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23
Apr

Decorating with Washi Tape

posted by rachel, April 23, 2012

Happy Monday, tout le monde! I have a fun and easy DIY project to share with you today. Have you hopped on the Japanese washi tape bandwagon? I’m obsessed with it. I have rolls and rolls of it, and I love how such a simple item can be used in a myriad of ways. But have you ever considered it for home decor? I stumbled on some wide rolls of washi tape over at Wishy Washi and all of a sudden, I had an epiphany. What a perfect way to play around with designs on the walls in my office! From beginning to end, this project took me a total of 1 hour. I seriously wish I had known about this stuff when I was a renter and felt stuck with boring white walls. The possibilities for this are endless.

A few months ago, I transformed my office from a fun & crazy bright coral to a pale grey-blue color accented with pops of red and pink. The coral walls were fun, but they weren’t exactly soothing. Being the color lover that I am, I wanted to calm things down but keep bright accents. I like pink, but I didn’t want it to be like, HELLO PINK AND I’M A GIRL AND I LOOOOOOVE PINK! It’s been a good challenge to me to see how I can incorporate various shades of it and I adore the way it pops against that grey-blue.

The problem with the office was that there were all these bare walls that were, frankly, booooring. And I haven’t felt super excited about spending a whole lot of money on artwork for the office right now. There’s too many other projects that are jockeying for my time. When I found the 30mm rolls of washi tape, the lightbulb went on and I started imagining all the fun ways I could design with tape. Low cost and low commitment. That’s my kind of decorating!

For this project, I purchased 2 rolls in each of the colors I was considering. In the end, you can see how much tape I used of the pink stripe below. Go ahead & buy extra – that way you won’t feel bad if you have an error and need to redo a portion. I also used scissors, a pencil, and a small ruler. You might find it helpful to use a laser level if you have one to keep your lines even, depending on the type of design you go with. I personally like to eyeball things. You know, with my laser eyeballs. Because that’s how I roll. Also, the best thing about washi tape is that if you make a mistake, you simply pull it up and reapply. It was almost too easy. Plus, it’s gentle enough that it didn’t hurt my walls – a definite plus!

Washi Supplies

Simply put, I love how this project turned out. I feel like it filled up space on a dreadfully bare & empty wall that I had zero creative idea what to do with. Plus it also frames my fun Chinoiserie bamboo chairs that I picked up from my favorite used furniture shop in Norman, Oklahoma, a few years ago. (Originally upholstered with a frumpy navy gingham, they’ve since been recovered in pale pink swirled fabric from Spoonflower. The pillows were custom made for me by EleganTouch at Etsy with Trina Turk fabric.)

Before I got started, I drew out a few different designs on a piece of paper so I could get an idea of what kind of shape I wanted to see. I knew I wanted a Hollywood Regency or Greek key type of feeling. The design below in the middle was my first choice, but I knew it would drive me bananas to get the curves on the corners just right with the tape. I needed this to be simple.

And voila – one hour later, I had my design up on the wall. It doesn’t get much easier than that. Zero prep work, zero cleanup.

Hanging on the far back wall is the fabulous Everlylane tissue tassel garland (say that 3x fast) I ordered for my Oscar party in February. Eventually I’d like to have some fabulous light fixture (of course) and a patterned coral/pink rug to tie it all together. I also have my eye on these fantastic custom Roman shades at Window Treatments by Melissa.

I spy a Pippin & Pearl painting in here, too!

All in all, I’m loving how this room is coming together. It’s light & bright and I’m indulging my love of pinks, corals, and reds without it overwhelming the room.

Ok, I’m dying to know – Would you decorate with washi tape? And if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments!

Let's Chit-Chat { 16 }

10
Apr

More New Light Fixtures!

posted by rachel, April 10, 2012

Are you sick of me talking about how light fixtures are the jewelry of the home? Listen, clearly I’m a girl who loves me some jewelry so it’s only natural that I would love jewelry for the home too! Ever since we switched out the wrought iron chandy in the breakfast nook, I’ve been hot on the trail for other fixtures. I’ve been particularly fantasizing about getting rid of the - ahem – boob lights upstairs. You know what I’m talking about – those rounded flush mount ceiling fixtures that seem to be ubiquitous in stores like Home Depot or Lowe’s. Searching for light fixtures online is practically my favorite thing, so when I was Craigslist-stalking the other day, and fell upon a super-cute pendant light from Pottery Barn Kids, I practically squealed with delight. I emailed the seller and went on my merry way.

