Friday's Organizing Item

Sometimes items that are oddly-shaped or that have grooves are just the best for storage. I love this egg crate and what they call a "grassy organizer". Egg crate is used for earrings and rings and grassy organizer is for toothpaste and toothbrush. But I feel like the uses are endless! Plus, they are just plain fun.

Here are some ideas for uses for the egg crate...

Bulk Hibiscus salts and white peppers...Whole Foods in Austin TX has a fantastic salt and pepper bulk bar

Vintage and new buttons...of all different colors

Assorted Mustards, Ketchups, Mayos...for a chic burger party

Table centerpiece with flowers in each space...in all white or the party's colors

Safety pins...finally, one central place to find that one you know you have when you are looking for them

And, for the grassy organizer...

Mail...that you want to look at

Drink recipe cards...for a fun party with a creative self-serve bar set up

Tear pages...of ideas from your favorite magazines

Business cards and postcards...from memorable restaurants and stores

Colored pencils...the classic ones

Paint color chips...for last minute home improvement projects

Checked off the To Do List

On My Agenda: "Paint backsplash" had been on my to do list for much too long. But, finally, it is done!!

Love the cherry blossom wall sculpture.
Love the color.
Really love the name of the paint color (French Beret!).

Some "before and afters" -



Some details -


And, from when we first moved in -

Resist C&B Sample Sale (Unless you need furniture!)

Today's Agenda: Do not go near Clarendon. Do not go to Crate and Barrel. Do not call to see if they have my favorite green leather chair on sample sale still.

Crate and Barrel has a fantastic sample sale going on this weekend. A ton of floor samples all over the second floor of their Clarendon showroom. Here are some of the deals they had (the ones with pictures still on the website). If you are in the market for any furniture I would definitely check it out. The samples were not that badly worn and they had some unique items (like a vintage rug ottoman marked $539 instead of $1000+).

Metric 7-Drawer Chiffonier - Orig. $1499, Now $579


Avery Bombe Chest - Orig. $799, Now $479


Vista Coffee Table - Orig. $599, Now $359

Latham Desk - Orig. $499, Now $239

Pharmacy Floor Lamp - Orig. $179, Now $99



This is not on sale, but remains one of my favorite pieces. The gray color is really soothing.

*Bonus: All of the rugs and mirrors are an additional 40% off the marked price!

Friday's Organizing Item

I had been trying to find a good place to store our extra sheet sets. We have an antique trunk in our loft area but that was filled with our extra bedding for the sleeper sofa upstairs. Our closets weren't working since you had to stand on a stool to get to the shelving. And one thing we don't have is a true linen closet.

We do have a lot of wall space though. I saw these and first thought, okay, I could use them for shoes. Maybe helpful to free up space in the closets. But then realized I could put them behind our bedroom door and use them for sheets! And so far it has worked really well. They are narrow enough to fit behind the bedroom door and are the same color as the paint on the wall so they blend in well. And, I've expanded their use to workout clothes and socks.

Thoughts on other uses...

* In a laundry room (or behind a door in a large bathroom) for dirty clothes -- white for light clothes and black for dark clothes. If you had a large family (and hopefully a large laundry room) each person could have their own set!

* In a children's room for clothes, shoes, toys, diapers.

* In a garage or workroom for extra towels, rags, misc.

Outfit Urban Living Room

Today's Agenda: Fantasize about decorating a living room -- with a clean slate, on a cool budget.

Planning Points: When planning how to decorate our apartment in DC when we moved from NYC I pored over catalogs, stores, the web. Printed and tore out all my ideas and put them in this book (in black or black/white which are hard to find). {Best project book ever. From Barnes & Noble. My Mom knows these are welcome as a gift anytime!} I wanted a cohesive look and it was the first time we had a clean slate and actually had to buy more furniture to fill the space instead of getting rid of furniture. It was so fun and I love looking back at my book of ideas. One of my favorite items was this black and white loveseat. It's perfect for the reading nook space we have (really the dining room but I used the second bedroom as the dining room and now have pretty much the entire apartment to entertain in). And, best part is that it didn't break the bank courtesy of Urban Outfitters.

In this month's House Beautiful this chair caught my eye. Turns out it is from Urban Outfitters!

So that got me to perusing their website and thinking how could I do a room from top to bottom from urbanoutfitters.com. Would it work? Would it look too "college/incense-like/hippy"?

I have other items from urbanoutfitters.com. Pillows, rugs, lampshades. Fabulous business card case (only $7!). All ordered sight unseen. All very happy with. {Usually they have a free shipping offer if you spend more than $150 and then you can always return to the store. Definitely worth the time.}

Here's the results of my "shopping spree"...

