She's Taking Over My Blog...Guest Post

I have a guest... Hi everyone! I'm Alexa - Linda's sweet, loving, amazing, gorgeous, hilarious, fabulous daughter!! My mom has been super busy with her bedroom and I hope you guys are busy with your rooms too! I'm excited to see how her bedroom turns out.  I had no idea what to do for my guest blogging. Should I do shopping tips? Makeup organizing? Perfect books? But it came to me as I was cleaning up my old schoolwork- how to organize your school desk! 

In my post- I'm going to help you avoid this ^ disaster in the upcoming school year. I cannot count the amount of times my desk looked like this. Well, that is, until I got my organizing down pat.

*sorry- not sure why its blurry*

Before you start organizing your kid's school desk- prepping for the next school year- make sure the location is great! That ^^^ is my room. I have my school desk there so I can work in a quiet spot without my family annoying disrupting me. On top of my desk- I keep a hole puncher, paper, tape dispenser thingy, and other few large essentials. But in the desk drawer is where the magic happens!

There's the inside of my desk & let me tell you how to get it organized like that. In my opinion- everybody needs highlighters, pens (multiple colors), pencils, erasers, white out, post-its, and a stapler. It's all up to you for what you want to put in but that's my recommendation.

Here's the thing - 
I always need white out- writing a final essay, doing homework, and all things related to school are done in PEN! Pen is not erasable!!! You're kids work will be so much neater without those scribbles by using white-out. My mom always complains about buying it because it can be 3 dollars but it's worth it! ... This sounded like an ad but it's not :)

Anyways- I kid you not, these organizers saved me when it came to organizing my essentials.

These are Container Store drawer organizers. All you do is measure your drawer, choose the size you want, and boom- you have yourself an organizer. It gets a bit tricky though- deciding what to have and where. You need to have separate in school materials and at home materials. Otherwise, your kids are going to come home complaining how they left their one good pen at home and that's why they did bad on their test... or maybe that's only me?
Anyways!
I put pencils, rulers, and paper binder/clips in one section. Then next- pens, staples, and eraser refills. If you clicked my link above (or if you're lazy here it is) you will see that there is a sliding feature that goes on top of this. I keep highlighters and markers in that. It's removable so if you don't want it- no problem.

That's all for me! Enjoy your weekend everyone! ( I hope you can now notice how obsessed my family is with dogs) Maybe I'll be back another time but until then- keep calm & blog on!
Alexa

Friday's In the garden....In the pool

Ok, it's hot....really hot....and humid. I can't believe that I spend all winter waiting for this disgusting weather. I'll be spray painting, gardening and hacking Ikea stuff this weekend. As my pool envy grows, I found these lucky dogs. Do you think these guys know how lucky they are?

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What are you working on this weekend?

Sadie + Stella are Here! Guest Post

I am so excited to have Lindsay, the super hilarious and fabulously chic girl from...

Hi My Crafty Home Life lovers! I am Lindsay from Sadie + Stella and I could not be more elated to share my morning with you. For those of you who know me, and those of you who do not, I am a total DIY'er/get the expensive look for less kind of girl. Don't get me wrong. I have extremely expensive taste. However, I believe budgets should be balanced and with the right imagination and execution, projects can be completed at home. Which brings me to my favorite room in our home. Our very own, homemade dressing room. No. Not homemade dressing. A homemade dressing room.  

 The boy is to thank on this one. He had a lot of the brains behind this project and also had the brawn. Hmmmm. Where do I come in?? Color coding. That is where. 

 This is honestly a simple project that each and everyone of you can do with a trip to your local hardware store and a few hours of your time. I wanted the end product to look like an upscale clothing boutique. Mission. Accomplished. 

 The dressing table seen here is actually an Ikea piece. And the trays used to hold all of our daily accessories would be from the Dollar Tree. Count that. Dollar Tree. I can just feel the savings. 

