Updating the Living Room

The wall with my front door has gone through several versions since I've lived here. I just couldn't seem to get the furniture right.

I started with a small table and chair. The table was way to small. I ended up selling it on Craig's List.

Next was a dresser I purchased on Craig's List for $30. I ended up painting it aqua. You might remember the post about it here. While I loved the carvings and the color, the style never seemed right in the room. I was going for whimsical but it clashed with all my other clean lined furniture. It bugged me.

While my son was home I moved in my long dresser from my bedroom and took the mirror off. I was decluttering my clothes and was able to consolidate everything into my tall dresser. I think it looks fantastic (now to do something about the lamp cord showing). It fits beautifully with the other mid-century, streamlined furniture that I have. My bedroom also looks bigger without so much furniture in it now. I sold the aqua dresser on Craig's List (love) for a profit.

I think I finally have it right! I'm very happy with how it looks. I'm making money on the aqua dresser and this last update didn't cost me anything. Just the way I like to decorate!

Decorative Balls

I have this large blue bowl in my living room. I've had a couple dozen white ping pong balls in it. I picked the balls up at Target's dollar spot and they didn't have any writing on them. They looked pretty nice. I liked the stark white. But they still looked like a bowl full of ping pong balls. I wanted something more graphic.

I wrote on them with a black sharpie words like play, work, create, fun, joy, health, love, faith, family, friends, less, more, and numbers. I think they look much better and best of all the update was free!

Computer Trouble

Sorry about last week's Cheap Thrills Thursday! I had a computer melt-down and wasn't able to get the post up. I think my computer issues are now fixed, thank goodness, so we'll have the link party this coming Thursday. Thanks for your patience.

Organizing the Craft / Sewing Closet

Way back in August I talked about my craft / sewing closet here and what an absolute disorganized mess it was. (I can't believe it was so long ago! Where does the time go?) Here is a picture of the before to refresh your memory. What's worse is that not all my supplies were fitting in the closet and were stacked all over the place in the condo.

Well my son was kind enough to let me use some space in his 2nd closet to store my 3 large bins of fabric. They are no longer overflowing and I hope to get them down to 2 by this summer as I finish projects.

The closet has been organized since September. I just never got around to posting the after pictures! Here it is:

 

With the exception of the 3 bins of fabric everything now fits in the closet. I did donate a bunch of stuff that I wasn't using. I've been looking for an ironing board holder to mount on the door, but I can only find ones for T shaped legs not Y legs. In the meantime the board leans between the door and shelves and is out of the way with the door closed.  I reinforced the sagging shelves and purchased bins that utilize all the space efficiently (they also look pretty!). Everything is labeled and has a home. I even have one bin empty! It's wonderful. Now I can easily find whatever I'm looking for without digging though piles of stuff or an avalanche on my head. I love it!

Baby Quilt in progress

I'm so excited. My older brother and sister-in-law are expecting their first child in May. I've started a baby quilt as a gift. It's a string quilt set in a diamond pattern. I used all fabrics from my stash. I'm so glad to use up all my brights! I even have enough fabric for the back in my stash. Stash busting, yea! (Although it hardly makes a dent. Still every little bit helps.) I still need to make more blocks and sew the top together - I took a break when my son was home from college over the holidays. I lost my sewing room as it reverted back to his bedroom. Now that he is back at school I can set up my machine and get going again. I thought you might like to see the progress. I've got a March 1 deadline to get the top done as it then gets sent out to be machine quilted. Sounds like enough time, but I'm notorious for 1/2 finishing quilting projects. This is a baby quilt - not a toddler quilt!