DIY Office Shelving

The Problem::

Boxes upon boxes cluttering my office space, full of reference books, notepads, binders, supplies and files.  The puppies don't mind, but its been driving me insane!  I wanted them up, out, off the floor, out of my sight!  The number one rule of organizing in a tight area?  Use your vertical space, which is exactly what I intended to do.  This is the giant wad of wall in front of my desk:

The Supplies::

A few weeks ago, a neighbor was throwing away a cabinet.  I checked it out, and it being in ok condition and only needing a wipe down and to be torn apart, I took it home with me.  It probably looked something like this at one point, but had stains, a few spots of water damage, and duct tape all over it to keep it from falling apart.  I didn't know what I was going to use it for at the time, but am so glad I scooped it up.

The four pieces of wood here are the two sides of the cabinet and the two doors.  You can still see the holes from the original hardware.  I'm going to put the holey sides facing up so they won't be seen anyway.  And yes, they are two different sizes but they were free and I'm cheap so I really don't care.

Two 5 ft Rail Shelf Tracks, a drill, a package of mounting hardware, a pencil, a level, a tape measure and a stud finder.  Also, 8- 12 inch support brackets-- two per shelf.

The Process::

First, I found some studs and paid them to put the shelves up ;-) Just kidding.  I lined the rail tracks flush against the ceiling and marked where the screw hole was.  I pre-drilled holes, then, making sure each track was level, screwed them into the studs.

 I placed two support brackets just to ensure the shelf was level.  It was.

Lastly, I rummaged around for some screws to attach the shelving to the brackets.  Didn't buy these, I just had to try to find some that were long enough to reach through the bracket and into the shelf, while also not poking through the other end, AND making sure the head was larger than the hole in the bracket.

After playing around with spacing and placing of each shelf for a bit, I finalized my plans and filled up the shelves.  Sure, they're boring and white, and I'll have to paint them soon, but just having the crap off the floor and out of my hair makes me sigh in relief and look forward to working in my office now.  Maybe I can finally get some work done in comfort.

The Monetary Breakdown::

Shelf tracks 2x $10.98
Brackets 8x $4.98
Screws $3.34/10 pack
Shelves At cost of my ingenuity and foresight, given a little elbow grease, FREE!  .... I like free

Total Cost:  $65.14
An organized, refreshing work space: Priceless peace of mind Ahhhh

DIY Shoe Racks

THE PROBLEM::

If you are my husband, or any other man, the problem you see is having too many shoes.  If you are a woman, or a shoe-lover, the problem you see is what I always saw stepping into my closet:: Not enough space to accommodate my awesome shoes!!!

I took matters to Pinterest and found a solution!!  Don't ask me which pin to reference, I didn't actually follow any instructions; but you can follow my pinterest page here and dig around-- there's some cool stuff on there, if I say so myself.  I just saw this a few times and decided how I was going to do it.

THE SPACE::

So head to Lowe's did I and picked up an 8 foot crown moulding of my choice, a can of primer and some finishing brads (about $22 total).  I had the carpenter on staff cut my 8 feet into 4, 2-foot pieces (free for a smile).

I sanded down the edges when I got home, slathered on some black paint then I got to the fun part.  Martha Stewart has these amazing glitter acrylic paints at Michael's, so I had some in the color turquoise which I sponged on top of the black, leaving the creases dark.

After they dried, I figured out what height I wanted my "superstar" shoes, at a little above my line of sight.  I am only 5'2" (and a half) so if I'm going to custom make something, damn sure its going to be custom made to ME and no one else.  So while the racks may begin relatively low on the wall, they are perfect for me and other midgets, and I make no apologies for that. Hmpf.

End Rant.  I used a level and hammered that shelf into place, using 5 brads.  Then I eyeballed about where I wanted the next rack; leveled it and set it in place.  Here is the only time measurements came into the equation:  I found out how far apart those two racks were and made sure all racks were evenly spaced after that.  They ended up being 10.5" apart, if you care; which I enjoy because it leaves space to expand above and below.

THE RACKS::

 And full and happy::

So while these do not house ALL of my shoes, it does fit very well my most worn heels.  Some sandals and others wouldn't even stay on, so those I just kept on the small wooden shelf I already had on the floor.  Also, it made me really think about how often I wear, or how much I really like the shoes I had and so a few went to the Donation Station to hopefully find a happy home on someone else's rack. 

