Half Bathroom (Before) : Half Bathroom (After)

A gallon of paint, a few pieces of wood, wood stain, and a few accessories can make a plain, boring half bathroom look like a mini-retreat.

First, a color palette was chosen which included 5 elements:

• dark brown
• sage green
• white/cream
• medium brown
• chrome

Changes to the room include:

• Painted walls and ceiling a rustic green called Pea Soup by Behr in a Satin finish.
• Built and installed a wood frame and stained it dark brown to make the mirror look more substantial and decorative.
• Removed towel bar from the side wall.
• Installed candle sconces on each side of the mirror.
• Removed green lace curtains.
• Color coordinated accessories in white, green, and brown.

I finally got motivated while we had nice weather the beginning of September and was able to finish our side tables. In a previous post, I showed them in their unfinished state and promised that I would put new pictures up once they were done. The rest of what needed to be done was staining and putting the polyacrylic on them.

I stained them with a medium brown first and then did a second coat of stain in black. The result is a very dark brown that has hints of the black and medium brown. I tried out a new staining process too. I usually stain with a brush (bristle or foam), but this time, I tried out a sponge and used gloves. The stain goes on much more even and so much faster. I was able to stain both side tables and their respective shelves along with the water-based acrylic top coat in one day - I started about 9am and finished about 6pm with bunches of breaks in between.

We now have completed side tables. It is on to finishing the desks now with their polyacrylic before it gets too cold outside.

I was visiting with friends this weekend and I mentioned painting my living room again. I started talking about the color the living room used to be and what it is now. While I was on my way home, I was thinking about the conversation and realized that I should start writing about all of the color changes of all my rooms. Most of the rooms in my house have been painted twice and some will soon be painted for a third time. I am not indecisive (well, not about interior design), I just like change. So, the previous living room color change that happened in January 2006 will start a string of posts to follow.

1st painting (Behr ShipSide) : 2nd painting (Behr Traditional/Oakwood)

Paint is one of the most inexpensive ways to give your room a completely different look.  And if you don’t like it, just repaint.

Purples are my favorite color group. Purple is the general name for the colors between red and blue. On the basic color wheel, purple is called Violet. In my Color college art course, I was told by my professor that purple is not a real color and we were only allowed to call it Violet. It is called Violet on the artist color wheel, so I could see from where he was coming. I still tend to use the names interchangeably, but in that class, I tried my hardest to only say violet. According to some online research, Violet is actually a specific color and purple is a general color.

Personally, I tend to favor the blue-purples, but recently started liking certain colors within the red-purples with the purchase of our couch.

Purple is seen in nature in flowers: Iris, Pansy, Azalea, Violet, Lavender, Orchid, Lilac, and so many more.

In interior design, purples can be used as main attractions or accent colors. It can either cool down or warm up a room depending on if you are on the blue or red sides. Purples can be paired with lots of other colors. If your purple doesn’t go quite right, a slight shift in the blue or red direction will make all the difference.

Purple can be used at good gift wrap also. Above is a purple scarf and ribbon wrapping up a boxed set of DVDs for a family member for Christmas. Who said Christmas presents need to be in green and/or red?

Another way purple can be used is an alternative to the pink that many female babies are put in to make sure that everyone knows they are little girls when really young.

Red is the color of fire, trees in autumn, strawberries, tulips, roses, fire trucks, apples, birds and so many other things. It is a color of warmth and vibrancy. No matter how small something is, if there is red on it, it will be noticed. Stores like to use red for their signs like Target and Michael’s Crafts. There are so many variations of red from the red-oranges to the red-violets. I prefer the red to red-violet range since it is deeper and subdued in its vibrancy and feels warmer to me.

In homes, some people use red as an accent color while others make it the main attraction as in the paint on walls.

We use red as an accent color in many rooms while our hallway has red walls.

Clothing is another option where red really comes in to play. Ever heard of the power suit? Many government people and high ranking people wear the power suit that a lot of the time includes a red tie or scarf.

So, if you want to make a statement and stand out, red is the way to go in many aspects of your life.

April 22nd is Earth Day. I consider myself a conservationist and an environmentalist and I would not be doing my duty if I did not mention Earth Day on my blog. Green is the color most associated with Earth Day so I thought I would get a little creative and talk about color. Actually, each week I am going to do a tribute to a different color, so stay tuned and see what color comes next.

