16 July 2013

Clothes on Display: Tips & Storage Solutions for Small Closets

What's a gal to do when she moves into a place with little to no closet space? Every girl dreams of a house with a spacious walk-in closet, but not every home comes with one. I'm realizing now that I'm pretty lucky to have a townhouse with a walk-in closet. I do realize that I might not be so lucky in our next home. Currently all of my clothes (with the exception of socks and undies) are stored in the walk-in closet in our master bedroom. Jordan uses the dresser along with the large closet in our upstairs hallways for his clothes.

If you don't have a walk-in closet, there are great, unique alternatives to clothing storage. I've really been liking look of the garment rack lately. This type of storage needs to be used wisely to avoid looking cluttered. Pick some staple pieces, or pretty dresses. Keep the hangers clean and uniform. Get rid of those dreaded bright plastic hangers and invest in nice wooden or velvet hangers. You'll be glad you did.

 
Use brightly colored clothing choices. You don't just have storage, but also pop of color to brighten up a white bedroom. Using the garment rack behind the bed like this doubles as a pretty headboard and a smart use of space.
 
 
Select a handful of staple pieces if you prefer to keep the display minimal.
 
 
A large mirror helps the garment rack to blend in with your room decor and it won't look like you're just junking up a corner of your bedroom.
 
 
If you have the space add a smaller rack for your favorite shoes. This chair works great to display jewels or magazines for when you need a quick outfit inspiration.
 
 
Have a neutral color pallete in your bedroom? Easy to keep the flow. Pick neutral pieces to blend into the decor of the space. The white, gray and black pieces in this picture look like they are just another decorative accent in this bright, clean space.
 

If you prefer not to have your clothes showcased in your bedroom, a spare room or office can double as a dressing space. If you choose to dedicate an entire room you can really have fun with the space like with these framed shopping bags.


Don't like the look of a garment rack or don't want your clothes completely on display? How about finding an old armoir and fixing it up as an in-the-bedroom closet? Glass doors give a tiny peek into the display of pretty garments without looking too cluttered. If you have the space in your bedroom this is a great, clean alternative to the standard dresser. Plus you can pick your prettiest pieces to showcase and tuck the everyday garments into your smaller closet. A shelf at the bottom helps for smaller items like camis or tees.

 
Do you have a small closet? How do you store your clothes?

15 July 2013

Fab Find: Mexican Blankets



I wanted to share with you one of my latest great finds. We used these Mexican yoga blankets for our family photo session back in May. We have two blankets, sort of his and hers. One is a mix of pinks and corals; the other is a mix of blues and grays. We love to use these blankets when snuggled up on the couch watching a movie or some TV at night. I stumbled upon these blankets thanks to a fellow blogger, Dominque from Wild Heart Whispers. She used them as a party favor for her daughter's birthday party.

When I looked into the blankets I was pleasantly surprised how reasonably priced they were. I'll admit I was expecting to have to pay around $40-50. Imagine my surprise when I stocked up on two for only $12.99 each! They have three different types. I stuck with the classic but there's also a value and heavy. I'm not exactly sure the difference so I figured the classic was a safe way to go. The blankets ended up being the perfect prop to use for our family photos. I wanted to go with something that was 'pretty' and would photograph well, and these sure did.


We keeps these fun, bright blankets in our living room. I've washed them a few times and they hold up great! I was a little nervous that they would become scratchy or start to fall apart after a wash or two, but not not at all. They would also make for a great throw on a clean, white bed.

If you love these bright blankets, check them out at Sunshine Yoga and stock up on your own. There are so many color options, it took me a while to decide which combos to go with. Plus the more you purchase, the better the price.


10 July 2013

Stool Reveal

We went with the blue! Chosen by Jordan himself as he said they reminded him of something that we would find in the Ace Hotel. 


I really like how these stools have a modern look but still a retro feel. The blue offers the perfect pop of color needed in the kitchen that we definitely didn't have with the old stools. I now wish I had put out some fresh flowers before taking these photos, but consider it a 'real' shot. Hi cat.

The stools also nicely compliment the mix and match decor we have in our living room. Lots of pinks, blues and textures going on in there. This room seems to be a constant work in progress for me. We are currently waiting on a vintage wire table that I ordered from Etsy to replace one of the side tables.


I know that awkward table and lamp next to the chair have to go. They just don't work under the shelves. Oh and as you can see we did eventually get around to rehanging them in the living room. However, we opted to only hang two instead of all three. 


This time we decided it was best to reinforce the shelves with brackets, which I spray painted gold. I love the Audrey Hepburn prints -  both were Etsy finds. The left is the sheet music for 'Moon River' from Breakfast at Tiffany's and the right is an original magazine ad from 1957 for 'Funny Face'. Both are in Target frames. The rest is a mix if books, Anthropologie goodies and a vintage camera I thrifted.

What do you think? Did you guess the blue stools?

The Barstool Hunt

Forgive me for my slowness in getting back into the blogging game.
 
I've been talking for years (literally) about replacing the barstools in our kitchen. We bought these two stools on a whim after moving in just because we needed something to sit on when we had dinner. I'm pretty sure they were purchased from Linens 'n Things for probably around $30 each. They work fine, but visually we felt they just didn't reflect our personal style.
 
(An old shot of the barstools in our kitchen, note we still had carpet in the living room!)
 
After talking about it for what felt like forever, I finally recently bit the bullet and got down to some serious barstool hunting, specifically at Target - one of my favorite places to go for reasonably priced home décor. I opted to search online rather than in the store because I knew I would have more options. Once I started I was pleasantly surprised by the affordable, chic barstool options.
1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8
 
When searching for new barstools I knew I didn't want something that looked like what we already had in the kitchen. We weren't really concerned with whether or not the stools had backs since it was only going to be us sitting on them, not Lucy. I wanted something that stood out visually, but was also functional. I also wanted to make sure it was something that complimented our new paint color as well as the décor in our living room since our house has an open layout.
 
So which barstool do you think we picked? I left the ultimate decision to my hubby who picked barstools that reminded him of  the hotel from our vacation.  You'll find out tomorrow!

03 July 2013

Emerald Side Table


This is a bit of a long overdue project that I'm just finally sharing. We've always had this table in our bedroom and I've been using it as a place to store my jewelry. The dark brown color with the rest of the dark furniture in our bedroom was bringing be down. I knew I wanted to repaint. I played around with a few ideas of how I wanted to redo this table and after Emerald was named the color of 2013 I was sold.




I debated between two colors, Behr 'Billiard Table' (left) and Behr 'Emerald Green' (right). I finally settled on Emerald Green after seeing this great makeover. One week and several coats of glossy Emerald Green later, we had a new table.


I can't get over what a refreshing change this little paint makeover gives our bedroom.



I chose to use a high gloss finish and I couldn't be happier with the deep shine on the table. 







What do you think? Are you still on board with the emerald trend?