I've been Framed... Again!

I tried to get a few things done today to close out the weekend with some kind of accomplishment. As you saw in my last post, I worked on transforming an old industrial style paper towel holder into a fabric scrap bin. Tonight aside from painting on some projects and working on some graphic designs for my very neglected Etsy shop [sad face], I also worked on adding some more frames to the wall in the office. In my 'in the process' reading nook.

Here is what it looked like previously. It all started with on photo that was already on the wall. It was a graphic I made in PS for... the FALL. So it had to come down.

While most of the same things stayed, as you can see I added another row on top to fill in that wall 'more'.

Some new additions include this printed flower I scored from Vintage Printable.

Some vintage Nikon Camera's and a vintage Brookfield Zoo picture [Is that really a Zoo ya think?].

I also added Family crests in the top left, a small frame with some pretty scrapbook paper, an even smaller frame with just the date Josh and I *Met* [I all 'firsts' seriously..... seriously], and a photo from our trip to Fort Pickens.

I'm looking forward to when our office is complete. I've been searching online for some inspiration and the first thing to go/change are our desks. I hope to pair them on the long wall, back to back, that way the rest of the room by the window will be open. Paint of course, take the ceiling fan down and put a nice ceiling light up, a rug and a more 'comfy' chair for my reading nook.

How often do you change out photos on your wall? Do you have a habit of leaving them up for a long time or do you change them our regularly?

Two for the price of One

I love using things that weren't intentionally made for their specific purpose. For example- Using glass jars [think sauce jars] as vases or maybe even storing other food items [I like to store my brown sugar and chocolate chips in empty Barilla Jars, don't worry, no saucy after taste at all :-) ]. How about turning an old bed sheet into a curtain? Or maybe even using some eclectic pieces of 'china' as cute little pencil/pen holders to dress up your desk top a bit.

You might remember this little preview from yesterdays post. This little number I scored at Target and the best part? It was on sale.

Using an item for something other than it's intended purpose + Sale = Awesomeness.

The regular price was $16.99 and as you can see it is designated as a Tablecloth. Well.. I don't know about you but when I think of tablecloths I think back to the days of my mother dressing up our hunter green dining room [complete with brassy accents] with a coordinating/matchy tablecloth to compliment the even more stylish flowery wall-paper border.

Not my cup of tea.

So instead I decided to, you guessed it... use this piece of fabric as a curtain. 

This is the 'in the works' reading nook which is located by the large window in the Office. I am currently on the hunt for a nice armchair [via craigslist] but for now, one of the extra dining room captains chairs will do. The room itself [reading nook and office] is in the very beginning stages but the new curtain[s] have really set the stage in which direction I want to go with colors.

I'm thinking either a nice soft brown or green.

So for 3 cents less than what one tablecloth costs, I scored myself two.

And they fit the large window perfectly. I honestly don't think I will ever go back to buying 'curtain' panels. I just never see myself doing that anymore... After making our living room panels [4 panels total for two windows] out of one simple king sized sheet and now dressing up the office window for $16.96... buying a traditional curtain is a waste of money in my opinion.

Stay tuned for more updates on the 'Reading Nook' and the 'Home Office'!

So there you have the reveal of the 'sneak peak'. What do you think? Any ideas on color choices for the office? Do you buy traditional curtains or do you explore other options [sheets, tablecloths, yards of fabric... etc]?

The power of the Shelf

So the weekend is coming to a close... oh wait. Today is Monday. My B. See whenever I have the day off from work it throws me all out of whack and I always, always think it's still the weekend. -Although it does feel like Sunday.

So this weekend was pretty quiet for us on our end. We didn't get a whole lot done with the Bathroom [booo], however we did take a trip to Lowes to find a few odds and ends for the plumbing [caps and also the drain] and we also picked up a box of white subway tiles. One box comes with 100 tiles and we will need about 10 boxes total... since we pay everything with cash, we are going to buy a box here and there every so often until we have enough to complete the shower and also that will give us enough time to finish the other things that need to be done first with this project. -I also bought a sample of glass tiles for the floor. They are not the gray shade like in my mood board [found here] but they are a very light shade of blue. Very pretty... but im just not sure yet [stay tuned!].

This weekend however did consist of tackling some heavy duty organizing. Specifically with the office.

Here is what our office looked like before the overhaul. Not to bad, but not the greatest either. One area in particular that has always bothered me was the closet. And even though Josh and I had visions of turning the closet into this beautiful built in shelving unit [well maybe that was my vision and not so much Josh's.... but you get the idea]. The bathroom reno has pretty much taken over our wallets so the 'Beautiful built in shelving - complete with doors on the bottom' would have to wait. However we still needed something. Some type of shelves to organize our stuff because the way it is now was, just ain't gonna cut it.

So we came up with a compromise. We built 3 simple shelves. Attached them to the wall and painted the wall behind them, white, to try and make it look like one bookshelf unit.

Of course I have more plans for this room [like new desks and paint], but for the time being it's nice to finally have a 'go to' station of files, papers, bills... etc.

I also went out and bought some cheap-o Tupperware containers @ Wal-Mart [ick!!!!!], Family Dollar and KMart. I than printed off labels using Photoshop. Attached them to the containers for easy organizing.

I put Josh's nerdy IT books on the bottom shelf and used an old [open] container we already had to put a few of our music CD's [do people even listen to those anymore?] and computer programs... mostly Josh's programs and my Photoshop.

I consolidated all of our movies and games into this one white box [bought @ Target] for easy access. Stay tuned for a post on how I completed our Movie/Game organization overhaul!

I also picked up a few packs of file folders @ Target for $1.00 [I love their dollar isle!]. I than attached labels to them for our Active bills for the month, Paid/Inactive bills for the month, Insurance information that we get in the mail for the month [for work and for vehicles/house], a file for my College papers [more like passwords/student ID information and also receipts from my GI Bill when my Uncle Sam pays for class] and lastly is Josh and I's Veterans Affairs folder. We are constantly receiving information and letters from the VA Department and while most ends up getting filed in our fire-box, we file the ones we receive for the month in our VA File and since Josh and I are both Vet's, it can be a bit overwhelming with all of the incoming VA mail, but sometimes we get the same exact letters just addressed to each of us [like a standard type of letter] and in that case one of us will shred one [because it has our social #'s on them] and file the other one.

Overall I feel relieved and like a giant weight is off my shoulders. I am happy that everything has either been thrown out, shredded, filed or donated. I am also relieved that we tackled this project so quickly [I mean it's still January! Double W00T!].

And because I was feeling a little creative hair up my be-hind, I created this nifty little 8x10 [on photo paper] in Photoshop. I am sure you have seen those 'I love you Blogs and Coffee' photos rolling around the web. I think their great... however I really REALLY love coffee and so I wanted to dedicate one special frame and wall to the creamy, sweet liquid that wakes me up every morning and get's me going. I'm not sure what I would do without it!

So there you have our organization overhaul of the office. Of course, like I mentioned earlier... the office isn't no where near completion, but I am happy that we have finished organizing our papers and files and maybe now with a fresh start in the new year, we can easily keep on top of our filing and organizing without becoming overwhelmed, like we used to because we had no sort of system set up.

How about you... Have you done any organizing for the new year? Do you plan on doing any organizing projects or are you just one of those ultra-smart people than can file anything, mentally, right in their own mind? :)