Summer so far...

*Disclaimer* My camera-to-computer cord was "lost" for a week, so be prepared for an overload of housey pictures.  

This is going to be the summer of projects, both big and small.  Small = install hooks in walk-in closet to hang up the myriad of hoodies that I've accumulated over the years (or perhaps I should minimize my hoodie selection down to 5 from 12, yes, 12).  Big = paint kitchen cabinets.  (Yes.  Yikes.  Deep breaths.  It will be worth it.)

So here's what I've been working on lately:

A friend of ours works at a coffee roasterie (or something trendy-sounding like that) and he gave huzzie some coffee bean bags a few weeks ago (not bean bags made out of coffee beans...bags that formerly held coffee beans...you get the idea).  So to celebrate Memorial Day last week, we made frames for our coffee-bean bags (that works better, right?) and hung the canvas-looking art work on our patio.

  

Final product!  We need to get one more because, as everyone knows, odd numbers are totally in. 

 And the mildly ghetto-rigged way to hang said art work.

 They're not perfect, but they are a great addition to our porch. And for a total of $5 (cost of wood and screws for frame), they couldn't be beat.

 In preparation for the kitchen painting project, I decided to practice on our bathrooms first.  So here is our bathroom vanity before:

 

Now, you may love the look of natural oak and brass.  And that's awesome.  It's just not our style.  So we opted for something a little different. 

 After a day of sanding, priming, and painting, we were left with this!

 To save a few bucks, we used our leftover Rustoleum spray paint and painted all the hardware. 

 Including the brassy toilet paper holder.  Ha.

 So pleased with how it turned out.  Beginning with this...

Note:  the bathroom is far from finished.  I just wanted to show you the progress we've made so far.  

 But what I'm most pumped to show you is this little evening project I completed on a whim.

We all have disastrous closets.  I may claim to be an organized person, but I have secret closet spaces that I avoid due to their tornadic nature.  Like the downstairs bathroom closet.  See for yourself:

 So it may not look that bad, but those dang silly doors would hardly open due to the spillage of things. 

 So I took matters into my own hands. 

 Unbeknownst to my cousin Katie, my sister-in-law, Tammy, and I have become slightly addicted to IHeart Organizing through the link on Katie's blog.  The recent obsession created a fire in me to label everything and to make boxes look pretty.

 Lucky for me, Daniel's work place has boxes in at least 5 different sizes, so I cashed in last week and spent Thursday evening covering boxes with paper and labeling my silly little heart out.  And the end result was this:

Several final notes:
1. My handwriting is not awesome.  Typically I would wait until someone with pretty handwriting (mom, Tammy, B, etc...really anyone but me) could come over and write on my labels...BUT I was so anxious to finish my project that I just sucked it up and wrote as neatly as I could.
2.  The entire project took about 3 hours.  Not bad for a closet that will (hopefully) stay organized for a long time.
3.  Cost?  $10.  Seriously.  The boxes were free. I bought the brown butcher paper at Hobby Lobby for $3.99 and some other scrapbook paper for $5.99 (to make the labels).  For me, this was (1) more cost effective and (2) a better use of space than purchasing different sizes of plastic tub.

So if you're interested in some boxes, holla at me.  I'll hook you up.

Happy house projects!