Archive | July, 2012

Master bedroom Inspiration: Olatz Schnabel

31 Jul

If you’re like me, you’re used to devouring image after image of beautiful interiors whether it’s through magazines, blogs or everyone’s beloved Pinterest. But every once in awhile, you hit upon an image that stops you dead in your tracks and just stays with you. For me, that feeling hit when I saw this image of Olatz Schnabel’s bedroom in House Beautiful.

It’s totally elegant but the colors make it completely fun. It features primarily white bedding (my favorite) but with a band of the richest purple I’ve ever seen to make it totally decadent. That aqua wall color (HB said it’s Benjamin Moore Blue Diamond) is totally up my alley but the bedding, rug, art, and draperies make the wall color almost an afterthought.

In case you don’t know who Olatz Schnabel is, here’s the brief: She’s the ex-wife of artist Julian Schnabel (Yes, that’s his art in the room) and she designs a beautiful bedding line called Olatz. (Yes, that would be her line on the bed.) In case you’re thinking of clicking on over there and picking up a set, let me first tell you that a king duvet cover in cotton will run you $1265. What’s that you say? You’d like the linen one instead of cotton? Oh. Then that’ll be $2015. Ouch.

This more recent shot of the other side of the room, below, featured in T, shows the wall color a lot closer to the real thing. I love how she uses dark frames against the blue wall. Looks like she might have switched out the rug at some point, too.

So, anyway – I pulled this pic from House Beautiful back in the summer of 2010 and held onto it assuming my husband would never sign off on something so “decorated”. All that color would just be too much for him! But after we moved in and we were planning a way to take our master out of the cream zone and into the light, we revisited the picture and I got the ok! Granted, we’re just using the color palette as an inpiration. (Alas, there will be no Olatz bedding or Julian Schnabel originals.)

Just to get a real appreciation for the sad room we’re starting with, check out what our master bedroom looked like when we saw the house. Granted, it’s not hideous. Not at all. But for people who love color, it’s a little “vanilla”. (Forgive the horrible picture!)

So, after I decided on this palette, I started realizing I had so many other pictures in my tearsheet folders or pinned that were in a similar color scheme. I love that they all read as very elegant rooms (even the kid’s rooms in the mix!) but they’re totally fun and not at all “vanilla”.

Check out these red twin beds via Domino (all pics can be found via my Master Bedroom Pinterest board unless otherwise noted.)

Love this sexy red bed that comes from designer Miles Redd. Also from Domino.

Little girl’s room via Hi Sugarplum! (I highly contemplated painting Sophia’s vintage bed to look like this awhile back. I still might.)

 Australian Designer Diane Bergeron created this room. I saw it on House of Turquoise.

Purple walls! A divine suzani! I don’t have the original source! (Let me know if you can help.)

Love this teen bedroom by Jennifer Flanders Interior Design. What teenager gets a crystal light fixture like that!?

This is a newbie pin for me. I love it! From Carla Lane Interiors.

I have to wonder if any of these were inspired by Olatz Bedroom!

I’ve finally taken some pics of our bedroom so I promise lots of “After” shots coming soon. For now, a little teaser:

More coming soon!

XO

Sue at Home

P.S. And if you like bold bedrooms like me, don’t forget to follow my Master Bedroom Inspiration board on Pinterest! Actually, why not follow all my Pinterest boards?

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Our wedding: Happy Anniversary!

27 Jul

We’ve come to the end of Wedding Week and I’m so glad that so many of you clicked on the posts. Thanks for sharing the memories with me! Now, it’s time to turn my direction to someone other than you. I promise I won’t get too sappy here. That’s just not my style!

Dear Pablo,

To the best husband, dad, and partner-in-everything that anyone could ever ask for,  I can’t believe it’s been 10 years. Here’s to many more decades together!

I love you, baby!

(Lily and Sophia better throw us an awesome 50th anniversary party when they’re 47 and 44!)

XO

Sue at Home

For more on the wedding, check out these earlier posts:

The setting

The clothes

The decorative details

The family and friends

All photos by Mark Nelson

Tags: ,

Our Wedding: What It’s All About

26 Jul

Wedding week continues and after the location, the clothes and the decorative details, we finally get down to what it’s all about:

The people.

