Wednesday, March 30, 2016

The Besta Media Storage - Part I

Hello Friends,
This week's organization project started with this DIY hack job.  


This was once a huge cabinet for media storage that our neighbors unloaded generously gave to us. We removed the upper cabinet to make room for the big screen TV which didn't fit in the space. We're thrifty and resourceful.

But along with being ugly, it never really worked all that well either.



The stereo components (don't laugh, we're old school!) didn't all fit in there.


I can hear you laughing!  A tape deck?  Really?


And, when the stereo is playing, the door has to be kept open as it gets pretty hot in there!

One day I just got sick and tired of looking at it and dealing with it (ever felt that way?). So my strong, smart friend, Heather & I jumped in the car to go to the best furniture store on the planet. to shop for a new one.  As many of you know, Ikea is built intentionally like a maze and as you wind your way around like little mice, it is exhausting. The customer service was lacking that day, and I ended up in the warehouse twice looking for the right pieces, which meant I ended up on the second floor twice to get help.  I was so grateful for Heather!  She caught their design error right away and saved me hours of frustration.   FYI:  Bring a friend to help you, plan on wearing really good walking shoes and bring a snack for the ride home.

I chose BESTA for my new cabinet because you can design it for exactly what you need in it, which is an organizer's dream come true and it has it's own video, so you know it's a rockstar!

I'd sorted all the music CDs and had my family sort all the DVDs last year, so I knew before shopping the amount of storage I'd need.  The cassette tapes are another matter entirely.

But since I mentioned it, let's delve in.  Cassette tapes are obsolete.  I have a stack of them.  Not that I want to listen to them as the quality isn't great, but I plan to make a list of the music on them and then upload the songs on to newer technology.  There is nothing like hearing a favorite song from long ago and instantly recalling the memory that you had while listening to that song.  

Recently, I've read if you get Alzheimer's, they've had a lot of success with regaining memory with music.   Keeping my cassette tape music is like having JOY insurance for my old age.

But I digress...

This unit has baskets that slide in and out.  They hold a large volume of CDs for both my husband and I.




HERS


HIS
Notice that HERS are neatly labeled on the spines.  It only takes a few minutes and is such a time saver when looking for say, Dexy's Midnight Runners (just kidding although now I have "Come on Eileen" stuck in my head.)



These totes came as part of the BESTA system.  They fit perfectly in the drawers and come folded flat in two sizes.  No measuring required!





Look how nice and neat they all fit!  I even sorted HERS by genre and alphabetized HERS.  My husband has some sorting & labeling to do first.

When organizing, it's very important that all like items are gathered first.  I suddenly remembered I had a lot of CDs stored in my car as I found a stack of empty CD cases in the HERS basket.



This car CD organizer is so handy.  It attaches with elastic to the windshield visor and then it flips open. When my boys were small, they had one side and I had the other and then ipods were invented...sigh.


But alas, there was one CD leftover that I couldn't figure out who the artist was.  Any guesses, anyone, anyone?


So in a flash of inspiration, I popped it into the CD player and behold found another 4 CDs!


Remember to check everywhere that like items could be hiding in your house! 

It's a good idea to keep a few clear CD cases on hand in case some get broken.  Plastic gets brittle as it ages.


The DVDs, which were on a shelf, underneath where the TV was, went into a larger tote, along with the larger CD cases.  Can you see the 1/3rd empty space in the middle?  It's a goal to always have some empty space and in this case, it was short lived.  The remote and some spare cords filled this up very quickly.



So did you guess the mystery artist?  As soon as I heard "My Redeemer Lives" I knew right away.



Now I just need help putting my new BESTA together so I can happily install the stereo components and totes.  All in good time.


What piece of furniture would you replace if you could?

What's the most ancient piece of technology that you own?




Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Spruce for Spring

Hello friends! 

It's been over a month since I've blogged.  I was traveling for a couple of weeks, even helped with an organizing project - more on that later - and then got the dreaded respiratory influenza and was laid up for 3 weeks.  

In the meantime, my husband has taken a job in another state and moved into a rental there, while I stay here and fix up our house to eventually sell in a year or two.  We actually are loving this temporary separation with visiting privileges.  #revitalizedmarriage

If feels good to be back to work and blogging and well, life in general.  Interesting how being sick is like being in some sort of twilight zone where life stops but also life goes on.  I am spending this week catching up with everything that was postphoned.

So being sick, I was literally laying around for weeks and my favorite thing to do when I'm too sick to do much else, is to windowshop online.  I believe it's called "Internesting" and it's a THING.


My favorite stores to visit from my internest are:
Wayfair
Target
Joss & Main
Ikea

I've spent many hours organizing my home over the past year and "winnowing" which is a clever word for discarding/donating/selling many, many things that no longer fit, are needed, have no place, served their use etc.  

So it felt just right after my long illness and with spring approaching to refresh my house and spend some quality time "sprucing".

After long hours researching online and really feeling what sparked joy, I headed to the stores and picked out all of this loveliness.

Before I had gold brocade drapes in the dining room and sage green velvet drapes in the living room. The house always felt dark and closed in, which is a cozy feeling in the winter, but I want to live differently now.

I replaced all the drapes with these light and airy linens.  The words diaphenous and ethereal come to mind.



When the sun comes out (as it surely will), the light pours in these rooms and I love that I can sit with the drapes closed, have privacy and yet still see out and enjoy the sun!  


Yes we have sliding glass doors in our living room that open into an office.  Doesn't everyone?  I dream about installing French doors one day.  Instead of heavy drapes covering this doorway and hiding what's behind there, these drapes entice and beckon.  Don't you think?



Next up was the bathroom.  Before we had black and gray towels - yes, I said black towels. Being that I lived in a house of men, black and gray made a lot of sense.  Not anymore!

These new towels are different shades of dusky blue and light aqua.  I chose different textures and sizes as well.  Because JOY.


I splurged and got some new artwork for the walls too.  That cell phone booster with it's winding power cord needs to be moved!


I couldn't resist this spring time visitor with it's perfect bowl for barettes and jewelry.


Then it was on to the master bedroom.  I've always wanted lots and lots of pillows as I often like to spend time reading and writing in bed with a hot cup of tea.


This bedding is so girly and fun!. I brought home all the pillows, chose these 3 and returned the rest.


The floor rug has a lot of textured loops and memory foam.  If you haven't tried memory foam under your feet, I highly recommend it.

Finally, I had to add this turtle to my side entry.  


It's a little reminder to take things slowly. 



Sprucing doesn't have to involve a big project or be expensive.  It can  just be adding a small detail to your space that makes you smile.

This spring, what's on your spruce list?