Sorry for the last minute news - I just found out today that it's airing this evening and that we may be included! Show details can be found here.
I can't wait to share all the details on the blog this next week! ♥
Saturday, March 31, 2012
96 Tune In!
Last year the Jones family was asked to participate in a new show on
HGTV called Clean Freaks {dedicated to those who love to clean and
organize!}, which premiers tonight at 7:00 p.m./6:00 p.m. Central Time.
And do you see who we got to hang out with for the day? The super sweet and lovely Sabrina Soto!
Sorry for the last minute news - I just found out today that it's airing this evening and that we may be included! Show details can be found here.
I can't wait to share all the details on the blog this next week! ♥
Sorry for the last minute news - I just found out today that it's airing this evening and that we may be included! Show details can be found here.
I can't wait to share all the details on the blog this next week! ♥
Friday, March 30, 2012
48 Reader Raid: Jillian's Joyfully Organized Abode
One of the things that I am hoping to do more of this year, is not only start helping more individuals in person, but also raid the homes of those that are already blessed with that organizing gene {and share those spaces with you!} Every single time you accomplish any organizing project, big or small, is something to be excited about and proud of. And because I blog about home, DIY and organization for a living, I get to read and be apart of a lot of amazing success stories and do happy dances with you, whether virtually or in person.
I can't express the giddiness I had when Jillian invited me into her home and snap pictures of all of her incredible accomplishments. It was so much fun spending the morning with her, chatting about her beautiful house and seeing the transformations that have taken space. She let me snoop in all of her drawers and cabinets and closets, which is oddly thrilling.
Jillian wrote:
Hi Jen!
Anyone who knows me would know I've always been interested in design and decorating. We moved into our home four years ago and it's been so exciting working on each room individually and also consider house the whole how flows together.
My friends and family would be surprised, however, to know I never really considered the hidden spaces and how they functioned. In the past they would probably be shocked to open a drawer and see the mess and disorganization! Not anymore! I discovered your blog last fall and learned that not only do we live in the same town, but our boys are in the same class at school!
I was so inspired by your posts that last September I decided to begin a total house purge and added organizing to my list of hobbies. I started with one drawer, then a cupboard, then a closet, etc... I just kept going!
My absolutely favorite organizing makeover is our bathroom closet. It only had a few deep shelves so we couldn't even reach all the way into the back. I gutted it, painted, and installed narrow white shelving which almost makes it a bit of a walk-in closet now. The baskets from IKEA were a perfect fit and I reused our plastic storage. After some fun labels, it was completely pretty, functional and organized! I finished it in early December and it looks exactly the same today!
Other areas that are really working for our home are:
- The new office space including our household binder
- The kid's school binder and school drawer
- The baskets in the laundry room for sorting clothes
Jillian
Jillian and her hubby have really been working on making some lovely transformations to their home over the last couple of years! Would you believe that what once was this...
Is now this?
Which also opens up into their super cozy living room!
One of the things I adored about the living room is that Jillian smartly tucked their gaming system {along with accessories} into a pretty basket to avoid having it set out and create eye clutter:
And because storage space is at a premium, she condensed down all of those bulky DVD cases into a nice binder system!
One of my favorite spots is their art display! It's such a fun and happy moment in their home and it was simply created with curtain rods and drapery rings!
Jillian tucks her home office in an armoire...
As she mentioned in her note, it wasn't always so tidy - here are a couple of before and afters:
They also made some updates to brighten up the kitchen!
I love the use of wall space!
A couple of cabinet before and afters?
Her baking cabinet now has everything organized by type in baskets and labeled see through canisters for powdered goods!
Under the sink also received some love by covering some containers with pretty paper to hold bags and corralling like items:
At their peninsula, she created a "school" drawer, which has a binder with all of the kid's current school newsletters, reading logs, etc... along with items to work on their homework and their daily vitamins:
I really love the use of baskets, labels and twine!
They also make sure to stay on the same page by having a framed family calendar in a central location!
Her pantry area is nice and organized as well! It was a closet gut job that has made her life easier in the end!
Command hooks keep those longer cleaning tools nice and accessible:
Speaking of closet transformations, Jillian mentioned her favorite was her bathroom closet update, and I couldn't agree with her more! It's incredibly functional now and doesn't look an ounce like it did in it's previous life....
She removed the shelves, gave it a fresh coat of paint and added in new shelves that were so deep so she could better utilize the entire space:
Seriously, aren't those baskets and labels so sweet?
She even added some decorative knobs to hang her necklaces:
And even the floor of the closet got some love!
Who am I kidding! The whole bathroom received a lot of love! It's so pretty!
Before:
And now!
The last stop on the tour is the laundry room, which is equally as fantastic as the rest of their home. I just love it!
Before:
And now!
I just love that they pulled cabinet doors off to create a sorting station!
Jillian really has done such a lovely job brightening up her spaces with warm paint choices, updating the functionality of cabinets and closets by changing shelving systems, using wall space for storage and adding labels and systems that her whole family can manage.
