LoveLifestyle

Un-Clutter It Thursday Party #11 - The Family Room

Hey, hey, hey, we're back for another round of partying!

Thanks to all those that turned out last week and linked up some stinking awesome projects. It was more than I expected to link up for the first party! Can I get a BOOM! for meeting and surpassing a goal! Shall we have a few highlights.

Lani showed a Pretty Little Organizer (aka IKEA hack) she did. I just love the new green color and the fabulous usage of Martha Stewart organizer tools.

Danielle gave us a glimpse into how she organizes her household with her Homekeeping Binder. Let me tell ya, if you don't have one these binders... you need one. I use mine everyday. Danielle also has links to some free printables.

And the most clicked was...

Bliss. She shared her Devil Drawer makeover. The after is superb, but.... let's just say there was a... uh... unique makeup tool discovered along the way that gives a new meaning to "apply gently with index finger".

And last but not least the winner of the giveaway is... K Coake. K. Coake contact me via email for more details!!!

Now, let's get this party started!

This week I'm still in the family room... all 144 sq. ft of it! The family room in our house is a high traffic area. We normally start our day with watching the news and drinking coffee, then end our day with Mr. Uncluttered watching TV, while I'm reading a decorating magazine. Not to mention we are movie buffs, so lots of DVDs watching and most of our entertaining happens in this room too. So as you can imagine, this room attracts a lot of clutter. And since space is at a premium, I'm having to pull out all of my tricks to manage the clutter.

One of my latest tricks involves a roadside rescue that Mr. Uncluttered brought home last week. Thank you honey! Its an Elfa Storage Drawer System from The Container Store. The frame alone is $47,and three of the drawers are $16 and the narrow one is $14... for a total of $109! Can you even imagine someone leaving this on the curb as garbage?! Yoo-hoo...there is nothing wrong with it... not one thing! A little scrub, scrub to get the cobwebs off and it was good as new. Check out all the storage potential! Let me stop drooling. More on this new week.

This week I wanted to give you a peek into the Media Dresser. Remember this project?

Lets take a closer look inside the drawers. The top drawers holds what's left of our music cds (most have been converted to MP3s and tossed) and workout DVDs. (Sidenote: I love Jillian Michaels and stopped watching Biggest Loser when she left.) In the basket are extra cords for all Mr. Uncluttered's audio components. I think I'm going to leave that drawer specifically for him. I'm constantly hearing, "Babe, do you know where my coaxial cable is?" Umm... how 'bout we start with, "Do I know what a coaxial cable is and then I'll tell you if I saw it."

In the next drawer we house all of our Wii accouterments.

The boxes are from a CD organizer drawer that looked kinda like the one below, but brown ultrasuede.

Do you have one those sitting around your house too?

Why spend money when you can repurpose? I always shop the house first! I simply pulled out the drawers and used them.

That's all for today because I have to get back to this mess! Yikes! Photo organizing... sigh.

Your turn. So what did you do tackle this week?

- Please link up your organizing/un-cluttering post(s) and not just your blog home page.
- Please put a visible link or my party button in your post so others can find it and join in.

- If you're new to The Uncluttered Lifestyle I hope you will become a follower.
- And of course, take some time to visit a few other participants and maybe find some new blogs to enjoy.

- No link parties added to this party, please.
- No advertising, please.

Organization And More Organization

Howdy! How goes it in your world? Can I tell you something I'm looking forward to? I talking, countdown till it happens, looking forward to? The "Spring Into Organization" Blogger Home Tour,beginning on March 26th at Organizing Made Fun.

Have you heard about it? Oh baby, I'm giddy with excitement! There's a whole line-up of organized bloggers that will be giving us a tour of their spaces. And on March 30th there will be a link party so that we can join in on the fun.

I suggest you head over to Toni's to find out more about it. I have to get back to work on my family room if I'm going to link up!

Till next time...

The Ugliest Chandelier Contest Winner

Hello, hello people! How's it hanging? I hope you had a great weekend. Here, in the Central Valley, CA it was gor-ge-ous. Today the high was 77... blue skies... and a gentle breeze. Sigh... sometimes its a wonderful thing to live in Cali.

But anywho, I just had to share my latest project with you. Well, actually not my latest because they were in my last post, but you know what I mean. I present to you my self-proclaimed "Ugliest Chandelier Contest" winner. I'm not sure if it qualifies as a chandelier, or not, but I'm definitely sure its ugly.

At some point I'm guessing this was all the rage. My question is... why? I mean... why? This thing is hideous. Who would've forked out moolah for this. (Sorry, if you ever had one your house, but I'm glad you've come to your senses.) Check out the plastic rust-colored covers... sexy, right! And just for the record, I paid na-da for it, it was given to me.

