A few months ago, I shared with you my friend Christine's awesome black and white craft room. Christine converted what might have been only a lightly used space in her home -- an area that would normally be a dining room -- and converted it into a striking craft room, complete with hand-crafted black and white decor, a card catalog for fabric storage and a highly functional sewing table. I am so excited because that room is now one of the inspiring spaces featured in Cristin Frank's new book, Rooms Repurposed: A Purposeful Home, A Purposeful Life, available on Amazon.com! What Continue reading...
Storage for Kids Rooms
This post contains Amazon affilate links. Finding enough storage in children’s bedrooms can be tough, but if you buy furniture and accessories with storage in mind, you should be able to find plenty of storage for kids rooms. My daughters, used to enjoy sharing a room together. (They have since gotten their own rooms.) So, when I chose the children's furniture for their room, I chose children's furniture that would give us the most space as possible for storing their things. Their room is fairly large, but not that big, considering that we must fit two twin beds in there, a dresser, Continue reading...
New Tween Bathroom Decor
Recently, I finally got around to updating my kids' bathroom. Even though my daughters are tweens now, their bathroom until only a few days ago still sported the same kids decor that I put up for them when they were toddlers. So, I decided to take down the tot stuff and add some tween bathroom decor. I am the sentimental type -- it's hard for me to get rid of toys, even home decor, that remind me of my children's younger days -- it's difficult for me to let go when they graduate to the next stage of childhood! Everything seems to happen way too quickly for me. I can't believe Continue reading...
Organizing Kid Spaces in the Home
When my kids were babies, we kept most of their toys in a small bookshelf that we kept in the living room. Their baby toys didn't take up much space. But, as they got older, they got more and more toys, and before I knew it, their toys were all over the house. Over the years, I've done various things to find a space for them to play in, and a place for their toys. At first, my husband and I kept two large toy boxes in the living room to hold all their toys. But now that they are older, I am hoping to replace those toy boxes with a sofa, and move the toy boxes into a basement playroom Continue reading...
Baskets for Kitchen Organization
Years ago, when my husband and I moved into our home, there was plenty of storage in our new kitchen. But since then, I've acquired new cooking tools, small appliances and servingware, and now, there is not enough room to store all of our kitchen stuff in our tiny kitchen. Add to that all the plastic cups and plates for outdoor dining, and lunch box supplies for my kids, and we really have a problem! Despite the lack of plentiful cupboard space in my home's kitchen, I've recently found extra storage space in the kitchen. How did I do that? I created extra space on top of my Continue reading...
Living Room Inspiration Board
For years, I have been trying to figure out what to do with my home’s living room. The long, narrow room leads from my home’s front door to both the kitchen and the family room in my open-concept home. Since the room is a main thoroughfare in my home, I haven’t wanted to block the flow of traffic with furniture. Plus, when my kids were tots, the carpeted space, which is just off the kitchen, was a great place for them to play. (That is why today, two toy chests still sit in the living room.) The only other furniture pieces of importance in my home's living room are an upright piano Continue reading...
Updated Entry Hall
I should be working on a freelance story I have this week, but the mess in my home’s itsy-bitsy entry hall has just been irking me! My home is almost entirely filled with carpeting. (I would LOVE wood floors, but I know I will never have those, unless I won a home makeover contest or something.) Wood floors are just so beautiful and are much easier to clean! I hate vacuuming and tend to destroy my vacuum cleaners! So in my house, we take our shoes off before coming into the house to keep the carpets clean. I wasn’t used to it at first, but now I like taking my shoes off when entering a Continue reading...
Gettting the Most Out of Your Space
I read on Yahoo today that Internet stories on small spaces are becoming more prevalent and more popular. As people struggle to make a living in today's rough economy, I am sure smaller, but more affordable, spaces are more in demand. I watched a video today about Felice Cohen, a woman who makes her living as a professional organizer and lives in a miniscule 90-square-foot apartment. The pluses to her small New York City space are that it is centrally located, is only a block from Central Park, and rents for only $700 a month -- which is a steal for Manhattan. I watched videos today about Continue reading...
Is Our Furniture too Fat?
I have been on the lookout lately for a simple, small-scale sofa or loveseat to place in my living room. The room is on the small side and quite narrow, so I don’t want a massive coach or sectional that will take up the whole room. My house is about average size, just above 2,100 square feet. So you’d think that finding an appropriately sized sofa or loveseat would be a fairly simple task. But it isn’t. I’ve been to nearly every furniture store in the suburbs where I live – places like Raymour and Flanigan, Ethan Allen, Pottery Barn and La-Z-Boy, only to find that most of the furniture Continue reading...