The most under-utilized space in the house

Our master bathroom is huge. It’s practically as big as our bedroom, and that’s only a slight exaggeration (our bedroom is also a little on the small side though). The reason the bathroom is so big is because of the Whirlpool soaker tub, which we thought was a pretty sweet feature when we first saw the house:

However, since we’ve lived here, this is how we’ve utilized our tub:

1) A place to haphazardly drape pajamas and other clothing items that we’re too lazy to put away
2) A place to put my drying rack for hand-washed clothes

3) A ledge for dust-collecting tealight candles (as part of a pathetic attempt to make it look “romantic”)

 In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times that we’ve actually used the tub for its intended purpose. Most of those were probably during the sprinkler system and sod projects, when we wanted to wind down and soak our aching muscles. It’s really sad that the tub is so under-utilized. I’m not sure why we don’t take advantage of it more often, other than the fact that it takes a long time to fill, and it takes a LOT of water.

It would also probably help if this corner of the bathroom was more inviting. Don't get me wrong, the 10-foot ceilings are great, but they also make for vase expanse of empty wall that’s screaming for some TLC (a common theme throughout the rest of the house). Perhaps some candle sconces like these would make for a cozy atmosphere?

West Elm Mendina Mirrored Sconce - $39.95 each

Z Gallerie Bling Sconce - $69.95 each

This one is probably too small (and much more than I want to pay), but I really like the style!

I've had these two mirrored sconces sitting on our bedroom floor for the past 3 months because I haven't been able to commit to a place for them yet. (I got them on sale at Z Gallerie for $15/ea!) Maybe the bathroom should be their new home?

 

I’m also intrigued by the vinyl words and phrases that you can apply to your wall, like those from Uppercase Living. I’m particularly fond of this one for the bathroom:

"Soak Your Troubles Away"

Now wouldn’t that look lovely with a sconce on either side? However, I’m not sure that these vinyl words will adhere very well to textured walls like ours. And I don’t want to spend $21.95 only to find it doesn’t work. Anyone have any experience with them?

Here’s the other idea that would be pretty friggin’ cool. There’s a cable jack above the doorway and enough room for a small, flat-panel TV. Nice, huh? Except that I don’t want to spend the money on a TV that’s just a pure luxury. So, scratch that idea…for now.

Truth be told, I’d probably rather trade the soaker tub if it meant having a larger bedroom, or a larger shower (with two showerheads!). But we’ve got it, and I think we’d be more likely to use it (or at least less likely to use it as a clothes rack) if it were all beautified. Do you have an under-utilized tub, or any other [cheap] ideas on how to dress ours up?

NOTE: Little House on the Corner is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Never underestimate the power of Rubbermaid

While Hubby was helping out his parents on a project of their own today, I took the opportunity to tackle a project that we've been putting on the back burner for months. It involves storage and organization, which Hubs isn't too fond of anyway. Since our dungeon basement is unfinished, we're mainly using it for four purposes right now: 

1) A game room (consisting of a dart board, ping pong table, and a crappy craigslist pool table)

2) A place for Phoebe's food and litter box

3) Laundry

4) Storage

And by "storage," this is what I mean:

This is just one of several areas of our basement that looks like this, but it's probably the messiest. No rhyme or reason to anything whatsoever. Since we moved in, we've pretty much been using the laundry "room" as a place to throw store mostly Christmas stuff, but also packing materials, random crap that we don't want to deal with, and empty cardboard boxes of all sizes. Lots of boxes. Boxes within boxes. Why do we need so many boxes? It's as though we're hoarding them in case there's a worldwide box shortage someday. But seriously, you never know when you're going to need a good box, right? Anyway, I digress.

It all started innocently enough, as I was just planning on putting away a few Christmas decorations today. Then I decided - especially since it's a new year - that this would be the perfect time to do some major re-organization. I ran all over Walmart like a madwoman, grabbing as many storage containers as I could. Turns out they're a hot commodity right now, as I had to go to a couple different Walmarts to find what I needed. (And somehow I also managed to accidentally knock a few more 75% off Christmas decorations into my cart...oops.)

But the real fun started when I got home. After several hours of this (which Phoebe was turning into her own personal playground):

I finally achieved this:

The transformation is even more impressive in person, but you can see quite an improvement here. I never thought I'd buy special containers just for wrapping paper and a wreath, but they make such a difference! Necessary? No. Genius? Yes. Much more attractive and sturdy than a plastic bag or a cardboard box. I also brought down the green plastic drawers that weren't being utilized very well in one of our closets upstairs. They now house our tissue paper, gift bags, and other miscellaneous gift wrapping materials. And thanks to a Sharpie and some white labels, it's easy to tell what's what. You'll notice there are fewer empty boxes in the corner, too. I managed to throw a few of the crappy ones away, consolidated some of the smaller ones, and put the rest up in our storage loft in the garage. 'Cuz you just never know...

