Fun shelf paper site

I've been searching for some fun patterned shelf paper lately for a project I'm working on in the bedroom. I was really disappointed in the limited selection in my local stores but once again my favorite bloggers came to my rescue.

This week's sponsor love post at Young House Love featured a site called Chic Shelf Paper. Seriously, Petersiks...were you reading my mind? Awesome!!

I'm still working my way through the many awesome patterns available but you can be this site has gone into my bookmarks list. I can envision this site being helpful for other things, too, like backing bookcases to make them more interesting to DIY artwork for my gallery frames. I love me some fun graphic prints and this site is full of them at super-low prices.

What are some of your favorite places to shop for fun, inexpensive decorating and organizing items?

Pinspiration: DIY earring display

I'm still working on pictures of the bigger decorating projects I did in 2011, but here's a small one I just did this week to keep things moving.

For a while now I've been enamored with picture-frame earring holders like this one I saw on Pinterest. I thought for sure I could make my own, and sure enough all it took was about 15 minutes and about $15 worth of materials.





I, too, used an IKEA frame but a smaller one - Ribba 5x7 - because I didn't have a ton of space or that many earrings to store. Instead of the fancy aluminum sheeting she used (it was $18 a sheet) I grabbed a $4 removable window screen panel at Home Depot that gave me two sheets of screening the perfect size for my frame. It's a good thing because I cut the first one a little too small so I needed the second one to complete the project.


I took out the glass, mat, and backing and just pressed the screen in to the frame opening from behind. I used staples to secure it to the inside of the frame and the bulk of this baby was done.


There was only one problem...I have alot of hoop earrings and those can't hang on the screen the way my dangly earrings can. To solve that problem I busted out the cordless drill and some old 7/8" cup hooks I had lying around. I drew a straight line across the center of the frame's bottom edge then marked off every 1.5" I drilled a small pilot hole at each mark and screwed one cup hook in. Now my hoops can hang below the frame from there while my dangly earrings do double-duty as fashion and room accessories in their new more decorative home!

(P.S. The photo above is missing one cup hook because I ran out. I've since bought another pack for about $3 at Target and plan to use them for more DIY projects in the future. In fact, some friends might even be getting one of these DIY earring racks as a gift soon! But shhh...don't tell them!)






I'm also hoping that seeing these earrings out all the time will lead me to wear them more often rather than just stick with the standard small hoops and studs that I typically default to.

Decorating To-Do List

I think most people who are into decor and DIY have a constant running list of to-do projects. I know my favorite house bloggers John and Sherry at YHL do so I feel less bad about the length of my list, especially since this is a hobby and not a full time job for me. But I do think it's helpful to keep a master list running so that when I have some spare time I can find something to knock off. This may not be a complete list, but it'll be a brain dump of everything I can think of at the moment:

Dining room:

• Paint chair legs to match the wood finish on my new table.


• Find a fun fabric and make a table runner.


• Bring the curio in the corner back to my mother. (it's hers but she lent it to me)


• Get a small Expedit shelf and wine rack for the corner to create a little bar and dining room supply cabinet for linens, napkin rings, etc.

Kitchen:

• Replace the prints over the laundry closet door with a decal.


• Purge and reorganize cabinets with only what I need and use.


• Accessorize above the cabinets with something more attractive.

Guest Room/Office:

• Make a larger fabric magnetic board to replace current corkboard.


• Get a third file folder for my active file baskets.


• Secure the magnetic strip holding my supplies with Command Adhesive strips. (The screws it came with aren't enough for the strength of the magnets in my supply containers!)


• Finish filling the picture frames on the display shelf.


• Secure the desk shelf to its brackets.


• Find or build a cabinet for under the desk to hold the shredder and external hard drive. (Will have the added benefit of making the desk more stable.


• Clear out the closet/clutter and donate stuff to Goodwill.


• Sell my old desk and chair on Craigslist.

Living Room:

• Finish painting the TV wall and the edges around the other walls.


• Add a self or artwork in the space above the TV (between the bookcases)


• Sell existing sofa/loveseat. Get a new sofa and chair (or two) that are better scaled to the size of this room and the way I want to use them but don't block the window.


• Donate existing coffee/end tables and get new (white) end tables.


• Replace table lamps with something more modern (current lamps are 80s brass).


• Find a home for larger books/binders and re-accessorize the last bookshelf.

Bedroom:

• Put duvet insert back in to puff up the bed.


• Paint and re-organize the closet.


• Get a cheery plant to brighten up the patio.


• Take down the white curtain panels and paint the back wall.


• Find art for over the bed.


• Find 2 - 3 white textured throw pillows to polish off the bed dressing.

Yikes! Even I didn't realize the list was quite that long! Luckily I have vacation coming up so I'll be able to knock some of this off the list soon. The furniture will probably take a bit longer b/c I have to sell the old stuff first but I am very much looking forward to having couches that don't choke off what little light makes it into my great room.

Stay tuned for updates to this list as I check things off, and more recaps of the work I've been doing over the last few months but just haven't blogged. It feels good to be back!

Photo Frame Calendar

I'm getting rid of old magazines as part of my spring cleaning, and I always go through them one last time to see if there are any articles or idea I want to clip and save. I found one, and rather than take out the scissors I found the project online and will just link to it here. The project is a photo calendar, but not one with a different image per month. Basically you just take a photo frame, put hooks on the bottom, and hang calendar pages from them based on templates on marthastewart.com.

http://www.marthastewart.com/goodthings/photo-calendar

I like that the project allows you to keep a nice clean look around your desk but still have something practical like a calendar handy when you need it. And there's no rule saying that you can't change the pictures monthly (or seasonally) if you want a new view!

Cheap, stylish storage boxes

I have stacks of photo boxes bought over the years to house various miscellany. They were $2 - $5 each, but because they were bought over time none of them really match. I wanted to use 4 or 5 of them in the closet in my home office for storing supplies, but I wanted them all to match.

My initial thought was to go buy new ones, but that would have cost me about $20. But then I got inspired walking through Target - why not cover them with matching wrapping paper?! I already had a can of spray adhesive, so for a $2.99 roll of paper I was able to reuse my existing boxes and achieve the goal of coordinated and fun looking storage. Here are some pictures:

Before:
After: