My New Makeup Vanity

Happy new week, everyone!  Can you believe how quickly we've moved through February, and now have only 4 days left?  I know some of you have been literally "snow plowing" your way through these Winter months and are anxiously awaiting Spring.  Even sunny Arizona is getting some very chilly weather (36* at 8 a.m.) here in the valley desert and lots of snow in the high country...very happy skiers!  Well, enough about the weather...Mother Nature seems to be playing a cruel game of "Guess What's Coming Next!"  How about some pretty pictures and a lot of my rambling...up for that?

Today I wanted to share my new makeup vanity where I store and use all of the new makeup I talked  about in my last post HERE.  I rearranged and The Man created a vanity where I can sit and do my makeup.  Below are three pics from my 2014 Barbie Dream Closet reveal.

This is where I did my makeup for several years....standing here, using my vanity mirror, and storing my "most often used" supplies in the top shallow drawer.

                                                      

I grew weary of this setup and started thinking about using the top of the dirty clothes bins....I mean, just look at all that wasted real estate!

   

I was just going to move everything over here and use

a small stool to sit on.  The Man's wheels started turning

and came up with something much better......

Wait for it...

Is The Man smart or what!

He also cut down my magnifying mirror to the perfect height.

I made a cover for this little stool and also for the bench you see at 

the upper left...good old drop cloth!  I just tuck the stool back in the corner

when not in use.

 

         

 This acrylic organizer (HomeGoods) is the only new piece

I purchased.  I already had the other organizers.

I keep some tools, sponges and pre-moistened wipes (to clean makeup off my hands & brushes),

in this 3-drawer unit.

 

I've been using this lipstick tray for a few years but recently added this glass dish ($Store)

with small crystal filler (originally from Michael's) to hold glosses and such that were always

falling over.

Originally, I stored folded sweaters in this glass cabinet above the makeup vanity, but I decided it was 

a much better place to display some of my purses.

Pretty and colorful!

The previous makeup area is now home to jewelry and perfumes.

I really like this tiered bracelet holder...HomeGoods a few years ago.

Jewelry and......

More jewelry in the top 2 drawers, and....

Surplus supplies and such...let's just call it an organized "junk drawer," shall we?

So what do you think?  I love it!  The Man made such a nice area for me to sit and work some cosmetic magic....well, at least I try.  And before you even ask, he is all mine and you cannot borrow him!

He is just as sweet as his smile indicates!

Hope you have enjoyed this post.  I'm having fun kind of mixing up what I post about, so who knows what will be on the agenda for next time!  Please come back for a visit any time.

Warm hugs,

Carol

I hope to be joining some of these lovely ladies this week:

Cindy at Dwellings--The Heart of Your Home for Amaze Me Monday

Maria Elena at Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays at Our Home

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life  for Inspire Me Tuesday

Suzy at Worthing Court for The Scoop

Carol at The Red Painted Cottage for Share Your Style Party

Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home

New Decor Closet

Oh my goodness, can you believe we are into May already?  While many of you have had less than a stellar Spring, we "Zonies" have been truly blessed...that is until we broke our own record on Cinco de Mayo with 108 degrees!  I have to tell you that our humidity was 7%, making it a "dry heat," but WOW, it was HOT!  We are definitely in to those seesaw days with high temps one day and lower the next, but our Summer is here; and now I can be jealous of those of you who have lovely summers.  Okay, enough weather talk, but I do send my prayers to those who've been experiencing the flooding, tornadoes and all that Mother Nature seems to be dishing out.  I pray that you all remain safe.

So, what have I been up to, since I haven't posted in awhile?  I've been trying to do more "stuff" instead of just thinking about doing more "stuff."  One thing that I've been thinking about for awhile is my decor storage.  A couple of years ago, The Man cleared one of our garage storage closets so I could use it for my decorative items.  This is fantastic garage storage and worked fine for my things for awhile.

                     

 

The issues I had with this space (there was more than one) were that the cabinets are very deep, making it too easy to forget about things in the back, I have back problems so that bottom shelf was almost impossible for me to use, and I had to move the car out of the garage in order to access the storage.  Hmph, now what?  Well, I kept looking at the closet in our guest room.  We had already made one side into a gift wrapping station, using the portable island from our previous house.  Here is how that looks.

                           
                                                 

The silly thing that was holding me back, was that I wouldn't have a nice place for company to hang their clothes when they used the guest room.  Utterly ridiculous, since in the 6+ years we've lived here, not a single guest has used the closet.  I have one of those fold up racks for a suitcase and there are hooks behind the door.  Besides, there is still a hanging rod above the wrapping station....problem solved.  Whew....that was a biggie!  Now, you might be wondering how I could possibly get everything (please note that I did not say crap) I had stashed in the garage storage moved into just half of the guest closet?  Well, that would have been impossible without some serious purging, and all those purged items (not crap) are packed away for our next community garage sale.

