Decluttering Bookcases: Check

Right now I don't have the luxury of making my bookcases all nice and pretty.   Bookcases filled with accessories, frames, and other items are beautiful, but mine are packed full of books.  Even after cleaning them up, and donating some, they are still full, along with some boxes of DVD's that I have no where to store in my small apartment.  My solution, put up a Kvartal rail system from IKEA and make a fabric wall to cover it all.  I LOVE how easy the drapery system was to install, not to mention it only cost $20 for all the parts I needed.  After that, I chose the fabric I liked and made a huge panel to attach to the track.  Some $2.99 a yard fabric from IKEA worked perfectly for what I needed.

Here's the Before:



Looks pretty cluttered, huh?  Small apartments will do that sometimes!

And the After:



Huge difference, huh?  Now I need to make a table runner and recover the chairs!

DIY Spice Drawers

I've been on a huge DIY kick lately!  Might have to do with the fact I'm switching up my color scheme and am just so excited to be adding some more color to my house!  This weekend I transformed these Fira storage boxes from IKEA:

into this:



It seriously was such a quick project that I forgot to take some "in process" photos!  The drawers above are done except for their poppy labels.  I alphabetized all my spices then made labels for them so I knew where to find my allspice and cumin, as well as my sprinkles and flavorings.  All I did was spray paint the exterior of the drawers a nice dark brown, mod podged the patterned paper onto the drawers, printed my poppy labels, added a little velcro, and voila: labeled, organized spices!





As I get more spices I can easily reprint and velcro new labels on since they're not permanent!  Here they are in their final resting place, complete with their labels.



I just used regular scrapbook paper which was about 1 ½" too short for each drawer so I had to do a little pattern matching, but I bet you couldn't even tell!  The mod podge helped to smooth it out and make it appear seamless!  What are your favorite spices to cook with?  Lately I've been using lots of cumin!

Stephanie's Living Room Progress

I love hearing about the progress of redesigns. It is so fun to see the design on paper come into action. Remember Stephanie's Living Room redesign?

JCaroline has been busy finishing Stephanie's upholstery and posted a picture of the chair set with the ottoman and pillows. 

And I fell in love.  Don't you just love Jessica Jones fabric designs paired with JCaroline's mad upholstery skills?  I think this color combination is so wonderful and I'm so glad Stephanie was brave and let me have my way with her transformation.  I can't wait to see the pieces in her home. 

JCaroline Homeis now offering many more solids in her fabric choices so go on over and check out her work.  She makes ikea chairs fit you and your style.

Room Redesign: Mary's Dining Room After

Did you catch Mary's room from Friday?  Here's her room layout and redesign!  She wanted a more fun, warm, and inviting space for her dining room/entry way.  They have friends over for dinner, games, and chatting and want this space to feel comfortable for everyone.  Their new furniture layout will look like this:




I've turned the table so that it uses only half the room instead of floating in the middle of the room.  If you look at this before picture you can see that the chandelier will be very easy to move and be centered over the new table position.



By placing an area rug underneath the table it will keep it grounded and your eyes focused on this area.  For the other half of the room I've added a small seating area filled with some comfortable, yet fun chairs and an ottoman that can be used for extra seating, an end table, or just to put your feet up on.  I'd also love to see the wall space behind the gorgeous built in area covered with a fun paper to add a little bit of contrast and pattern to the space.  Especially since all the items currently on the shelf are very neutral.  Having a pattern behind those will just make them pop!  This is a very easy DIY project that I think Mary and her husband could handle no problem.



1.  I used the Tullsta chairs from IKEA covered in the solid chocolate fabric from JCaroline Home.

2. The Ottoman is the large 18" round one from JCaroline Home covered in Earth Fireworks fabric.

3. Accent pillows from JCaroline Home covered in Citron and Earth Fireworks.

4. Make simple panels from the Foliage Sand fabric from Fabric.com.  Use the panels for all windows in the space, it will help to pull the space together and let it feel more cohesive to the eye.

5.  Accent rug from FLOR.  This is the All Square pattern in lime.

6. Recycled Glass hurricanes from West Elm.  Fill them with natural green objects like branches, leaves, simple flowers.

7. The Italian Chocolate paper from Paper-Source would be a great addition to the alcove space behind the shelves.



8. Dress up the mirror.  Etch a quote or flourish along the bottom of the mirror to add a little decoration.  (Not willing to permanently etch the glass?  Cut out the shape or phrase with clear contact paper.  The matte finish of the contact paper will look exactly like etched glass and if you get tired of the design it's easy to take it down and switch it out!  It's also easy to switch it out for more seasonal quotes too!)

Ikea Inspiration

Have you seen the new Ikea catalog yet?  Here are some of my favorite images:

I Love, Love, Love the black and white "frame" around the door and how it contrasts with that green wall!  I think I could actually have a green wall in my home!

This kitchen doesn't even look like IKEA to me.  Love the contrast of dark wood and light floor and countertop finishes.  So clean and classy!

P.S. Have you entered our current design challenge yet?   You can win a 5' x 7' area rug from FLOR!

How to Make it Yourself

Have you been over to visit Craftynest? This site offers so many wonderful ideas and DIY design for your home.  I noticed these hemp pendant fixtures with a how to tutorial by Heika Dehart.  Are they wonderful?  I wish I had an excuse to make some of these right now.

{all images via Craftynest}

The site also showcases a recently refurbished trolley cart using wallpaper and sprucing up some ordinary ikea tables.  An inspiring site that makes me want to go out and find something old and make it new to fit my home.