Green is a beautiful color. The hue alone is vibrant and best describes what we see in nature. That deep true green of the grass and tree leaves after a spring rain like we had today on the mid east coast. Below are some pictures of flowers blooming in the spring from around our yard with their lovely green backgrounds.

Our house has two rooms that are painted green - one bathroom and one bedroom. Both are the same shade of green now (one was originally the color of grass but I needed a change so it became the same color as the green in the bathroom). We have tons of green accents all around our house on pillow covers, comforters, rugs, dishes, art work, and most of all plants - lots of plants.

Original Green in bedroom : Updated green in bedroom : Green Rug

To come to think of it, we have a lot of green in our house. It does make sense though since my husband and I are both earth signs.

With the wonderful weather we have had the last couple of days, I was able to stain and polycrylic the bedroom headboard. I have posted a new picture on the original post: Bedroom of a Different Color.

I was able to get some decent pictures of the wood while I was in the process of staining and sealing the wood.

Notice the grain in the wood. This is pine but with the 1st coat of American Walnut stain and the 2nd coat of Onyx stain, the wood has a two-tone effect with added dimension. It looks really cool and I am very happy with my project.

My most recent construction project was building side tables to go beside our new couch. When I go out looking for furniture in our area, I just can never find much of what I am looking for design wise. Since I wasn’t able to find the type of tables I was looking for, I designed them after our desk “legs” that we bought from Ikea. We finally have real side tables and not some boxes or make shift table.

Once it starts to be nice outside again, I need to stain and polyacrylic the tables. Once I do, I will post new pictures.

Some material details about the side tables:

• 18″ x 24″ laminated pine (3 pcs)
• 12″ x 24″ laminated pine (2 pcs)
• 15″ x 23″ laminated pine (shelf)
• 1 1/2″ rotating plastic wheels (4)
• #6 x 1 1/2″ flat head phillips wood screws (12) (to attach wood pieces together)
• #4 x 3/4″ flat head phillips wood screws (16) (to attach wheels)

As I have mentioned earlier, I have an obsession at times with changing the look of the inside of my house. This time it was the master bedroom’s turn to look different. For the last 7 years, my bedroom has been violet-indigo - the official color is called Heliotrope.

My usual process is to go to Home Depot, choose a few samples, bring them home, and then choose between them after viewing them in various forms of light a couple times throughout the day. Then once a color is chosen, I go to the store and buy the color in Behr Satin sheen.

However, with my movement to green products, I was disappointed that Home Depot did not have a low or no VOC interior paint option. Just in case you don’t know, VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compound and exposure to them can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat and cause choking, coughing, and a scratchy throat. I have experienced these things when painting using my previous paint, so after lots of research into earth friendly paint options, I chose to go with Sherwin Williams due to their most earth friendly paint option being zero-VOC - it is called Harmony. I bought a fan deck of all of the colors so there would be no running back and forth to and from the store to figure out what color I want. After strategically going through the entire fan deck and ruling those I didn’t like out, I got down to 3 colors. I then checked those colors with all of the items that would be going into the bedroom. After comparison, I decided to go with SW6039 Poised Taupe - I have been leaning toward neutrals recently, so it fit with the current trend of the house.

I bought paint last week and this Wednesday I painted the bedroom after removing everything from the room, cleaning the walls, and spackling the holes. The paint had barely no smell as it was going on the walls. Once dry there was no smell and we were able to sleep in the bedroom that evening. In addition, I only had to use one coat to cover the previous color completely - that is a first for me! From now on I will be using Sherwin Williams Harmony paint.

Before : Master Bedroom : Heliotrope

After : Master Bedroom : Poised Taupe

The headboard is stained a dark American Walnut so that it matches with the rest of the furniture and has a Polyacrylic Water-based sealer.

During my most recent trip to the Baltimore Area, I was able to go visit my favorite store in the world - Ikea! My purpose on this visit was to purchase a couch I had wanted for about 2 years now. While the color that I wanted had changed (due to the original color no longer available), my fondness for the Tylosand couch did not waver. Here is a picture of the couch in our living room.

