Anybody up for some Inspiration for your Holiday Table?
Inspiration for your Holiday Table from a collection of gifted DIY home bloggers
I love this time of year when fall rolls around bringing her cool crisp air, deep colors and early evenings. She all but requires chunky sweaters, fuzzy socks and long evenings enjoying the cozy of home. Followed by more hot chocolate and the flickering flames of fireplaces in winter. I think this instinctive turning towards home is much of why decorating for these seasons is so much fun. My favorite decorations are those natural ones that transition seamlessly from fall to Christmas and right into winter. Though I don’t have all the decor details worked out yet for this year, here are a few gorgeous tablescapes to bring a little inspiration for you Holiday table in this season and Read More
Thanks for all the love on the Chalkboard Wall project we completed this week. It’s always fun to watch something come together the way you had imagined. It’s even better when you get to do any project with your favorite people. And as far as were concerned, the challenge of thinking outside the box and using what you have requires ingenuity and leaves behind a strong sense of fulfillment. So just for fun, here’s a little run-down of what really went down in our kitchen the other day in the making of a bargain chalkboard wall.
The making of a bargain chalkboard wall
The making of a bargain chalkboard wall | assets and liabilities
It’s always a good place to start, this listing of assets and liabilities. It helps to establish parameters and to have a starting point to launch creativity.
Are y’all just loving all the fall home tours as much as I am? It’s such a colorful and cozy season that invites us to slow down and gather with friends and family. As much as I’m loving all the beauty and inspiration to be found, I’m starting to wonder about my own approach to decorating. What if fall decor is actually about my own vision and creating cozy spaces to gather together instead of some misguided standard I’ve devised in my own mind to use as a standard in which my own home and decor skills are always found lacking? That’s not why people share their home tours, it’s to give us a peek into their homes and special spaces. I’m choosing to enjoy these for the inspiration that they are while at the same time enjoying the beauty that fills the spaces around me.
With that in mind, I would love to offer you a steaming cup of coffee and invite you to sit and hopefully enjoy what I see when I look at our own decor for fall. Beyond that, I would love to see what makes your own decor special and what makes you smile in your own space.
Thrifted couches and a coffee table rescued from the trash pile
On shelters and stools and spray paints and a giveaway
With the arrival of fall and cooler temperatures, we squeeze in all the outdoor weekend activities we can – from pumpkin patches and hayrides to hiking and bonfires. In a matter of weeks, we’ll tend to spend more free time inside than out – roaring fires, hot chocolate, chunky afghans and a good book. Our DIY projects tend to do the same thing – outdoor gardening is replaced by indoor handwork. Painting projects have always been an interesting one for me. When we lived in south Florida, I usually did spray painting outside, but that doesn’t work so well farther north. But fortunately there is a solution and today I want to share with you a little project and thoughts on shelters and stools and spray paints AND a giveaway!
Folding Stool – Before & After
This weekend was one of those projects for me. It had great potential for creating a tremendous mess, but the only clean-up was a bit of paint overspray on my hands. It was a quick makeover that fit nicely between a wedding, a birthday dinner, church family gatherings and a surprise visit from our soon-to-be daughter-in-law. What’s not to love about a dramatic transformation that is both quick and tidy?
Happy Sunday! I hope y’all are enjoying a day of rest and at least a touch of fall, even if it’s a pumpkin-flavored treat on a 90 degree day!
I’ve added two things this weekend – velvet hangers and a small lamp for softer light.
Since it’s Sunday, that makes it the final day for the Closet Makeover Giveaway. Which means, if you haven’t entered, you only have a matter of hours so do so …
A month ago I decided to finish organizing my bedroom closet the way I had planned to when we moved into our house … five years ago. Then I came up with a few ideas to add a bit of decorating and DIYing to the project. And if you’re going to do something like that, you might as well invite a few friends along, right? So I did. Before we knew it, it had become a blogging collaboration between So Much Moore, Tori at Mess to Blessed and Amanda at Life on the Bay Bush. Three weeks ago we challenged y’all to join us for Mission Organization | Closet Rescue. We’ve purged, DIY’d, decorated and organized and now we get to present Mission Organization | Closet Reveal Highlights.
My closet after the purge, and a weekend trip, but before the makeover
Thanks for the love on Monday’s Closet DIY post! It seems that the copper tub has stolen a few hearts! Along those lines, let me add here that the colors, styles and types of DIYs I am using in my closet may not exactly capture your heart. And you know what? That’s okay! In some ways, it’s almost better! The goal is not to make your closet, home, family, life exactly like someone else’s. How boring would that be? But if something you see sparks an idea to solve an issue in your own space … then mission accomplished! Which is why today we’re checking out some other DIYs in this next step of Mission Organization | DIY Project Highlights.
