Closet and Makeup Organization

It's Spring!  Even for you gals covered in snow right now!  Is your closet crying for some attention?  I'm all for even decorating your closet to make it a welcoming place.  If you've seen my "color" posts, you know I'm a big believer in color affecting mood.  Well, organization and having a clutter-free dwelling also impacts your mental health and overall happiness.

My Colorful Life

Take small baby steps - and one small room to try is your closet!

I am a naturally organized person and always have been.  I suspect my "sensory issues" impact my need for a clutter-free life.  When my surroundings are in disarray, I feel stressed.  The sense of calm I get from cleaning and organizing makes me desire to do this daily.  lol  (One reason I LOVED home staging before my health crisis - loved helping others also!)

I wanted to share what we have done in my closet for my makeup area particularly.   Not being able to bend, lift or twist requires me to reorder many areas of our home and I love what we were able to do with this.

To start, we have had this large metal cabinet for years, to keep things locked up that kiddos don't need access to.  We deliberately chose a tall one to use for my makeup station and being 5'8, I can walk right up and the mirror is at my head level.  No bending necessary.  (My next project will be to make a decorative fabric cover for this "ugly" metal cabinet.) Here are some photos:

Rug at the base of the cabinet to protect carpet from all the things I drop!  To help pick those items up (since I cannot bend ever again), I use a grabber - $9.99 at stores like W.almart.  I have 5 around the house and it is also how I do laundry.

These grabbers/grippers can pick up a bobby pin off the floor.  I love them!

So, on the top of this cabinet, I have always kept my make up mirror, but I had to lean down a bit and had my makeup and other items scattered all around the top, along with in the carousel to the left.  Made it hard to keep clean, dust, etc.  I asked my engineer hubby for help on getting the perfect organizing storage items and this is what we came up with.  I love it!

This is actually a makeup carousel AND a plastic 2-tier lazy susan (from wally world) below, holding the makeup palettes.  The makeup carousel had broken and on longer turned.  This worked perfectly and holds all the smaller items.

This is one of my favorite all-time gifts.  My dear mother got this for me from P.ier One several years ago and it holds earrings and other jewelry, along with anything else I throw in there.  And it is so pretty!  Those are ceramic drawers.

We purchased this metal organizer at wally world and then purchased a small bag of plastic bean bag filler beads at M.ichaels.  This makes a perfect medium to put the brushes in and they stand up and come in and out easily.  I found it now much cheaper at J.o Ann's.

Since I originally posted this, I decided I needed a cleaner 'look" for the makeup brushes and found this ceramic container on sale and with a coupon.  It works better and looks much cleaner.

Michaels also had a 40% sale on the Loew Cornell paint brushes, and I was able to get the Maxine Mop brushes (purple handle with white brush bristles, although in the photo above, the handles look more blue than purple - they are to the right hand side of the photo) for 40% off.  They are originally $3.99 and $5.99 or so?  How awesome is that?  These work JUST as well as the MAC brushes, which can run over $30 each!   There were 2 displays of the Loew Cornell and American Painter brushes, but a separate section had a mixture of natural bristles.  We were able to get the percentage off showing that coupon (they didn't ring up automatically on sale). 

Ok, now to the large drawers on the main unit.  Of course, my engineer hubby had to go to Lowe's and get me some non-skid rubber mats.  Love him!

Top drawer holds my different creams.  If you want to feel utter bliss, go to Simply Divine Botanicals and order their Samples Pack - this is all those smaller white containers. 

Middle drawer has separate organizer drawers (of course, lol) and holds eye liners and gels, lip products, concealers, and then mascaras.

Back to organization.  Do you have an old tie rack from years ago?  Hang it and use it to hold necklaces!

For my clothes, I recommend sectioning shirts, pants, dresses, etc.  And for me, nothing beats color-coordinated items!  Even little things like this can make a huge difference in what your brain perceives as clutter.  Quick dressing and beautiful to look it - perfect!

Now for shoes - I don't keep the original boxes as that "looks" cluttered.   These plastic see-through containers can be purchased very inexpensively and protect your shoes. I've seen some folks take a photo of the shoe inside and put it on the outside edge, to make it even faster to find what you need.   I have narrow feet and cannot purchase cheaper shoes, as they fall right off my feet.  When Andy met me 24 years ago, I was selling higher end shoes and I warned right then and there that if he had a problem with purchasing quality shoes, I wasn't his girl.  Not to worry, as I found out - his favorite shoes then were Allen Edmonds to the tune of over $200 a pair (in 1986!!).  What I spent for shoes paled in comparison to this, so I was safe.  ($50 was expensive to me.)  Match made in heaven. 

Sadly, I can no longer wear ANY of those shoes.  These are the dressier shoes that can no longer be worn.   Heels or any shoe that is not perfectly flat presents a danger to me.   I am slowly discarding these.   Sigh........  These are the shoes I CAN wear:

Notice how no bending is required?  I can just slip them on.  Dankso shoes are very safe for folks who need stability and require ideal shoes for posture.  Nurses and health professionals love these shoes.  Definitely pricey, but they last forever.

We vacuum every week, so I keep the floors clean and tidy as well.