About an hour later, my cousin’s cutie pie wife called. “I see you’re interested in the light fixture I’m selling on Craigslist!” “WHAT?!” So there you have it. It’s like the six degrees of Kevin Bacon. We cracked up about what a small world it is and she graciously gave it to me for free.

So now I present to you the before (boob light – ugh) and the after (fabulous pendant!).
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I’m also happy to report that I installed the cute thing all by myself after asking my engineer brother if I would (a) burn the house down or (b) electrocute myself in the process. After he reassured me that I’d avoid either unfortunate demise, I buckled down and got busy with the screwdriver. I’m not going to tell you that it was super easy by myself. There might have been lots of grunting and mumbling under my breath. And of course, whenever you do DIY stuff, you’re bound to run into weird things in your house. Such as the giant square hole that was cut into the ceiling underneath (erm, above?) the original light fixture. As I unhooked it all, giant fluffy clouds of insulation rained down on me and hung precariously until I got the rounded molding put back up. UGH.

That night as Jude went to bed, I prayed, “Dear Lord, please don’t let the light fall down on the baby in the night.”

Aperture

Speaking of the precious angel, I’ve been debating whether or not to tell this particular story because it’s kinda gross. But now that enough time has passed, I think I can tell it because I know someday I will laugh. The key word here is someday.

A few weeks ago, Jude had been sick, so I had the humidifier out by his little bed. As I would make his bed, I noticed that the rug was a little damp. Hmm, I must be turning the humidifier up too high. So I’d just lay a towel down in front of the humidifier. As the week went on, Jude improved and the humidifier was no longer needed. And yet the rug seemed, well, kinda damp still. Hmm. Finally one afternoon I was putting Jude down for a nap and I stepped barefoot on the rug. It was definitely wet. A terrible thought occurred to me.

“Jude, why is this rug wet?”

His eyes got big. REALLY big. And I saw him visibly sink into the bed and huddle under the sheets a bit more. “Because I go peepee on it,” he almost whispers.

I feel my eyes pop out of my head. I swear, literally pop out.of.my.head. “WHAAAAAAAAT?!”

Internet, the child had been getting up out of bed in the night and peeing on the rug as if he were a puppy on a fire hydrant. FOR FUN. BECAUSE HE COULD.

::sigh:: It has taken me several weeks and a good rug cleansing to get over it.

We don’t need a puppy. WE HAVE A JUDE.

Let's Chit-Chat { 18 }

2
Apr

Closet Makeover: Big Reveal

posted by rachel, April 2, 2012

Big huge thanks to everyone who has commented on our awesome closet makeover! And I also have to give a shoutout to The Riley Group for facilitating my closet therapy. Valerie and her team are incredible; I was so pleased with the way this turned out that I want them to come help me out with some other projects up my sleeve. Warning: this is a long post, but I think you’re going to love the detail and thought that went into this makeover!

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You can see the original post here w/ all the background on how our closet got to be so ugly. Check out this post for what I learned in the great closet intervention of 2012.

So how did this great makeover happen? The first step was the hardest and possibly the one I dreaded the most: taking absolutely everything out of the closet. It was like ripping off a band-aid: just DO it and get it over with. So pile by pile, we unloaded the entire closet of every last piece of clothing. And when I say piles, I mean mountains of clothes. That’s how we roll. And once every item was out of the closet, I then had to go through and start making my Maybe and Goodbye piles. See that photo above? That was just after I’d gone through and purged all the Goodbyes. Lauren helped me toss the castoffs into Hefty bags; after it was all over, she took everything to Goodwill and brought me back the receipt. Totally painless.

As an aside, can I just tell you how much that means to me? It’s the follow-through that gets me every single time. I end up feeling like a failure because I will clean out the closet only to have the trash bags sit there for literally weeks because I can’t quite prioritize dropping everything off at Goodwill. Life just gets in the way, you know? Maybe I won’t want to mess with dragging a 4 year old with me to Goodwill or maybe I don’t want to spend my precious Mother’s Day Out hours on that when I could be filling orders and finishing up work projects. So for Lauren to simply handle it all for me was worth untold amounts to me. It was a job well done from beginning to end.

At this point, my job was pretty much over. So I took off to run errands and then when I returned, voila!

So, won’t you join me in a tour of our newly-organized and exceptionally clean closet?

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Remember the before? You could barely see the floor for all the piles and piles of clothes and shoes. But look at the after! Nothing says clean to me like being able to see the baseboards. And look at how she was able to fit all of my clothes onto the one rack on top! We went from me filling up 3 whole racks to occupying only 2. Um, and there’s room in there for one of our Tolix chairs? Wow! Not to mention the fact that the shelves on the left are perfectly organized as well. The closet has NEVER looked so good. Lauren vacuumed and dusted the entire space til it was sparkling.

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Again, check out the before above: I had baskets literally full of trash & junk. What a waste! Also, my leggings and random things were shoved into (are you ready for this): old freezer bins. YES – Freezer bins from a refrigerator that my sister had. Not exactly the most fabulous DIY, huh? We joked that it was definitely not Pinterest-worthy.

So here’s the after below: again, all of my clothes are organized according to color and by category. Those baskets filled with junk above? Now they’re holding my winter boots that can be traded out when winter comes for all the summer sandals that are organized below. And my handbags and totes are happily organized and ready for use.

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The best part about having someone come in to help you is the fresh perspective they bring. Lauren nailed it when she said, “You have two entire walls of this closet that are under-utilized for storage. It’s frankly a waste of space.” That had never occurred to me before, but she was right. Of the 4 walls in the closet, only 2 were maximized for storage. So it was off to Lowe’s where I picked up an easy-to-assemble 5-shelf rack. It was way easier than installing other closet components and it can be customized to what ever height we need. More on that in a bit.

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Remember before how Jude’s old changing table had been another pile of laundry and baskets full of random items? Not to mention the random artwork, photos, and 5K paraphernalia hanging sadly on the walls. No more! Out it went and we were able to put our full-length mirror on that wall.

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I’m still amazed that we have empty shelves. EMPTY! And Simon’s tshirts are all organized and folded according to color. Genius.

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Check out our pinboard below for all the random photos, 5K stuff, etc. It organizes what could be a potential mess into a clearly-defined area. Again with the boundaries1 Yay!

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Here you can see how all those previously tangled-up leggings and jeans are now all nicely folded and arranged.

And the baskets on top are great too because they hold all the seasonal items that can be quickly grabbed. Or, when it’s winter, switch them out with the baskets of my boots. Form and function, folks!

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I’m also loving that the shoes and the laundry basket are up off the floor. They’re in their very own space and out of the way. I can’t believe how much space this shelf creates for us. We have easily increased the storage space in the closet by over 1/3rd.

Look at my baby. Jude’s in a total stupor over it all. He’s clearly contemplating the meaning of life here in the closet since it is now a soothing and calming place to be. Again, look at that clean floor! I cannot believe it.

At the end of the day, I feel like a burden has been lifted. I no longer feel sickeningly overwhelmed at the thought of doing laundry. I can’t say thank you enough to The Riley Group; Lauren did an amazing job and I was extremely impressed with her professionalism and her organizing abilities. She was personable and easy to talk to and we meshed well together.

Does this sound like a service that appeals to you? Would you ever consider using a personal assistant to help you get stuff done?

The Riley Group
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Let's Chit-Chat { 14 }

30
Mar

Closet Makeover Takeaway

posted by rachel, March 30, 2012

I’m a lifelong purger. I absolutely adore getting rid of stuff; the flip side is that I married a man who loves to hang on to stuff. So it horrifies him to no end to see me purge things. It makes him feel 10x better if I can make some money off of it (which is why you should shop my sale over here! Prada! Coach! Yes! Buy for the health of my marriage!!!).

Cleaning out your closet is a little bit like moving. When you have to physically remove every last item from a space, you begin to wonder, “How much is this truly worth to move it?” As I was cleaning out our closet this week with Lauren from the Riley Group, I realized I tended to have a gut reaction when I looked at each item: “Love it!” or “Goodbye!” The Goodbye pile was growing ever larger and I was physically feeling lighter and lighter.

