In search of some curtains

Ever since we registered for our bedding months and months ago I’ve been looking for the perfect curtains. Our bedding features grays, blues and a hint of yellow.

Kas Maysun Mini Comforter Set, 100% Cotton

With these colors I really wanted yellow curtains. Bright, beautiful, sun-in-your-face yellow curtains. Our apartment walls are white right now so I figured some yellow would help brighten up the room and in our future home we could paint the walls a soothing gray color and the yellow would still be perfect.

I’ve looked EVERYWHERE and have yet to find curtains that I like/will pay the amount they want for them.

As I continue to look, I’m realizing I may have to make my own. I’ve seen a lot of bloggers online make their own using hemming tape and an iron so that’s always an option. Here are some fabrics/inspirations that I’m loving. If you see any curtains around that would make sense let me know and I will forever owe you!

Hedge Fabric - Chartreuse Dahlia Fabric - Dove


After seeing this DIY project I’m tempted to make my own this weekend….. We’ll see!

One last note – a big salute to all of our veterans and those serving in the military today. Thank you for all that you do and have given up for our safety and security. Whether you agree with the politics or not, please support those who have made the decision to fight, protect and serve for us.

How to: Store jewelry

I’ve been trying to come up with some good ideas on jewelry storage for a long time. Since I moved to college (ahem: too many years ago), I’ve been using one of those tiny little Rubbermaid drawer thingies. It worked out OK for a few years. That was before I had as much jewelry as I do now, before I had nice jewelry (I still don’t have much really nice jewelry) and before I had a lot of space that was actually mine.

I’ve been thinking recently about coming up with a new way to organize my jewelry, and I’m playing around with a few ideas.

Jewelry Furniture

Jewelry furniture can be a really great way to store jewelry for anyone with a creative hand.  Often people source from their local Goodwill and then spend an afternoon redoing it to make it great.

You can make this

Get a classic looking jewelry armoire

into this

Modern Jewelry Armoire Makover

Pros:

  • Make something your own
  • Lots of space for jewelry
  • Hidden out of sight

Cons:

  • Even when reusing things, this can get expensive once you pay for the furniture, paint and hardware
  • Takes up a lot of space in your room
  • Time/creativity required to redo the furniture

Bulletin Board Style Wall Storage

You may have seen different variations of this across the Internet. Some people use a basic bulletin board, often covered in fabric, and hang their jewelry from there. Something like this:

Other people have gotten more creative. This is actually the top of a table repurposed as a jewelry holder:

Pros:

  • Ability to easily create something to match your surrounding (as simple as adding fabric)
  • Fairly affordable
  • Easy access to your jewelry

Cons:

  • Difficult to hang a variety of items beyond just necklaces
  • Limited storage for girls with a lot of jewelry

Mannequins

For a girl with less jewelry than I have, the mannequin storage might work out. There are plenty of variations on this from heads to hands. Sort of related to this is the tree idea. Either way, the point here is that you hang your jewelry in a sort of artfully.

Pros:

  • Unique, artistic look

Cons:

  • Very little storage
  • Difficult to find mannequins to use

Drawer Organizers

Finally, there are the classic drawer organizers. This allows you to organize each piece nicely in felt-lined trays and then tuck them out of sight into the drawer.

These trays are a great option, but there are also some other stylish ideas I came across for drawer organizers. Check out these little teacups and saucers:

Stylish Jewelry Storage

Pros:

  • Lots of size options and space for lots of jewelry
  • Stylish, unique idea
  • Affordable (find mismatched cups at your local Goodwill)

Cons:

  • Lack of large necklace storage

Any other great options?

After looking at all of these, I’m sure I’m missing some great ideas. How do you organize your jewelry? I’m thinking of using a combination of wall storage and the teacup idea, but I’m definitely up for any other suggestions!

Your life in art

I recently came across a really cool way to decorate your home with photos, without looking like your grandma’s (read: my grandma’s) table overcrowded with picture frames.

Modern Bird Studios takes an original picture of yours and turns it into wall-worthy art! See this adorable example of someone’s cute kid climbing a tree. Suddenly the photo is transformed into wall art for anywhere in your home!

They are a bit pricy but if you think about how long you’ll be able to use this original art full of memories, it’s really worth it. While I want something similar to this for Bill and I, I think this seems like it would be best to wait until we had kids and then it might be the perfect nursery/kid room artwork!

Maybe I will get this for Lydia’s baby next year for Christmas when she will be close to one!

So we need more storage space…

… I know, I know. This is coming from the girl who raved about all of the closets in her new apartment. But I’m slowly realizing as I do my five loads of colored laundry (don’t judge!) that I take up most of the space in this apartment.

Remember back when we bought that amazingly huge dresser with (count ‘em) EIGHT drawers? Yeah, I left Bill two of them. Two big ones, though! That makes me a good future wife, right?

See, the problem is I just love for everything to have a place. Soon I want to do a post one how I’ve organized my stuff since moving in, but that will have to wait for another day. I just love having my tops closet. And my bottoms closet. And my shoe and accessories closet (I know, kill me!).

So I want to go get the tall matching dresser from IKEA this weekend. But I can only imagine how this conversation will go:

Me: Hey Bill… I was thinking we should go out and do stuff on Sunday before we have to be at the company picnic!

Bill: But you told me you didn’t want to go to the Reds game because you wanted to sleep in and relax after our day of travel…

Me: Yeah, I know… but we could go out for brunch and..

Bill: I thought we were making pancakes at home?

Me: Well yeah… but we could go out for brunch. I’ll pay! Then maybe we could go up to IKEA to…

Bill: There is no way I want to go to IKEA on Sunday.

Me: Why not? It will be fun! (For the record, this is my response to everything, including when Bill didn’t want to go to the Coke museum that we’re going to on Saturday in Atlanta.)

Bill: No it won’t be.

Me: But where will you put all of your stuff? It would be fun to just spend an hour there and explore just the two of us! Come on…. DO IT!!!

Wanna take bets on how this will end? Your guess is as good as mine.

Not sure if I want to go because we really do need the dresser or if, as mentioned, I’m in a shopping withdrawal and haven’t bought anything for the house in MONTHS… either way, we really do need the dresser!

UPDATE: We’re going to IKEA on Sunday!!!

Work in progress: My living room!

Here’s a few pictures of how my living room is turning out! I think it’s pretty much done except for our new TV that we have yet to pick out and possibly a bookshelf, depending on if it works better near the office space or in here. What do you think?

Overall, I’ve been finding things from all over the place including Target, WalMart, IKEA, Michael’s, Hobby Lobby and TJ Maxx. I’m still looking for a lamp shade for that sad lamp behind my sitting chair. The little blue vase with the green flower I actually found at a thrift store and painted it blue and found the flower in the clearance section of Michael’s. That adorable bird canvas was my one big decorative splurge at $19 from Target.
One room almost complete, only a few more to go!
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