The couch is a sectional and can be divided in the middle into 2 separate mini couches. It may look a little small in the picture, but it is 94″ long (7′ 10″). The color is a deep violet-red. As you can see with Veda on the back of the couch, our cats are fond of it too. Also, in the picture, you can see our little, inexpensive, storage ottomans that I found at Bed Bath & Beyond and maroon curtains from Hancock Fabrics.

One of the best things about Ikea furniture is on the wood does not come from intact natural forests, they apply the German E1 standard to wooden products, they apply the Finnish regulations to their textiles, and they do not permit the use of paints and varnishes containing formaldehyde additives. The German E1 standard for wooden products and Finnish regulations for textiles are currently the strictest within their field worldwide. This along with so many other reasons is why Ikea is my favorite store.

It is nice when a new piece of furniture really changes the look of a place. Not a couch or an entertainment center since a pretty big change is expected. This change came in the form of a Multimedia Cabinet that can hold DVDs, CDs and the like.

I haven’t really ever liked the look of exposed DVDs, but media cabinets are always so expensive unless of course you want to buy a cheap one which I really didn’t want to do. So, after saving up some money, we were able to buy the Leslie Dame Solid Oak 612CD Multimedia Cabinet in Honey Oak (CD-612-D). It is a dark wood color a little lighter than my preference but still has a really nice color to it. The cabinet’s base, door, sides, and top are very sturdy. I expected a solid piece of wood on the back, but the very thick board that is on the back gives it good stability. The description of where I bought it says it will hold 290DVDs, 612CDs, 170VHSs, or varied for the combination of your choosing. I haven’t actually counted all of our DVDs - all I know is that it fit all of ours and there is some room to spare - so that is always good. Below are some pictures of our previous DVD “cabinet” and our new cabinet inside and out.

One of the best parts was that it was already put together. I don’t mind putting things together, actually, I usually enjoy it, but when you buy something that is of good quality and it isn’t inexpensive, I believe it should come put together if it is of reasonable size to do so. When the cabinet arrived, all I had to do was cut at the bottom of the box, lift the box off of the top, and then take all of the packaging materials off of it. I have to comment on the packaging - it was extensive and well thought out. There were plastic corner protectors on the cabinet and around the Styrofoam so that there were 2 levels of protection for the cabinet’s corners - it was awesome. I really wish I would have taken a picture of the packaging. The shelving for the inside of the cabinet (which I have to add that you can place in many orientations with the numerous holes for the pegs), was packaged between the bars of protective Styrofoam so there were no wasted spaces. Please note that if you are going to use the cabinet for DVDs, you will have extra shelving, so find a nice place to put your extra shelving so that if you ever decide to convert the cabinet to CDs you will have the extra shelves to do so.

Hopefully, in addition to making our home more organized and less cluttered, this cabinet will give some piece of mind to my friends when the think about visiting to know that their kids will have fewer things to get into and it will be a little bit more of a safer environment. There is still work to be done… but progress is made with every step.

Sometimes it is hard to get started when you are getting out on you own - Balancing what you need and what you can afford. I have created a list by room on what are generally the essential pieces in a room that most people need. I have labeled some items optional since there are things that you really can live without when you are on a tight budget. The same optional items can be worked around with a little creativity.

Items by Room

Living Room
Couch
Entertainment center
TV
DVD Player
Curtains/Shades
End tables (Qty. 2) (optional)
Coffee table/Storage ottoman (optional)
Lamps (Qty. 2) (optional)
Rug (optional)
Wall Art (optional)

Office Area
Desk
Chair
Computer
Lamp
Bookcase (optional)
Wall Art (optional)

Kitchen
Dishes
Flatware
Cups
Wall Art (optional)

Dining Room
Table
Chairs (Qty. 4)
Side cabinet (optional)
Wall Art (optional)

Bedroom
Bed
Dresser
Curtains/Shades
Lamps (Qty. 2) (optional)
Side tables (Qty. 2) (optional)
Wall Art (optional)

Bedroom - Child
Bed
Dresser
Curtains/Shades
Lamp
Side table (optional)
Wall Art (optional)

Bathroom
Towels

I have rearranged our living room again. This “obsession” with rearranging stems back to my early teen years and possibly earlier. After a while I get tired of an arrangement. Luckily, I have a computer program that I can arrange furniture in before actually rearranging it. It drastically decreases the time it takes and prevents me from making mistakes thinking things will fit and they don’t. The program also gives me freedom to rearrange in ways I wouldn’t dare try for fear of having to move the furniture many, many times.

