Showing posts with label Nicole's Apartment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nicole's Apartment. Show all posts

Black and white

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I have been really drawn to the Black and White trend recently. Of course I love wearing the combo, but I am considering the clean palette for the guest bathroom as well. Here are a few inspiration pics I have found so far. (Click the picture to get to the original source.) These are all beautiful pictures, but I will need to be very creative since I am in a rented space where installing black and white tile or wallpaper is not a practical option currently.










Let me know if you have recently updated your bathroom or have creative design ideas for rented apartments.


XO,
Nicole

Eight weeks to organized... Bathroom {part 1}

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Since I have been sick with a sinus infection and ear infections, organizing my bathroom drawers seemed like a good task--I could sit in bed and bring the drawers to me. I had a long ways to go as the "before" picture below show....



I decided to take this project one drawer at a time and start with DIY cereal box drawer dividers inspired from a post on iHeart Organizing {one of my favorite blogs} that I had been dying to try. You can find her original post here. I should tell you now that this took me longer than I expected, but I did not have to spend any money which is always a huge positive. I started out by gathering boxes that I had been collecting for this particular project.


Then, I began fitting the boxes together in the drawer that I wanted to organize. Keep in mind that my boxes did not magically fit in the drawer like this the first time. I actually tried several different options {while watching tv} until I decided to stick with one. The cereal box was not in my original pile of boxes to choose from. I swiped that from the pantry when I realized I needed a few more options. So just keep trying until they fit together--think of this part as a puzzle.  


Next, I traced around the outside edge with a marker. There are several ways you could accomplish this step. Measuring would work just as well, but at the time this seemed easier to me.


Then, I cut the boxes to be flush {or as close as possible} with the top of the drawer. This step takes some time.







Next, I used scrapbook paper that I had from a previous project to cover the boxes. I measured the paper and made the creases before using glue and tape to secure the paper in place. At the beginning, I was completely covering the boxes inside and out. Then, I decided that it was most important to line the insides and not worry as much about the outside since that would not be showing. Any pretty paper would work for this step. Maybe you have wrapping paper or large decorative sheets of paper that are sold at craft and art stores. It probably would have been easier if I had used wider paper for this step, but I was trying to use items I had on hand in order to keep the cost down.


After lots of measuring, cutting, gluing, and taping, I finally finished covering all of my boxes and here is how my organizers turned out.



Next, I wanted to make the other drawers as pretty but did not need all of the different sections. Rather than buying contact paper to line the drawers, I used scrapbook paper from the same book that I used to line the boxes. I matched up the pieces and taped it down to prevent it from sliding around.




Because I had created so much organized space in my top drawer, it opened up the space in the drawers below. Now the drawers look like this... Some of the items in the very back are not easily accessible, but those are items that I do not use regularly.







When I was cleaning out my drawers, I realized there were lots of product samples without a "home". For now, I threw them all into one of my spare baskets that came from the dollar store years ago. I am planning on putting the basket in our second bathroom for guests. I will probably add to this over time in order to make it a more complete selection. Currently, there are different types of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, sunscreen, mouth wash, and tooth paste. As well as being great for guests, these are all great sized products for travel, and any time I need something for a trip, I will know exactly where to find it.



Low budget organization may take more time {and patience while accomplishing it} but it was great to finish part 1 of my project still not having spent $1. Do you repurpose items in order to help with organization? I would love to hear about some of your ideas and projects.

Happy spring cleaning!

Nicole

Eight Weeks to Organized: The List

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Let's get organized!! We have decided to make a plan and get our messiest areas ORGANIZED.  We are setting out to complete this in the next 8 weeks!!  Please follow along and join us if these troublesome clutter areas apply to your humble abode.

{THE LIST}


Sarah:

1. Closet(s)
    a. Clean out/store off season clothes
    b. Find a new place for make-up, scarves, and "folded clothes" {notice the hanging shelf jammed behind/between two hanging bars in my closet}
    c. Organize/utilize small closet in bedroom
    d. Use available storage wisely {under bench in bathroom, top of closet}

Closet(s) before






2.  Laundry room
    a. Remove everything from washer/dryer closet; paint, and reorganize with cabinets, bins, or shelves
    b. Stack washer/dryer
    c. Organize broom closet
    d. Designate area for ironing and dry cleaning

Laundry room before




Nicole:

1. Closet(s)
    a. Clean out/store off season clothes in Master Bedroom closet
    b. Organize desk/vanity in Master Bedroom closet
    c. Organize behind door of Guest Bedroom closet to make it usable storage
 
Master Bedroom Closet before




Desk/Vanity before


Guest Bedroom (behind door) before





2.  Bathroom
    a. Organize master bath drawers with containers to provide more storage and define a place for things
    b. Throw away expired medications and organize under bathroom sink

Bathroom before

If you have some similar situations going on in your house or apartment, follow along with us as we organize, refresh, and streamline all of our STUFF.

Good luck and Enjoy,
Sarah & Nicole



Let's get organized...

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Since being organized in my personal life does not come naturally to me like it does Sarah, I decided to make this my new year’s resolution… GET ORGANIZED. Yes, I know that is very vague, but I do want to get organized in as many ways as possible. I began cleaning things out in January when the rest of the world was also still working strongly toward their resolutions and just like most of those people with new gym memberships, I started to lose focus on my goal. Well now I am finally getting back on track and excited to share it with you {please don’t judge the before pics that you may see on some posts}.

When we moved in several months ago, there were boxes stacked everywhere. We quickly realized that we needed to pick up a few things before we would be able to completely unpack. One of our first purchases{after living room curtains- more about those later} was a bookshelf to store lots of books and also personal/sentimental items that would help warm the place up since we had to deal with lovely “apartment beige” walls. We were not wanting to spend a lot of money on this- we just wanted something functional for now. Well, I would say that is exactly what we got. The BF came back from Ikea with what might be the best bargain EVER and it is the perfect size for an apartment {also I told him I wanted a back to the book case so he thought this was a good compromise}. He did good!

 
Ikea LAIVA Bookcase $25

Lucky for me, I did not take pics of all of the boxes before unpacking, but here is what the bookcase looks like today.



We already owned most of the items on the bookshelf: the beautiful Fearless Entertaining books on the third shelf were gifts from my mom over the years, as well as many of the pretty cook books on the top shelf that used to be hidden inside cabinets, the white owl book ends were a Christmas present to ourselves from Z Gallerie, the pottery bowl on the third shelf-that happened to match the living room colors perfectly-came from my grandmother's house, the painting on the top shelf was a Christmas gift several years back from two of the cutest little girls-Addy and Aubrey, and if you look closely at the books on the selves, most of them are a funny assortment- everything from Psychology for Dummies to Mathematics for the Nonmathematician. The book case really helped bring some personality to our new apartment while avoiding taking up much space.

A couple of months ago, I managed to find a new home for the bobble heads that once lived on the top shelf :-/ I really hate that I didn't get a picture of the shelf back then. Needless to say, this has been a work in progress. If you are trying to decorate your own bookshelves, just remember to aim for a good balance between pretty pieces and personal items{and in our case, we also chose some funny things as well}.

Let me know what you think and if you have tried something similar in your home.

~Nicole

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