His & Hers

You may remember last year I organized my top dresser drawer using some clear acrylic storage compartments I found at Target. Here's a reminder of how my top dresser drawer looks. A year later everything is still organized, love that.

Lately Mr. CLH has been having some serious drawer envy. He too wanted his top drawer to stay organized. So over the weekend his drawer got a little mini update for next to nothing. Instead of using three clear acrylic storage compartments, he opted to use one. I lined his dresser drawer using two sheets of scrap book paper bought at Joann's for 30 cents each on sale.

A little bin found in Target's dollar section to hold his handkerchief from our wedding, Flip and keys.

The other side of his dresser drawer is the perfect spot for his sunglasses and wallet.

Now we both have organized and stylish dresser drawers, and the best part his drawers upgrade was under six bucks. Mr. CLH likes his drawer upgrade and no longer has drawer envy :)

How do you organize your drawers?

Rocking New Addition

Over the weekend we added a pretty rocking new addition to our bedroom. For the first few months after our baby  arrives we plan on having the baby sleep in our room. Instead of making room temporally for the baby's crib, we decided a cradle would be a good solution. At first we planned on buying a new one, then thought why not check out Craigslist? I started my search under the baby and kids section of Craigslist, and quickly came across a cradle. I looked past the messy Craigslist picture { it's always funny that people don't clean up the background when posting pictures on CL } I bought the cradle for $ 30 bucks! The cradle wouldn't fit in my car { sometimes I think my car is an SUV } the seller was kind enough to drive the cradle to my house. The cradle was in great shape, just needed some cleaning and a fresh coat of white
paint.

Mr. CLH cleaned the cradle with mild soup, then primed the cradle and spray painted it matte white. The cradle looks even more darling! Next I started looking for cradle bedding, I wanted the bedding to be all white. I just pictured our baby sleeping in all white bedding like a little angle. I found the prefect cradle bedding on Amazon.com. The bedding is a three piece white cable knit set by Tadpoles: Cradle Bumper, Sheet & Blanket. The bedding was
$ 32.76 and I had a $10 off coupon, so I only paid $ 22.76 and the items were shipping for free. The shipping was super fast, I placed my order on Thursday and the package arrived on Friday. Gotta love Amazon Coupons! The bumper is super soft and the cable knit blanket is OK, its very lightweight.

We place the cradle next to our closet and only a few steps from our bedroom. We love how the cradle looks in our bedroom. Its a pretty addition. Here's our new to us cradle in our bedroom.

The cradle rocks gently back and forth and also has stoppers on the bottom so the cradle can stay un-rocked. The brown and white geometric baby blanket is from Dwell Baby for Target. I love the modern print against the classic style cradle. I found the sweet little bear was a clearance find from The Land of Nod. The little bear was only $ 5.95! It's our baby's first bear. The bear is called the Fuzzy Wuzzy bear.

Here's the inside of the cradle, as you can see the cradle is a nice size. I still can't believe I thought it would fit in the backseat of my car!

Here's a close up of the bumper, the cable knit its so pretty and exactly what I was looking for.

Glancing over at the cradle while sitting in bed, its getting us so excited for our little addition to arrive! Last but not least, I wanted to share the my Amazon Coupon code with all of you!! The $ 10 off coupon is good at Amazon.com in the Baby Store { offer Expires 2/28/11 } Enjoy!

Use Coupon Code at Checkout: 5JH8-KAUMG-LL632L

And that's our rocking new addition to our bedroom!

Our DIY Headboard Done

Over the weekend we finally completed out DIY headboard for our Master Bedroom. This was a quick project, but it took awhile to get around to. We plan to complete a number a projects in the next few months before the our new little one arrives.

But back to our headboard project. After much consideration and debate between a light grey fabric vs. a dark grey fabric. We went with a dark grey linen fabric{ so glad we did } Our inspiration for our was the Nail head Upholstered Headboard from West Elm. Here's a glance of our headboard.

Supplies:

Particle Board Cut to 63 wide x 43 high { just a smidge larger then a Queen bed width }
2 Twin Mattress Foam Pads
2 Yards of batting
2 Yards of Muslin
2 Yards of Dark Grey Fabric
Staple Gun and Staples

Here's what we did. Instead of buying expense foam, we bougth two twin mattress pads from Wal-Mart and placed the flat part of the pad on top of the board. Then place the other pad contoured side down, which created a nice thick pad. Note: The pad wasn't wide enough to cover the entire length, which is fine because the portion is the very bottom of the headboard which will be cover by the box spring

Next we placed the batting over the pads and then wrapped the foam around the board and stapled the batting and muslin in place.

Then we stapled the grey fabric on the board. First we stapled the top then bottom and then sides. We pulled the material very very tight. Then I carefully trimmed the excess fabric from the back of the board.

