Project Day - Organize Those Magazines!

I love magazines.  'A' loves magazines.  We could have an entire room cluttered with magazines.  In my work, I used to receive so many free magazines I could have sold them out of my house.  I love bookmarking great ideas on design, organization, fashion, travel, nutrition etc.  It can get to the point where my magazines start 'owning me' and I feel overwhelmed with clutter.  Once a month I go through all the magazines I've read and have earmarked and I rip out the pages I want to keep and throw away the rest of the magazine.  I buy white binders and place clear paper protectors in the binder.  I then put each magazine page in a paper protector so they stay clean and organized.  I divide the binders by subject matter, but I try not to over organize them because I find that inspiration for one area can come from a completely different field.  If you want to be super organized you can get dividers for your binders and write in various subjects.  For instance, a 'Home' binder might be divided by rooms or by "Paint, Furniture, Fixtures, Linens, Garden, Ambiance" etc.  

This past year has been a time of transition and a lot of moving.  I think being organized and simplifying the 'stuff' in life is key to being content and having less anxiety.  I'm only keeping the things I love and letting go of the things I don't.  I figure that there are many people in the world who would love and need those things more than I do.  Take an hour and organize something in your house today!

  You'll be so happy you did it.

Protect and Organize Your Foot Bling!

From the time I was in 3rd grade until the middle of 8th grade, my parents could not get me in a dress without a huge fight ensuing.  Though I was a ballerina for 14 years, once I left the doors of my dance classes, I transformed into a grungy skater girl who enjoyed wearing my grandpa's old flannel shirts with these huge orange jeans that I got on Haight Street in San Francisco.  I'm not sure how I ever left the house thinking I looked good.  My parents would buy me really nice clothes that I threw in my closet, preferring to glam up in my flea market finds.  When I was 14, in the middle of 8th grade, we moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and I went to a prep school.  Suddenly, I wanted to look like a girl!  After fighting with my step-mom for a few years about my clothes, I was now sheepishly in her closet every morning asking, "Can I borrow this?"  That is when I discovered my love for nice shoes...and my taste became more and more expensive.  

When I moved to San Francisco after college, I considered eating beans all month so that I could afford my passion for shoes.  

  

My problem was that they all looked good on me!  I have a size 6 shoe and that's usually the display model size so I get that instant gratification because I don't even have to wait for someone to go in the back and find my size.  

Here's the point.  If you are going to invest in nice shoes, you need to protect and organize them.  Colorado is really dusty, so my dreams of having a glamorous, open-air shoe room just isn't realistic (I guess the dust isn't the only reason for that).  Rather than keeping the original boxes, which don't match and all the sizes are different, I like placing each pair in one of these plastic boxes from the Container Store and labeling them.  

Here are the benefits:

*You can stack them

*Organize them by Designer, Type, and Color

*The boxes are clear so you can see your shoes and they create and open, clean feeling in your closet.

*These labels are erasable so can fix labeling mistakes and update labels if you replace a pair of shoes

*Your fabulous shoes stay dust-free and organized! 

My step-mom and I still trade shoes and I can't help but get a little smirk on my face when I think about the fact that both of my sister's feet are too big to share with us... he-he.

Show Off Your Bling!

I'm a "if I don't see it, it's not there" girl.  I consistently forget about all of the great things I own because I can't see everything.  This especially happens with earrings.  I end up wearing the same jewels all the time and feel boring without some fantastic earrings.  I love having my signature pieces (my gold/sapphire ring, antique gold necklace from Portugal and my Cartier Love bracelet from 'A'), but changing up earrings is so fun!  

I keep my earrings hung on this funky 'bust' with a chicken-wire skirt. I found it at a boutique in the Highlands area of Denver, but you can find great items like this in many boutiques.  This way I can see all of my earrings and make an effort to actually wear them!  

Also, if you're a shoe lover like I am, use your shoes as art!  These fantastic cowboy boots should not be hidden in the closet - these were made to show off - so I keep them in a book case, mixed in with books and picture frames.  My favorite cowboy boot shop is "Boots & Boogie" in Santa Fe, NM.  Roy, the owner, is a hoot and some people (including 'A') pay extra money to buy some of Roy's old worn-in boots!

Hanger Hanger on the Wall

This summer I did a home tour in Beaver Creek of some of the most exquisite mountain homes I have ever seen.  Aside from my constant calculating of how much money we would have to make in order to build one of these homes, I could not get my mind off of the disgusting hanger displays in the enormous closets in these homes.  Though these closets were larger than the 2 bedroom apartment I lived in in San Francisco and filled with designer clothing , the hangers were all mismatched, plastic, wire and all colors of the rainbow.  These people had thin plastic hangers holding up their furs!  That poor fox did not die so that it could hang on a turquoise tubular hanger.  I'm not anti-fur, I'm just anti-disrespecting your clothing.  Here's the deal - you will never love your closet until you have matching, functional hangers.  Whether you have a custom closet or you live in a rental with a pole and a shelf, matching hangers will change your life and preserve the life of your clothing.  

My favorite place to buy hangers is Hangers.com.  They have a huge variety of hangers in various finishes and I think their pricing is really good.  Also, for me, one of the most important things about working with a company is customer service - I only work with people who 'get it' - and they do.  

My absolute must-have hanger is this one....

It's called the Vinyl Hanger.  I prefer to purchase it in black, though white and light pink are available.  Black seems to show the least amount of dust... oh, Colorado is so dusty - I can't get over it!  This hanger is space-saving, keeps wide-neck shirts from slipping and, most importantly, you can hang delicate sweaters without getting 'pucker-marks' or stretching the fabric.  I prefer to hang rather than fold items because wrinkles are my enemy and I like to see what I own so I don't buy the same black shirt over and over again.  You can buy hangers to match your closet or buy a color that contrasts for a cool look.  My step-mom has a white California Closet and I got her all black hangers - very chic!

Hangers.com can also monogram your hangers which is very 'in' right now.  Monogrammed hangers make a great gift for a house-warming, wedding or new baby!

I won't show you my closet right now because we are remodeling our house and living in a rental for a few months.   I can't wait to show you our new custom closets in April!