If you’ve joined us on this Closet Makeover enough to have purged your clothes and culled through some of the chaos in your closet, then give yourself a hand. If you were here I’d fix you a coffee or give you a cookie or something. Because we all know a plaque or ribbon would be too tempting to take home and shove in your closet somewhere, and we’ve moved way on past that now haven’t we!
This is it! The Mission Organization | Closet Rescue Challenge. Join 3 bloggers as we makeover our closets and let’s all head into fall with less chaos and more order in our lives.
Anyway, if you have not had the time, energy or resources to move past the purge, that’s okay too. This moving in the right direction requires a lot and every step along the way needs to be celebrated in some way. Wherever you are in this process, we want to celebrate with you. So here’s your reminder to send in a few pictures and follow us on social media. And what better way is there to celebrate than with a few prizes. Since mailing chocolate is complicated, we’ve opted for some happiness that would make a nice addition to any closet space. You can find all of our contact info at the end of this post to be entered in the giveaway drawing.
Tori’s Tips and Tricks at MessToBlessed
Tori’s master bedroom is in what formerly was an attic, so the closet is not exactly spacious. It also has sloped walls, making it impossible to store items on the walls. She found a few helpful hanging items on amazon to simplify her accessories and make her closet more functional all at the same time. One of those items was a pack of shower rings to store her scarves. I’ve tried something like this plan before, but it didn’t work so well because I didn’t have the right hangers … I wish I had read her post first to save myself some frustration.
She also found this handy 2-pack of hangers for tanks. Depending on how you hang them, they will each hold between four and 16 tanks. That’s enough to clear out and entire drawer AND keep them from wrinkling. I definitely need to add some of these to my closet.
A hanger designed specifically for tank tops!
Amanda’s DIY Projects at LifeOnTheBayBushBlog
Amanda has a walk-in closet with wall space and shelves to store things but has been working on making it more organized and user-friendly for a busy mom with three girls. One of the things she did was cover some old diaper boxes with fabric and a hot glue gun, a perfect solution for those who want the look of a covered box without the details of sewing. She also had a brilliant little tip for dealing with the printing on the outside of the diaper box. Another aha! moment for me!
Check out her basic instructions on sewing-free fabric covered diaper boxes
Another fun project she did involved these glass knobs, a piece of wood and some fun paint. Whenever you can add some style to the storage process it’s a good thing!
What’s not to love about a glass knob.
You can find each of us on social media using the links below.
Happy Monday y’all! Hopefully, you’ve been able to do your closet purge and are ready for the fun stuff because this week is Mission Organization | DIY projects. Even without the DIY organizing perks, it’s amazing how simply having a purged closet can bring tremendous stress relief. Somehow we don’t realize how much of a stress-inducer chaos can be until it’s gone and we breathe a sigh of relief!
You can check out the first post and “explanation” of this series here. And there are some tips to the purging part of the process here. As well as highlights from Amanda and Tori, the other two bloggers hosting our closet makeover, here. Then you’ll find the details to join us and enter our giveaway at the end of next week later in this post.
I’m still in the process of working on some of my DIYs and should have more on those later this week, but in the meantime, I want to share a few of the completed projects. My main goal for our closet is to use items around the house to create a calm functional space with touches of things we love.
Like this little beauty … more on her later.
Washable Wire Shelf Cover
Our closet isn’t a typical walk-in, but it’s 11 feet wide and 3 feet deep. That extra foot of depth, along with two full-size doors that open in the center make it feel huge compared to any other closets we’ve had. One of my least favorite features are the wire shelves. The same ones we’ve had in both of our homes and every other place we’ve rented. They’re functional and affordable, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve set something on top of one of them only to have it fall through the wires and into the laundry basket or a shoe or the great abyss.
The shelf cover lining on the left and the fabric top on the right.
I wanted to use some of my fabric stash to create something washable, sturdy and inexpensive. Hello, shower curtain from our previous home, and muslin and velcro from my Mama’s collection, and corrugated cardboard rescued before it hit the recycle bin. I created 4 pillow-case type pockets on the underside of the shelf cover to slip in a few pieces of cardboard. The cardboard can be easily removed to wash the covers and then slid right back in to create the necessary sturdiness.
The Velcro strap on the back of the shelf.
