DIY Jewelry Organizer.

Today I'm taking a little break from our before and after series to show off a project I wrapped up not too long ago.  Don't worry, it'll be back soon...showing off our 1954 cabinets, in all their painted glory!

If you follow my Instagram account, it's no surprise to you that I love jewelry.  I'm a huge fan of the statement necklace and I have wayyyy more than is necessary for just one person.

Here's a snap shot of my current collection, and embarrassingly enough, this is after I purged 2/3 of what I used to have.

Since we moved into our house a few years ago, I've slowly been making my way through different areas of our home and clearing it out!  I've focused my attention on my closet and jewelry more times than I want to admit, and each time, I still found a ton to sell/donate/toss.

Now I'm not announcing that I'm on my way to becoming a minimalist...it's just not in the cards for this girl (although I so wish I could do it!!), but I do find something incredibly therapeutic about cleaning up and clearing out unnecessary material possessions.  For me, it frees up space in both our house and my mind.  And hopefully what I've left myself with is a collection of things I actually use, actually want and actually love.

Then it's time to organize said things.

When it comes to my clothing, jewelry and shoes, if I don't see it, I won't wear it.  I need visual access to my wardrobe to keep it fresh in my mind.  This is probably definitely because I have too much clothing, and therefore can't remember all of my options.  What happens then?  I wear 20% of my wardrobe 80% of the time.  (FYI, I'm well aware this is a first world problem and I sound like a huge brat right now.  I'm hanging my head in shame as I type...)

So when it came time to create a jewelry organizer, I knew I needed to see it all.  And since this organizer was going to be hung on a wall in our bedroom, I needed the display to somewhat double as art.

Throughout the process of this DIY, I had mixed emotions about how it was turning out.  Thankfully, I stayed the course, kept patient and it all worked out!  I really love the statement it makes against our dark walls and the immediate access to all of my pretty, sparkly things. ;)

Stay tuned for the wing-it-as-I-go tutorial!  And let's take bets on how long it takes me to actually hang this on my wall. ;)  We all know how I feel about hanging things...UGH!

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Linked up to Work it Wednesday here!

Cheap and Easy, Again.

When I re-arranged our bedroom {the first time}, I created some cheap and easy art to hang on the walls.  It served it’s purpose, but since I got all wild and crazy a few weekends ago, I needed some new art to fill different blank spaces on the walls.

Simple and inexpensive solution?  Go into our ugly basement, dig out some cheap canvases I purchased in bulk from Michael’s months ago, and get my Picasso on.

The canvases I had on hand were 12” x 12”, so I knew I’d need a grouping of 4 to fill the space I was working on.  I used some metallic gold spray paint I already had to cover each canvas including all the sides.  {So it didn’t stick to the floor, I sat each canvas on a small paint tray.}  Normally, I would never spray paint something indoors, unless I was in a VERY well ventilated area.  But since 1) it’s the middle of winter, 2) I’m impatient and 3) I just wanted to get this project started, I went against my better judgment and quickly got the job done.  I used even, light coats, and each canvas was done after just a few minutes.

{FYI, I turned the heat off before I started spraying to keep the fumes from possibly traveling to other parts of the house, and then I opened the windows and doors in the basement after I was done for about 30 minutes to let everything air out.  Easy peasy.}

After the spraying was done, I let everything dry, and I didn't return to it for a few days...because I'm a crazy person and like to do a million projects at once.  I can't help it.  I get all these ideas in my head and have to just go with it!

Once my project ADD subsided and I found my way back to my bedroom art, I sat on the couch and taped off different stripes all over each canvas.  I didn’t measure anything, and just eyeballed the spacing.  After each canvas was covered, I went over all of the lines with a credit card to make sure they made good contact with the canvas.

Then I headed back to the basement to find some leftover paint from the accent wall in our bedroom.  I got out a small foam roller, and rolled away.  While the paint was still wet, I carefully peeled off all of the tape, and left the canvases to dry.

After a few days {that dang project ADD}, I got out my trusty 3M picture hanging strips and stuck one to the back of each canvas. 

Then I stuck each canvas on our bedroom wall, and voila!  More cheap and easy art for our house!  I love that I didn’t have to go out and buy one thing for this project...everything came from our basement or one of our closets.

So there ya go...round two of my cheap and easy art! :) 

Several Months in the Making

Are you ready for it?!?!  I’m talking about a project that took entirely too many months for me to complete!!

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No, no.  Don’t get all excited.  It’s only a teeny, tiny gallery wall took me way too long to cross off my to-do list.  {But hey, I’m all about full disclosure on this lil’ sliver of the web...even if it means embarrassing myself for all to see.}  Unfortunately, the wall ended up being one of those projects that didn’t keep my full attention.  I would get easily distracted by other stuff, and drop the gallery wall like a bad habit.  Here is how it all went down...

I started by collecting a bunch of interesting, but mis-matched frames from Home Goods in the spring.

I spray primed and painted them white.  I forgot to take a picture of this step, so instead I will include a gratuitous shot of my hubby’s backside to show our old patio-ish area that served as my spray painting spot until we demo’ed everything this summer.  All that white on the ground = proof I was spraying my heart out.

Then the poor frames sat in our guest bedroom for several weeks until I found the motivation to get to hanging.  I wasn’t sure how I wanted to arrange everything, so I played around with the frames on top of a piece of rosin paper {left over from covering our refinished hardwood floors}. 

I thought I’d trace the frames onto the paper, hang the paper, and easily transfer the arrangement from the floor to the wall, but I changed my mind midway through.  I decided to wing it, start from the “middle” {that I eyeballed} and work my way out instead.  

It wasn’t the most accurate method, and I may or may not have made a few too many holes in the wall, but it’s nothing a smidge of spackle and some paint couldn't fix. ;) 

Once everything was hung and I gave two thumbs up to the placement, the frames stayed as is...for wayyyy too many weeks.  Yup, I literally got used to seeing this...several price tag stickers and all.  Not cute.

So during our recent staycation, my Mom suggested we get busy filling the gallery wall with actual pictures.  Point taken.  The gallery wall had been 90% complete for long enough.  I started to hunt through all my photos.  My goal was to display pictures of our entire immediate family {me and hubby, our parents, my sister’s family and hubby’s sister’s family}.  Once I picked out all of the winners, it was time to turn them into B&W, and have them printed.

I also found a free fall printable online to fill up the center frame of the wall.  I wanted a pop in the middle of the black and white photos, and I love that I can switch out the 8x10 to coordinate with the seasons/holidays.

While this isn’t the most fantastic gallery wall, like say, YHL’s awesome hallway, it still warms my heart because IT’S DONE it represents our entire family.  I love having something sentimental to finally look at every day! :)

Anyone else take a crazy long time to complete the easiest projects???