I was sure as the wedding approached that I had it all figured out. I had my lists and everything was designed, booked, and organized. But on the day of the wedding, I realized that all the stressing over cake and flowers and dresses was silly. Because I finally figured out that it’s all about marrying the love of your life surrounded by all the people who love both of you. It was truly surreal to be surrounded by my family and friends and his family and friends and to realize that they were all there for us. I loved seeing “his people” having fun with “my people”. In fact, one of my friends and one of his friends “met again” that night and now they’ve been married for nearly 7 years and just became parents. (Is it wrong that I take a little credit for that?)

So, here is what it’s all about:

     

The best advice I can give a bride-to-be is just enjoy it. Something will probably go wrong (like, why are there flowers on the cake when they’re not supposed to be there? or what do you mean you don’t have the CD that has our wedding song on it?) but only you can ruin your day. Just brush it off and move on because as long as he shows up, you’re going to have the time of your life. (And I owe it all to youuuuuu! Sorry. Couldn’t resist.)

Did I mention that we were a featured Wedding of the Week on The Knot in 2003. Check it out here.

Plus, check out my other 1o year anniversary wedding posts:

Our Wedding: Newport, Rhode Island

Our Wedding: What We Wore

Our Wedding: The Details

XO

Sue at Home

All photos by Mark Nelson.

Tags: , , ,

Our Wedding: The Details

25 Jul

First of all, thanks so much for your interest in our wedding! Monday’s post on the setting for our wedding, and Tuesday’s post on the fashion choices were two of my most read blog posts EVER, so thanks!

Today, I’d like to show you some of the details from the wedding. Let me first explain something to the youngins out there: Before Pinterest, there was a wedding binder. And let me tell you, mine was huge! I pulled it out of the attic (of course I still have it!) to take a peek again. Honestly, the binder seems to be the most outdated part of my wedding! The cover, which features a flower inspiration pic and our teal detailed invitation, shows the color palette we worked with. There were also touches of Tiffany Blue throughout the wedding.

Here’s a picture of a flower inspiration page. Pretty, huh? I would have died to have carried a huge arrangement of peonies but they weren’t in season so when I saw this picture of cabbage roses from Martha Stewart Weddings,I was smitten.

The arrangement came out beautifully. It was heavy as hell – but I loved it. (That’s me and my dad before we left the mansion to walk down the aisle.)

 

Funny story: My dad is no sap but he can be known to get a little sentimental.  So, I warned him. I said, “Dad, don’t you dare turn to me right before we walk down the aisle and say something that makes me cry. I want you to tell me a joke.” And he took this task very seriously. He bought joke books and looked for the perfect one for weeks. Finally, he decided on this short, sweet, and giggle-inducing one: A pig is sitting at a bar drinking beer and after beer. Finally, the bartender asks him if he needs to use the bathroom and he says no thanks. He continues to drink and the bartender is baffled. After a few more beers, the bartender asks again, “Don’t you need to use the bathroom?” and finally the pig says, “No. Don’t you know who I am? I’m the little pig who goes Wee Wee Wee all the way home!”

Thanks Dad for the potty humor when I needed it the most. (You can actually see me gaffaw in the wedding video!)

Ok – back to the decorative details:

The bridesmaids all carried different flowers in various shades of pink. Everything from hydrangeas to daisies to snapdragons. They were small and simple and they looked great. (For more about the bridesmaids dresses and where you should NOT get yours, check yesterday’s post).

For centerpieces we had some low and some tall and they were mixes of pinks and greens.  I spent weeks making beaded table numbers but they were a bit of a bust. In fact, they’re crooked and you can’t even see them in these pics. I feel like I need to explain: I took wires, added large silvery clear beads and bent the wires in the shapes of the table numbers. Then I had the florist insert them into the centerpieces. Unfortunately, they were too small/clear and no one could see them. Oh well.

     

One of my favorite flower arrangements was the huge one in the Music Room. As guests arrived, they entered through the foyer and then were directed into this small blue room that had a large arrangement in it with all the seating cards stuck in the arrangement. (I guess sticking things into flowers was a big thing 10 years ago! Or at least I thought it was!)

