Christmas Closet Organization!

Several weeks ago when I was straightening up our master bedroom, I complained to the husband that I didn't have a good way to organize my shoes. For the last few years I've been keeping my shoes on the floor on my end of our walk in closet. This means that typically my shoes have been in a giant heap without order except for maybe a few weeks a year after I got a cleaning bug and straightened them into rows. The pile below is what the shoes looked like after I'd moved them out of my closet recently, but the shoe pile in my closet before I'd moved them was a pretty similar sight. Trying to find the right pair of shoes in the morning when I'm in a hurry to get ready hasn't been easy. I've developed the bad habit of not putting shoes away in the closet, leaving them on the bedroom floor made them easier to find in the morning. Well, the husband heard me and decided to fix my problem...he is a skilled cabinet maker and has a full cabinet shop - I'm not sure I ever got around to mentioning it, but we built a shop on our property this year where he was able to relocate all of his equipment and machinery. He made me the shoe shelf...I'm pretty pleased with it. I can't imagine what we would have paid to have someone make this custom shelf for us...and I love that it matches the other closet units he's made in the past.

Getting the new shoe organizer of course made me go through my shoes with a pretty critical eye - when I was done I had a nice little donate pile. As you can see below, if I want to keep my shoes off the floor - and I do - I don't really have the space for any more shoes. I guess I could go with the option of storing off-season shoes that I know I won't wear for several months...and maybe I will eventually. I also think I'll make a point of trying to get rid of a worn out pair of shoes when I bring home a new pair. I like having my shoes up off the ground because I can better see how worn they are. Maybe because the light to the floor of my closet is blocked by hanging clothes, I was kind of suprised at the kind of shape some of my shoes were in. I just hadn't noticed.

It can't be good for shoes to be kept in a big heap either, I'm sure some of the "wear" that I was noticing could have probably been prevented if my shoes had been stored properly.

To have a clear floor in my closet is wonderful, it makes using the closet and putting things away so much more pleasant...being as busy as I am, this really was the perfect gift. I appreciate anything that makes life feel more organized and manageable in the midst of my very busy schedule. The husband "gave" me this gift a few days before Christmas, he was very excited to get my reaction. Once the shelf was in, it inspired quite a bit of further cleaning and organizing. I appreciate anything that makes life feel more organized and manageable in the midst of my very busy schedule.

Speaking of busy schedules, I have loved having the last week off, I needed the chance to rest and catch up. We had a wonderful Christmas day...fun times playing new board games together, good food, lots of laughter. It's also wonderful that I still have a week left before returning to work. This time of rest will make pushing myself easier. I can't imagine life always being this busy, as a matter of fact, I have found myself saying just that in conversations with friends recently. Even though I love what I'm doing, I know I couldn't continue at this pace for forever. But for now, I am grateful to have a job that is both fulfilling and well paying.

I'm sure I'll be around here sometime in the next few days, I hope the rest of 2010 is as restful for you as the past week has been for me!

Sooner Than I Thought - Thank You Snow Day!

I'm back much sooner than I would have anticipated...thanks to the snow storm that blew through and froze the Pacific Northwest over yesterday. My drive home from work was pretty dicey - thankfully the husband met me at work so I could follow him home. There are some hills on my route home that when they are covered in ice can be scary. Although I'd anticipated a 2-hour late start today because it was announced yesterday, I was a little suprised when it turned into a full snow day. So even though I've got a bit of anxiety about missing a day and having to re-plan, but on the other hand, I needed the chance to get caught up on housework and get ready to have my mom and brother visit for Thanksgiving. The husband and the pets were also a big part of my day, I loved having the extra bit of unexpected quality time with them....Bambino had a blast playing with us and chasing his frisbee in the snow. This was the first experience with snow for the Buff Orpington hens that are new to the flock this year - they seemed pretty disturbed by the cold white stuff that was on the ground and every surface. I gave them lots of extra scratch corn - I've heard that it raises their body temperatures. It was wonderful to get a bit of time outside...even though it was cold, the sky was perfectly blue and sunny. I took a ton of pictures, I love how the snow makes everything look fresh and new...I tend to go nuts with pictures on snow days! So here's a whole lot of pictures with not a lot of post...Enjoy!

Wisteria Vine is Home!

