Last Sunday we opened up our “new” home for those who’ve watched the flood recovery process to come and see the finished product. We worked insanely hard to tie up what felt like a thousand loose ends to be ready to have people over. For example, when I announced the get together, we didn’t even have a hall bathroom sink. Or master bathroom door. Among a handful of larger items, there were 1,000 small things that still needed to be done. Hence the reason we decided to have the party in two weeks…a hard deadline makes things happen magically fast. We pushed hard to get a lot done in a short amount of time and now we can rest for a bit. There’s still a few larger and smaller things that we want to complete, and those can wait for a bit.
I’ll go through all of the changes in each room with you eventually, and here’s a few snapshots of the finished product to hold you over for now. If you want to take your own before and after tour, you can look back on the before photos and a tour from one year after we moved in.
I can’t wait to break down all the before and after details because this house has come SO. FAR. And as with most things, I feel like the beauty is in the details. We worked very, very hard to add as much of our personality to this home as possible and just thinking back on what it once was…at all of the different stages…is quite mind-blowing for me. 
There are a ton of things that I LOVE about the new remodel. I’m thrilled to come home every day and I want to host all the parties. I made a few bold moves with remodel decisions and after seeing the finished product, I’m so glad that I did. What do you think so far??
Tag Archives: closet room
Re-Purposed Muffin Tins
Have some old crusty looking muffin tins?? It turns out that these make great organizers for your earrings! I was just about to toss these pans when I realized I could likely re-purpose them.
Here’s how to do it:
1. Clean the pans. Be sure the pans are clean and free of debris. Any extra granules or particles will show up after they’re painted and cause the paint to not stick.
2. Spray the bottom of the pans. I used Rust-oleum for metal spray paint in copper for my pans. You’ll want a paint that’s designed for metal. Otherwise, the paint will flake off too easily. I recommend starting with the bottoms because if there’s overspray from the top, it won’t matter as much. I did two coats on the bottoms.
3. Spray the top of the pans. I did 3 light coats of paint. You have to be careful to not overspray while trying to get the paint into the cups. I held the can 7-8 inches from the pans and kept it moving, which seemed to help achieve an even coat while getting into the crevices. (Be sure to let the paint dry between each coat.)
4. Spray the pans with polyurethane. Be sure the paint is dry before spraying. I used Minwax fast-drying polyurethane and did 3 medium coats. This step isn’t mandatory. Although, adding the extra coating will help keep the paint from chipping after excessive use. It will also protect the paint from too much damage from pointy earring backs. Again, be sure to let it dry between coats. (I did not seal the bottoms…just the tops.)
5. Fill with goodies! After the pans are dry, fill them with earrings, craft supplies, or whatever your little heart desires. The shallow cups allow you to sort smaller items while still being ableto see your options clearly.
If you look closely, you’ll see that these aren’t done perfectly. It was a windy day, and I ended up with a bit of yard debris stuck to my wet paint. However, the important thing to note is that I could mark this project off of my list and that I ended up with a functional storage solution for my home. After all, “it doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.”
Personally, I love seeing an everyday item repurposed into something more useful, especially when it was otherwise going to be trashed. Have you seen any other useful ideas lately? What else could these tins be used for? If you decide to re-purpose some old muffin pins, please share your finished product!
Side note: I’ve been planning this project for months and haven’t actually taken the time to do it. After joining #the100dayproject,I finally got it done! Happy crafting, everyone!
MAP Does Dallas
One of my goals for the month was to make a weekend trip over to Dallas and spend a bit of time with the husband. Done! What started as a trip to IKEA, ended up being an excuse to get away and celebrate Matthew’s graduation.
Most of our trips revolve around food. Picking a cool restaurant is of utmost importance. Here’s where we ate on this trip:
The Dairy Palace (Canton, Tx):
This is one of my favorite burger joints of all time. We stopped here on the way to Dallas and on the way back. The burgers are some of the best I’ve ever had. They’re world famous and open 24 hours. If you’re passing through Texas on I-20, make a plan to stop here.