I feel so much better after accomplishing this feat. This is life-changing, people! Ok, not quite, but it's up there. We still have a lot of other boxes to go through in the basement, but this is a big step, and totally worth the $45 in storage containers! (I also bought 4 other plastic tubs that I haven't even used yet.) And now I don't have to cringe every time I go do a load of laundry. 

Do you have any major organization plans in your near future?

Happy 2010!

Happy New Year, everyone!

I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to what 2010 has in store. It's a beautiful, crisp, sunny day here, so I'm going to take that as a sign that the year is already off to a good start! I'm a little sad that there will be no more 3-day weekends for awhile, though. Boo. Better make the most of this one while it lasts.

So far today, I'm getting some much-needed laundry done, and I've made these:

I'd also like to go out and buy a few clear storage bins for when we put away all our Christmas decorations (especially since I just bought a bunch more on clearance). It will make next year's decorating so much easier! And at this rate, who knows what else I'll get done today! :)

A big thanks to those of you who have been reading my blog and/or following me. I know I've enjoyed reading all of yours and getting some great ideas. Here's to a new year full of even more inspiration!

Sidelight Solutions: Create privacy without sacrificing style

Since I just started this blog in November, it seems like most of my posts have been related to the holidays and Christmas decorating. As much fun as that was, now it's time to get down to the nitty gritty of everyday living! I've got a lot of things to cover--both past and future projects.

I thought I'd start with a little DIY project that we did shortly after we moved into our house last year. Here's what our front door and entryway looked like back then. (A frustrating space to work with, but more on that some other time...) Ignore the random folding chair--the realtor sat there during open houses.

At first, I loved all of the windows, and how much natural light they let in. But after living here awhile, this facade also left me feeling a little...exposed. I knew we'd end up getting curtains on the picture window at some point, but I still had a privacy issue with the sidelights and the window in the door that allowed any ol' Joe Schmoe to peer into our living room. Luke scoffed at my paranoia, but needless to say, I eventually won that battle. :)

Our options for covering up the windows included changing them out for custom frosted glass (too expensive), or installing small curtain rods and panels (too hard to find something stylish). Then one day while browsing at Home Depot, I discovered Artscape decorative window film. After doing some research online, I figured it was worth a shot.

There were lots of patterns to choose from, but I decided on the Rice Paper, which was the most subtle while still achieving the desired effect.

Sidelight Window Film 12" x 83"

Sidelight Window Film 24" x 36"

I didn't take any pictures of the process at the time (who knew I'd blog about it someday?), but applying the film was really pretty simple. After cleaning the windows, we just had to peel the film off the paper backing, spray the window with a mixture of water and dish soap, and then press the film against the window (on the inside, of course). The most time-consuming part was trimming the film to fit the window once it was in place. We also used a squeegee to make sure there were no air bubbles.

This is a really bad picture I took during the day (before we covered the door window), but you can see how the light still shines in through the film.

Since we were covering the two sidelights and the window in the door, it made sense to cover the transom above the door as well. But I wanted to change it up a bit, so I had the idea (*pats self on back*) to cut our last name out of the film, so that part of the glass would be clear. Since Hubby has the most precision and attention to detail between the both of us, I let him tackle that part. He printed out the letters on separate sheets of paper and cut them out to use as stencils. It took a couple of painstaking hours, but he did a great job. Plus, when the porch light is on at night, it shines through our name into the house and onto the wall in a funky, distorted kind of way. A nice little effect that we didn't plan on!

Night-time view from the outside

 

The overall cost of this project was about $60 for the three rolls of film we used. For being a quick, economical solution, I'm pretty happy with it so far. The film still lets some natural light in, and when we want more light or to see outside, we just open the curtains on the picture window. And, if we decide someday that we don't like the film anymore, it's supposedly easy to remove!

This film would also be great for a bathroom window or any other room where you want a little privacy without sacrificing style.

(New pic taken after we painted our walls gray. It's been seven years since we applied this window film and it still looks great!)

So what do you think of the faux frosted glass effect? Would these windows have bothered you, or was I crazy to let my paranoia take over and cover them up? (You can tell me the truth.) What would you have done?

NOTE: Little House on the Corner is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Christmas deals and steals: Somebody stop me!

I. Love. Michael's.

My post-Christmas shopping experience yesterday just wasn't quite satisfying enough, so I ventured out again today in search of more sales. Hobby Lobby is usually my go-to store for crafts and decor in general, but I had already been there (plus, they're not open on Sundays anyway). So, I decided to see what Michael's had left over, and I totally hit the jackpot. Why do I not go to this store more often?!

They still had a pretty decent amount of holiday merchandise to peruse through (all 50-70% off!), and I was there for a good hour and a half, filling my cart with goodies. I could have come away with so much more, but I had to stop myself at some point. Let's just say it's a good thing they don't make their carts much bigger. Check these out!

