Post-Registry Organization

I had my wedding shower a few weeks ago. People were SO generous and I think they ended up staring at me opening presents for approximately an hour. Seriously. After it was over Chris and I loaded up both of our cars and left everything in the breakfast room:

I had to work ALL day the next day.

Finally the next day I was able to have the unpacking event of the decade:

Now I'm left with the living room of my dreams. Seriously, what am I going to do when teal and tiffany blue are no longer hot colors. I finally have almost my whole house coordinated!

 We even have a cute little coffee station area of the kitchen

 And grown up dishes. And cups. And silverware! 

 And pots and pans!

 Seriously... getting married is so awesome for so many reasons. Wedding showers are one of them!

Evolving Into Adulthood (This post actually IS about decorating!)

Quite the title huh? I know this blog has been pretty feelings centric lately, which isn't something I particularly like reading about as a reader. Unfortunately for you, it is something I like to write about! Today I'll attempt to balance both my feelings and some decorating :)

In realization that my house is very girly and Erin-centric in a lot of ways I've been working on making it the place of "we." This week I replaced the EJ picture in the dining room.

 It now reads EC. The good thing about that is that it's still kind of all about me ;) Just joking. Kind of. Those will be my new initials. They are also mine and Chris's. Win and win. 

 This is my final week off of work until wedding week. We started it off in Austin, TX with one of my best friends and her husband so they wouldn't be meeting Chris for the first time at our wedding. It was an AMAZING time where we got some great pictures in front of the "love wall." I'm sure Austinites have a real name for it... But that's mine. 

 After a picture printing fest, and some inspiration from my friend's amazing new house I remembered this little unused area in my hallway. It was time to tackle it. When we are more than just the two of us I'll want a gallery area to display family pictures, so it was the perfect time to start this:

 I started a shadow box with wedding stuff in it. I'll probably put wedding bubbles or some other memento in this later on. For now it's a silly picture we took moments after getting engaged and our invitation with lace envelope. 

 Here it is in action:

 Everything is from Ikea and super easy to put up. The entire project took me about 30 min. after I found screws for the shelves (I swear they used to come with them?).

This weekend really struck me that I've hit adulthood. You think you're there when you turn 18 and 21, or maybe when you get the keys to your first house, or start dreading checking the mail because you know it's lots of bills. That wasn't it really for me. It's been when I've started planning for someone else to share my life and talking about kids. 

My friend Ana and I were sitting around in their new house while the guys were watching a variety of football games. We were talking about cleaning products, paint colors, and what our future kids might look like. The guys would then chime in. It's strange when both genders are on the same page and wanting the same mature things! 

It's crazy to me that 7 or 8 years ago this was our life... 

 

Now instead of being kids we've gone and cut our hair and are out to brunch...

Wow life sneaks up on you! 

Nesting

I got the coolest thing ever a few weeks ago. The Nest thermostat. I'm blogging about a thermostat. That's how you know it's awesome! 

The first thing I love about it:

-It's pretty. 

Second thing I love about it:

-It's crazy easy to use. 

The third thing I love about it:

-It's connected to the Wifi in my house. So it updates itself.

The fourth thing I love about it:

-There's an app for it. As in- I can lay in bed and adjust it. Not only can I do that, but I can set it if I leave and forget to turn it down, or leave work on a cold night and want the place warmed up before I'm home! I can also view my energy usage and set a scheduled for it. Oh, and it's a free app. Who doesn't love those?

The fifth thing I love:

-It learns. It knows when I'm home and when I leave. It remembers if I crank it up every night at 7 and it remembers when I go to work on Tuesdays. Even if I set a schedule it will still keep learning. 

The sixth thing:

-My dad said it was super easy to install. Since I wasn't going to do it, anything I can do to make it easier for him to install is a great thing! 

The seventh thing:

-It matches all of the black and white I have going on here (I'll be painting the plate behind it to match the stripe. I'm taking this puppy with me whenever I move and putting the old thermostat back, so it's not worth totally fixing up the wall from the old thermostat).

The eighth thing:

-It came with the cutest screwdriver in the world.