Cane Rosso (Deep Ellum):
This was our first stop when we made it to Dallas, and it did not disappoint. The selection of brick oven pizzas is mouth-watering. No need to order an appetizer here because it only takes 75 seconds to cook a pizza! My favorite thing here was the decor. The restaurant was in an old building that had been very tastefully and eclectically redone. My favorite part was the fringe lights. You better believe that I’ll be purchasing one of these if I ever come across one!
Sol Ilandes (Downtown):
This place was in walking distance from our hotel, which is half of the appeal. What started as just picking a convenient place to eat turned into a fantastic meal! They played old country music and the place was filled to the brim with happy folks and high energy. There was a patio with roll up windows on the side that would be a great place to enjoy in warmer weather. The food was pretty great too. The menu was diverse, and the food was flavorful…something that you don’t always find outside of Louisiana. It’s definitely a place I’d recommend to anyone in Downtown Dallas. After dinner, we walked around the corner to Fluellen Cupcakes. The carrot cake cupcake was amazing and my favorite thing about this place was that they’re open late!
Buzz Brews (Deep Ellum):
This might have been one of my favorite stops on the trip. It was across the street from Cane Rosso and had a very artsy vibe. It featured a self-serve coffee bar. (The peanut butter coffee was a crowd favorite…we even order a 1/2 pound to bring home!) We were also incredibly impressed by the food. My banana nut pancakes were off the charts! I was in love with the old faucets in the bathroom…so cool! The bathroom itself is something to talk about. I heard a girl say, “It’s two doors, but don’t let that confuse you…its one bathroom.” I thought that meant you had to go through two doors to get in. Nope. It’s two doors (one for men and one for women), but they lead into the SAME bathroom. There were individual stalls/rooms on each side with the cool sinks in the middle of the room. I’d never seen anything quite like it!
One of the highlights of this trip was that I got to go ice skating for the first time! Matthew has quite a bit of experience, but I had never been on skates. I’m happy to report that I didn’t fall, not even once! They say that ice skating is a lot like rollerblading, which I can agree with…if you’re roller blading on baby oil!
Another highlight was our visit to the Look Cinemas. This is one of those movie theaters that have recliners, serve food, etc. Actually, they offer four different experiences to chose from. (Check out their website…it’s pretty cool.) Matthew and I chose the Look & Dine experience. My favorite part of this theater was the chairs…they were grouped in sets of two, were incredibly comfortable, and reclined! That only thing missing from this experience was a cozy blanket!
The day we headed home, we spent 7+ hours at IKEA. My birthday present from Matthew was to finish out my closet room, so we ultimately went to get some storage solutions for that. We also bought shelves for my office, a new rug, and several other goodies that you’ll likely see around my house soon. As always, it was a fun (but exhausting) day of shopping. Never ben to IKEA? Go! There’s nothing else like it.
All in all, we had a fun trip. We met up with Amanda and her sister Rachel here and there and enjoyed lots of quality time together. I also got two houses under contract while on the road, which is seriously one of my favorite things about this career.
Want to read more about our travels? Check here! Where shall we go next??
Closet Cleanup
My name is Taylor. You may have heard of me, I am one of Pamela’s lovely assistants! She is out of the town for the week. You can read more about where she is and what she’s doing here. So, I am filling in! Hope you don’t mind! Now, I know that most of the time when you have a guest post, they’ll often link you back to their personal blog site. Well I don’t have one yet. This is me getting my feet wet. If it works out for me, I may try my hand at blogging. Enjoy!
I recently went from living alone to being married… and Pamela taught me well in the whole “we need all the clothes/shoes/jewelry/things” lesson of life. My closet was the proof. Now, my husband and I share the world’s tiniest mobile home which also means we now share the world’s tiniest closet. Something that I am NOT the biggest fan of but for now it’ll have to do.
Pinterest is my favorite. I am on it everyday searching for things I can do to make my home a more functional and happier place (Pamela also talks about this here). While searching one day last year I came across this pin. It gave great advice about how to slim down your closet and realize that you don’t really wear everything in there. Since the now “shared” closet was beginning to be so packed that it was dysfunctional, I decided to give it a try.