I tried something new this time. Last time I rearranged the furniture we introduced two new desks into our living room and I designed the room so that we could see the TV from the desks with only slight movement. I realized that we need a little separation and so this time, I divided the room in half and the desks are on one side and the couch and TV are on the other. It is still a cohesive room with good flow from one area to another, and I feel as if I have given us some freedom from the TV too. We will see in time.

Room before rearranging : Room after rearranging.

Organizing is a useful tool in accomplishing more in less time and having a fuller, less stressful life. Below is a story about how being organized changed one person’s morning schedule.

The Old Katie

The Morning Routine

It’s 7:15am and only minutes before Katie needs to be out the door and off to work to be there by 8am.

Katie needs to find her keys, sunglasses, cell phone and purse. She needs to find some toll money so she doesn’t get stuck at the bridge again searching through the car seats trying to find enough money to make it through the toll. And, she needs to make lunches for her, Bill, and the kids.

She finds the keys on the kitchen table buried under the mail from yesterday (5 min). She finds her sunglasses in one of her coat pockets – not the coat she was planning on wearing today (5 min). She finds her cell phone under a pillow on the couch (5 min). After searching the whole house, she finds her purse in the car on the backseat floor (10 min). Making the easiest lunch she can think of for the kids, she grabs out bread, peanut butter, and jelly, and makes a sandwich for each of the kids and stuffs it into a plastic baggie and then into a paper bag that she had to scour the pantry looking for. While looking for the bags in the pantry, she found buried juice boxes and and threw those in the paper bag with the sandwich (8 min). Almost forgetting, she remembers that there is some money on the dryer that she found in the wash last week. She grabs it, counts it and there is enough for the toll (2 min).

After finding her keys, sunglasses, cell phone, purse, and toll money, making the lunches for the kids, telling her husband to go out to eat for lunch and planning on going out to lunch herself, even though they are tight on money this month, she finally gets out the door at 7:50am, 35 minutes later. With the usual traffic, she will get to work at 8:20am, 20 minutes late, not including any traffic she may encounter due to leaving later.

What a way to start off the day. As a result, Katie feels frazzled, forgetful, and behind all day due to her reactive morning routine. Unfortunately, this is not a rare morning for Katie but a frequently occurring, morning routine. Routines can be good for you or bad for you. Katie’s routine needs a complete overhaul.

On the way to work stuck in traffic, Katie sees a sign for a no obligation, 1 hour, free consultation by a Professional Organizer. She makes note of the phone number on a scrap of paper in her car and vows she will call the moment she gets into work.

Katie calls the Professional Organizer once she finds that piece of paper a few days later and schedules a meeting time.

The Consultation

During the free consultation, the Organizer hears Katie’s morning routine and makes a few suggestions based on what she hears.

The Suggestions

Problem 1

The first problem she hears is Katie can not find the necessary items she needs to take with her out the door everyday.

Solution 1

The solution the Professional Organizer suggests is an entryway organizer with hooks for each person’s keys, sunglasses, and carry bag (i.e. purse) with a small shelf or basket for each person’s cell phone and any other small items they carry with them each day.

Problem 2

The second problem she hears is the use of morning time to make lunches.

Solution 2

The main solution the Organizer suggests is to pack kids’ and adults’ lunches the night before. A few other related suggestions she makes are: Involve the older kids in good food choices by having them help you pack their lunches the night before. Use leftovers from the night before in lunches when possible. Designate an area in the fridge for the refrigerated portion of the lunches and an area in the kitchen for the non-refrigerated portion of the lunches. Making lunches for everyone in the family, will save the money that would be spent on lunches out which takes us to our third problem.

Problem 3

The third problem she hears is money location and management.

Solution 3

The Professional Organizer suggests a couple things. In response to the money left on the dryer, she suggests keeping a small container near the washer to hold contents of pants’ pockets. For the toll money, the Organizer first suggests an electronic pass that allows you the comfort of not having to carry money with you for your normal daily tolls, but if that is not a possibility, she then suggests on Sunday night to put a week’s worth of toll money into the car’s middle console area or a comparable location so the money is within reach and there will be enough for the whole week.