I could not be more thrilled with the after. See lovers, you all can get the same look. This room makes me beyond happy every time I walk in to get dressed. I hope you all enjoy the tour of my favorite "DIY/Look for Less Space." Thanks for having me!  XOXO Lindsay 

Thanks for coming by, Lindsay. Your closet is truly inspirational and your style is impeccable.

One Room Challenge...Week 3

Thanks for coming back and checking in on my progress with the One Room Challenge. In case you are new to my blog, you can start the challenge, here. When you last saw my room, I was in the middle of crown molding. I am happy to report that it's done!

I will not lie, that crown molding was one of the toughest things I have ever done. I did not enjoy the process. I don't care if I learned more useless knowledge, because.....I have no intention of doing that again any time soon. Although I have this strange feeling that, like childbirth I might forget. 
I am having the ceiling professionally painted, I hope. No surprise, dealing with painting contractors has been challenging, to say the least. Let's just say that this time, I am waiting for my first choice.  However, to get back on track with the non-existent budget, I will be rolling the walls, myself. You can see on the right, a color I am considering.

This is the television side.

Here are the built-ins that Rod put together from Ikea cabinets. The flimsy cardboard backs are bothering me.....and this is why I have no idea, husband, when we will be moving back in.

They still need to be trimmed out, and Rod doesn't do that. 

This is my favorite view. I love the way all the lines of the planks come together. 
Now would be a good time to think of a color pallet...ya think?For the walls, I'm using this Opal color that Jenny used here
the nightstands will be mint
A pop of coral, somewhere
And whatever else I stumble upon in the next few weeks. Of course all of this is subject to change....just because.
I want to take a second and give a quick thank you to Manidi, from Interior Design Musings, for mentioning the One Room Challenge.
Now, I'm not in this alone...let's go see how the others are doing
Edit...Week 4 go here

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I'll Own It....and a Vote, Please

Ok, time to come clean. Yesterday, my 14-year-old corrected my grammatical errors and a typo on my post. Don't go looking for it, I have already fixed that one. For those of you whom have noticed...I can't spell. I struggle with it all the time, and I never know which word to use...board or bored? My friend, Elizabeth would like me to tell you; "the fact my daughter can master the English language is just damn good parenting!" I would say... she takes after her father. Did I tell you that she will be taking Latin in high school? 
Anyway, let's have an agreement....if you see typo's or grammatical errors, just say so in my comments. It takes a lot more than that to offend me. Honestly, the people I know who have an excellent command of  the English language.....can't use a compound miter saw. Like my friend Alan always said, "If life were fair, I'd be rich instead of good looking"....he was very good looking. Life is fair, now he's bald.
Opinion time....Beth did the most inspirational post yesterday about my chandelier

I loved all her pictures so much, in spite of my husband's request....I'm keeping her! In fact, after reading her post, I started priming the chandelier

Is it me, or does this look like a hand grenade?

In all seriousness....I know Junell thinks I should paint it orange....but Beth posted so many possibilities (too many to copy), I just can't decide. Please take a moment to pop over then come back and tell me what color you think I should paint her. I am stumped! Thanks...I know I can count on you!

Dresser Disaster....really!

I needed a break from all that crown molding drama in my master bedroom. It was time to get off the ladder, and change projects. Do you do that.....start one, and switch it up with another? I like to tell myself that it keeps me from getting bored. Who are we kidding...it's ADD! The only thing that makes me ok with it, is most creative people I know, have it.
See, I just did it...back to the dresser. Remember my nightstands?

a closer look

They are not working for me. First, they are a bit too tall. Next, they are a little bit country. Why am I hearing Donny Osmond say, "and I'm a little bit rock n' roll"?

I did not think that paint alone would solve these problems

See all the rounded edges, that will look awful painted my vision of mint. So, I started to hack away

By removing the bottom skirt, it brought the dresser down to the perfect height. Then, I started trying to square up the drawer fronts

And this is where it ends. It's ugly! I do not want to invest one more second of my time into this piece. Sometimes you just need to know when to fold em.

On another note, I want to say thanks to my friend Jennifer. She wrote the nicest piece about me. I bet you would not have put us together?  

Have you had any DIY disasters lately?