Two Sunflower Antoinette Fainting Sofas
One Jet Set Storage Bench
Three Bird Poppies Pillows
Two Morrocan Lanterns
One Half and Half Lampbase
One (or Two) Chenille Rug
One Ikat Slipper Chair
One Leather Butterfly Chair and Frame
One Peacock Plume Dish
Three Double Wire Baskets
January Curtains by Alexander Girard
Antique Brooch Curtain Tie Back
One Open and Shut Bookcase
One Coming and Going Rack
One Set of Trifecta Nesting Tables
One (or Two) Rattan Pouf

Gifts // Baby + Dad

Today's Agenda: Find, wrap, send gifts.

Planning Points: Our friends Kevin & Kim had a baby boy Max yesterday -- they didn't find out the sex of the baby before he arrived so now that I know it's a boy I can pick out some adorable clothes! And, speaking of fathers, I need to send out two father's day packages tomorrow to our own dads for Father's Day...

For Baby Max, I found some cute Hurley onesies, Small Paul little socks, and classic Carter's comfy pants. And I had found the most precious bibs at Zara Home when we were in London that will be perfect with this.


{Zara Home Kids has some beautiful gifts and ideas on their website. So Spanish, so lovely.}

For the Dads, I turned to clothes. My Dad likes these types of button down shirts for his Florida living. Aaron's Dad likes to run and bike so thought something like this would work well in Annapolis. And Marshalls has some Laguiole steak knives in stock and I couldn't resist. (Marshalls has these in stock in waves -- I try to pick some up when I see them to have on hand for gifts.)



Now, off to wrap and to the Post Office...

Friday's Organizing Item

I was trying to find a way to get the mail from the mailbox to the kitchen counter to a central place that BOTH my husband and I could find it. Cute little sorters and dividers didn't work. The large pile on the counter was hopeless.

Then I saw this. I had seen it at the MOMA store in New York. And loved it because it was my favorite color of green. But then saw it in the Container Store (only in black and white though but less expensive than the MOMA version).

It works great for mail. I sort through the mail when I get home - ONE pile goes under the sink in the recycling can, SECOND pile goes upstairs next to the shredder and THIRD pile goes into the basket. Action items, coupons, magazines -- it all goes. Aaron and I both know that all the mail is there and we can both go through it at anytime (if we want to...more often we opt out). The strap makes it portable -- I take the basket upstairs and sort through while in the office. Or could throw it in the car and take it to the coffee shop if I just can't bear to look at it all alone. Or if I'm heading to Raleigh to see my Mom or Annapolis to see Aaron's parents, I can just grab it and throw it in the car.

But there are unlimited uses:

*In the back of the station wagon or SUV to throw books, shoes, sports equipment for easy, stylish access (and to take into the house every once in awhile to clean out)

*Newspapers and magazines next to a wicker chair on a sunporch

*Fresh fruits and vegetables in a large open kitchen

*Bottles of water or wine next to the dining room table or to bring out to the deck

*Hostess gift filled with a bottle of wine and freshly baked pie or unique cheeses and crusty bread

L.A. Bound

Today's Agenda: Finish packing for L.A.!

Planning Points: I have never been to L.A. I have a vague picture in my mind of what L.A. is like. But my image is not as developed as images of other places I haven't been to -- Greece, Sicily, Hawaii, Galapagos (yes, this is my list of places to go next...)

So, when it came to packing I focused on bringing things that are (1) casual, (2) comfortable, (3) stylish and (4) can go from fancy pool to rooftop deck to shopping.

Here are some items I came up with to mix and match. We'll see how they work!



Ruffle Jersey Tube Tops (in black and black/white striped)
Long layering tanks (in white, navy, emerald green)
Long dress (in cerrulian blue)
"Boyfriend" cropped jeans
Cardigan
Necklace
Triple Teardrop Earrings
Kimchi Knot Belt
T-Strap Sandal
Converse one star
Flats
Bermuda Shorts (in black)
Oversized Canvas Tote

Throw in a couple summer scarves and vintage jewelry, bathing suits and a small brown leather bag with some gold metalware and I'm done. Now let's hope the carry-on actually fits on the plane...

*Bonus: I am flying out on Virgin America which apparently has Wifi capable planes - perfect activity for a 5+ hour flight.

*Shopping Note: The Urban Outfitters website shows a lot of great ways to wear belts - just search "belts" and it will pull up a ton.