Going Gaga Over Area Rugs

           For the past weeks as I was so indulged in finishing and thinking of projects from projects there is this one item that I really can't help but fall in love with so bad it's now becoming my daily staple before starting off  my day to work. Crazy it may seem but my new found love at the moment are Moroccan trellis wool rugs. They are just so astonishing I couldn't help my thoughts and eyes drool over the uniqueness of their beauty and the elegance they exude especially in the living room.  Lately did I just realize this is becoming a trend in home design.   So to give some visuals of my current state of heart here are some of my favorites I've seen in the web. (Pardon citation at this time, but all these were results of filtering google search in images. If you type in Moroccan trellis wool rugs, google will point you to hundreds of images) 

           Of course, in love as I am this kind of rug is something that I definitely splurged on or should I say invested on for our living room update. Stay tuned for that new look I shall share in a few days. ;-)




Are you falling in love with some home decors lately?

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Keeping Up with a Little Big Girl

          One of the gazillion things I need to make sure our home will always always be is for it to be the cleanest most organized as possible. I know this could sometimes be a pain and a wishful thinking, I try [and this is every single day] my very most efficient best way to keep up.  Sounds like I do have a pretty good number of brood but surprisingly, we only have one. I just could imagine how it will be with another one. ;-) 

      So anyway, as I have always made mention, our home isn't a huge abode that will pose humongous challenge to keep in order but it just becomes a tedious job to always do the same things every single day. And I am talking about none other than our very own little big princess...Jaida. Her toys and books and art materials are the biggest work this mortal body spends hours of arranging, cleaning, organizing...name it.. hahaha. Her stuffs are the most needy items to be attended at in our home sweet home. 

      But what can you do right?  A 3 year old will only be a toddler once and this is the period when their mental and motor skills are developing sharply. I won't complain on that of course. Anything to make our princess learn more and have fun...I am so into it. 

        Since our girl's room isn't big enough to become a playroom, the living room was the most qualified candidate then. Since our home is a single-leveled structure we didn't have a problem on her running, jumping, dancing, etc. The living room has been her haven since she was about a year and a half when we moved in.  This has became her indoor park and playroom from 10am {as she wakes up} til the afternoon. Frankly, this is the most used area in the house and to maintain its sanely clean and organized aura could be very challenging everyday.

          Here's how our living room is every single day coming home from work. So just imagine how wonderful our daughter feels the whole day without resistance from anybody or anything. She can almost always do whatever she wants. But when the afternoon strikes and mom and dad are home, the chaos is very evident.

             Now here's the big 'but' statement..."But we don't care much at all." This is like a natural thing occurring in a regular household with a toddler. And to think that this is unusual would be a little over inconsiderate don't you think?

Cutting to the chase...how do we keep up?

          Since I am the organizing freak in the house...I do the quality control and obviously the cleaning. ;-)
There's no short cuts to an everyday feel of a clean home than to actually clean and organize it everyday as it is drowned with toys all around, or even dishes in the sink or trash in the bathroom. No trick will ever escape  your feet of not actually diving into them and cleaning them by yourselves.

That's what I did and will always do everyday.
            

            I have these simple mantras at home that keep everyone's sanity in place. And if they don't want to hear a voice that may sound like a cutting steel then following these simple habits will just maintain peace and quiet.
            Don't be blown away because these are just simple musts and ought-tos to bear in mind every single hour of each day. As Aristotle puts it..."excellence..is a habit."

1. no stuff is left scattered anywhere before getting to bed (this pretty much is every single room in the house)

2. if it feels dirty you go clean it  (no matter what)

3. vacuum the carpet, scrub the stain, sweep the floor without bashing an eye lash. thank you.

