There should be posts going up with more regular frequency again soon, I have tons of stuff written and should be back to having more time to get the photos collected from the memory card, cropped and watermarked.
I finally have the current assemblies knocked out, and while working on the design process of one in progress over this past weekend, we came to a bit of a screeching halt, no thanks to AT&T deciding we didn't really "need" UVerse last weekend.
Seriously, they just randomly went shutting it off out of nowhere (seriously, some idiot just decided out of nowhere that our recent speed upgrade was "unnecessary" so he just downgraded it which in turn shut off all our equipment!) when I was mid-Skype with a client, going over design changes and off went all our tv, internet and phone. My husband was watching the Blues game in the other room and the tv went dead. Panic and fury ensued. So we've now spent the week trying to get that rectified, and thanking the tech gods for cellphones so we could at least have communication with the outside world.
Since that occurred on Saturday afternoon, it forced me to finish the last bit of assembly work, clean a little in my office and arrange the new bookshelf I bought at Costco that I desperately needed despite my husband's protestations, and on Saturday night, in a fit of utter boredom after finishing the first season of Lovejoy Mysteries on DVD, we finally unwrapped and unrolled the new rug for the living room that I ordered on Overstock two weeks ago. Remember that whole rug search I mentioned, like, a year ago?
Don't mind the giant pile of garbage on the loveseat...
Well, after a literal year and a half trying to find a rug we could agree on for the living room to replace the one that was damaged, we found one we both liked. I ordered it and a nice felted pad. We went with an 8x10 this time, and because our living room is a landfill like the rest of our house, we had to do some really clever furniture moving and shoving to make it work.
We have more than enough room in there for the rug, but getting it arranged was a feat in frustration. The biggest test really was in the rug pad, a felted job that was the same size as the rug, and did not come rolled like the rug, which I expected it to. Getting it all lined up, under the sofa, etc., was a migraine and a half. However, we're thrilled with the arrangement now. And it looks like it belongs there and it's nice and padded and won't slide all over the place, where the 5x8 was just a bit too small and moved if you sneezed (ok, a little exaggeration there, but seriously, you got to go for a ride pretty often, the sofas didn't even hold it down!)
As I mentioned above, I was in need of a larger bookshelf "situation." My husband disagreed, but I think when you see the bookshelf I was dealing with, vs what I have now, you'll see what I mean by need for space. Now, obviously, needing to get rid of shit overall would be of great benefit, but the periodicals I store on this thing are kind of necessary as part of my work, so getting rid of them is really not an option. So I want to be able to store them for reference while still being able to use the unit for other stuff. In the before image, above, you can see it when I had just shed some of the materials down, and before I started piling stuff on it that needed stored, i.e. my portfolio, etc. Effectively, that pretty picture is "styled" and not "reality." It looked that nice for like...a day.
I wanted to be able to get some things, like travel bags, out of season clothes/shoes, and maybe some cleaning supplies cluttering up the floor, and extra portfolio work on the shelves, in addition to my reference materials. So I started looking for another unit much like the Metro shelving I picked up at Container Store that I use for my supply closet. I was all set to order the materials online for pickup at Container Store when I was tooling around Costco and found the EXACT SAME THING, with huge caster wheels included for like 1/3 of the price. Literally, same thing. The markings on the poles, the markings on the shelves, etc. All the same. I was floored.
So I bought it.
All assembled, thanks to my parental assistance!
And then the nice guy at Costco helped me get it into my car (obviously in the box unassembled) and I headed towards home. And as I pulled out of the Costco lot I realized "Shit! How the hell am I gonna get this damn thing out of my car and into the house if my husband's out tonight?!" So I called my mom and dad. I will presume that when I told them I did something dumb they were totally relieved that it was only this.
Once my dad got it into the house, and we assembled it, I ordered the shelf liners from Container Store that I use with my other unit, for in store pickup the following morning. On the shelves that get the reference materials, I doubled them up. They're literally clear and totally invisible.
Once all was set up, I started to reload, and took the opportunity to edit the magazines a little, keeping less of the regionals that I don't reference as much as I used to.
On the very top, I have my SpacePacks, a few odds and ends for travel, a watertight box for photos, and some watertight boxes for my coats and boots. On top of the SpacePacks is a Seating Board from a past wedding I designed.
On the next shelf down is my collection of design and decor magazines and books, including the new Rachel Zoe "Living In Style" I just received, the new Jessica Alba "The Honest Life", which I also just received, and the amazing new book from Bright Bazaar Blogger Will Taylor called "Bright Bazaar" which I also just received. I also have my Domino book, as well as my awesome autographed Andy Cohen book.
Next shelf down is a letter organizer holding my crossbody bags, wallets and pouches, all my diamond reference materials and educational materials, and my local wedding reference materials.
Below that are more reference materials, broken up by region (east and west coast), as well as some of my larger high end materials. Below that are my InStyle Weddings and Martha Stewart Weddings, and one of my copies of Emily Post Wedding Etiquette (my older ones are put away in the supply closet and the newest is on my desk).
On the bottom shelf, on the left half, I keep the watertight containers with samples of past work for swapping in and out of my portfolio I take to meetings and the tote bag that keeps my portfolio. On the right half, I keep a stockpile of cleaning supplies and kleenex, stuff I overbuy at Costco. I keep that painting there to conceal that stuff.
Hanging on the hooks on the left are my lunch bag and my amazing Catalina from Lo&Sons.
In light of that purchase, and the impending doom that became of the pickup trip at Container Store... I have had to freeze my credit cards -- literally freeze them -- because I have been on a serious bender. Besides the rug, I've hit up Ulta, Nordstrom, QVC, Ikea, Sephora, Costco, Container Store, Poppin, KSlademade, Amazon, and far too damn many others. It's insane the packages I have showing up. My husband was looking at me like "you cannot buy anymore stuff till we can get rid of all of these boxes."
I've tested many of the products over the last few weeks, and thankfully for my bank account, some were not worth keeping, so at least I have the returns going for me. Remember when I said that whole thing about wanting the more minimalist life and to clean my house out? Yea, well I have miserably failed at that thus far. Most of my 2014 goal list reads like a giant FAIL.
Photo via KSlademade.com
Speaking of KSlademade: Take 15% off through May 4th using Discount Code: DLFKSM15
They have super cute leather coin purses and clutches. The coin purses are fabulous for business and loyalty/credit cards, besides just change. That is what is shown in that image above.
They have super cute leather coin purses and clutches. The coin purses are fabulous for business and loyalty/credit cards, besides just change. That is what is shown in that image above.
Have a FABULOUS first weekend of May, and May the Fourth be with you. I am on a mission to find the Spring Completely Organized Bags this weekend...dammit.
Be sure to follow according to ame on
No comments:
Post a Comment
What do you think?