Organization

Redemption: The Soap Dispenser Saga

BAM!

After last week’s soap dispenser ordeal, I win!

HA! Take that!

Man, it feels good to get this off my to do list. Up next: hanging some art in the bathroom!

One Step Forward, Thirteen Steps Back

After my relaxing weekend up north, I felt refreshed to tackle another busy work week and inch towards finishing the bathroom renovation.

On my to do list this evening was the quick and easy installation of this soap dispenser in the shower from Home Depot.

We have one in our basement bathroom shower and we love it — no more bottle clutter! In fact, when I purchased the dispenser for the basement bathroom, I bought a second one as well for our future upstairs bathroom renovation.

Fast forward, oh…..a year or two (okay, fine, maybe three…), and tonight was the night that the upstairs soap dispenser would finally be unboxed and installed! I was excited to cross this item off my long and ever-growing to do list!

Before I started gluing up a storm, I wiped down the shower tile with rubbing alcohol to ensure that the dispenser would adhere well. Then, as I was finalizing the placement of the dispenser on the wall, I noticed that one of the nozzles was ~~lose~~ broken right off.

Dammit.

My one step forward to finishing the bathroom has now resulted in:

Cramming the parts back into the opened box (why is this always a challenge?!)
Finding the receipt from three years ago (ha….good luck with that one, Michelle!)
Changing out of my PJs and getting into the cold car to go to Home Depot (today was a work from home day, hence the jammies and the cold car)
Walking allllll the way to the back of Home Depot (where they keep these damn dispensers) and retrieving a new one (they better not be discontinued!)
Opening the box to ensure that the dispenser isn’t broken
Cramming the new dispenser back into the box and swearing under my breath in the store
Walking alllll the way to the front of the store to dig the receipt out of the depths of my purse to exchange the dispenser
Getting back in my now semi-cold car
Stopping at Tim Horton’s for a coffee (because at this point I’ll likely need one)
Unboxing the friggin’ dispenser AGAIN
Determining the exact placement of the stupid dispenser, because at this point I have already forgotten where I wanted to install it
Wiping down the G-D shower tile wall AGAIN because I’m OCD like that
And, lastly, installing the *insert foul word here* soap dispenser for once and for all

Breathe!

So, no. Sorry. No photos of my installed soap dispenser tonight. You’ll just have to wait.

In the meantime, here is a snap of some gorgeous hydrangeas sitting pretty on the bathroom vanity…

Fancy.

Don’t you hate it when a quick and simple project turns into a major pain in the A? Please tell me this doesn’t just happen to me.

Drab to Fab: Ribbon Board

Yesterday I showed you my fancy, new-to-me mail slot. It was a $2.99 find at my local VV Boutique. Sure, it needed some TLC to bring it into this century, but it was nothing that a can of chalk board spray paint couldn’t handle.

I also gave you a sneak peek of my DIY ribbon board. Pretty, huh? I think so. It didn’t start out that way though.

One day while leaving work, I passed by the Give & Take Table in our underground parking garage. Normally I don’t bat an eyelash at the table because it’s usually full of junky items that people really should have thrown out. On the table was a wooden frame with broken glass. Garbage, right? It definitely could have passed for it, but I ended up grabbing the frame anyway because it was really deep, almost like a shadow box. I knew I could turn it into an upholstered pin board.

I immediately brought the frame home, threw out the busted up glass and gave it a coat of white spray paint. As you can see, I was so intent on starting this project that I didn’t get a “before” shot. Bad blogger, I know. 🙂

Next, I headed off to my local Fabricland and went straight to their remnant box. For a few bucks, I got a yard of stripped grey and white outdoor fabric and some white ribbon.

The process of putting it together was simple. I layered some batting over a piece of cardboard to fit the frame, then layered on the fabric. To secure the fabric and batting, I used some duct tape. Easy, right? Then, I arranged the ribbon in a diagonal grid and secured that to the back of the fabric covered cardboard using, of course, more duct tape.

Here’s the final product…

The ribbon board is perfect next to the mail slot, as we can stick invitations, important notices and other reminders on the board so they don’t get lost or thrown out by accident. It also gives the foyer a pop of colour.

How do you handle clutter in your foyer? I’d love to hear about it!

Linking up with…
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
I Heart Organizing

Drab to Fab: Mail Slot Makeover

Clutter is a MAJOR problem in our foyer. Shoes, bags, papers and mail. Oy, the mail!

For months, I was looking for an effective mail solution – something that would neatly organize our mail while it sat for us to read. After re-doing our foyer, I needed a solution STAT – the mail pile was starting to turn into an accessory and it wasn’t my idea of beautiful decor.

If you follow me on Pinterest, you would have noticed a number of pins for mail organization. Lots of ideas, but nothing that I could easily and quickly execute. Then, one day while strolling through my local VV Boutique, I came across this beauty.

Gotta love that honey-coloured wood. Best of all, the price at a whopping $2.99. Yup, sold. This baby was coming home with me.

I had a few ideas of what to do with this mail slot, but opted to keep it simple. Black is the accent colour of our foyer, so I grabbed my can of Rust-Oleum Specialty Chalk Board Spray and went to town.

And, here’s the final product…

Plenty of space for our mail and it’s located right by the front door near the coat rack for easy access.

What’s the ribbon board next to it? More on that tomorrow!

Linking up with…
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
I Heart Organizing

It’s the Little Things

Sometimes, it’s the little things that make a difference. Take our basement pantry, for instance.

Our basement pantry is where we keep the bulk of our dry foods, paper products and cleaning supplies since our kitchen is seriously lacking cabinet pantry space. It’s located in our unfinished laundry/utility room, just across from the all-important beer fridge and upright freezer.