Overall, I am quite pleased with myself and my rack! ;-)

DIY Rat

Ever wonder how those classy babes get their hair do's so high and voluminous?

Have you ever tried to recreate this look with an entire can of hairspray and an entire package of bobbi pins and it still fell flat?  Don't feel bad.  It's very deceiving.  It looks like they're just using their own hair, but really they've probably got something stuck up in there.  In the industry, this called a Rat.

To make one I started with a bunch of hair.  You can use a cheap clip-in or extensions-- no one is going to see it.  I happened to have this hair from when I chopped my own off a few months ago.  Yes I saved it, and no, I had no idea what I was going to use it for at the time.  To make this hair really go the extra mile, spray it with hairspray and tease the snot out of it.  The other thing you'll need is a hair net.

So stuff the hair into the hair net, tie the ends in a knot and voila-- you have your very own Rat :)  Place it on the crown of your head and secure it with bobbi pins.  You can tease and spray your own hair surrounding the rat and smooth it into place all around. 

 Comb shown to exhibit size of Rat



DIY At A Glance

A while ago I noticed that I was pulling out all of my creme shadow palettes from their home stacked on their sides next to each other, just to see which one held which color family. When I'm in a hurry, I can't be pulling out every compact I have so I color coded these creme shadow palettes with nail polishes so I can easily grab and go. I heart it.

Outfit of the Day: I'm off to Eat my Emotions

Nate Berkus did a segment this week with stylist Lilliana Vazquez on 30 outfits for under $150.  The wardrobe included 12 "basics" that every woman should have, and then added 8 trendy, or seasonal items for this fall.  Without buying anything at all, I went shopping in my own wardrobe for some of the basic and trendy items I already had and this was one of my favorite concepts from the 30 outfits with my own spin on it:

Nate's:: White button up, Fall colored cardigan (theirs was Mustard), Fall Blazer, Dark denim Jeans, Brown Boots (one of the trendy items was a leopard print pump, though)

Mine:: White button up, check; Fall Colored cardigan, check, though I would adore a Mustard colored one; I thought it was too hot for a blazer this early in the season (its 80 degrees out there still!); Dark denims, check; I liked the line of my jeans so much that I wanted to keep the cute cuff so I went for my trendy animal printed pumps instead of boots, again, its hot so I don't really need boots just yet-- mine are a nude suede-esq snakeskin print slingbacks with a partially hidden platform and awesome gold studs under the arch.  

I added some accessories I love (an elephant ring, a ginormous bronze cuff, a teal charm bracelet, and a long gunmetal and black bead necklace), whipped my hair in a spunky pony and was out the door!

Way to go Nate and Lilliana!  I feel confident and comfortable in this outfit, and it's also age appropriate.  And I love that I was able to find some basics and additives in my own closet.  I might have been able to put this outfit together myself, but seeing an entire wardrobe on a website and having something already pulled together like that was super convenient and took little to zero thinking, which I like too. A+ for having a stylist in my closet :-)

Chanel Commercial

Just Because our Baby is Awesome!

Sunbathing Sloth!


Nom nom nom
and yes, that is the shotgun. What?

Just Angelic...


Mamma and Baby

Birthday Fun!

The festivities began Thursday, when my brothers and I went to Pelican's so I could already be celebrating at midnight on my bday :)
This is what I wore:



On my day, my amazing hubby sent me those most gorgeous bouquet of flowers ever!


On Sunday, my family took me out to dinner at my once favorite restaurant, Sakura!



Where Alesha gave me this bouquet, they smell sooo good!

Lucy's New Things!!

A new Tug-o-War Rope... It's about as long as she is!



And an adorable new sweater!

My "New" Tv Console

So yesterday I got the itch to finally get my living room livable....
My biggest problem was that I had no where to put my TV and all its cohorts. So I grabbed an old bookshelf and some paint and got to work!

This is what I started with:

Then I sanded it down...


Drilled a hole in the back for the cords to go through...


And painted it a brown velvet...


And there it is, my new TV stand, for a grand total of $4.48 for paint!


It holds my tv, books, XBox 360 and a bass speaker