I'm sure Mr. Uncluttered thought I was crazy when I said I was going to use it somewhere in the house. But he had to realize I was not going to let in the house looking the way it was... goodness I do have some standards. Albeit, low at times. LOL.

I disconnected the lamp, took out the plastic rust-colored thingamabob, added a little spray paint, some dollar store mirrors, rope, a few candles and this is what I got.

Ah... much better.

Till next time...

You can find me partying here:

Making Standard Binders Pretty

In my last post I showed you my new DVD storage. I love, love, love it! The binders are so handy right next to the TV instead of in the dining room hutch, its almost like I thought it through, or something. :)

The easier thing to do, would've been to buy four of the gorgeous binders that Target or Staples sells, but the patterns are really not me. Do you find that to be true for you as well? When I initially went shopping for this project, I had every intention of buying a binder right off the shelf, but the prints were either too modern or had too much colors for my taste. Plan B immediately went into effect... make my own covers. This way I could choose what ever print I wanted. (French Ticking.) Today I'm sharing a quick tutorial on how I recovered them, just in case you find yourself in the same boat.

Supplies:

- Fabric (For 4 binders I used approx 2 yards)

- Binder

- Spray Adhesive

- Book plates (Martha Stewart Line at Staples. Choose from silver or gold)

Cut the fabric to size, leaving a 1/2" to 1" to fold over all the way around.

Cut each corner so there is not a bulge when you fold over on the top and bottom of the binder.

I don't have a picture... but adhere the fabric to the front first flap. Then close the binder and adhere fabric to the spine, following with the back flap. If you adhere the fabric while the binder is open, the fabric will be too snug when you do try to close it.

It should look something like this. Yes I know my "hem" is uneven but it doesn't matter because...

The next step is to cut a piece of fabric to cover the inside and adhere it. Now it has a finished look when it opened.

Lastly, I applied the book plate. The Martha Stewart line has a self-adhesive back. I think the silver looks gorgeous with the ticking.

Pretty simple, right. Each binder costs a total of $6.50 to make. The most expensive part was the ticking fabric at $6.97/yard. So really, this project could be accomplished for less. But I think the end result is just darling!

Till next time....

You can find me partying at:

What Does My Blog Want To Be When It Grows Up

The girls are at it again. By girls I mean Thistlewood Farms, It All Started With Paint, The Space Between, Eclectically Vintage, The Cottage Market. These ladies are hosting another party... a What Do You Want Your Blog to Be When it Grows Up party.

The question really got me to thinking about somethings that I struggle with, which in turn, might impede my blog from achieving its goals. So I'm going to share them with you today, but set in a form that will hopefully help me to overcome them.

1. Be more worded, but not wordy.

If you were to ever meet me, one of your first thoughts might be... hmm, she doesn't talk much. That's for a few reasons, first, I'm a great listener, people tell me their woes all the time. Second, I like to get to the point and fast. I normally cut out all the fluff and just tell you what needs to be said. Now that I'm blogging, however, that is a huge problem. It could come across as cold and harsh, which I am not. So it's my goal to add the some bells and whistles to all my posts or else my average posts would be about five sentences long.

This is cluttered and not pretty
I need to change it
This is what I did
This is how I did it
This is how it looks now

Sigh... yup, that would be me all the time and this is what I'm constantly fighting.

2. Open up more.

This really goes hand-in-hand with the first goal and even stems from the same issue, not talking very much. I tend to suppress a lot of my emotions until I get to know a person, I'm sure it has to do with my past. But yet again, that is not a good thing for my blog. I want to have a connection with you, my reader, and for you to feel comfortable with me. In order for that to happen, I have to tell you who I am and what makes me happy, sad, scared, what I love and what I hate. This is sooooooo very hard for me, but consider this a step in the right direction. :)

3. A transference of energy... or inspiration.

The thing that I love most about blogging is the inspiration that I receive from "blogland". But I feel its important not to be just a receiver only, one must be a giver as well. I want my blog to inspire you. I want you to know that when you visit here you can and will gain inspiration for your next project. It a feeling that I know I receive when I visit your blog.

4. To never stop growing.

More than anything I never want to stop growing. The first four goals listed leave a lot of room for growth and I know they are areas that I will continue to work on as long as my blog is here. And while, yes, I want to continue to grow in followers, it is much, MUCH deeper than that. I want this blog to a place that always has fresh ideas... a place where other (unknown) capabilities will blossom.

So its your turn to express how you feel. What do you want your blog to be when it grows up?