I have always loved the natural look of sea-grass and the way this flows with our calm beachy color theme in our master suite. The shower curtain actually started as a tablecloth from a clearance shelf years ago. There are velcro strips attaching the cover to the back wire of the shelving and underneath the front edge so that all you see are the brackets. AH! Problem solved with no added expense. You can look for a full tutorial on this in the coming weeks, with ideas for other materials that you may have around your home.
Velcro tab to cover front of shelf.
Laundry Tub with Washable Liner
The next DIY I’ve been working on is a new “laundry basket” that started with an idea my hubby suggested. There are several tutorials for French laundry baskets on pinterest – gorgeous! But, it was more than the already long to-do list could handle, and I didn’t have all the materials at home. Then my hubby asked about the big copper bucket in our family room that we’ve tossed pillows in for years. Hmmmm..
A little antique copper / mid-century chintz laundry bucket
It’s really old, with plenty of character, including a cut on one side that would definitely snag clothes. It can also only be cleaned up so much, so I decided to make a washable fabric liner for it. I didn’t want to use the same fabric as the shelf covers, so I opted for this thrifted mid-century chintz that I’ve been saving for something fun for the past year.
As much as I love the look of aged copper & the vintage chintz, the leather knot may be my favorite part.
I cut out a tweaked a practice liner from some broadcloth and ended up using it to actually line the liner, because why not! There’s a 2″ flap over the top edge, including a small section inside the handle, to help it stay in place. With a little casing and 2 pieces of leather cording, that liner isn’t going anywhere until I decide to remove it and wash it. You can also look for a more detailed tutorial on this in the coming weeks.
Some in-process Artwork
The other project I’ve started is a little bit of artwork. Our daughter Katy and her best friend Jessica – who will soon also be my daughter-in-law, yes, another post on that coming up – painted some super cool artwork for Katy’s wedding a few years ago. One of those was a fun quote and I knew I wanted to use the same technique for a little quote to add to our closet wall.
We pulled out some paints that the Deco-art crew shared with us at Haven and started on this little beauty. It kind of looks like a dark boring mess right now, but trust me there will be more color and fun by next week when we post our Closet Makeover Reveals.
My completely not-styled mid-breakfast shot of DIY artwork
Don’t forget to sign up for the Giveaway!
Speaking of the Closet Makeover Reveal, here are the things to do if you want to be entered in the giveaway …
You can follow Tori @ messtoblessed.com, on Instagram @messtoblessed, on Pinterest @ Mess to Blessed and on facebook @ Mess to Blessed – click on each of the underlined links to go straight to her pages.
Send in your pics and join us for the final Closet reveals next week.
That’s it! Check back Wednesday for some tips and techniques from Amanda and Tori as well as progress on a few more DIYs. And if you haven’t started, it’s not too late to join in the fun. You are not required to have a magazine-worthy closet at the end of this, but once you purge and do even just a little organizing, you’ll be so very glad you joined in!
Sabbath. It has been my word for the year. I wait for one every year, a word that is. And it’s always an interesting mix of scary and exciting when I find I’ve settled on the one. It typically stems from something God has been growing in me, but that is far from done. The funny thing is how my understanding of my year’s word blossoms and grows into something that I would never have guessed mid-January.
This year, just like the last four has been no exception. This learning of Sabbath is slowly shaping me to rest in Christ, to be, to breathe deeply in a way that is very unnatural for me. And along with the rest has come the concept of quieting life around me, from schedules to spaces to time spent just enjoying the company of others. Though it may seem unrelated, clearing away the excesses in my home has been an outgrowth of this that has reduced stress in ways I never could have imagined. So today, I’m asking you to join myself and others in Mission Organization | The Great Closet Purge.
It’s purge week
Mission Organization | The Great Closet Purge
As I mentioned last week, I read about the KonMari method in Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying this past winter and found myself ready to approach this whole tidying concept in an entirely different way.
A few disclaimers here –
** This post contains an affiliate link. Basically, that means if you click on the links I’ve provided and decide to make a purchase, then I’ll make a little commission. It does not cost you anything extra, it just makes it easier for you to find products. THANK YOU for following along on this closet makeover with SoMuchMoore**
While I do not embrace the worldview of Ms. Kondo, she has presented some helpful principles in approaching this whole tidying thing in a way that is understandable and fairly easy to apply.
Purging Basics
Our view a few months after the purge and a weekend away, but before the decorating
This isn’t about organizing, it’s about purging. Don’t even sidetrack yourself with the organizing right now.
As much as possible, purge at one designated time. Purging your closet in one evening or weekend will leave you with a strong sense of accomplishment. It creates momentum to complete the task and it keeps your goal front and center instead of sidetracked with the bit-by-bit-when-I-have-time approach.