We really like how the headboard turned out, it looks great in our bedroom. I also love how soft  the headboard is, its nice to sit up in bed and have a nice thick cushion to lean on. We decided to skip nail heads on our headboard and prefer how it looks without. We are also playing with the height of the headboard and most likely will raise it a few inches. Before the headboard after, a reminder of how bedroom looked pre-headboard.

Here's our diy headboard in our bedroom.

There are a few projects left to complete in our bedroom: sew Euro Pillow Covers, hang curtains and install new blinds and eventually hang artwork. I'm excited that our bedroom is closer to being completed.

What project are you looking forward to completing?

Fabric Swatches, Headboards & Pillows Oh My

I guess I was channeling Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz, with the post title! Moving on...a few weeks back I ordered some fabric samples for our diy headboard, possible pillows & living room dogie bed. First up potential fabric swatches for our long forgotten Master Bedroom re-do. It's been on pause while I work on my sons tween bedroom re-do (which should be done soon). When Mr. CLH & I talked about our headboard, we both agreed we didn't want white and a pattern could be fun, but then it limits the other colors and patterns we can include in our bedroom down the line. Since we decided to stick with solid fabric I wanted the fabric to have texture and be soft. Here are the two fabric swatches we are considering for our headboard. The darker fabric is a Medium Weight Linen the color is Charcoal. The lighter fabric is from Diversitex Claridge Basket weave the color is Elephant.

Here's how the potential headboard fabric would look with our bedding, the white represents our duvet, the grey our coverlet and the grey & white fabric Euro pillows. At first glance I really like the darker shade.

Looking closer, I really like the pattern weave on the Elephant swatch, I think the color might be too light? 

My other options is going with charcoal, which looks like more like a deep grey.

I'm hooked on the Nail head upholstered headboard from West Elm. Its no huge surprise I love the color of the hardboard and the texture. I also like the idea of doing double nail-head trim. I also love how close the nail head time is to the edge of the headboard, it creates a nice finished look. I've never done a nail head trim, hopefully its not hard, I'm thinking black round nail heads.

Double the fun? Or more work? lol

Here are my other two fabric swatches, I'm considering sewing some pillow covers for our living room with this fabric, so its subtle Ikat print (swatch # 2 on the right). They would cover our yellow pillows - I would use the pillow covers from time to time, when I wanted to freshen up the look of our living room. The colors and fabric type are a perfect match with our lumbar pillows. I hope you gals aren't tiring of my love from yellow!

Often when I come home from work Mojo's on our sofa on one of the pillows, and I find myself washing our pillows more often than a want. Even though he's small he still sheds some in the Summertime.  I decided to make him a bed for living room that's cool enough to lay on the floor, like his bed in our bedroom.  I'm thinking the Chevron print with turquoise / blue piping - for an additional fun pop of color. This picture below from Eddie Ross, sums up how I love cute dogie beds on living room floors. It just makes me smile. 

What do you think of the fabric swatches for the diy headboard? Basket weave or linen, for those of you that have done nail hoards before, any tips? Thanks 

Secondly - Chevron floor dogie pillow for Mojo? Or am taking on too many projects, lol

Duvets I'm Considering

Even though I'm not nearly finished with our master bedroom makeover and currently finishing up my sons tween room bedroom, I've been thinking about a new duvet. I love the simplicity of the all white one that's currently on our bed, but I'm also in love with some new ones I recently came across. That's one reason I love duvets, you can switch back in forth between duvets, without having to store a large comforter. Which is a huge plus for my home, since its little. Here's a reminder of how of bedroom currently looks. Our Coverlet is on our bed and the duvet is folded at the end of our bed. 

Here are the duvets I'm considering for our bedroom. I think all the duvets would work well with colors we have in the bedroom, which is important. 

Duvet # 1 

The first duvet is from West Elm, ever since I got my new fall catalog from them I can't stop thinking about this bedding. I plan to stop in there over the weekend and see it person. 

Organic Seedling Duvet

Duvet # 2

I also like this more floral graphic print also from West Elm. I think this would looks really pretty in our bedroom.

Clover Duvet

Duvet # 3

The last duvet is from Crate & Barrel, I like this duvet again it has a pretty graphic floral print, however I hope the back ground is white and not cream. I'll also stop in Crate & Barrel over the weekend and check this one out. 

Poloneesi Platinum

Out of the three duvets I'm been drooling thinking about, I really like duvet # 1 - It's simply stated and pretty and will go well with the patterns we already have in our bedroom. I'm not sure how it will look with the Euro Pillow covers I plan on sewing with the fabric below. However I can always make white or blue Euro Pillow covers instead and use this fabric for Mojo's Euro Pillow Dog bed, while his current one is in the laundry. 