The pin’s suggestion was to turn ALL the hangers in your closet backwards and as you hung up items that you have worn you hang them up correctly. At the end of the season you will be able to really see the items that you never touched. I thought that was great and all, but I could BARELY hang one more item up let alone re-hang everything backwards without having to go to physical therapy for all the lifting. So, I decided to just hang the items that I knew I didn’t wear often backwards (nice party dress and a a sequin top that I only pull out for new year events.) Then everything I wore recently was to be hung on the opposite side of these items.
(I also did this to my husband’s side but he doesn’t know this yet! Shh…) Can you find the dividing hangers?
I loved how this not only would lead me to clean out my closet at the end of the season, but it also:
- made me aware of what I wear TOO much
- allowed me to see growth in the side of recently worn items
- allowed me to see a shrinkage of clothes on the never wear side
- forced me to wear more clothes on the never wear side for fear I would lose them
- forced me to throw out items that were too small or not flattering as I tried them on instead of waiting until the end of the season.
In January I started working at a physical therapy clinic. This means that I have to wear scrubs on the regular. I don’t know about you, but I would much rather wear something a tad more fashionable. So I began to really love Friday-Sunday. These are the days that I could look and feel my best. This month I began to notice myself pulling more and more from the recently worn section, and I have way too many clothes to be limiting myself so soon.
We spent the last weekend in Baton Rouge/New Orleans and I made a point to ONLY pack from the other side of the backwards hangers. The Abyss.
And I was thrilled with my outfits!
Maybe this idea works for you, maybe it doesn’t but I challenge you to evaluate your closet. Notice what you might be wearing too often or not enough. Throw things out that make you feel uncomfortable (trust me, this will make you feel like a million bucks when you’ve thrown out the tight, uncomfortable things and the rest of your clothes truly fit and flatter you). Do you have any tiny closet tips? I would love to hear them!
#mapfirsthouse – Closet Plans & Inspiration
I had a closet room in our last rent house, but I never quite made it into the room of fabulousness that I had hoped for. In this house, I have pretty large plans to make this room a dressing room paradise.
My overall inspiration for the room came from this nursery. I loved the black and white stripes with hot pink and orange accents. I even ordered this flamingo print from Elise! (Once upon a time, I really hated pink. However, since this spring I’ve really kind of liked it.)
My original idea was to hang black and white striped curtains, but when reading this post by Myquillyn, I saw the striped wallpaper and fell in love! Striped wallpaper would make such a grander statement than just curtains, and I’m pretty excited about my new idea. (Also, I love the idea of those Style Saturdays by Lowe’s and would love for one to take place near me!)
As for other inspiration, I plan to paint our current dining room chandelier and use it in the space. I’m also thinking I’ll spray paint/update my dear mannequin a copper color to pull from the orange. The yellow worked great at Salt & Pepper, but I think it’s time for an update. Have I mentioned that I’m loving copper these days?? I’d paint everything copper right now if it made sense. (P.S. That’s my wedding dress that she’s wearing.)
I certainly hated to take down my old shoe shelves, but I was excited to make a new plan for this closet. I brought in this shelf as a temporary solution for my shoes until I could decide exactly how I wanted things done. However, I think I might love this option! This shelf was built by my dad with 100 year old wood from our old barn. That’s amazing, right?? I’ve always used this shelf for picture frames and such because the shelves are too narrow for books and taller items. I never considered it as an option for shoes, but I’m thinking that I might be in love!
As of right now, I brought in the orange printed rug from my last closet. I’ll wait until more of the decor comes together before deciding if it stays, but I definitely love this rug. I’m thinking that I might end up with an ottoman in the center of the room, but I’m still thinking on that too.
My next plan is to recover my grandmother’s cream vintage chair in this black and white printed fabric. I purchased this fabric from a clearance rack years ago with no plan for it. I’ve been waiting on the right project, and I think this is it! You might remember this chair from my old living room. I’ve used it since I was a little girl. Speaking of recovering chairs, if anyone has any tips for that project, I’m all ears! 
Things are definitely coming together around the house. Of course, it’s a slow and steady process, but I’m feeling good about what we’ve accomplished so far. I’ve enjoyed dreaming up plans for this closet space of mine, and I can’t wait to pull it all together. Have you seen any fabulous closet spaces lately? Send me a link!