Now to the yummiest detail – the cake! Now listen, my mood on my wedding day was one that I have never had before or after. (Yes, even different than the birth of my kids.) I was giddy, elated, and high-on-life. I drank several glasses of champagne throughout the evening and none of it touched me. It was like I was drunk from the day itself and nothing else could compare. So maybe you don’t want to trust me when I tell you that my wedding cake was The. Most. Delicious. Cake. Ever.

But it was.

It was simple – white cake with buttercream and chocolate ganache covered in fondant. And now that I think of it, I need to take a trip to Fall River, Massachusetts and get an anniversary cake sometime this summer from Confections.  We rented the vintage cake stand from the bakery and I think it really added the perfect touch.

Our favors were another favorite detail of mine. I discovered early on when we were dating that our initials were the same as the initials for salt and pepper (S&P) so it was natural that we gave shakers as our favors. I found these great stainless steel ones from Crate and Barrel which featured holes in the shape of the letters S&P. I found acrylic boxes to put them in and I decorated each one with a wide silk blue ribbon and a label that said “S&P  - Love is the Spice of Life – July 27, 2002″

The best is that they’re totally personal. They wouldn’t make sense for anyone but us. Unless you have S&P initials, of course! I’m happy to say that many of our friends use them everyday – and we do too!

Hope you enjoyed all the details of our wedding! Stay tuned for more wedding fun tomorrow.

XO

Sue at Home

Photos of wedding binder by me. All other photos by Mark Nelson.

Tags: , , , , ,

Our Wedding: What We Wore

24 Jul

On Friday, Pablo and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage so in honor of the big day, I’m having Wedding Week here at Sue At Home. Yesterday, I introduced you to Newport and the Beechwood mansion.

Today, the clothes!

As a fashion editor, I had a special kind of pressure when shopping for my wedding dress. I looked EVERYWHERE and tried on every dress in existence. Finally, I fell in love with a halter gown from Carolina Herrera with a pleated organza underskirt that peaked out underneath and swung in a huge train in the back. I loved it then and I love it now. Considering it was 10 years ago, I think I should be sort of mortified by what I picked but alas, I’m not. Check out this amazing ad with my dress from way back then. (I showed it to Sophia and Lily today and Lily said, “Why is she playing chess and not at a wedding or something?” Good question, kid.)

The closest pose I have is the one below where I sat down in someone else’s seat while my dad made a speech. I love this picture. (The dress didn’t bustle so I just dragged it around all night. It was filthy by the end of the night but I didn’t care!)

I was an editor at ELLE at the time of the wedding so I was able to order my dress directly through the Carolina Herrera showroom and have all my fittings done there by the head of her atelier. If I were you, I might want to punch me after reading that but I promise that I know I was incredibly lucky to have that treatment and I pinch myself just thinking about it. Even as my wedding diet kicked in, they did an amazing  job altering everything so that it fit like a glove. It fit so perfectly that I didn’t even have to wear a bra which is a testament to both their talent and my pre-kid boobs. (That’s right. I just linked something to that phrase. You’ll have to click it and see what it goes to!)

I wore a blusher and a full length veil for the ceremony and then removed the long one and left the shortie on for the reception. Yes, I am one of the those people who wore her veil for the whole night. I’m kind of old fashioned like that.

  

As for shoes, I spent a ton on a pair that no one saw. Advice for brides-to-be: Get something under $250, like these, and spend some money on a nice pair of sandals for your honeymoon instead.  FYI: They were Manolo Blahnik and they were similar to these but in champagne satin. I wish I could show you a picture but there isn’t one!

My bridesmaid’s wore cream lace strapless cocktail dresses that were custom made from Blue on St. Marks Place in NYC. I don’t think the place still exists but if it does, DO NOT go there. The woman is crazy and a few of the dresses barely made it to the girls on time. And they were made like crap. You can see on the wedding video how my ladies are repeatedly pulling their dresses up while dancing. My maid-of honor wore a sleeveless v-neck version. That smart girl avoided the potential nip slips the other bridesmaids were dealing with all night. All that dress trouble for this photo opp. Thanks ladies!

