Operation Home Project Completion

One of my goals when I decided to cut back on my working hours was to organize and beautify my home. Inspired by the 100 Thing Challenge, I have cleaned out all the closets, toys, art supplies, and my kitchen. I have organized the basement, including taking around 25 paint cans hazardous waste disposal day.  I took down baby gates, touched up paint, and sold things on Craig's List.  It's been amazing to me just how much clutter we accumulated while we were busy having two babies in the last few years.

We sold the extra couch we had in the living room, mainly because I decided we just didn't need 2 couches, they didn't match, and I was forever cleaning the non-leather couch because Maisy inevitably sat on it.  I moved the 2 wing-backed chairs we had next to each other in that spot.  This suddenly made me painfully aware every time I came down the stairs that I had never finished the second slip-cover.  Or, actually, ever started it.  I finished a nice black slipcover for one chair 2 years ago with my Mom's help, when she was here right after I had Dex.

So I had one black chair and one peachy-colored chair.  Yuck.

I decided to blitz this project, and finished it in just a handful of days.  Ahh, so much better.





Another trouble spot I wanted to fix was my jewelry. It was always in a big pile. I phoned a friend on this one: Amy McClure, who is the artistic genius behind Olaria Studios. Not only does she have a lot of experience displaying jewelry, she is way cooler and beautifuler than I could ever hope to be.

She recommended several good things, but I decided to tackle this project:




Amy made this beautiful plate that I keep some odds n ends on




I bought knobs from Anthropologie, screwed them into an old board I found in my basement, and voila. Necklace beauty. And I can see all my choices, so I've discovered I wear a lot more necklaces these days.  Thanks for the great idea, Amy!