        I know that if I clean it as it gets dirty then it won't clutter. It could be tiring..yes...but I'd rather be tired than get dirty ya know. ;-)

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Reupholstery Part 2: Bar Stool Restaining

          Finally, I am now sharing with you all my first ever attempt to re-stain and reupholster a bar stool. For some reason, I have had this huge crush on staining paints and the more I read articles that dealt with do-it-yourself re-staining make me wanna just leap off to Home Depot and grab my favorite stain color and just paint all possible wood furniture we have at home to give them new look and style.
         So, at long very last I have decided on working with our bar stool (oak wood) that the old owner of the house left. I thought to myself that a good experimentation and try-outs would be better exercised on small items first. Thus, my eyes were glued on these two stools that we now use as our wine rack side chairs so-to-speak. If you remember that blog I wrote a month ago about our counter stools, I did pretty much the same thing with these two wooden stools. The only harder part I did was the staining process. Reupholstering it was a piece of cake. Armed with your pretty fabric find and a gun stapler, voila you are set to go. But since it's a wood, re-staining it would definitely create a total make over oohlalala amazing.

           I'm not gonna hold you guys too long...here are the fruits of our labor. (p.s. my mom took the initiative to do the reupholstering step)

           This was how it looked like naked. The green fabric for the cushion was a redo that my mom did sometime ago in February this year to give a cleaner look than what it was originally when these were left in the house after closing the purchase.

         So since our walls are plain white, I thought that a little darker natural colored items can give the room much life and perks. I decided to grab the KONA stain of Varathaine. Now, interestingly enough as I walked in Home Depot a few weeks ago, my knowledge of this area in carpentry was a big zero so I needed some tips from the pro themselves. I have been advised that it will be cheaper to get a POLY + STAIN type of paint than to get each one separately. Plus, you wouldn't have to work too hard on the wood if you'd only use one type of paint on it. That's what I did and I immediately ran to the counter to check it out.

         I used a semi-gloss type since I didn't want the chairs to look too shiny after finish.  Note also, that a good painting friend and partner is your brush. So, it's better to invest on some pricy ones that will last a lifetime and will do the work magically than to stick on getting cheapos which will break after a few good use and then buy again. The frequency of you getting the same type of brushes will cost you more in the far end rather than investing now with a great quality. 
         Another material that I had to use was the sandpaper. The idea of re-staining is to re-clean it too. Usually with stained wood, it's best to remove the finish first before applying the coat. In this chair's case though, I didn't think the wood finish was too much so I used a regular 220 grit of sandpaper to sand it for a few minutes and give a nice smooth top layer. This way, the painting will give a much better result.

         And of course our little princess did want to get a last snapshot of the old chair.

         
            So here it is after giving the first stool its first coat. Notice that huge difference as to being plain.

           
           Here's a closer look.

            I  did mine about three coats to release that KONA texture and color perfectly. And then we bagan cutting the fabric. This was from JoAnn and I bought it a couple months ago when it was on sale. Like my usual window shopping, it was love at first site and I knew right then this will be our stool's new dress. ;-)

            As I told you...my mom played the right hand over the weekend. She helped me dress our bar stools and they looked fantastic. (Thanks mom!!)

            
            Without too much introduction ladies and gents...here are our newly dressed up bar stools. ;-)



        

 

         Stay tuned for the next big thing. ;-) Now that I've realized how do-able this project is...we  are taking it to the next level... redoing one of our major furniture at home. 

         Have you had done any project out of your comfort zones lately and test your endurance in finishing it? ;-)

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Officially a BHG Subscriber!

        A couple months ago as I have began becoming an iheartorganizing blog fan one of the many resources that Jen has shared was reading Better Homes and Gardens magazine. But because magazines have not been quite a regular reading material in the house I resorted to none other than the world wide web. And it didn't fail me. Not only did it make easy browsing and fast skimming I can actually look at it anywhere I go through my mobile device that allows some browsing of the internet. Neat isn't it?