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But there was that one pile of things that were “maybe.” Things that I didn’t know if I’d wear again, like that denim pencil skirt from a few years ago. Or that one dress from Anthropologie. Admittedly that pile was substantially smaller than the Goodbye pile, but I was still ambivalent enough that I needed outside help.

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Enter fabulous neighbor Susan of Working Closet fame. She flitted on over to help me wade through the pile of maybes that I just wasn’t so sure about. And while I tend to be an independent type of shopper, I really trust Susan. She has practical advice and I felt enabled to donate stuff that I wasn’t wearing. Denim skirt? Out. Anthropologie dress? In! The single best advice she gave me on a dress that we all agreed I should keep was, “If you don’t wear it by Labor Day, toss it out.” Now that is a parameter I can work in! Boundaries, people! Boundaries are the key to life!

I told you it was closet therapy over here.

Another benefit of moving out every single thing you own is that you are able to better assess your needs. In other words, I determined that I no longer need to buy the following:

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(However. If you should decide to go out and purchase these items, would you let me know so I can live vicariously through you? Because clearly I love purchasing these items as I have an abundance of them. ::sigh::)

If you’re in the OKC area, both Susan AND the Riley Group would love to help you out. The Riley Group will organize your closet to retail-worthy perfection while Susan can help you to style the clothes you already have and fill in the blanks for what you need to be buying. No more wasted trips to the mall buying things you already have (ahem, like me)! No more trips to Target buying up bins to store things in that you don’t need to keep (ahem, like me)!

Come back next week for the big reveal of the closet makeover on Monday!

Let's Chit-Chat { 14 }

29
Mar

Closet Makeover: Part 1

posted by rachel, March 29, 2012

You know, typically I like to avoid airing my dirty laundry on the blog. I really do. But today, I’m breaking that rule as I present to you a Pencil Shavings Studio Production:
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Cue the dramatic pounding music in the background.

Can I tell you something, Internets? You probably already know this, but I love clothes. I mean, I LOVE clothes. I always have and always will. And I married a man who also loves clothes. Except he’s a little – okay, a LOT – better than I am at restraining himself at purchasing clothes. So here’s what happens: I see some lovely article of clothing in a store and I whisper to it, “Hello my darling. Come with me to the casbahhhh.” Ok, really, it’s not like that because that is creepy. It’s more like the resounding slap of my debit card on the counter and a gleeful hippity hop out the door.

But once those clothes come to live at our house, the honeymoon is over. They do not live happy lives at our house. Laundry is the thorn in my side and thus, the quality of life in our closet is, well, very low. I blame this on my creative streak. No structure! Only freedom! Except … I work from home. And that means I stare in misery at the piles of laundry begging to be folded when I should be working. Plus I married a man who worked at the Gap for 8 years. Internet, that means 8 years of folding clothes for a LIVING.

This is where The Riley Group comes in. Valerie Riley emailed me a few months ago to discuss their concierge & lifestyle management services. In short, they provide personal assistant services; in a lot of ways, the sky’s the limit in what they can do for you. Anything from running errands to having your car serviced – or even, in my case, home organization. When Valerie & I met for coffee, I told her how our closet is a total Hiroshima of cotton, denim, and silk. Bingo! The Riley Group to our rescue!

On Tuesday, my very own Riley Group personal assistant (Lauren! Such a doll!) came over to assess the situation. Can I tell you that I was more than a little apprehensive about this? Frankly, I really like looking like I have my act together. So inviting someone into the worst mess ever in my house is, well, not exactly putting my best foot forward.

But! I needn’t have worried. Lauren is a total professional and she was unfazed at my ~~shame~~ evident lack of organization. She got right to work and after discussing our needs (more storage space, less clothes, overall cleanliness), she clearly defined a plan of action which we’ll discuss in greater depth next week.

In short, it was closet therapy.

I’m not going to show you the final reveal as we are working today on the finishing touches, but I wanted to at least give you a good idea of where we were “before.” Because really, who doesn’t love a makeover?

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AND! The good news? I’m passing along some of the best stuff to you. I’ve created a shopping site where you can snag some of my gently worn stuff, including Tory Burch Revas (update: SOLD already!), Prada sneakers, Coach espadrilles (two pairs!), and more. I’m happy to waive the shipping fee for locals who want to pick up their items w/ code okcnoship.