Oh, Chair Cushions

Sometimes I get ideas that don’t quite work out. For example, I found some cheap chair cushions at IKEA a little while ago but I didn’t like the velcro that actually attached them to the chair. I thought, how about I take that off and just sew on some ribbon to tie a bow. Seems easy enough, right? Only problem is, I don’t sew and anything that involves a needle and thread is not nearly as easy as it really should be.

With a bit of effort I managed to get two of the four sewn on. But it was so irritating to me that the other two stayed on my to do list for quite some time. Then, to add insult to injury, the two that were done got pulled off when someone actually tried to use the chairs. Sigh. Poor little ribbons with no cushions attached. Back onto the to do list they go.

This story is actually a little embarrassing because you would not believe how long the chairs sat with chair cushions on them but not attached. Clearly we do not actually eat dinner at our kitchen table very often.

Finally, I was in Target last week and found very pretty ivory cushions to just replace the originals all together. The material is like a raw silk so has a very pretty sheen to it. They were only $9.99 a piece. And, most importantly, they actually attach with no more effort on my part than tying a bow.

Thank you, Target, for letting me cross off “fix/finish chair cushions” from my perpetual to do list.

Fabric Covered Bulletin Board

While I’m on the topic of being inspired by Pottery Barn, here’s another project I decided to take on a couple years ago. They’ve been selling variations of their pinboards as part of their office collections for a couple years now but I originally took notice in a holiday catalog. There was a large pinboard hung above a fireplace and completely covered with black and white photos. I thought it would be fun to make something similar for our entryway so I could rotate what was on there throughout the year. Ours is usually covered with holiday cards in winter, lots of baby announcements and wedding invitations in the summer, and favorite quotes or whatever else I happen to want to look at year round. All it took to make it was a regular bulletin board, enough fabric to wrap around the board, and a stapler (just open up the stapler and go directly through the fabric on the back of the board). Super easy, adds texture and color to the space, and it was probably about $15. 

 

 

Monogram Wall Art

I’m not gonna lie, I was a little bit nervous about this project. I’m not a painter. Not even an artist. But sometimes I see things and think I should be able to make them. I come from a family of crafty women so I’m sure that has something to do with it. I also hate to spend money on things I think I should be able to do myself for less. In this case (as in many others) the inspiration came from a Pottery Barn catalog. Above one of their beds was a very simple wall monogram – it looked like one of those decals that have become pretty popular recently. The rest of our room is pretty simple though so I thought I’d actually want something a bit more detailed. So, a few canvases, a stencil from Hobby Lobby, some paint (including leftover wall paint as the base for the canvases), and a little time later I now have this –

 They’re not perfect by any means but I’m trying to be nicer to myself about stuff like that. :)