Of the three duvets which one do you like? Or should I just stick with our white duvet? 

The Joy of Organizing

I recently tackled some organizing projects in our bedroom. Now that our dresser has been updated I wanted to make sure the top of the dresser stays nice and tidy { free of perfume and makeup }. I decided to take a trip to Target, and see if I could find a simple inexpensive storage solution.  I came across some clear acrylic storage compartments that fit perfectly in my top drawer. I'm now able to keep my nail polish, makeup, perfume and other beauty items organized in my top drawer. I lined the bottom of the drawer with simple blue and white striped scrap booking paper I picked up from Micheal's for $ .69 cents each { I got the idea from the clever YLH } I just used double sided tape to keep the paper attached to the bottom dresser, since the items on the paper will stay stationary. Here's a look inside my top drawer.

I used three clear acrylic bins for the inside of the drawer. The middle bin is the largest and cost $ 4.99 and the two small bins were $ 2.99 each. A great affordable way to keep my beauty items organized.

While organizing my top drawer, I also got rid of a much of 'stuff' that I no longer use - that's my favorite part of organizing pairing down and keep what you really use.

Next up, tacking on our closet. Last year we updated our simple one bar closet with a closet system for Closet maid. First we re-moved the old shelf and bar and filled some holes. After we removed the old shelf there was a huge strip of pink behind the old top shelf supports. I painted the interior of the closet an 'Oops Paint color' . Next we got to work installing our closet system, because our closet is really small only 5 feet wide { a New York apartment size closet, in a California rancher } We had to customize the closet system even more to fit our needs, below is a typical closet size according to Closet Maid.

To make use of every inch of space in our tiny closet, we installed a tall bar (that would normally be a shelf) as a hanger for my dresses. Then we installed two long shelf's to hold the rest of our clothes. The very top shelf does double duty holder our shirts and storing my 'not in use purses' . The bottom shelf holds skirts and pants. After installing our new closet system, we got busy planning our wedding and the closet become a huge mess.

I spent an evening organizing the closet 'for real this time'. I don't have any before pics, but just picture a tiny closet with clothes everywhere! After going though all our clothes and determining which clothes we should donate, keep in our on dresser and keep in under bed storage. Our tiny clsoet already feels much larger. I also added storage bins in our closet to keep misc items and additional storage bins with lids for seasonal shirts etc. In addition to adding storage bins, I've been slowly updating our closet with flocked clothes hangers.

Here's our tiny, yet organized closet.

I picked up the storage bings from Lowes, the larger square bings with the pulls were $ 4.99 and smaller bins in the middle were only $ 2.99.

The biggest thing in our closet, I wanted to tackle were my shoes. I like most ladies, I love shoes and don't have nearly enough space from them. But I can came up with a solution that works for me. I bought clear plastic containers from the dollar tree to store and stack my shoes on the bottom of the closet. I still have more clear plastic containers to buy, but feel I'm making huge progress. Another plus for me using storage bins, I can see the pair of shoes I want to wear

I also decided to only keep 'in season shoes' in the closet. Right now all my Spring & Summer shoes are in the closet and all my Fall & Winter shoes on in under bed storage. This frees up a huge amount of space and its easier for my to find my spring and summer shoes.

I have two pairs of shoes that won't be in storage bins, my wedding shoes and another fab pair I bought for our honeymoon.

What organizing project is on your to do list, or you recently tackled?

So Far...

I've slowly been making progress on updating our master bedroom. Here's a little breakdown of things I have tackled in our bedroom already: Updated a Craigslist dresser, painted a bench, hung a chandelier, decided on a layout.

Our bedroom now feels more spacious and calming, which is a huge plus. Our dresser is now doing triple duty: keeping my jewelry looking pretty, holding the TV and looking fresh with candles. I found this little shiny hammered metal bowl at West Elm, it holds my delicate earrings on the outside, and I place my earrings studs on the inside.

I love this tree branch I found at Urban outfitters, it holds so much jewelry. I love this spot in our room, I used to keep my earrings all over the house and would constantly loose pairs here and there. Now everything feels pretty and tidy.

My updated bench looks perfect at the foot of our bed, most likely the pillow I made for it will be on our bed. I love the detail of the back of the bench to much to have it covered up. I took these pictures early in the morning when the sun just came out  - hence all the darkness! I'll have better pics soon.

In the next few weeks hopefully sooner rather that later, our TV will be hung above the dresser with a swing arm for easy TV watching at night. I plan on sharing more picture of my progress soon.

Thrifty Tip:

Check Craigslist for used wall mount flat screen TV holders. Many people buy the wall mounts and end up not using them, and then sell them on Craigslist.

How do you organize your jewelry in your bedroom?