Looking up on a bright spring morning in coastal New England!
Week Three: The Coat Rack Again?
For this week’s transformation project, I was planning, again, to spruce up my coat rack with some baskets. I was so excited to reuse Go Lean cereal boxes to make organizers for the shelves. I Mod Podged the boxes with nautical charts left over from another project (soon to be featured on this blog):
This used to be a Go Lean Crunch cereal box!
I then realized, however, that a perfect fit is not ideal. Each box fit so snugly that it was hard to pull it off the shelf and then shove it back in. Pursuing this project anymore was pointless since I know we would either stop using the boxes altogether, or rip them while yanking them off the shelves. So, it’s back to the drawing board for organizing the coat rack.
But I was able to find another use for the boxes as they fit in some shelving in our half bathroom. Before I would keep the hand towels folded on the shelf and toilet paper on the back of the toilet. I think this looks much neater!
Cereal boxes, who knew?!
How did your project go this week? Since I’m guest hosting for repurposedKATE this week, post a link to your project in the comments for this post. I can’t wait to see everyone’s transformations!
Week Three: The Coat Rack, Again
I’m still plugging away at my coat rack this week. Really, I didn’t think it would take me so long!
I’ll be “guest hosting” repurposedKATE’s weekly transformation challenge this week. Is there an area of your world (a room, a drawer, wallet, purse) that has lost it’s purpose to clutter? Take a pic & post it on your blog and post a link in the comments here. You’ll have 4 days to de-clutter the area and post the results on Monday.
I’m really excited to see how Slightly Scattered Supermom conquers her mountain of laundry this week. Join us, it’ll be fun!
Week Two: Go Lean or Go Home
It fits!
For this week’s four day transformation challenge, I planned to organize the cluttered coat rack in my front hall. While I’d love to show you a picture of a finished product, I’ll have to measure my success in baby-steps this week. You may recall that my biggest hurdle was finding baskets or boxes that fit the odd-sized shelf opening on the rack. I cleared that hurdle this week when I discovered that the warehouse sized boxes of Go Lean Crunch (a family favorite) fit perfectly in the shelves. So I’m granting myself an extension to eat some cereal and transform the boxes into something a little bit nicer! So, ’till next week…
In the meantime check out what my buddies over at repurposedKATE and Minimalism Journey are up to this week with their projects.
Week Two: The Coat Rack
This week’s challenge: do something about these shelves
For this week’s four day transformation series, I’ll be tackling a project I’ve been putting off for a long time. Our neighbor gave us this great IKEA coat rack when he moved in because it didn’t fit in his new house. If IKEA ever sold baskets that fit this piece, they don’t now. The openings are a surprisingly odd size (8″x6″x10.5″), and I haven’t been able to find any baskets that fit. Not that I’ve been looking terribly hard. I really don’t like to shop. And I’m kind of cheap.
Every time I walk into my house, I think about how much I’d really like to organize the clutter on the coat rack. I think I’ll start by finding a proper home for that football. I’ll post the results on Monday!
Week One: “All” Done
“All” I Need
Oh, how I fantasize about a built-in shoe bench to neatly manage my girls’ shoes. However, I have finally accepted the fact that building a bench is so far down the to-do list that it will likely never get done.
So, for the first week of repurposedKATE’s new four-day transformation series, I went for quick and cheap. In that regard, I succeeded. This project was free and it only took about an hour to complete.
To create this lovely shoe organizer, I used two cardboard boxes I picked up while shopping at a warehouse club (see above), and Mod Podged them with our free weekly newspaper. In the middle of this well planned project, I ran out of Mod Podge so I painted the inside of each box.
It probably won’t last long, and it’s not too classy, but it sure beats the nasty mess of shoes you saw in the before picture. So for now, I’ll take free, quick and complete:
The Finished Product
Week One: The Shoes
This embarrasses me.
I don’t know why I listened to them, but I did. My daughters told me they had trouble finding pairs of shoes in the baskets I used to have here, and convinced me to let them organize their own shoes. I’m all for letting them do some of the work around here, but it’s time to step in. To their credit, the girls did organize the shoes nicely, but, no surprise, they stayed neat for about a minute.
This will be my first project as part of my blog buddy’s new series, yet to be named, where participants declutter some part of their lives in a four day period.
She describes the series better than I ever could over at Repurposed Kate, and you should see the ambitious project she’s tackling this week. I can’t wait until Monday to see the transformation!