I am finally getting around to doing a little show and tell with this one. The wisteria vine I received as a birthday present finally got it's permanent home. The husband custom made this cedar planter to fit around one of the deck support posts on our patio. Once it was made, he and the s-son worked on staining it. Then I filled it with dirt and planted the wisteria. It will be here for many years and I love the way it looks! I am going to train it to grow across the bottom of our deck so when you are on the patio below you are underneath a sea of wisteria blossoms - gorgeous!

Eureka, We Found It!

This post should have been made a couple of weeks ago, but I've been busy and like all good things, it was worth the wait. For this particular item, it has been a long search, a long wait, with several misturns and disappointments. Well, the search is over because we finally found it. Or maybe it found me. I was wandering through a local vintage shop not too long ago, I wasn't really even planning on stopping in, but I had a couple of minutes and I thought it would be fun to check out what they had.When I saw it, I had to blink because I couldn't believe the price, it was an amazing deal, less than a third what we would have spent for a table that I only so-so liked. It was only slightly more than the one that I knew I'd be settling for - that one didn't even come with the chairs, they were extra. I have finally found the dining room table and eight, yes eight chairs that go with it. I don't love the fabric the chairs are upholstered in, but it is not hideous and at least they are newly upholstered, so it will do for now. When I find the fabric I want to reupholster the chairs in, I will know it. This table and chairs are lovely and fit beautifully in the room. It is well built and solid, so one day when we follow through with our idea of topping it with a slab of marble or granite, it will be able to hold the weight! The husband had to like it too, of course. That meant telling him about it when we came home and then heading back with him later. The cool thing about him is that he doesn't mind doing a bit of haggling, so he was able to get the table and chairs as well as another piece of furniture I liked (that's another story) for the price that had been on the table and chairs (it always makes me nervous when he starts negotiating, but I have to say that he's really good at things like that). Having the table in the room made us want to hang the framed pictures that we've had sitting and waiting since last Christmas. Now maybe someday we'll get around to finishing that ceiling lid!

Projects Around the House and Garden

Here's a quick look at a couple of the projects that I've been busy with recently...
I [finally] got the raised flower beds around "The Pod", painted, installed, lined with weed fabric, filled with dirt and planted - big yay! I planted calla lillies, daisies, peonies that I'd started in the greenhouse, and sunflowers (3 different kinds) from seed.Another project that I sort of inspired though did not contribute to work-wise (yet) was a new staircase that leads to the deck on the back of our house. The deck is just off of our master bedroom. I've talked before about what a special place this deck is to me, I love the view from that space, it's one of my favorite features of our house. The staircase makes the view more accessible and useable. I always wanted it to be a more useable space for everyone, this did it.

Another (big) project we've had going on is peaking out of the right side of the picture above. It deserves it's own post, so more on that later. June has been a busy but fantastic month so far, I hope that's true for you also (the fantastic part, not the busy stuff).

Getting It All Stained For Summer

Over last weekend, we had the kind of gorgeous spring weather that inspires thoughts of summer and spending more time outside. It's also the kind of weather that makes you look around outside and think of the projects that need to get done. One of my favorite gifts ever from the husband is the porch swing he bought me for my birthday a couple of years ago when I turned 30. It is a favorite place for us to sit, talk and enjoy the view. It's taken on some weathering in that time, but after a fresh coat of stain, it looks as good (or better) than new.

The husband has had the bench in the picture below since the early 90's, it was a gift from his parents. Though it's been through quite a bit of weathering, the husband was able to get the years of yuck factor off of it with sanding. Then I put a nice thick coat of redwood tinted stain on it last weekend...I like how it turned out! My garden is slowly coming together, now I have a classy bench to sit on while I watch all of my lovely plants grow! It's a good feeling to renew something you already have so you can enjoy it.Because the stain was already out and the brush was already wet, I figured it was also time to stain the two adirondack rockers that the husband made last summer. (The picture above shows one chair stained and the other still in raw wood - we put the chairs on planks so we'd be able to stain the bottom a bit more easily.) We'll be using the chairs on the upstairs deck that is off of our master bedroom. Up until now we haven't had any permanent furniture there. I'm looking forward to spending more time up there this summer. I've been thinking about getting some pillows made for those chairs to maximize the cozy, comfort possibilities...I can already picture enjoying a book and a cup of tea or coffee out there.