Before you purge, gather ALL of your clothing together at one time, in one place. If you have any clothes that are out of season or not quite the right size yet, grab those too.
The stacks of clothing categories on my bed during our closet purge.
Divide the closet contents into categories and tackle them one at a time. My categories included sweaters, shirts, pants, dresses, skirts, jackets, shoes, undergarments, accessories. I gathered all of my short-sleeved shirts into a pile and purged that stack, then I moved on to the long-sleeved shirts and on and on. The Kon Mari method advises piling your items on the floor, I actually used my bed because my back can’t handle sitting on the floor and sorting for very long.
Kondo’s criteria for keeping an item is to hold it in your hand and ask if it sparks joy. My approach was to lay out each item and think through whether or not I really loved it. Was it the one piece I tended to choose or it was just a “that’ll do” item? If I hadn’t worn it much during it’s last season that served as a great indicator that I didn’t really love it, and it was time to bless someone else with the item.
And our view to the left, you just have to love the motor oil boxes, right?
Don’t put stuff back into your closet until you’ve finished purging everything. Think of it like writing a paper. Your first draft is writing down everything you want to communicate on your chosen subject, then you go back and start editing. If you edit while you write, you’ll lose your train of thought and your paper will feel disjointed. Same concept here. Just purge away. If you have to stop for dinner, leave your freshly purged pile on the floor and come back afterward to forge on with the thinning of your closet.
As much as you can, use your bedroom closet for clothing and perhaps bedding and linens for your master bedroom and bath. It’s not the place to store extra jackets, cleaning items, books, Christmas gifts … you get the idea.
What to do with all this stuff
GET RID OF IT! You can make a few piles – a keep pile, a blessing a friend or organization pile, and a trash bag. That’s it.
We all have those items that are harder to part with than the rest, and there are several options here…
If it’s still not the item you choose to wear or really love, then go ahead and think of someone special to pass it on to, as opposed to the local thrift store. If you have a box of outfits your kids wore, take a few pictures of them to include in a digital or hard copy scrapbook and then find another family to bless,
An envelope pillow tutorial for that sweater you neve wear by can’t seem to part with.
Repurpose them into something else. I made these pillows out of a sweater that was my Mama’s that I knew I would never wear, but didn’t want to just give away. But here’s a word of caution – only allow yourself a few of these items, and go ahead and cut them up or start the process of crafting so you’re not tempted to snatch if out of the pile and add it right back to your closet.
There will always be a few items that you simply can’t part with and that’s okay, just in case you’re the type that needs permission consider it granted. You’re welcome! I have some heirloom baby gowns that have been in our family since the 1800s and you can guarantee those will be passed on to our children and grandchildren.
There will be a moment or two of panic. It could be the idea of parting with a particular item. Maybe it’s guilt when you look at the pile and wonder if you meet the criteria for a hoarder. Or it’s the size of the pile you’ve accumulated and the fact that now you have to actually do something with it or you’ll never be able to walk through your room or sleep in your bed again!
This is it! The Mission Organization | Closet Rescue Challenge. Join 3 bloggers as we makeover our closets and let’s all head into fall with less chaos and more order in our lives.
So last week around here a challenge was issued for a closet makeover. When two fellow bloggers responded, we decided it would be a fun collaborative project. It quickly turned into “Mission Organization | Closet Rescue”! Which means you’ll have three others walking this harrowing journey with you – 3 times the ideas, 3 times the perspectives, 3 times the prizes. Yay prizes!
** This post contains an affiliate link. Basically, that means if you click on the links I’ve provided and decide to make a purchase, then I’ll make a little commission. It does not cost you anything extra, it just makes it easier for you to find products. THANK YOU for following along on this closet makeover with SoMuchMoore**
With what you have … a few things to overcome?
See that last line up there? “With what you have.” Let’s talk about that for just a minute.
Now, I don’t know about you, but most of us have these little running conversations in our heads. They’re all different but they often contain what counselor-types call “negative self-talk”. Whether it’s about not making our bed, or exfoliating, or eating enough veggies, or using our kind patient words with our children … you get the idea, right?! And somehow in the midst of these mini-rants we give much more weight to our liabilities than our assets.
Because of this sad little bent that we all seem to have, those words, “With what you have” can come across as a bit heavy, judgemental and even exclusive if you will. We all come to these conversations with our own hidden list of inadequacies. Like …
… a teeny tiny space to work with
… a firm belief that we do not possess even one creative bone in our body
… too many family and job responsibilities to even think about pinning a few DIY projects much less the time to complete them.