For my main man’s attire, I sat Pablo down for the Oscar pre-show and made him watch the red carpet to pick out his look. He loved Benjamin Bratt’s classic black tux with a black vest and a long white tie. And I agreed! By using some store credits and an editor discount, I was able to score him a Burberry tux for a few hundred dollars! (That’s me – always bargain hunting!) The tie was from Saks. I’m pretty sure it was Brioni. Doesn’t he look handsome – and so young! – in these pictures?

There we are giggling and happy. It really was a very magical day! Stay tuned for more wedding pics all week long as we lead up to our 10 year anniversary on Friday.

XO

Sue at Home

All photos by Mark Nelson except for the Carolina Herrera ad which was a picture I took of the ad from an old magazine. (How the hell else am I supposed to credit that?)

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Our Wedding: Newport, Rhode Island

23 Jul

It’s Wedding Week at Sue At Home!

This Friday July 27th, Pablo and I will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary. I can’t believe that the time has flown by so quickly. I figured I’d share some wedding pics with you this week to help commemorate one of the most amazing days of my life. Today, I’ll set the scene.

We were married at the Astors’ Beechwood mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. When we were dating, we spent a lot of time in Newport with my parents (who had a boat at the time) and we fell in love with the charm of the seaside city. Plus – we loved the fact that we could have a destination wedding that wouldn’t require air travel for most of our guests. Much to our delight, many of our friends and family made a vacation out of it and spent several days in Newport.

Back in 2002 when we got married, the mansion was open for tours during the day and was rented out for weddings and events in the evenings.  It was originally owned by the Astor family and Mrs. Caroline Astor was quite the grand dame of New York and Newport society. Her son, John Jacob Astor was married in the ballroom where our reception was held. He was famous for being the wealthiest man to die on the Titanic. (Remind me not to take a cruise.) Recently, it was sold to the founder of Oracle who now owns it as a private residence. I read an article saying that he has plans to renovate it and use it as a gallery. I don’t care what he does with it, as long as I can walk through it again someday!

Our ceremony took place on the lawn behind the mansion overlooking the water. Pretty dreamy, huh?

Did you notice those people in the far distance by the fence? They’re on Newport’s Cliffwalk. It’s a walkway that goes between the Bellevue Avenue mansions and the ocean. The views are spectacular – and it’s free! If you’re visiting Newport, it’s not to be missed.

More ceremony pictures:

The cocktail hour was held on the veranda on the back of the mansion. (I wish I could tell you more about this part but I was busy taking pictures so we missed the whole thing. If I could redo one thing from our wedding, it would be to skip the formal family and wedding party pics. Other than that, I wouldn’t change a thing!)

The reception was held in the ballroom of the mansion. I usually don’t get into such antiquey stuff but I love the gold details and all the amazing lighting. It was so romantic!

I’ll end on that sappy picture. I hope it has you saying “Awwww!”, though I know my kids will say “Ewww!”

Hope you liked the tour of Newport and the Beechwood mansion. I’ll be back tomorrow to talk about wedding attire. (The best part!)

XO

Sue at Home

Aerial shot from here. All other photos by Mark Nelson. If you can’t wait to see more wedding details, check this out now.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Pin of the Week: Dressing up Your Stairs

19 Jul

Sometimes you surprise me with the the pins you really like. This time, not so much. I had a feeling when I found this cool picture of some stenciled stairs from the Lowe’s Creative Ideas website (which, BTW, is a great place to find project ideas). So Lowe’s…You win this week’s Pin of the Week.

It got me thinking about my little set of stairs (only 6 steps since we live in a tri-level split). They were covered in brown carpeting when we moved in and we had them refinished when we did the floors. The risers remained full of staple holes and unpainted for longer than I care to admit but now that they’re all crisp and white with the dark stained wood steps, I’m sort of happy with keeping them like they are. But sometimes, I have a desire to do something a little crazy. I remember seeing these painted steps in Domino a million years ago.  Even Pablo remembered them and brought it up recently. (You know it’s good when he remembers it.) But, there’s just something about painting my hardwood steps that terrifies me!

I remember seeing these disco-ball tiled stairs on Small Shop last summer and I nearly lost my mind. I was fully determined to do this to my risers. Seeing my mom gasp in horror at the thought just about solidified my desire but ultimately, I decided this was a DIY beyond my skills. It could only look good if it was done really, really well. (Don’t think you won, Mom. My stairs might be disco-balled yet!)