Alternative Energy

I went to the Seattle Home show recently...mostly because the husband and I were interested to see the exhibits. An unexpected (to me) part of the show was being able to see the vendors who had green/alternative energy and recycled products. There were of course lots of solar panel products, geo-thermal heating units, high-efficiency-organic insulation, roofs made out of all sort of recycled materials - plastics, tires, metals, but probably the most interesting to me were the wind energy turbines. I may have never shared in this space that I studied mechanical engineering as an undergrad. Several of the courses I took had an emphasis on alternative energy and efficiency. I am drawn to the idea of being "off the grid" (or at least partially so) on an intellectual and practical level...good thing is that the husband has similar feelings. Some day in the future, hopefully sooner rather than later, our home will be running on sustainable energy.

Laundry Room Follow Up with a Head Cold

I've got a horrible head cold right now...it's a very winter appropriate cold, all I want to do is cuddle up, drink tea and eat soup. I actually took a nap for a couple of hours today after I came home from a morning sub job, I can't remember the last time I slept for a few hours during the day. I don't know if the rest helped my body heal much, but it felt good.Before I head off to bed to get more rest, I am finally getting around to explaining where I got the inspiration for the laundry room painting I did recently. I found a shop on etsy that sells vinyl wall decorations, the shop is called Byrdie Graphics. I get super inspired by their designs and start trying to think of rooms in our house that could use some sprucing up. As a matter of fact, I was just moments from buying the graphics that ended up inspiring my painting, but I decided I wanted something larger to fill the walls a bit more.

The process was pretty simple, I sketched the pictures onto the wall with pencil and then went over with paint. I think my years of drawing geometry diagrams on classroom whiteboards have improved my "eye-balling" skills.

I am still thinking about this laptop graphic, I think my laptop could use a bit of girly sprucing up!

Be back soon - hopefully more healthy!

Laundry Room Re-Do

I mentioned on Monday that there was a some home improvement going on around here last weekend. It started with the purchase of a set of new laundry machines...something that has been on the list of "we need to get to that at some point" for some time now. I've never personally had brand new appliances before (not counting a microwave), so this was pretty exciting to me.

I knew I wanted front loaders for the energy savings. I also thought I wanted the pedastals that you can buy that raise the machines - you know, the ones with the drawer in them. I was also intially sucked in by those machines that come in fun trend colors - red, blue, purple, teal, grey.
But when it came down to it, the price of non-white machines and those drawer pedastals really just wasn't going to be worth it. I have plenty of storage in my laundry room with the cabinets, so extra drawers aren't really necessary.

But because I did want the machines to be raised up, the husband built a 12 inch tall box to put the machines on. He even tiled the front of it with slate.

Because the wood backspash around the countertop was removed when I painted, we both thought it was a good time to replace it with a new backsplash, also made of slate tiles. The wood wasn't holding up very well. This sink is where we rinse our mop and also where we bathe Bambino, the wood was being ruined from the water that was splashed on it pretty regularly.

I love my new machines, by the way, I can't wait to get them going. Our dryer runs on gas, and because we have a propane tank, a conversion kit has to be used for it, somthing that a technician from the propane company has to do.

In the picture above you can see the machines lifted on the box, that will be so nice on my back! The doors open in opposite directions, so moving clothing from one machine to the next will be smooth. There is still some caulking and touch ups to do it the room, but otherwise it is pretty much done.

Now the best part of this project for me was the painting I got to do on the walls. Because we decided to skip the colorful machines, I thought it would be nice instead to put some color on the walls.

I took these pictures when the paint was still a drying, so the red looks kind of blotchy, but you can still get the idea.

The walls had started off boring and white...by the time I was done the room was full of color. I love how it turned out, it is very cheerful! I'd show some before pictures, but honestly, they are just blank white walls in a bare room - not much to see! There are other projects going on around here, slowly but surely they will be finished. That's kind of how it goes, all in good time!

A peak at the weekend

It was a very full but very fun weekend. It seemed as though I was able to fit in a bit of everything. One of the bigger "bits" was a collaborative home improvement project with the husband. I will share more later (we aren't quite done yet), but for now the picture above is a little preview. Every now and then Mondays are a welcome return to routine for me, today is one of those Mondays, I hope your week is off to a great start!

PS - Welcome February, you are usually kind of a grey month here in WA, could you maybe spare a bit of sunshine for us?