Hello, September.
I think September is quite possibly my favorite month of the year. (Full disclosure: I will likely say that for other months too.) I think that I love September because I feel like fall is just around the corner. Temperatures start to cool off but it’s still warm (especially in Louisiana). I feel like it’s time to pull out all of my fall attire and start getting ready for the fall holidays. I want to wear boots and sweaters and oversized hoodies.
This September, I’m thrilled to be in a new house. Even though I’m still unpacking and decorating, I can’t help but begin to think about Halloween decorations. I’m excited about decorating for the holidays that are ahead…so much so that I might just skip regular decorations and go straight for the holiday stuff!
I’m excited to get the ball rolling on September, so I thought I’d share a few goals I have for this month:
- Work out my closet organization – yes, I still have a bedroom as a closet in this house. I’m a lucky girl.
- Get the kitchen unpacked and squared away.
- Unpack most of the major boxes.
- Host a garage sale (or make a gigantic donation to charity).
- Hang at least 5 things on the walls – I’m chomping at the bits on this one!
- Begin using our master bathroom instead of the hall bath.
- Settle on living room furniture placement.
- Purchase at least one new shower curtain – This has been tough….everything I’ve fallen in love with has been $60-$150. Like this one. And this one. Swoon.
- And decide if I’ll be “ready” enough to host a Halloween party.
From the looks of this list, I better get busy! September is going to be fantastic!
Closet Room – Shoe Shelves
Anyone who knows me, knows that I have quite the shoe collection.
My last count was over 150 pair, and that number has certainly grown since then. The problem with having so many shoes is how to store/display them.
If you read my last post about shoe storage you know that I found an awesome new strategy for storing my out of season shoes. While that set up is still working wonderfully, my in-season shoes weren’t as accessible as I’d like. During the spring and summer months, my old shoe shelves worked ok and everything fit on the shelves decently. However, there was simply no way to fit all of my winter shoes/boots on those shelves. (See my earlier post to see what shelves I was using.) Last year I used a second shelf for tall boots, but I didn’t like having to rearrange the room to bring in another shelf just for boots. Besides, we sold that old shelf in the garage sale. (What better way to force yourself to come up with a better solution that to sell your current method in a garage sale?!)
I am so very lucky to have a handy husband who agreed to build me some custom shoe shelves. By making the shelves go from door frame to door frame, we added room for more shoes. Plus, by spacing the shelves farther apart, I can fit all of my shoes there, including my tall boots. We used the Pinterest-popular molding trick for heels and even ran the molding above the doorways for more storage. (I use one of those grabber thingys to get those down.) The molding isn’t working quite right, but it’ll do until we can investigate other solutions.
I’m not offering a full tutorial here because these were your basic shelf design…except for better because my wonderful husband built them. Matthew purchased the wood and ready-made brackets from Home Depot. He cut and rounded the corners of the shelves so I wouldn’t break my hips from running in to them…it’s bound to happen. He attached the brackets, sanded the wood, and I painted them this cool teal color. I wanted the color to be a tad darker, but I wasn’t going to argue with the grumpy old paint man in Lowes. (By the way, if you or someone you know needs a Lowe’s coupon, let me know. I have discounts that I can email to my clients/friends.)
I had to fight to fit all of my winter shoes out, but my summer shoes fit pretty well. During my last closet organization spree I mentioned getting rid of extra lounge pants to make them fit in just one drawer. I had to do a similar thing with boots. While I wasn’t ready to part with any of them, I had to put a few pair back in their containers to have enough room for my favorites. If I couldn’t remember wearing them even once last year, I figure they’ll be fine to leave in the top of the closet. After all, I can get them down if I decide to actually wear them this year. The reality is, I only wear those black cowboy boots to country music concerts. They can hang out up top with a few other not-regularly-worn friends until it’s time to “go out with my boots on.” I did the same thing with some summer shoes that aren’t worn often.
What do you think about the new shelves? Didn’t Matthew do a wonderful job?? I love getting to shop these shelves while getting dressed in the morning. It’s like having my own personal department store! I hated to have to take the shelves down when we moved last week, but I’m already working on ideas for the new house!