For months, the pantry was no longer a pantry…..it was a dumping zone. It was high time to organize, purge and re-establish some much needed order.

So, what did I do on my vacation?

This.

Ahhh….all is well in the world again. All it took was a 3-Drawer Storage Cart to store extra Tupperware containers, some Skubb Storage Boxes and a Hutten 9-Bottle Wine Rack from IKEA. Now everything is contained with like items and easy to get to.

It may not be the prettiest of pantries, but it sure is handy and does the trick!

Linking up with…
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

Operation: Jewellery Storage

Jewellery. It’s beautiful, dresses up an outfit and is fun to purchase or receive as a gift. There is no such thing as having too much jewellery (isn’t that every girl’s dream?)….but, what to do with all of the jewellery?

For years, I had my jewellery stashed away in organizers in my closet. It was a great system — it kept everything neat and organized. And, that’s about it. Neat and organized. Oh, and stashed away.

When getting ready in the mornings, I couldn’t be bothered to dig through my organizers to pick out accessories. So, I never really wore my jewellery, except for a few key pieces. I needed to find a solution, and when I was working on my Closet Vanity project, I came across this wall-hung jewellery idea. I had to make it!

Ted had some leftover baseboard trim stashed away in the basement that was perfect for this project. All I needed was a piece of 1″ pine and trim to top it off. And, someone to cut the pieces for me!

(Yes, my husband is cutting the trim in his slippers! And, of course, Mason is supervising.)

Next, I needed to stack the three pieces of trim, glue and nail them together, fill the holes and silicone the gaps. I chose the spray paint the organizer in Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch Multi-Purpose Paint in Heirloom White.

The last step was to add upholstery tacks to act as the hangers. This required a lot of measuring, patience and thumbs (I hammered my fingers more times than I’d like to remember). I chose to do three lines of tacks in equal distances to maximize the number of pieces I can hang.

And, ta-daaaaaa…..here is the final piece hung up in my Closet Vanity.

As you can see, I still have plenty tacks to fill up, which means I can go out and buy more jewellery!….or, even better, receive them as gifts (Ted, are you listening?)

Overall, this project was easy to complete with minimal tools and resources. It’s also a great use of leftover pieces of trim. Also, I completed this project as party of Young House Love’s Pinterest Challenge. It feels good to actually complete a project that I pinned on Pinterest a long time ago! You can follow me on Pinterest over here.

How do you like to organize your jewellery? I’d love to hear about it!

Linking up with…
Thrifty Decor Chick
Young House Love
Beneath My Heart
House of Hepworths
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

Closet Turned Vanity

A few weeks ago while perusing Pinterest, I came across a really cool project done by Liz Marie — it was her bathroom closet turned vanity project. I thought it was a super great idea and made sure to pin the idea on my Master Bedroom Ideas board.

Fast forward to last Sunday and Liz Marie’s project was all I could think about. I had to do something similar in my home!

Since we live in a 1970’s bungalow, we don’t have the luxury of having a master bathroom. For the past four years, Ted and I have been sharing the main floor bathroom. Thankfully, he leaves for work earlier than I do in the morning, so we never have to fight over the bathroom. But, I know the constant clutter of my make-up, brushes, hair products and other girly things was starting to get to him. Turning half of my closet into a vanity space was a great idea!

Even though we are not blessed with a master bathroom, I can say that we are doubly blessed to have two full-sized closets in our bedroom. Ted has his and I have mine. Amen to that! This spring, after cleaning out my closet, I was left with only half of my closet full. The other half was just being taken up by an old dresser from Ikea that stores my socks and other unmentionables, and the top of the dresser was a dumping ground for jewelery and other accessories. The dresser was still useful and functional, I just had to reframe how I was to use that side of the closet.

First, I cleared out all of my jewelery and accessories taking up space on the dresser. The dust was out of control!

Then, I easily removed a few shelves, rods and brackets from my Rubbermaid Configurations closet organizer (which, by the way, are THE BEST closet organizers out there — so versatile and easy to install…and uninstall!)

Next, I measured the space in between the two wall brackets of my closet organizer. I knew I didn’t want to fully take out that section of closet since I may need it one day. After looking on the Ikea website, I found this mirror, which was the right size and price and had a small glass shelf for added space. Off to Ikea I went!

When I came home, Ted got to work installing the mirror. He’s a handy guy to have around who loves to use his tools anytime he can!

What a guy!

On Liz Marie’s blog, she also had a great post on make-up storage. I loved her idea for organizing and displaying her make-up brushes. I happened to have a nice vase on hand, so I quickly ran over to Michael’s and bought a bag of crushed glass for my filler.

I absolutely love the final product — my closet vanity makes getting ready in the morning a snap since I have all of my make-up, hair products and other goodies close at hand. Best of all, if I don’t have time to neatly put everything away, I can simply close my closet door! No more having to run into the bathroom and stash things away when company unexpectedly drops in and no more annoying clutter for Ted.

I’m also glad that I didn’t remove the closet rails — they are great for holding clips and hair ties. Also, the existing lighting in the closet is super great for applying make-up.

This project is almost all complete. I want to find a cute, miniature boxwood plant to go in one of my pots that I picked up this week. I think it will add some nice colour to the space — even a closet vanity needs to look pretty! I’m also in the process of building this functional, yet beautiful necklace organizer posted by LDH on her blog. More on that project in another post! 🙂

So, what do you think? A smart use of an under utilized space? If you have done something similar, I’d love to hear about it! And, kudos to Liz Marie for the inspiration!

Thanks for dropping by The 236!

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