Actually, before I could start moving anything into the closet, I had to sweetly ask and bat my eyelashes  at The Man to add more shelves to the space.  Of course he didn't hesitate, especially when I showed him how much I had purged!

I had already created some storage using an IKEA Expedit (already had) and a few odds and ends of other things.  With the 3 shelves that he added, I was all set and feeling confident that I could and would make it all fit!

     

The large white boxes hold a variety of things, like faux florals, floral foam & wire, etc. and one box is completely empty....Hmmm, I think I might need to visit Home Goods!  Just kidding...no, not kidding!

         

    

So, there you have it....all nice and tidy behind closed doors, but right at my fingertips when I "need" to make a change.  Of course, overtime I open these doors, my little "photo bomber" (as seem above) has to run in just to check things out.  Personally, I think she is eyeballing that empty box as a possible napping spot....nope, not gonna happen!

Thank you so much for stopping by; and if I have been a bit absent in visiting you, I apologize and will try to do better.  I hope you will have a wonderful week ahead and make good memories.

Hugs,

Carol

I'm joining these lovely ladies this week:

Cindy at Dwellings--The Heart of Your Home for Amaze Me Monday

Maria Elena at Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays at Our Home

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life  for Inspire Me Tuesday

Suzy at Worthing Court for The Scoop

Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home

A Vacay Gallery Wall

Good morning, friends!  Have you missed me...shhh, you don't have to answer that!  I have missed all of you, but my bloggy break has been truly therapeutic and beneficial.  I only blog for fun, no schedules to keep, but sometimes feel that my posts begin to seem a bit stale.  Anyway, I'm back and have a few new DIY projects to share.

Do you ever get fixated on one particular room or wall in your home that you want to change or redo, but you just can't come up with a solution?  Okay, silly question.  We've all been there I am sure.  The wall that was giving me grief, is this one in our family room.

The print above the sofa is one we had in our previous home, inexpensive from Kirkland's, but one The Man and I really liked.  The problem was that it seemed too alone on that wall with the high ceiling.  We could have added sconces on either side, but that's kind of what everyone does.....not that there is anything wrong with that, but we just wanted something more unique.  Imagine my delight, when one day I was browsing around Cassie's blog at "Hi Sugarplum", and the lightbulb came on.  I've been following Cassie for awhile now and find her to be so much fun and wonderfully inspiring.  You really should go check out her blog, if you haven't already.  She is definitely not afraid of color in her home and in her fashion style....to say she is quite the "Fashionista," would be putting it mildly.  Anyway, this is what Cassie did in her family room......

Source: Hi Sugarplum

And this is what we did in ours.

I cannot even tell you how much The Man and I like this gallery wall of vacay photos!

Some prep-work first.  Have I ever shared that The Man worked for a dry-wall company to put himself through college?  That being said, he cannot stand for mishaps on walls or ceilings....there were some places on this wall that did not pass his scrutiny, so out came the drywall mud!

The picture ledges are from IKEA, and we had to combine two lengths for each level to get the length we needed.  Once the ledges were in place, the patched places on the wall got touched up with paint.

This is such a great way to remember Spain, Peru and Europe...wonderful memories!

I thought I'd share just a few glimpses of my lighter, brighter and more simple summer-look

for this room.  Oops, there's my little photo-bomber!

You really don't have to live close to the ocean to enjoy seashells, nor do you have to live in a more tepid climate to enjoy peonies....okay, the peonies are faux but still look lovely!

Simple and clean.  Oh, by-the-way, that's Abby heated pad in front of the fireplace.  She thinks if she stares at the firebox long enough, the fire might come on....not gonna happen when it's 115 degrees outside!

Cannot get more simple than this.

Since I'm kind of on a wall-gallery roll, I thought I'd share this one, too.

This is the most-traveled hallway in our home, leading from The Man's workshop and Man-cave, the guest room, guest bath, my Momma-cave and opening into our kitchen and family room.  So it seemed like the best place to create a gallery wall of our family.

It's super-hard to get a good pic, but I tried.

Since The Man and I have shared our 47 years together, we have lived in Washington,

Oregon and now Arizona....this Home Sweet Home was easy and fun to put together.

I always plan to simply replace the photos with newer ones as the kiddos get older, but I cannot bring myself to do that....I just keep adding.  Thank goodness for IKEA and their frame selections!

Need I say more?

This is my very favorite collage...Nana in her glory surrounded by my sweeties!

I am so blessed.

I think that should about do it with photo-overload for now.  The Man and I worked on a few other DIY's during my bloggy break, and I will be sharing those over the next several weeks.  I hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

Carol

I often party with these lovely bloggers:

Monday
Dee at Meatloaf and Melodrama for Merry Monday

Cindy at Dwellings--The Heart of Your Home for Amaze Me Monday
Maria Elena at Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays at Our Home

Tuesday

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life  for Inspire Me Tuesday

Wednesday

Suzy at Worthing Court for The Scoop

Thursday
Jemma at  At Home With Jemma for Thoughts of Home on Thursday

Pamela at From My Front Porch to Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday

Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home