I am willing to sacrifice the entire left side of my closet to be able to iron peacefully!!  I recommend it!  The shirts are next up for ironing.   

And finally, we keep a file cabinet for our private papers and I use the top for additional storage.

This keeps the bathroom counter clean and tidy, as I can reach in quickly to get what I need.

When I met Andy, he had the most organized closet and was one of the most organized men I had ever met.  Nowadays, not so much (lol), but I wanted to show you his closet.  This is how he prefers to keep his closet - and I don't impose my color-coordination on him.  lol

I will be linking to the following:

Motivate me Monday

Metomorphosis Monday

Make it for Monday

Toot Your Horn Tuesday

DIY Day

Talented Tuesday

 Show Us Your Organization Tips!

Nester - 31 Days - Organization

Sunday Favorites

Have a glorious day!

From Placemats to Pillows!

Are you looking for a quick, easy but impressive gift to give others?  How about adding some pizazz to one of your rooms for under $10? 

This is the quickest way to add a pop of color to any room!  Expertise at sewing - not required!  The next time you are out and about and see some placemats that really catch your eye, check them to see if they have a front and a back - 2 pieces of fabric.  If so, you are set!  Check out what I was able to do:

Supplies:  

Placemat  - $5.99

Seam Ripper
Pins

Scissors
Needle and matching thread

Fiber Fill - Entire bag, $2.50 (but only a small bit is required per pillow)

Use the seam ripper to open up a small section in the placemat.

The trick to using Fiber Fill is to use SMALL little pieces.  If you use larger ones, it will be harder to smooth out the pillow when you are done.  You can use a lot or a little - you can determine how firm or soft you would prefer this pillow.   Make sure to distribute the fiber fill into the corners of the pillow or it will look strange when finished.  I accomplish this by scrunching up the placemat somewhat, and using a pencil to push the fill into the corners.  Be careful not to accidentally enlarge your opening - you really don't need a large opening.

Once you have all the fill in the pillow, use some pins to hold the edges together to get a nice edge when you sew the opening closed.  Use matching thread so that it blends and cannot be seen.......and sew the edges closed following the original seam lines.  With this placemat, I needed to sew 2 seams, but it is hard to see in the photos. 

Here is the finished pillow!  Our couch is a gorgeous red color, and our other chairs are brown.  I wanted to get a brown pillow, but with a pop of color.  When I saw this placemat, I thought it was perfect!

And look what I found at Marshall's during the holidays.  These look like regular "cheater" glasses, but........

They have lights you can turn on!!  These are perfect to help you see in lower light conditions and allow me to read at night in bed without waking my sweety.  I read every night or I cannot fall asleep.  This makes us both happy!

I've been looking for another pair ever since with no luck.  I'm hoping to snag at least one other pair so I don't have to keep carrying these from room to room.  Only hitch is - I want to pay Marshall's pricing (or I would just buy them online)!  lol

I'm linking to:

Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design 

 

Made It Monday at The Persimmon Perch

Thanks SO MUCH for visiting!

$24 Beautiful Custom Curtains

Do you ever feel something is wrong in a room and wonder just what? Well to me, this room needed some more "weight" on the wall with the window. Along with needing some artwork to hang on the wall down the road, it needed some curtains. But curtains with "weight". I did this using a darker color and making sure they reached the floor. I felt like a simple valance would not give me the "weight" I desired.


I first saw this fabric at Hancock Fabrics back in the discount section, but it was still $12 a yard. While I loved the lightweight silky blend with beautiful embroidered stars in the perfect blue/green shade, it was NOT in my budget. So I kept an eye on it, checking the store every so often. Sure enough, one day the fabric was on sale for $6 a yard!!

So $18 later - yes, you read that right!! 3 yards at $6 - $18!!! I already had the cup hooks from my former window mistreatment, and the rings I found at Tuesday Morning for $3.99.

$18 - Fabric
$4 - Rings
$2 - Cup Hooks
__________
$24

Here is what the window looked like before:


We are renting this home and it was already painted this blue color. I had the brown bedding and it made it simple to keep the palette 2 colors.


Also since we are renting, we didn't want to invest in a regular curtain rod, make those holes and marks in the wall. With this method, there are 6 little holes in the wall now, which we can easily spackle when we move.


I took the 3 yards, cut it in half, and each half on each side. I hemmed down the edges with Stitch Witchery - all you need is your iron. (If you have never played with Stitch Witchery, go get some!! I found it on sale for $1. It comes in regular and heavy weight.) It honestly took me just over 1 hour at the ironing board to get these curtains "hemmed" and ready to hang.

Curtain rings in above photo are from Wal-mart.

Hubs came home and had it hung in under 30 minutes. He is an engineer, and everything has to be spaced "just right".....so that takes a little longer, but I love his perfection issues! lol

Here is a view of the other side of the room:



For step by step instructions on exactly how to make this curtain, click HERE.



Really, it is SO simple and you do not need any sewing skills. If you have an iron and a measuring tape, you will be set!

I am participating in this weeks DIY Day. Click the button below to check out the wonderful website and see all the others entries for this week.




Have a great day!