Just tidying up!

One of my favorite aspects of fixing up a space is it's ability to continue to change and become better!  There are always things that can be improved or re-organized!  In my room there have certainly been items that I still had on my to-do list to improve or beautify.  Three of those projects I was able to accomplish last week when I suddenly found myself with some motivation!

After my lovely DIY Dry Erase Board was born I continued on that path and was able to take my scarves off the wall where they were looking rather cluttered... here they are before.

And using an odd hanger I had in my closet (I do believe it's for ties, eh, waste not, want not) I hung them on that...

And then in my closet!  

There's such a greater sense of calm on that wall!  I have since decided to have a wardrobe purge session in the future.  I will keep you updated.  I've added that to my To-Do List among other things, so feel free to check it out!

But onwards shall we?

After removing my scarves I had a nice hanging device that I decided would help me out best on the back of my door.  I quickly took the nails out of it's original spot on the wall and started hammering them into the door which is when I noticed this...

 The nail was longer than the door.  Probably not a good idea so I quickly switched the nail for a shorter one and was left with this!

 Hooray!  Somewhere to hang my purse at the end of the day instead of putting in on the floor!  Go team!  Next I decided to tackle my ridiculous perfume collection.  I brought them off the shelves...

 Then I transfered them to one of my storage cubes which had some space since I switched out some things.  Now they are still easily available but out of sight (and my mind is at ease that the shelf won't collapse due to the weight).

 Instead I put some lightweight photo frames and a souvenir of my year in Europe!

 The last project of the day was still drying in the basement.  Remember the pink striped shelf from my "Before" pictures?  Well, now it's just white!

Doesn't it look nice above my dry erase board?  It might be a little too much white for some people but I am decorating with the intention of melding things together once I move out down the road.  Now, if I could just do something about that purple mirror...?

Anyone else having random bursts of motivation?  Aren't they fun?  

Thanks for reading!

First Featured Post!!!

Today is a historic moment in the brief history of Countdown2Done!

Today I was featured on one of my favorite blogs, Twenty-Six-To-Life!  Kate has been a huge inspiration for this blog because she gave me the idea to start a blog which incorporated life goals in a to-do list style (which we all can say, I love).  Please show her some love by checking out her blog since she has made my day (actually all week I've been pumped about the feature).  I've added a button in my menu bar you can click on to see the feature she wrote or since I LOVE it so much, you can just click below!





She featured my before / after post however, if you have checked out my before / after section in my link buttons above you may have noticed there are some progress pictures!  I'll post them below as well for you to see some things I've been working on!

I'll post in more detail about the changes later but until then enjoy some eye candy for now (please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks interior photos are eye candy?)!

Otto - Woman

Many people might find this strange but for some reason I was seriously craving an ottoman (or Otto-woman) storage bench in my room.  Anyone else have one of these in their rooms?  I had a corner by my dresser that was awkwardly spaced between my desk and shelving stand that I thought would be the perfect place for a nice faux leather ottoman.  I was almost going for a mini mudroom look but in a corner.  Wait.  That does sound pretty ridiculous but just go with me on this.  Here is the corner Before:

 I knew that I wanted to get the ottoman for that corner but used the plastic drawers to hold some clothes until 1. I Decided on something else, 2. The ottoman went on sale or 3.  I moved out!  Well, number 2 came first and as soon as I saw that the ottoman had gone from $80 to $65 at Target I jumped on it (the sale, not the ottoman, although there was definitely some he-man (or woman) action going on at the store getting it off the shelf).  So here she is all decorated and lovely!

 Yes, my shelving stand does intersect it there which is quite annoying but it's certainly a step up from the plastic drawers and it holds all my t-shirts, and some bags and blankets!  The best part is that I will be able to use this in my next place (perhaps not in the bedroom, although I've seen many an ottoman at the foot of beds).  Here's a different angle.

 See?  It doesn't look that bad... and it's cute beneath the shelf although some long handmade canvas art might look good above it too... hmm..  Here's the lovely Before / After picture for you to check out!  (Don't forget to click on Before / Afters in the menu bar to see more pictures!)

What do you think?  Anyone else have interesting ways of storing things?  What about a mini mudroom in a bedroom?  I'm just going to say that's the first you've heard of that...?  Hope you all had a marvelous weekend!

Thanks for stoping by!

