Home Goals 2012

image

I saw this little gem on Pinterest from The Nester and I thought it would be a really great idea to make an actually list of things I want to accomplish in our home this year. Of course, we still live in a relatively small apartment, so I'm definitely limited in the changes I can make. But my husband and I are both incredibly similar when it comes to home design (thank goodness, right?). We both ache for change about every 6-9 months. (I did mention my adventures in making over our bedroom this summer right?)

So, this list will outline a few of the cosmetic changes I would love to see happen in our home this year.

1. Change up our photo wall. Right now our small gallery wall is 100% dedicated to photos and memorabilia of our wedding. It has been unchanged since I put it on the wall and I'm ready for a little mix up. I'm thinking about changing up the layout, adding some different frames (possibly in a different color?), and adding some different things in the frames.

2. Style up the coffee table. The coffee table is definitely considered one of the most used drop zones in our home. At a glance, you'll see stacks of magazines, an old basket for keys and such, and my laptop (which serves as our TV for movie nights and such. It always feels cluttered and I'd like to take the time to dress it up a little. Maybe a new basket for out-the-door necessities or a tray to hold some books and coasters. Also, a few fun pops of color would look really great.

3. Purge! I've been on an organizing kick for the past month or so, getting all of our documents in order, but I've also been eyeing quite a few things that need to go. I've always craved a home filled with meaningful items and necessities rather than a home cluttered with things to collect dust and never be used. While, there isn't really a whole lot in our home that doesn't get used regularly, I still want to go through and make sure that our belongings are important to use in function and/or meaning.

And there you have it. So far I've established a few good resolutions and now a list of goals for our little home. I've got quite the busy year ahead of me.

What about you? Do you have a list of things you'd like to get done in your home? Or any other aspect of your life, for that matter? Join in!

Christmas Storage - Easy DIY Methods

We all know how excited I was to put up our Christmas decorations. In fact, I was pretty sneaky about getting it up early. But, now I'm getting excited about organizing the way I store all of our holiday decor. What a conundrum!

Once again, it was pinterest to the rescue with some great, simple, and cheap organization ideas, the number one being storing your ornaments in plastic cups that have been glued to cardboard. This makes sense for a multitude of reasons, the best being that they won't be rolling around, hitting eachother in storage, if you keep the hooks on, they won't get tangled up, and you can remove the whole board they're attached to for easy decorating, rather than going back and forth with a few ornaments at a time. So here is a peek at my Christmas storage:

As you can see, I just hot glued the shorter plastic cups to layers of cardboard that fit the storage container. I purchased these particular containers from Wal-Mart about two years ago. They are made up of a strong fabric, so they weren't doing much to protect my ornaments from damage. And even though these ornaments or the "shatter-proof" kind, I still want to keep them in good shape. The cups provide each ornament with a cozy space that keeps them ding free. On the top layer, I also added a separate cup for ornament hooks. This way they are always by the ornaments and easy access.

Here's a peek at the layers. With three stacks, it holds 50 ornaments, which is my entire collection of these silver, gold, and glittery ball ornaments.

For my more special and breakable ornaments, I purchased a storage container with a hard, plastic shell. Each ornament still has its own space and is protected from damage.



For the rest of my Chrismas decor, like the tree skirt and topper, I used another red, fabric storage bin. To give my decorations some more protection, I fashioned a foam core insert to create a hard shell. I just cut it to size and hot-glued the frame together. Easy peasy! It zips right up and all of my other decorations are in one easy spot.

So, there you have it. A rundown of my holiday storage plus some super easy (and inexpensive) tips to retrofit your current storage for more protection.

Do you get excited about organizing holiday storage? Just me? Bueller? Do you have any other tips or tricks for easy storage?? Share below!