          But being such a hardcopy fanatic since time immemorial...evidently shown on how many paper records I've kept through the years, receipts of some purchases and books books books of paperback versions and hardbound copies...oh and those photocopied reading materials I've managed to bind during my college years (because we loved the library so much we couldn't buy our own copies we photocopied tons of pages), I thought that a hard copy is much much better than anything electronic.

         So about 2 months ago I paid up a subscription plan for the Better Homes and Gardens magazine for a year for a whopping $5.25. Woot woot!! for that amazing deal I was able to grab. (I think they still have it..try visiting www.bhg.com)

          And I got my first print out for the month of October yesterday. (Just imagine that big smile in my face).

 

  

         I had a bonus print too of some delectable recipes for the fall season.  I am ecstatic about this. Now I think a little challenge will be to think of a nice and pretty rack for my new babies in the house. ;-) 

          Have you had that lingering thoughts on collecting magazines again as oppose to just clipping everything electronically? ;-)

  

          

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The Beauty of Fridge Coasters

           Sometime a month ago or two I posted this article about how I loved wrapping papers as liners. Although the material seem to be a little too delicate it worked perfectly fine in our daughter's cabinets and plastic drawers. Recently, as I was rereading my favorite blog I came across once again this article of hers that showcased another great discovery by some genius businessmen in the field of clean organizing. In there she featured the sleek material called fridge coasters. These are basically liners customized for refrigerator use. (Can you believe that? A fridge was made a special liner for an easy cleaning etc.) I was star struck I must say and the moment I went into their website it was an instant kaboom!!!! I have to have one of those. But then I felt that it was a little over my needs for the kitchen's aesthetic part. I am saving for a major purchase by the end of the quarter so I couldn't take the risk of buying it.  So my yellow bulbing light once again popped out with its fantastic alternative. One fine day as we were looking for a housewarming gift item from Bed, Bath and Beyond I have accidentally seen this amazing fridge liner. It's like a regular liner pad we use but only the fridge's was a little thicker and has a better texture. (Sorry, I couldn't pull up in their website this item. It could be unavailable now).  It was half the price less of the fridge coasters I saw. Though it was plain white, I thought it looked cleaner. 

So without further ado here's my new find for our fridge's inside update.

I ran out of sheets for the rest of the compartments so I decided to use my leftover regular liner from Dollar Store which equally worked perfect. ;-)

          Don't you just love how clean it looked with these liners. Plain white wasn't too bad at all. Now it wouldn't be difficult to clean the fridge as it is easy pull these pads up and wipe them with wet damp cloth.
Luuuuv it!!!

           Have you had that wonderful discovery lately? ;-)

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Habitual Organizing: The Key to an Uncluttered Home Everyday

            When you had your day of arranging, removing, sorting, tossing, keeping, throwing and finally setting everything pretty there is this inevitable temptation of becoming complacent and forgetful that those items you have arranged and organized so well are things you use on a daily basis and are unavoidably causing a disorganized area again. So the challenge of putting back these things as you have nicely put them together becomes the hardest part.  It may come to our attention that although our winning moment of seeing a well organized drawer or cabinet for a day may not stay permanently as we could wish for. Whether we like it or not, these items will come scattered all over once again.

              And this ladies and gents is the reason why I decided to post this article. A day ago as I walked in our small kitchen to get our house scissors from that small "all-stuff-all-kind drawer" as how I called it, I noticed something scary.  The items inside the drawer looked almost like a trash can. Yikes.  Worse is that it has been that way since the last time I arranged it which was about 3-4 months ago. Oh boy! 

              It was time to reorganize again and so I did. 

              The natural thing to do was to put everything out of the drawer.  Then the magic of sorting took place.  I bought an organizing tray from Walmart that would fit inside the drawer. I started to put everything back inside but had to group then accordingly. Scissors, pens, tapes, bands and other miscellaneous items were properly and nicely put together.


