Honeymoon Keepsake Box

When we moved three years ago, I packed anything related to our wedding and honeymoon into a storage box that I swore I would sort through.  And I'm happy to report, I finally did it!

Right after our wedding, I found this box at Marshalls, which matched the colors of our wedding - pink and green.

After sorting through the storage box last night, I was able to fit everything "wedding" in here and nestled it in right next to my wedding dress and both pairs of wedding shoes in my closet.

For our honeymoon mementos, I really wanted something that I could display.  I found this wood box at Hobby Lobby that I thought would work perfectly for storing receipts, ticket stubs, maps and more.  The best thing was it was only $5 and that was before my 40% off coupon!

I wanted to give the box a rustic look, so I used my favorite color stain and applied one coat inside and out.

I then printed out "France" and "Italy" and used a craft knife to carefully cut out the letters to use as stencils.  This is where a Silhouette would come in quite handy!

Then I carefully sponged on black paint.

And removed the paper.

I repeated the same steps for "Italy".


Now this little guy holds all our special memories from our 17 day honeymoon through Paris, Capri, Positano and Rome.

-Ashley

Loft Closet Makeover

I bet you thought I would forget to take a before pic, huh?  Well, you are half right.  I started emptying the closet before I caught myself, so here is a pic of all that I was storing...

...inside my tiny loft closet.

With everything out of the closet, the first thing I did was purge - such a good feeling!  And the next was to purchase more shelving.  I needed a system that would allow me to easily adjust my shelves up or down depending on what I needed to store and ClosetMaid made just the thing.  I drove down to The Home Depot to pick up 3 shelves that were 16" deep.  I believe standard is 12", so I was very excited about the extra room.  And although a bit pricey, this shelving system was worth every penny!

Unfortunately, I didn't take any "in progress" photos, but here are the afters!

I love how clean the shelves look by using these white baskets from Target.  And those little ones I actually scored from Big Lots!  And if you haven't invested in a label maker, do so!!  It makes it so easy for anyone to find what they are looking for, including my husband. :)

You might notice that some of the baskets are empty.  That's the beauty of this makeover - I have even more room than I need at this point.  Whenever you reassess your storage solutions, make sure you take into account future growth!

And you might have also noticed that I stored my seasonal pillows on the top shelf.  I recommend doing this with anything that you rarely use.  Save the stuff you use often for the lower shelves where you can easily grab and go!

And finally, for my beach towels and yoga towels, I found this cute basket at Marshalls.  Next to that are my seasonal hand towels tucked away in a small white basket.

Happy organizing!!
-Ashley

Pantry Makeover

I have the bug!  The "organization" bug, that is and I have it in a bad, bad way. :)  Once I completed the dining buffet, I knew I wanted to spend more time on the inside of our home maximizing all the potential storage space we have.  It's amazing just how much space my toddler and his "stuff" takes up!

I immediately bought an over-the-door storage system from The Container Store (loooooove that place) for our loft closet, but soon realized that the first place I needed to start was the kitchen since it is probably our most used room in the house.  And with the hubby away for a few nights, I had the perfect window.

Along with cleaning out and reorganizing all the drawers and cabinets, I spent a lot of time on our pantry.  I apologize for not having a "before" picture (I promise I'll get better) but here is my "after"!

I love how clean it looks!  I scored these two wood crates from Home Goods along with these super cute baskets.

Somehow seeing 5lbs on the "Sweets" basket tends to keep me away. :)

I also found this at Marshalls - veeerrrry functional!

But what I love most are the labels (big shocker, right?!).  I found these chalkboard labels and chalk pens at Michaels and to be honest, was very skeptical of both.  But take my word, each and every one of you need to run out right now and grab these for your home, to be used anywhere! They are amazing!

I can't wait to tackle the loft closet now!
-Ashley