Emily Henderson, who you know I am kind of in awe of (I mean, did you see her guest room?), recently posted pics of these steps at a client’s house. She did a navy bannister. Yes, a navy bannister. Isn’t it fantastic?

I nearly died when I saw these patterned stairs from Serena and Lily. Alas, they don’t sell them so I’ll have to be happy with just my S&L bar cart. And I can get busy trying to figure out how they did this: wallpaper? Removable wallpaper stickers? Handpainted? 

I found these striped stairs on a blog but there’s no original source listed. Let me know if you’ve seen this before because whoever did this deserves credit!

More striped steps – this time from a Kate Spade pop-up shop in London.

A carpet runner is surely traditional but this one feels fresh. Maybe it’s the fabulous pattern, or the black painted stairs underneath or that floor-to-ceiling gallery. Eric Cohler Design via Decorpad

I love that this looks like some total fancypants house but it still includes fun elements like this slide alongside a set of stairs. From Forbes.

I could deal with wall-to-wall if it looked like this.
Via Apartment Therapy

Chevron stairs vis Liz Caan interiors. A little bit of a duh but still perfect. Especially with that chair just sitting there. Dying.

I wish I was brave enough to tackle a stencil because I love these from Royal Design Studio via The Style Files

LOVE these multi-colored spindles. Unfortunately, I have one spindle. Via Apartment Therapy.

Wowza. This one is like they’re in my head. I mean, that aqua blue wall with a hot pink bannister? I would never leave home. Via Apartment Therapy. 

Of course, The Rug Company makes a peacock stair runner.

Lighted stairs are slightly spooky via Remodelista.

These rainbow stairs are low-commitment since the steps are left plain and it’s only the riser you’re messing with. Via Pinterest (let me know if you know the original source).  Maybe I could do this and use the colors of all the rooms in the house? Would that look crazy? I think yes.

Check out these spectacular rainbow spiral stairs from Dwell.

So, are you inspired? Looking for DIY help? To paint your own chevron stairs, check out this video tutorial via The Home Depot.

So, tell me…what do your stairs look like? Plain Jane like mine? For now, I’m sticking with the basic look but if anyone knows where I can get mirrored disco ball tiles, let me know!

XO

Sue at Home

Follow me on Pinterest to see the next Pin of the Week before it’s a Pin of the Week. And check out these other Pin of the Week features:

Displaying Personal Pictures

Malachite

Pink Chairs

Wallpaper In Tiny Bathrooms

Blue Blue and more Blue

Chevron

Maps as Decor

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The Best Show of the Summer: So You Think You Can Dance

17 Jul

Some people complain about the TV shows that are on in the summer and as much as I would love some more Mad Men or a new Happy Endings, I’m so happy to have one of my favorite shows on right now: So You Think You Can Dance. I didn’t start watching the show until a few seasons in and as soon as I saw it, I was hooked. And let me be clear, this is no “guilty” pleasure. It’s just beautifully produced dance routines performed by spectacular dancers. And even if you’re not dance-obsessed, it is highly enjoyable for anyone with a pulse. Here’s why you should be watching too:

Reason #1: The contestants are REALLY good dancers. This show is nothing like other competition shows for the simple reason that everyone is ah-mahzing. You know what I mean, right? On Design Star, you know you watch it to see what crazy crap they’ll come up with next, right? And even on American Idol, a show that I think finds some pretty fabulous talent, each performance is still a little hit or miss. But on SYTYCD, they’re all good. Like as in, every performance, every week. ALL GOOD.

For a sick hip hop routine, check out Alex and Twitch in Outta Your Mind. Alex is a trained ballet dancer which would make you think he might not excel at hip hop. Well, you’d be wrong. This is a great example of how insanely talented they all are because I just don’t know how a ballet dancer can do this. Click here to watch the video.

Reason #2: The choreography is ridiculously great and there are tons of different genres of dance.  I mean, the show has won 10 Emmy’s and been nominated for 22, mostly for choreography. Where else can you see dancing like that on TV?

Want proof? Check out the Emmy winning contemporary routine Fix You from choreographer (and former SYTYCD contestant) Travis Wall starring two of my favorite dancers ever, Robert & Allison. You can watch the video here.