           Here are the snapshots of this simple organizing I did for this overly used space in our kitchen. Unbelievably true, but you'll be surprised how often we open this drawer everyday that I can actually count it to be more than how we frequently cook. hahaha. (That could have sounded a bit over acting) but the point is, this tiny space in this house has indeed a large and important function in the home. So it is always a good practice to maintain its organized state; and keeping it in such state everyday is the best tip.

Have you had an accidental observation with that very useful space in your home that needed a quick touch of magic to function more efficiently and to look neat and pretty again or maybe always? ;-) 

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It's a Boy!!!

        Nothing is much more exciting than to learn that an addition to a family is nearly coming and the rest of the clan and lots of friends will come and join the party to celebrate this wonderful blessing.

        This was how our family and friends have felt when we finally organized my sister-in-law's baby shower for their baby boy coming this November. It was a small and simple gathering of the closest in the home of my parents-in-law. Nothing too extravagant but I made sure that the feel of a baby boom indeed will shower the couple and their little princess a nice treat and sweet taste of good food and beautiful decors.

         So then I decided that balloons would ultimately give a light and jolly start when we decided to use the family room in the basement. Just as how I have envisioned our own daughter's birthday party I thought that balloons can never go wrong.  So then, off to my favorite store....the Dollar Tree Store and began to grab all the possible candidates for this magnificent cheapo decorations. Since it's a boy...sky blue and white were just the perfect color combination that you wouldn't even have to battle with someone to decide whether it's good or not. I use the remaining blue latex balloons from Jaida's party and bought the rest of the whites and blues from Party City. What's great is that they actually sell packs of each color so I only took the colors I needed. They were about $2.99/bag and it has about 70 latex balloons. Not bad for a one-day use right?  I also bought gray ribbons for 99 cents to tie the balloons.

          I then started to gather everything. I asked my mom to help me tie the balloons with the ribbons. Then I hung them up to the ceiling using a regular scotch tape. Voila! With a  kind arrangements the white and sky blue colors mixed up so elegantly dropping in the air. Oh and I added a few crepe paper strips and just twist them and taped them on the ceiling too.

                                        Here are the beautiful couple with their baby junior. ;-)

An of course any Filipino gathering is a food feast so the potluck style was just so worth it. 

Then we also did the traditional games joined by the guys and ladies. Thank you so much for being such good sports. It was so much fun. 

And then finally the opening of the gifts. 

That was one bubbly, fun and amazing baby shower. The simple food, decor and arrangement prove that indeed no amount of expensive items can cover a true friendship and a wonderful family. 

Congratulations to the Balanay-Bantay family to their new addition! 

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Challenge 101: Workspace in the Bedroom

          One of the most serious areas in our home that I have so long wished to touch and redo is non other than our master's bedroom. If you remember that article I shared a few months back that somehow pictured our office table inside our bedroom; this by far is the most challenging trick I have been trying to solve for months now.  It seemed that we have too much stuffs inside a room where there is a very limited space.

           So, off to some magazines and webpages I found some inspirations and ideas on how to reorganize our master's bedroom a.k.a. "the little workspace".

         Having seen all these rooms with their amazing attachments of workspaces that are absolutely very functional and pretty made my heart pound and that ding bulb lightened my head so bright I am so ready to begin and redo our own bedroom.

         Generally, if space is a challenge there is nothing more efficient and effective than to use the walls as an extra space for those tools or books or just about anything that can cause clutter in the area.  Another great idea is to maximize the use of storage systems. It is always nice to not see anything on the work table other than your laptop and printer and maybe a few other decorative materials to add body and looks. All the others should be invisible.

         With a space so small for a regular sized office table and a queen sized bed plus a long chest cabinet it is really imperative to think out-of-the-box and not only make everything work but create an organized pretty dual-purposed room.


Stay tuned for this makeover I am going to treat my second favorite room in our humble abode.


(Photos were borrowed from www.google.com's images of "workspace in bedroom". I wasn't able to catch specific web address for each image but searching the engine with the said topics pulls up these photos out of so many other options shown in the page.)

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