A giant THANK YOU to Jillian for letting me walk through her home and chat about her space. I left there feeling inspired to go home and look for something to organize myself! We are just one giant ring of inspiration and ideas which is what makes it so fun and rewarding!
Can you just feel a weight lifted from their day to day life, by looking at her before and after photos? What's your favorite transformation? That bathroom cabinet is an organized dream... I could kiss it!
Have you been getting your organizing on? Are you interested in letting me raid your newly organized space and share it right here on the blog? Do you live in the Twin Cities area? Submit your story and some photos to iheartorganizing@gmail.com!
7 Spring into Organization: LINK PARTY!
Happy Friday Everyone!
I hope you all have enjoyed your week and have had a great time snagging organizational ideas from all of the fabulous gals that contributed to the Spring into Organization blogger home tour parade.
In case you missed it or haven't been through the tour yet, you can find each post here:
Home #1: Becky from Organizing Made Fun
Home #2: Myself from IHeart Organizing
Home #3: Anna from Ask Anna
Home #4: DaNita from Delightful Order
Home #5: Leslie from Goodbye House, Hello Home
Home #6: Becky from Clean Mama
Home #7: Toni from A Bowl Full of Lemons
Home #8: Leanne from Organize and Decorate Everything
Home #9: Laura from Org Junkie
Now it’s your turn! Please link up as many posts as you like of your organized spaces in the link party below. This is a simultaneous link party which means if you link up here you’ll also be automatically linked up on all of the other blogs mentioned above as well. How cool is that, so much exposure for your links!
I hope you all have enjoyed your week and have had a great time snagging organizational ideas from all of the fabulous gals that contributed to the Spring into Organization blogger home tour parade.
In case you missed it or haven't been through the tour yet, you can find each post here:
Home #1: Becky from Organizing Made Fun
Home #2: Myself from IHeart Organizing
Home #3: Anna from Ask Anna
Home #4: DaNita from Delightful Order
Home #5: Leslie from Goodbye House, Hello Home
Home #6: Becky from Clean Mama
Home #7: Toni from A Bowl Full of Lemons
Home #8: Leanne from Organize and Decorate Everything
Home #9: Laura from Org Junkie
Now it’s your turn! Please link up as many posts as you like of your organized spaces in the link party below. This is a simultaneous link party which means if you link up here you’ll also be automatically linked up on all of the other blogs mentioned above as well. How cool is that, so much exposure for your links!
I can't wait to start pinning your fabulous ideas!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
73 Our Painted Entertainment Center Reveal and How To!
Earlier this week I shared my favorite paint supplies, which was all in preparation for today's post {and entertainment center reveal}. I know there are a lot of friends out there that are looking to makeover a piece of thrifted or outdated piece of furniture, and are just having a hard time taking the plunge. I think the first piece I ever painted, I did ALL wrong. No primer. Brush streaks and drips... but, I learned. I learned that the next time I better do my research, lol. And as much as I have done research on painting, I still feel like I grow a little more each time I do it. {If you are wondering how we painted our trim, cabinets and doors, you can check out that post here.}
For this project, this crazy big lovely Craigslist find was my victim.
We started out by taking everything off, removing shelves and cabinet doors...
And finding dust, Legos and Lincoln logs under and behind the piece that has been sitting for a year without being moved...
Step one is to wipe everything down to ensure there is no dust on the piece.
Because the piece itself was in great shape, I opted to skip the sanding step. However, if you have a piece that has rough patches or imperfections, sanding is a good step to include.
I went straight to priming. I really like Zinsser Cover Stain Oil Based Primer {and no, I didn't get a dented can discount, I tried...}:
I use inexpensive brushes with the oil based primers, since they aren't all that easy {or fun} to clean, and after a couple of uses, they typically end up being discarded.
Thin, even coats are key. I start with the outside frame....
And then use a small foam roller for the larger, smooth surfaces:
Don't panic when you prime and see brush marks. This is OK with primer. The photo above is a picture of our piece all finished up and drying the recommended time before we began coating with paint.
A quick sanding with a fine grit wedge in-between coats will also help with any imperfections you find {not sure which grit to use? This will help you}.
For this project, I just ran to the local Ace Hardware and picked up some of their wall and trim paint:
I like to paint furniture in a satin finish and always use a latex enamel. Again, just follow the instructions on the can as far as how often you can re-coat.
Speaking of, I did two coats on this project. Nice, thin, even coats...
Coat 1:
Still streaky, but those streaks were completely M.I.A. after the second coat:
When it came to the cabinet doors, I forgot to photograph that process, but I did it just like I did with our kitchen cabinets...
Lay out drop cloths, place cabinet doors on 2x4's and prime, sand and paint just like you do the other parts of the furniture piece. Wait for the coats to cure before flipping and repeating on the other side.
In the photo above, you could see how I used the painters tape to tape out the new blue backdrop, which took not one...
But two coats as well. Don't forget you can wrap your brush in plastic wrap in-between coats!
To finish things off, three very thin coats of Minwax Polycrylic to protect all of that hard work!