36" Wreath - $9.99

I plan on sprucing this up with ribbon and maybe some ornaments, and then hanging it above our garage door next year. (Who am I kidding? Hubby will be the one to hang it. :)

As you can see, Phoebe wasted no time hopping in the middle as soon as I put it on the floor; she loves laying on our stuff and being contained in small spaces... ain't she cute?

10" Jingle Ball Wreath - $5.99

I'd love to eventually get a big mirror up on our empty dining room wall. If and when that happens, it would make the perfect canvas for this festive little wreath. (Unless I get ambitious enough to make an Eddie Ross ornament wreath.) I really love the look of wreaths hanging by a wide ribbon on the front of a mirror.

Plastic Craft Ornaments - $0.39 each

I envision these filled with faux snow and maybe some strands of tinsel or ribbon swirled inside. Easy DIY ornaments!

Ceramic containers - $1.79 each (!!!)

They had a bunch of cute containers that were all 70% off. I so badly wanted to snatch up ALL of them, but couldn't really justify that. So I settled for these two lovelies, which have just the right amount of glitz & glitter.

Potpourri Vase Filler - $2.99 and Christmas Raffia - $1.19

Perhaps I will put the vase filler in the above containers??

12" Glass Candle Holder - $5.49 and 14" Glass Candle Holder - $6.49

I think I'm most excited about these beauties! The shiny, silvery/gold design is going to look gorgeous with a little tealight glowing inside! They'll get along very nicely with my tabletop trees, too.

After I dragged myself away from Michael's, I decided to stop at Dollar General just to see what bargains they had. There wasn't much that caught my eye, except for these:


 Mini ornaments - $0.50 each and Tinsel strands - $0.50

I'm not sure where I'll put the mini ornaments, but I know I'll find a place for them somewhere! (I may use the little light bulbs as charms on gifts I wrap.) As for the tinsel, I'll stuff it inside the clear ornaments from Michael's.

Wow - that was exhilarating! I'm so excited about all of these finds, not to mention the money I saved! I felt that our holiday decor (aka the "Christmas corner") was a little weak this year, because we haven't really accumulated that much yet. This is definitely going to help, though.

Better yet, I just learned yesterday that they're going to build a brand new Michael's only a couple miles away from us! Woo-hoo!

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for Christmas 2010!  :)

Post-Christmas Pick-me-up

So, Christmas is officially over. *tear* I hope you all had a safe, happy holiday with your loved ones. I know I did! (Except my sister wasn't able to make it back home due to the winter storm...boo!)

December 25 may have come and gone, but I'm going to cling to my Christmas tree background for just a little bit longer before I commit to a new one. Likewise, we're still going to keep all the decorations up for awhile in our house, so that makes me feel a little less depressed. AND, Luke and I went shopping all over town today to check out the Christmas sales (surprisingly enough, he didn't put up much of a fight, so I took advantage of his good mood!). We didn't get up as early as I had wanted to, so I think a lot of the Christmas selection was already picked over, but I did manage to score a few things I'd been wanting (all 50% off):

Ribbon - $4.99/100ft. @ Target
I want to try wrapping this around our tree, and I'm sure I'll find plenty of uses for the extra!

Wrapping paper

$1.99/25 sq. ft. @ Target (3 rolls on left)

$3.99/90 sq. ft. @ Hobby Lobby (roll on right)

Snowflake stocking holders

$8.50/ea at Hobby Lobby

(The stockings were bought after Christmas last year at Walmart). 

We don't have a fireplace mantel (sad face) and our sideboard is already decked out, so instead I hung them with care on the ledge in our stairwell. This is the first time we've had stockings in our house, so next year we'll get to have fun with stocking stuffers!

How about you? Did you get any great deals on Christmas decor for next year?

"Elph" Yourself!

Hubby and I opened each other's Christmas presents a little early this year, and I was so excited when I opened my gift and saw this beauty nestled inside!

I guess all my complaining about my crappy, bulky, old camera must have worked. :) I am now the proud owner of a Canon PowerShot Digital Elph SD780 IS. Woop woop! I'll be doing a lot of reading up and experimenting this Christmas to see what all it can do; I'm not used to something this advanced. Hopefully you'll see an improvement with the pics on my blog, too. I think this will inspire me to become quite the photographer!

On semi-related note, have you created a holiday greeting on Elf Yourself yet? I received a couple of these from friends, but finally made my own a couple days ago. It was a riot! Really easy, too. If you haven't played around with it yet, I recommend it! I even elf-ed our cat, Phoebe. Ok, so some people thought it was a little creepy, but she is part of the family after all (as much as my husband doesn't want to admit it. :)

Oh, and my rum cake from earlier this week turned out to be a success! Very moist and yummy. I'll be making another one for Christmas with the fam.

That's all for now, folks -- I'll be signing off for a couple days to enjoy the rest of this frigid, blustery, blizzard of a holiday. Have a very Merry Christmas!