Reason #3: The costumes, hair, and makeup are spectacular and that really pulls the whole performance together.   (Sending props to my friend Amy Strozzi who heads the Makeup Department at SYTYCD. She’s so talented, it blows my mind!)

One peek at the Mia Michaels choreographed number  ”Alice in Mia-land” and you’ll know what I’m talking about. You can see the video right here.

Reason #4: Super-host Cat Deeley. Not only is she an amazing Emmy-nominated host (it’s live and that’s not easy) but she’s also so pretty and so fashionable and so nice. Have you ever noticed that most people on TV have no taste and they all dress like crap? Well, not this woman. And here’s the kicker – she styles herself! No wonder she looks so great. For more on how she creates her looks for the show, watch her video series In The Dressing Room here. They’re cute short videos from each show and you’ll get to see how my girl Amy works that makeup magic.

And about being nice? Well, I can say she’s nice because Cat and I are best friends. Kidding. But I did style a shoot with her for LHJ last year and she was, without a doubt, the sweetest celebrity I’ve ever met. I had such a girl crush on her before the shoot that I was really nervous she wouldn’t live up to my expectations. But she did and more. Here’s a picture of us out to dinner after shooting all day. (That’s me and Cat on the left, then Hairstylist John D, Makeup artist Amy Strozzi, and LHJ Associate Fashion Editor, Gabrielle Porcaro.) See how me and Cat look like we’re best friends? Don’t believe it? Well, let’s just pretend this pic wasn’t staged because I’m such a super fan of the show and spent the whole day gushing to Cat, ok?

Reason #5: The judges actually know what they’re talking about. There’s not much to critique on this show because as I said before, the dancers are all fabulous, but the judges help separate the great from the extraordinary.

Reason #6: It’s inspiring. My kids are kind of obsessed with this show and last summer there was one dance in particular that we watched over and over. (No joke: Last summer’s finale is still in my DVR.)  In it, Melanie (who went on to win) ran across the stage and lept into the arms of Neil.

Well, we all loved this so much that the girls started performing the move with the help of their leading man: Daddy. (For the inspiration, go to 1:40 in this clip.)

And now, check out Sophia and Lily sharing the role of Melanie and Pablo in the role of Neil. (I tried to get him to do it shirtless but I lost so you lose, too. Or you win, depending on how you look at it.)

What about this season, you ask? Well, I’m not one to pick winners so early on but I can say that Audrey and Matthew’s Travis Wall routine from last week was hot as hell and I can’t wait to see more from those two.

So go set that DVR (or tune in Wednesday’s at 8) for the best show of the summer. Happy watching! (And dancing!)

XO 

Sue at Home

Tags: , , , , , , ,

A Crafty Present for Kids

16 Jul

My daughters are destined to be creative. Not only do they have a crafty mom to learn from but they also have two very arty Aunts. Their Aunt Paola (Pablo’s sister) is a graphic designer and artist who always sends birthday gifts from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. (How cool is that?) My brother’s wife, Jenn (who the girls call “Auntie”), is an avid scrapbooker and card maker who sent a really creative gift to Lily this year. I knew it would be good when she sent an email saying that Lily’s gift was inspired by something she had seen on Pinterest: this cool idea from She’s Crafty.

Lily was quite content with the idea of getting balloons but was even more thrilled when she realized there was something in each one.

That is, until she realized we would need to pop them to get the surprises out. After convincing her that whatever was inside was better than just balloons, she was okay with opening them. But popping them was out of the question for her (I think an older kid – or maybe just one that’s not as much of a scaredy cat as Lily – would have a blast popping them). So we gingerly opened each one with scissors (this is the Lily way!) and Sophia helped her add up the loot as each bill came out. $10! $15! $20! $25! Quite a haul! Thanks, Auntie!

So, off to Target we went. I let her hold her money for only a few minutes because of my bitter memories of the “Tragic $5 Event of 1978″.  Let me see if I can explain without welling up: I was about 6 or 7 and I was allowed to hold $5 (five weeks of allowance that I had saved up) and I put it down in the store and lost it. Needless to say, I don’t think I lost money ever again.

She perused the bracelets for a bit but decided there was nothing up to her standards.