We always wait and wait {as hard as it is}, in between each coat of each step. This is important to allow everything to cure and be durable down the line. This whole project took me over a week from start to finish. I was SO excited to put it all back together!
Here are a couple more up close views:
LOVE the knobs. They were scored on clearance from Anthro for $3 each. So pretty!
For the shelves, I actually had forgotten about them until half way through. To speed things up a smidge, I just used a spray paint primer, which seemed to work just as well, and gave a nice even coverage. Then two coats of paint just like the rest of the piece.
As you can see, we also added a shelf above the TV, just using some left over trim and melamine board {also primed and painted}.
Here it is all loaded up!
The bins on the top shelf used to be brown... just given a quick coat of spray paint to freshen them up a bit!
Games got pared down to only ones we love, play and that have all pieces... Lego build buckets, a charging station for their DS's and their video games also live on the shelves. Speaking of video games, since two of the systems moved down stairs to the playroom, so did some of the games. To store them, I just removed the games from their original cases and popped them into slimmer jewel CD cases and into a media box. Easy for the kids to find things and maintain!
In the cabinets below, we keep those larger, more awkward shaped toys {the dot bins were DIY'd here}.
And the art is just some framed scrapbook paper and the freebie printable {which I downloaded here}:
Even with all of the blues, as much as I love how "pretty" it's looking, it's a space for three boys, so I have a few more tricks up my sleeve to make it feel like home for both them and the adults of the house. More to come!
For now, a glorious before and after!
Who else has recently tackled a piece of furniture? Did it make all of the difference in your space as well? Share your links and stories!
For this project, this crazy big lovely Craigslist find was my victim.
We started out by taking everything off, removing shelves and cabinet doors...
And finding dust, Legos and Lincoln logs under and behind the piece that has been sitting for a year without being moved...
Step one is to wipe everything down to ensure there is no dust on the piece.
Because the piece itself was in great shape, I opted to skip the sanding step. However, if you have a piece that has rough patches or imperfections, sanding is a good step to include.
I went straight to priming. I really like Zinsser Cover Stain Oil Based Primer {and no, I didn't get a dented can discount, I tried...}:
I use inexpensive brushes with the oil based primers, since they aren't all that easy {or fun} to clean, and after a couple of uses, they typically end up being discarded.
Thin, even coats are key. I start with the outside frame....
And then use a small foam roller for the larger, smooth surfaces:
A quick sanding with a fine grit wedge in-between coats will also help with any imperfections you find {not sure which grit to use? This will help you}.
For this project, I just ran to the local Ace Hardware and picked up some of their wall and trim paint:
I like to paint furniture in a satin finish and always use a latex enamel. Again, just follow the instructions on the can as far as how often you can re-coat.
Speaking of, I did two coats on this project. Nice, thin, even coats...
Coat 1:
Still streaky, but those streaks were completely M.I.A. after the second coat:
When it came to the cabinet doors, I forgot to photograph that process, but I did it just like I did with our kitchen cabinets...
Lay out drop cloths, place cabinet doors on 2x4's and prime, sand and paint just like you do the other parts of the furniture piece. Wait for the coats to cure before flipping and repeating on the other side.
In the photo above, you could see how I used the painters tape to tape out the new blue backdrop, which took not one...
But two coats as well. Don't forget you can wrap your brush in plastic wrap in-between coats!
To finish things off, three very thin coats of Minwax Polycrylic to protect all of that hard work!
We always wait and wait {as hard as it is}, in between each coat of each step. This is important to allow everything to cure and be durable down the line. This whole project took me over a week from start to finish. I was SO excited to put it all back together!
Here are a couple more up close views:
LOVE the knobs. They were scored on clearance from Anthro for $3 each. So pretty!
For the shelves, I actually had forgotten about them until half way through. To speed things up a smidge, I just used a spray paint primer, which seemed to work just as well, and gave a nice even coverage. Then two coats of paint just like the rest of the piece.
As you can see, we also added a shelf above the TV, just using some left over trim and melamine board {also primed and painted}.
Here it is all loaded up!
The bins on the top shelf used to be brown... just given a quick coat of spray paint to freshen them up a bit!
Games got pared down to only ones we love, play and that have all pieces... Lego build buckets, a charging station for their DS's and their video games also live on the shelves. Speaking of video games, since two of the systems moved down stairs to the playroom, so did some of the games. To store them, I just removed the games from their original cases and popped them into slimmer jewel CD cases and into a media box. Easy for the kids to find things and maintain!
In the cabinets below, we keep those larger, more awkward shaped toys {the dot bins were DIY'd here}.
And the art is just some framed scrapbook paper and the freebie printable {which I downloaded here}:
Even with all of the blues, as much as I love how "pretty" it's looking, it's a space for three boys, so I have a few more tricks up my sleeve to make it feel like home for both them and the adults of the house. More to come!
For now, a glorious before and after!
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Who else has recently tackled a piece of furniture? Did it make all of the difference in your space as well? Share your links and stories!
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