Happy Mother’s Day!
I’m sure if I told her I was writing this post she’d tell me not to. She’s not one to toot her own horn, so I think it’s time I do it for her!
For as long as I can remember, my mother has had a big loom in her house. While we were growing up, she weaved when she could, making placemats, rugs and blankets for the house and our dollhouses. Now that her babies are all long gone from the nest, she’s been weaving and felting to make up for lost time. I cherish the blankets she made me for wedding and baby gifts, and love the felted pillows that seem to appear right when I need them. The beautiful shawl pictured above is just one of the many items she makes and now sells.
To celebrate Mother’s Day, I’m announcing to my Mom, my most loyal reader, that I have FINALLY finished the website update (her part of it, anyway!). Check out my mom’s fantastic handmade scarves, blankets, hats and bags over at The Art of the Craft or visit her table on May 19th at the Clemson Festival of Arts.
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom–I love you!!!
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Your Kitchen
In celebration of Earth Day, I’m going to encourage all remodelers out there to consider reusing building materials in your renovations. My husband and I had a pre-owned kitchen installed in our home, and couldn’t be happier! We knew when we purchased our house that it would need a new kitchen. It’s not news that kitchens are seriously expensive. Since we are not skilled do-it-yourselfers, demolishing things and painting things are pretty much the limits of our handiness, we were looking at spending a lot of money if we bought new. So we lived with one drawer, 3 feet of counter space and no dishwasher in our kitchen for as long as we could.
Then on Earth Day 2006 (maybe it was 2007) I saw a story on our local news about a non-profit called Green Demolitions which resells high-end donated kitchens to raise money for Recovery Unlimited. A win-win-win! I bookmarked the site, watched it for a few years, and then in 2010, bought a new-old kitchen.
Here’s our Pro-Con list:
Pros:
- Obvious environmental benefit. We kept a lot of waste out of the landfill.
- Price. We got all the cabinets, a dishwasher, sink, faucet, marble countertops, microwave, range, under-cabinet lighting and refrigerator for less than this couch. That’s with delivery. We ended up buying a few new appliances, but still spent less than if we had purchased new.
- Easier decision making. We needed the kitchen to fit two criteria: looks and fit. We didn’t waste time agonizing over unnecessary decisions. No one ever presented me with the option to have a built-in spice rack, so I never had to bother considering whether I wanted one or if my life would be greatly improved by one. We knew anything we purchased would be a great improvement!
Cons:
- Fewer choices. This can be considered a pro (see above), but it might mean you’ll have to wait a while until a kitchen that meets your needs is actually available. We almost didn’t get the kitchen because I didn’t like cabinet door style, but, as predicted, they’ve grown on me.
- More complicated planning. Fully aware of our design limitations, we hired a professional designer to reconfigure the kitchen to fit our space. This was money well spent!
The pros win!
We purchased our kitchen in May, spent the summer repainting the cabinets, and had it installed in the fall of 2010. Is it perfect? Of course not, but it certainly fit our needs and improved our living space without breaking the bank. Plus, reusing something always makes us feel good! I’d be happy to go over the particulars of our experience with anyone who’s considering reusing a kitchen in a remodel.
Recycled Paper Containers
I’m always searching for small storage baskets, but have strict orders from my husband not to buy any more. I usually have trouble finding the size I need anyway, so I decided to make a few from items I had lying around the house.
I used a tutorial from A Little Hut to make a few nesting bowls from magazines. The largest is pictured below. I followed the tutorial exactly. I also used this technique to make a bowl with a more rectangular shape. I wound the magazine strips using a matchbook as a base. The bowl ended up with a nice oval shape.
5" Round Bowl Made from a Catalog
I also gave paper weaving a try. I used several 8 1/2 x 11 inch papers that came home with my first grader to make this rectangular box. It’s definitely sturdy enough to hold four spice containers.
5"Hx5"Wx4"D Basket Made of Recycled School Papers
Finally, I used one “The Week” magazine to make this rectangular box. It’s not that sturdy, but good for “light use”, like holding fish food!
5"Wx5"Dx2.5"H Basket Made From One "The Week" Magazine
I’d like to make some more boxes using recycled papers. However, I would like the boxes to be sturdier. If anyone has suggestions for how to do this, I would really appreciate it! I’m thinking I’ll use thin paperboard from a cereal box.
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