People, I have a serious crush on a thermostat! I won't bore you with btu comparisons and energy usage. I'll sum it up with the fact that my furnace has been on 50% less than it was before! There are tons of reviews of this bad boy online. I just wanted to weigh in and tell you I'm in love! While it was expensive right outta the gate, it's saving me money and looking pretty while it does it!

The "We" Project

I am in a relationship that's actually happy and functional! It's a shocker! He wants me to change my sidebar about my bad luck in dating but it's not quite time for that. Even so, it is time to quit thinking about me and me alone. I'm dating a renter that would come over to my owned house when the next step happens. We've had some talks about where he would even fit in in my big old house. I've managed to fill alot of the space quite nicely myself and I don't share well! 

So after much thinking and a few projects here is my attempt at beginning the "we" shift. 

My bed is shoved far into the corner which gives me plenty of room for me and my night table, but doesn't leave any room for one on the other side. I thought about buying a table but just wanted something small, cheap, and cool looking. 

Lately I'm obsessed with this white lacquered wood collection from the Container Store. 

I have the tray and box on my bedside table:

I also replaced the 4 green boxes:

 With these. 

So when I saw this desktop file box that matched I immediately had an idea. THIS would be my other bedside table. I had just enough white lacquered wood in the room to make it not stand out as strange. Plus, my fresh white walls would keep it from sticking out. 

So, here she is:

 And, I got her on sale! Even better!

 I started my project by drilling two holes in the back of it. The back is not the same heavy wood, so I wasn't sure how it'd turn out, but it went well!

 Then I held it up to the wall and marked with a pencil the two holes once I had it leveled. Then I drilled! 

 I had plastic wall anchors that I tried to install, but they wouldn't open in my plaster. I ended up buying some toggle bolts and washers for either side of the wood back so that pressure wouldn't force the screws through the wood.

 After the toggle bolts went in this thing was up for good!

 Isn't it great? It's just a plain little table top with a cubby, but I knew once I dressed it up it would be perfect!

I may eventually paint the back to keep from seeing the washer and screws, but for now it is perfect!

 It's a little strange that it's so much higher than the other table, but I can't stand how low the table is. this one is perfect! 

 And, it doesn't stand out on the walk in!

 And, my boyfriend patiently waited while I installed and photographed...

In addition to my nightstand project I also was forced to make my bathroom more functional after a pipe under the sink completely disconnected while I was trying to unclog it. 

After my dad and brother took the whole thing apart they found all kinds of things down the drain. 

 One of the things was these stones, thanks to the cat! So, the stones had to go. 

 I figured I'd switch that out for something with a little more storage (oh and I got the white lacquered trash can too!) and added the basket with a tissue holder, a closed box for things like cotton balls and makeup sponges, and a glass jar with q-tips. Moving these things out of the drawer will help open up some room for someone else! 

 I also added a couple of baskets to the door of my coat closet (I'm adding 1 more for gloves, hats, etc.) for all of my flip flops, insoles, and so on to free up the floor (and by the way, this is the the best way to store flip flops EVER! I wish I'd done this years ago!).

 And, I freed up some pantry space by adding a door rack here. He's a wine connoisseur and suddenly I have way more than I ever did before!

 So there you have it. Thanks for coming along on my journey to free up space!

Every Tip You'd Ever Need to Get Organized!

I invite you to view another oldish post that I forgot to publish! My organization fit has finally ended. I've organized everything humanly possible in this house! 

My biggest projects were the pantry and my unfinished basement room. I sucked it up and got both of them done! Here's an in progress shot of the pantry...

Just to remind you of what I started with:

 (Can you tell I LOVE Cheerios, oatmeal, and almonds?)

Ok, now that you remember let me show you how I fixed it...

I gutted that pantry! I also bought some clear bins to keep like items together. As I gutted it I stuck things in the bins and threw out ancient things I found:

In case it's too hard to tell the coffee expired in 2001. I tried to make it just to see how it tasted. OH MY WORD... Don't ever make coffee that expired 11 years ago. And don't be brave like me and try to drink it. :)