… a lack of energy for a myriad of reasons that make taking the first step nigh impossible
Whew, too many inadequacies here, my friend!
With what you have … How about a few assets!
The beautiful thing is that we also have certain assets at any given time. Like …
… a creative ability to make something magical with a bit of patience and some modge podge
… access to loads of scrap wood and an expert carpenter
… financial resources that allow for the purchasing of organizational tools that are so cool there’s no need for even the slightest of personal touches
… a desire to make a change and just enough courage to go for it
Good news! These assets and liabilities may come and go through various seasons of our lives. That’s where the beauty of “With what you have” comes in.
Tori is a lifestyle blogger who lives in an old farmhouse with her husband, their four kids and a variety of animals. She’s addicted to flavored coffee and I know you’ll enjoy her blog and it’s range of topics from faith and family to DIY, organization and her regular Friday Funny feature. Tori claims her biggest liability for this project to be a teeny tiny closet with a slanted ceiling, along with the time constraints of a Mama involved in her church and kids school life too.
You can pause right now and follow her on instagram @messtoblessed, on pinterest @ Mess to Blessed and on facebook @ Mess to Blessed – click on each of the underlined links to go straight to her pages.
Amanda is also a lifestyle blogger who lives on a farm with her hubby and three girls. Her loves include – family, DIY projects, Coke zero, Disney and her church family. With all daughters, you may find a little more pink on her blog in the midst of her passion for repurposing old things into something new and beautiful. Won’t it be fun to follow along on her adventures! Amanda would say that though she is blessed with a walk-in closet, it has quickly become a storage area for her girl’s treasures waiting to be passed on to others.
A few friends and a desire to make chores fun? That’s exactly how this collaborative series started. We are each in different seasons and bring different assets and liabilities to the table. So in the coming weeks, you’ll find three different approaches to tackling the chaos that is our closets. One of us may choose to use more ready-made organizational systems while another opts for old diaper boxes. Another may craft everything from a tree they felled with an old hand saw, just kidding that’ll never happen.
Bottom line – each makeover will be different because we all bring different things to the table and have our own unique goals for our space. There is no right or wrong here … can I get an amen!
The one thing we have in common? Wanting a more organized and quieted closet and the understanding that everything is more fun when done with friends!
Here’s what you can look forward to …
For the next few weeks, we’ll be tackling one step in this process each week. The first week we’ll be purging and thinking through closet goals, yes #closetgoals is a hashtag. Then you’ll need a weekend break before we get to week two – DIY projects and ideas to spur your own creativity, and yes, believe it or not, you do have some of that! And we’ll wrap it all up on week 3 with some final closet reveals, just in time to restock those cozy sweaters and fun boots for fall!
Granted this is not my bedroom closet, but trust me, chaotic closets are not unique to any of us at some point!Taming this basement closet over the summer is incentive enough to tackle the bedroom closet!
How do you fit in here?
Well, I’m so glad you asked! We would love for y’all to grab a friend or two or 12 and join us. We would even recommend a purging party, it’s so much more fun with a buddy … and chocolate, obviously! In that process you can knock around some goals and start dreaming of what you want for your space. We won’t judge one bit if that requires a little coffee get together too.
Share your own pics of your process via e-mail to blog@somuchmoore.net, either the final week or after each relevant post. We would LOVE to see things like your before pic or maybe a giveaway pile if you deem your before picture too revealing – though we don’t believe they could be much worse than that one above! Share some of your ideas, successes, and even fails, We’ll be sharing ours and it’s so much easier to learn from someone else’s “save” than to have to go through the oops! ourselves.
You’ll have the better part of the final week, towards the middle to end of September to send us pics of your final reveal. AND then the really fun part …
Each of us bloggers are creating a little closet happiness project that we’ll be working on for our own closets and we’ll be making extra for a lucky reader to be chosen at random.
The catch? Just that we want you in the trenches with us! How does that happen?
1 – follow al three of us on social media
2 – send us pics of your oown closet makeover and we’ll consider them proo of your trench time.
No, this is not for the faint of heart. But we know y’all enough to know that we know that we know that Y’ALL ARE BRAVE!
Up next
Be looking for our next post on Monday about the purging process. If you want to do a little research in the meantime, I used quite of the few concepts found in Marie Kondo’s book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up“. I’ve also included a few ideas that you might find helpful on my pinterest board “A place for everything”
We’re looking forward to taming our space with you and please feel free to contact me at blog@somuchmoore.net if you have any other questions that I can answer. See y’all Monday morning to tackle this beast!