Room Before / After

I would first like to pose a forewarning before you read this post: This is my first blog of this type and I didn't think about having matching Before / After angles in my photos.  You'll have to forgive my first unfortunate attempt and trust that any further before / after photos will give you the same angles for both pictures so that you can have a clearer idea of what the situation was / is about.

So, on that note.

When I first came home from Switzerland I was greeted first by my parents at the airport (yay!) and second by my old room looking somewhat like this:

 Please take note of the necklaces tacked to the wall, the box of clothes on the floor, that quilt plus the other quilt, plus the red blanket, the cluttered closet, the shelves full of DVD's, books, who knows what, ect. All that compounds of the stuff you can't see in these pictures, the dust and the carpet... oh me oh my, horrendous.

 These pictures were taken literally a few days after I returned as you can tell from the luggage still unpacked in the hallway.  Most of this wreck was probably from me but also from my family using my room as a semi storage room for my sister's unwanted things.  (Sorry Jennie, but come on... it's true).  I wish I had taken a window shot but if you can visualize it the window is on the left wall in the picture above.  Behind me in the picture below.

 Before I left I was feeling a sincere desire to improve my piano skills and so I moved the piano from the basement to my room which there was just no room for.  Needless to say, it is now back in the basement.  My first thought was to just live with the mess while I saved up some money to redo it.  No need to rush, except after about what felt like weeks but in reality was probably only a few days I decided I needed to do something about the room situation.  I wanted to redo it in a way that would be functional, organized and a little chic (I did just return from Europe) but at the same time I didn't want to spend much money since this isn't a permanent living situation.  I set my budget for $200 and here's what I was able to accomplish!

 I really like this angle to the room.  I moved my bed to this wall and although I would prefer to have a nightstand and to not have my bed touching a wall on the side, there just isn't enough room for it in this space.  It does annoy me that the desk isn't centered under the window but I really enjoy being able to look out it (at the chickens) when I'm at my computer.  I also moved my printer out of the room (since I have to get it fixed anyway).  I invested in 2 fabric lined baskets for my shelf tower which have made such a difference!  Just go back and look at it in the before pictures!  I added white curtains and a silver rood that's tiny enough for my low ceilings.  I also made a necklace organizer which I'll blog about in more detail later.

 Here's another view.  Isn't that light teal quilted comforter much better than the quilt that was on the bed before?  It's actually a duvet that my sister had in college and wasn't using so I put it on my bed.  It goes really well with pillows I also had leftover from my college days.  If you're observant you might have also noticed that I'm 1.  using a piano bench as a desk chair and 2.  The lamp shade is different.  I was really into purple in high school and college (and still like it) but the previous shade was just too dusty and teeny bopper that I had to pick up a new one from Target.

 Here's an angle that you will see again soon because I've altered it further.  You'll have to wait for that though.  In this picture I've painted a new shelf that we had in the basement a fresh coat of white.  I do honestly hope that it stays on the wall due to the amount of weight that it's holding currently.  Side-note: Does anyone have any suggestions on perfume storage?  I am a bit of a perfumeaholic and have so many but like to switch it up a lot.  Any ideas or things that have worked for you?

 Here's another view of this wall.  You can see my new earring holder that I've made and will go into more detail soon.  I also have a HUGE collection of scarves that really needs to be dealt with.  Does anyway have any ideas?  Do you hang your scarves like this or put them in a drawer?

Here's what I did with the wall that the piano used to be on.  I originally wanted to buy an expedit shelving from Ikea (which you can see HERE) but when I was at Target I found this guy for half the price of the Ikea shelf.  I'm still not quite sure if I should have waited until I was going to Ikea to just suck it up and spend more money or go with this one which I'm pretty satisfied with anyway.  Have you ever paid less for something that you wanted the more expensive version?  I'm definitely guilty of doing that many times but more often it's with clothing.  On this wall, I still want to make my own dry erase board, put a shelf up, take down or repaint that mirror (although, there are some gems hot glued on there that won't budge) and do something about the scarf situation.  It's still a work in progress but I'm much happier with it like this than before.

Here's a picture of the one wall that I've placed the beginnings of a frame gallery.  Eventually I'd like to have more frames and put them closer together as well as get rid of the dry erase calendar.  I like how my European art looks all together with some of my photography and quotes!  If you'd like to see more of the pictures above in a Before / After format just click on Before / Afters under my banner at the top of the page.

Has anyone else wanted to redo a space they couldn't spend a lot of money on?  What about tips for perfume or scarf storage?  I feel like they're both just taking over the space.

Thanks for reading!