But when she saw this handbag in the big girl’s section, there was no need to look any further. Until she realized she still had more money to blow! (Yes, she is probably the only person in the world small enough to still fit in the cart but old enough to want a purse!)

Here’s her final count. Glittery purse: $13. T-shirt: $5. Tutu skirt: $5. Two notebooks from the dollar section (she picked out one for Sophia!): $2. Picking whatever you want and learning the value of money: Priceless.

I gave her a little extra to cover the tax (I figured that was too big a concept for age 4) but she loved paying at the checkout.

All in all it was a fun and creative gift. Thanks Auntie!!

(What? You don’t do a little pose outside the store every time you leave Target?)

XO 

Sue at Home

P.S. Did you notice my blog has a whole new look? What do you think?

Tags: , , ,

Organizing the Linen “Closet”

12 Jul

This is my linen closet.

attic 090

I’ll let the horror of that soak in before I explain. You see, the house I live in probably had a linen closet at one point. But I believe one of the previous owners took the space the closet was in and changed it to add stairs to make a walk-up attic. I mentioned my beloved attic back when I told you about what I love about my small house. So even though it means no linen closet (I mean, who doesn’t have a linen closet? I had one when I lived in a tiny 1-bedroom in Manhattan!), I’ll take the trade off to have my big attic. I’m so mortified by how messy it’s gotten up there that I’m vowing to make it better before you get a peek but here’s what it looked like when we originally saw the house.  (No, they didn’t have a random kid roaming the house. She’s ours.)

So, how do I deal with no linen closet? Well, we have a big under-the-bed box in our bedroom that holds fresh towels and clean pillowcases but other than that, everything else in stored in these bins in the attic. It’s not easy but we have to deal. The problem is, in the 18 months that we’ve lived here, the bins have gotten a little disorganized. And since we had 6 house guests here for a night (!!) we needed every last blanket, sheet, pillowcase and air mattress up there. And it took me waaaaay too long to find what I needed for our guests. So, as we cleaned up, I decided I’d take this opportunity to bring all the bins down and give them a thorough edit. I started by taking everything out and grouping them together in categories like kids bedding, blankets, bedskirts, queen size sheets, and cloth napkins (HAD to register for them, but have NEVER used them).

Then I put everything back in bins that made sense together. I was careful to make one bin that had everything we would need to make up the pull-out couch for a guest, plus the air mattress and some sheets for it. I made signs so I’d know what was in each bin and where to put things back after I use them. Now, if I was a superhero of organization like Jen Jones of I Heart Organizing then I’d be making some fancy color-coded labels but since I’m me, I just used a Sharpie and made big signs on white printer paper. (Still does the job!)

After organizing all the white sheets and separating them by bed size, I didn’t want to throw them back into the abyss so I tied them up with a string and made more of those fancy labels. Let’s go over those directions again: Sharpie on paper. (That’s DIY at it’s best.)

I managed to edit a bunch of stuff, too, like some blankets that my mother-in-law was happy to take home. There were also a bunch of white sheets that had taken on a more yellowy tone so those were tossed.  I felt so happy to have this task done and honestly, it only took about an hour. I’m thinking that if I break the attic up into different sections, I can tackle one at a time and have that place looking great again in about a month. Sounds like I just challenged myself. In the words of the wise Barney Stinson, “Challenge accepted!”

You must have a place where you dump all your stuff, too. Could it use a clean out? Come on, do it with me!

UPDATE: I wrote this post and saved it but when I read it back, there was one part I didn’t like. The part where I hide the attic from you. I told you I was an open book back in Post #1 so I want to keep this blog honest and open. Plus, why shouldn’t I use Sue At Home as a way to push myself to be more creative and more organized – ya know, cause the world is watching? So, I didn’t do a major cleaning but I did put away all the stuff that had landed in the middle of the space. And, now I can reveal to you (with no shame) my walk-up attic:

What are those big copper balls, you ask? Oh, that’s another post for another day! (Update: Read all about the copper balls here and here.)

XO

Sue at Home

P.S. Are you doing Photo A Day with me? After realizing I screwed the days up for 5 days, I finally got on track. You can follow me at Instagram (I’m sueerneta) to check out my pics.

Tags: , , , ,

← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 364 other followers

%d bloggers like this: