Dear friends,
I've been decorating and organizing room by room in my house, as you can see here Americana and Bird Decor and My Butterfly Kitchen.
I try to be thrifty and use what I have on hand, but I did invest in new curtains for the living room, computer room, and dining room. Now what to do about my bedroom curtains? My blinds were pretty beat up and not very decorative, but I didn't want to spend a ton of money on more curtains.
I knew I wanted white or off-white curtains with minimal patterns because I wanted an airy look and I didn't want to clash with the dark plaid bedspread. I found some affordable eyelet curtains on-line at IKEA and actually drove down to the store with my daughter. While there, I decided to buy a few sets of sheer net Lill curtains instead. They were only $3.99 per set! I knew that at 98" they were way too long for my window, but as the sign said, with net you can just cut off the bottom. I experimented on my bedroom window but they were too sheer. I remembered that I had some vintage muslin sheets tucked away in the closet. I didn't want to cut or sew them, so I folded them in half and draped them over the rod. Then I cut off enough of the bottom part of two sets of the net curtains to tuck over the very top of the rod and layer over the muslin. I love the soft effect!
You'll see what I did with the top section of the curtains in a few minutes.
Now the bedside table! I took out an end table that one of my daughters wants for her next apartment and then moved over a longer table from the other side of the room. It gives more room for my CPAP machine, my lamp, and a repurposed breadbox used to hold a few necessities.
Two of my daughters just came back from a few weeks in Europe and brought back the Campbell tartan wool scarf. It's too hot to wear that now, so I'm using it as a table runner. And it does go with the plaid bedspread!
They also brought back a rose window ornament from Westminster Abbey, so I hung it from my lamp base. It goes perfectly!
When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I see is under the bedside table, so I decide to make use of the visual space and put a lapboard with three inspirational note cards on it.
The first two were designed by Suzy Head, and I got them at a craft fair.
This one is on my bed's headboard. I love all the words. They feed my soul. I have stuff like this all around the room.
I found the INSPIRE sign at Walmart for about $10 and hung it over my desk. The bird box ("Be grateful for this day") holds my big three hole punch.
I had a bunch of tools rattling around in my bottom desk drawer and decided to put them in another decorative box. I love having my own set handy - hammer, screwdrivers, a box cutter, double sided duck tape, mounting tape, nails and screws, super glue, tape measure, etc.
Here's my butterfly tool box tucked in the drawer, along with a box of manicure supplies and two sets of bright colored chalk pastels.
In my closet, I pulled out all of the clothes I wasn't using, and reorganized what was left: bottoms on the left and tops on the right. More on closet organizing here: Turning Angst into a Clean Closet
Let's move along to the master bath.
And here are the net curtain tops! It was easy to slip them onto the curtain rod since they still had the rod pockets on them. I had a garden flag hanging there before, but was ready for a change. It reminds me of a ballerina tutu.
See the white thing at the bottom left under the curtain? I found this hamper with a hinged top in the clearance aisle at IKEA. I use it to hold clean bath towels. It's right next to the shower, so it's easy to grab one. This cuts down on the frantic, "Can someone bring me a towel?" yelling. Before that, they were stacked outside the bathroom.
The shower caddy we'd had hanging from the nozzle wasn't working out, and neither was a bin of bottles on the floor. I finally went to Walmart and bought this pole organizer for about $15. I got frustrated trying to install it. I was supposed to wedge these little rubbery thingies under each shelf to hold them up on the pole. That wasn't working well, so I improvised with rubber bands. It got the job done. I love taking a shower in there now.
I was watching a free organizing video series by Alejandra Costello. She talks about cleaning up your bathroom every night before you go to bed. It's sure a lot easier if you don't have much stuff out. I got it down to hand soap and mouthwash on the sink. They are easy to move when I wipe it down with disinfectant wipes. My toothbrush and toothpaste and other small stuff are on a wicker shelf rack next to the sink, which keeps them cleaner and out of the way. I also store extra toilet paper rolls there. My big challenge is dealing with the extra stuff my kids bring into the bathroom. I am continually throwing it into a basket on my dressing counter just outside the door.
I didn't want to end this post with a picture of my sink, so here's a camellia stained glass piece that my mother made for me. Pretty, yes?
You can see the magnolia stained glass and a lot of other bathroom tips in my older post, Decorating and Organizing Bathroom Areas on a Budget.
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Grace and peace,
Virginia Knowles
P.S. This is the last of the Simply Spring posts since next Sunday starts the new season! I still like the weekly format, so I'm just switching it up to a Super Summer series!
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