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My Big Inspiration Wall

by Filed Under: Art & Design, Home, In the Studio, Inspiration & Education, Organize, Organizing Projects, Systems & Techniques

I am blessed with a spectacular studio that overlooks the marsh with windows on 3 sides…lots of natural light, palm trees, Spanish moss and resurrection ferns dripping and hanging from live oak branches.

I’m not short on inspiration but what I am short on is wall space (because of said windows). This has been a challenge for me since we moved in and the one wall I do have is brick which is difficult to attach anything to. After researching several options, I finally made a request of my handy husband to help me solve this challenge.

Design wall’s that quilters use involve a lot of fleece and I’m not a quilter (although I dabble in quilting techniques) so I felt the expense and effort of all that were un-necessary. I also considered cork, again, a resource I didn’t want to waste especially since I planned to paint the wall to blend in…Finally I settled on inexpensive Fiberboard after realizing this is what is used in many schools (my studio at SCAD included) and it would be just the thing to help me go vertical…Here my handyman Mr. B puts the finishing touches on the painted fiberboard before handing it over for me to “play” with.

This piece of fiber board is 4′ x 6′ (cut down from 4′ x 8′) and was only $9. It sucks up paint like crazy so you might want to use a primer-sealer (like Kilz) so you don’t have to apply a million coats). We attached it to the wall with Washers (painted) and screws (into the morter-this brick was so hard it destroyed 2 of my husbands masonry bits).

What a delight it is to have a space to hang both design pieces I’m working on and inspiration for future work! Above and below are details of what’s now currently hanging on my wall. I’ve got quilt blocks I’m kind of stuck on (not knowing what to use them for or if I need to make more), indigo shibori, yarns, mixed media, photography and other bits of inspiration and work in various stages of finished/unfinished.

I’m by no means a minimalist but I don’t love it when my space is too visually cluttered. With this new wall hung I can corrall all sorts of things that have been floating around my studio into one space to feed my inspiration and allow me to step back and see the pieces that I’m stuck on from a different perspective. Do you have the luxury of a inspiration or design wall in your art or office space?

Trend Tuesday::Organizing the closets

by Filed Under: Closets, Home, Inspiration & Education, Organize

I’ve noticed a couple trends for design and organization of clothing closets lately that I think are fun, functional, stylish and maybe a little over the top for some of you. Just for fun let’s take a peek into some of these closets that are more like Boudoirs of the old days than any closet I have the space for! Below I’ll hilight the trends and takeaways I think are helpful from each of these examples.

Monochromatic::Using colors that are “signature” such as this palette of purple, grey and neutral makes the whole look less distracting and easier on the eye. Great idea for incorporating clothing into an “open closet” wall of a room.

Above and below::Jewelry displayed in the closet. Actually, whether it’s in the closet or on a wall in your room this trend is a lovely way to better see what you have to wear and decorate some empty wall space!

Above and Below::Fun, funky and stylish furniture in the closet. I love how both of these pieces are being used for functional storage but also bring a real sense of style and sophistication to these spaces. The closet becomes stylistically a part of the larger spaces.

Below:: Most of us probably don’t have this many jeans and yes this photo and trend were probably taken from a shop display but I think using S-Hooks in all sort of unconventional ways is a brilliant idea for the closet!

Give some of these fun closet trends a try in your own space and let me know if you find any other fun ideas! If you want to see more Inspiring Organization check out my Pinterest Board here where you will also find links to all the photo’s above (hover over images for credits).

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Bathroom, Laundry and Pantry Makeovers

by Filed Under: Home, Organize, Organizing Projects

Bathroom, Laundry and Pantry Makeovers are great areas to start with when trying to tackle residential organizing. These areas took me a couple hour each and cost zero in supplies since we used existing containers to start with.

Small but high traffic utility areas and can make a big impact on your daily life.

In the bathroom we minimized what was on the counter…have you noticed the trend of builders to no longer install medicine cabinets, towel rods, rings and toilet paper holders? It’s not only annoying, it adds to the bathroom clutter by forcing us to put things on the counter! Instead of keeping everything out we went through and kept out the only items used daily and contained the rest. Less frequently used items were moved to the drawers and bathroom closet (not shown).

In the pantry, we put items that were less frequently used towards the deep inside corners and “adult only” stuff on the top shelves. We used containers including boxes and baskets (nothing fancy) to gather kids snacks and lunch making items and beverages that are “mom approved” within easy reach for the kids on lower shelves. We moved most items off the floor but kept more utility items like paper towels, bulk drinks and pet food there due to space constraints.

In the laundry room, we created zones on separate shelves to separate laundry, cleaning and other household supplies and made sure to keep hazardous items up high out of kids reach.

Bathrooms, laundry, and pantries need constant maintenance because they are used so frequently. Schedule regular maintenance that’s easy to remember like 2x/yr in spring and fall and get rid of expired food, toiletries, and medications…for your health and overall wellness!

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Are you Curating your clutter?

by Filed Under: Art & Design, Home, Organize, Systems & Techniques

This word use to be reserved for selective Museum staff or Clergymen but these days just about anyone can call themselves a curator. And this isn’t exactly a new term, it’s been making headlines for at least 5 years. For the sake of this post, I’m referring to the verb curate as defined below…

curate

verb

to take charge of (a museum) or organize (an art exhibit):

to curate a photography show.

or…to pull together, sift through, and select for presentation, as music or website content

As many organizers would probably agree part of our job is to help our clients curate their stuff. Sometimes in a manner of displaying collections or maybe more along the lines of staging certain items to have a visual appeal.

What really got me thinking about this word was a term I came across recently; Curated Clutter. This was specifically in reference to bookshelves and how we often have ephemera outside the scope of books on our shelves…that some might even call clutter!

This could also be considered “accessorizing”, whatever you call it, it’s about breaking up the space on shelves to be less solid and heavy. There are lots of ways to do this, including adding lighting, candles, small arrangements, sculptures, plants and artwork.

Tips on curating your clutter-work with a color palette or theme such as what you see in all of the images above. Consider horizontal and vertical-stack and stand your books up by size, shape or color. Display a collection of similar objects repeated across one or more bookshelves to make the overall look more cohesive. And finally, leave some open or empty space if you can.

I guess I could say that I am as guilty as the next collector of ‘curating my clutter’.

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