The Professional Organizer offers a few more suggestions and then the free hour of consulting is up. Katie feels inspired and wants the Organizer to come back for another visit. The Organizer suggests a visit in about a week to follow up on her morning routine progress and to help in other areas of her life that she feels needs some organizing.

The New Katie

After meeting the Organizer and implementing the suggestions, Katie believes this morning will be different than the rest.

The Morning Routine

It’s 7:15am and only minutes before Katie needs to be out the door and off to work to be there by 8am.

She puts the refrigerated portion of the lunches for her, Bill, and the kids into the paper bags already containing the non-refrigerated portion of the lunches sitting in an organized manner on the kitchen counter and has everyone grab their lunches going out the door.

With the money for a week’s worth of tolls already in her car’s middle console she doesn’t have to worry about the toll money all week. By next week however, her electronic pass will have come in the mail and she won’t have to worry about tolls to and from work again.

She grabs her keys, sunglasses, and purse from the hooks and her cell phone from the basket in their entryway.

Katie is out the door in record time at 7:20am, 5 minutes later, and gets to work at 7:50am, 10 minutes early, even with her 30 minute drive. Katie feels relaxed, efficient, and productive.

The Challenge

I challenge you, my readers, to think of one event in your daily routine that could be organizationally fine tuned or overhauled to make your day less reactive and more proactive.

The world around us can be a messy place. It can be hard to keep up with even the most simple of tasks when you are ridden with clutter. I like organization. I thrive off of it. It makes the day-to-day go by so much easier. It makes finding your keys trivial. It makes spending time with your loved ones a reality. Let me make your world a functional space.Organization, when broken down, is a bunch of small steps. It is achievable on so many levels from decluttering your home, to simplifying your life, to creating more free time.

I want to share with you some ways you too can be organized:

Get rid of anything you don’t use.
Throw out, give to a friend, or donate. This may sound simple, but getting rid of items is one of the hardest things many of us ever have to do. Letting go is difficult. Removing items from the home can range from throwing out trash and general decluttering of items that you just don’t want anymore - to donating or passing on a sincere gift from a friend or family member. When sentimental items are held onto for the sake of not wanting to let go and not a true love of the item, the item can become a burden. Take a picture of the item and let the item go - you will be happier.

Put like items with like.
Put all of the cooking utensils together, the dishes together … candles, CDs, and DVDs. All of the like items should go together. In the closet, put all of the shoes together, the pants together … long sleeve shirts, and short sleeve shirts. Whether you put them in color order is up to you. Everything in their own places. It will make it easier to find and choose between like items when they are all in one location.

Find a home for everyday items.
Put your everyday items in the same place everyday. Determine a location to put your keys, purse, wallet, cell phone, coat, and other items you come home with so that you can find them faster the next time you need them.

Get rid of any unnecessary incoming mail.
Throw out unnecessary paper right after it gets through your door. After you take off your coat and put the items away that you were carrying when you came home, don’t just lay the mail on the counter. Sort though it. Recycle the paper that you can recycle and throw out the items you can’t recycle.

Centralize your paper.
Put all of you papers into a filing system - filing cabinet, file boxes, and action file. Long term storage files can be stored away in file boxes. Moderately used and short terms can be filed into a filing cabinet. Everyday or weekly needed paper can go into an easily accessible action file.

Write down your list of to-do’s.
On paper, dry erase board, chalk board - any writing surface will do. Cross through the item when you complete a task. Your accomplishments will materialize. Don’t overwhelm yourself with too many tasks in any given day or week - you will only overwhelm and stress yourself out.

One in - one out - rule.
For every one thing you bring in your home, one thing should leave through donating, giving away, recycling, or throwing away. Some examples are toys and clothes. When your child wants a new toy, ask them to choose something they don’t want anymore - they will value their toys more. As for clothes, most of us generally wear 20% of the clothes we own 80% of the time. So when you want a new piece of clothing, determine what you are going to get rid of and you will always have room in your closet. The one in - one out - rule controls the clutter since with this method items should not multiply in your home. You can apply this method to all items in your home and their should be little accumulation of items.

Create a reward system
In order to keep organizing at first, positive feedback is required. Write down a weekly reward. Some reward examples are - Focus on what you want to do with the newly organized space, go to a new restaurant, visit with a friend, browse a bookstore - whatever gets you motivated to get organized. Once you are on your way to being organized, it will be its own motivation and reward.