The List of All Lists: January Cure - Day 1

I'm a little behind over here and completely missed the first few days of Apartment Therapy's January Cure.  It was probably my lazy side that was quite comfortable snuggled up on the couch so it took drastic measures and locked my motivated side up far away from Apartment Therapy feeds.  Luckily for my home's well-being - and my husband's sanity - my motivated side broke out of captivity because things were starting to get pretty chaotic up in her'.

The first assignment of the 31-day challenge was to create a Project List - going from room to room and writing down everything that needed attention.  Simple enough.  Writing lists is my forte - keeping track of that list and not losing it amongst the clutter is a whole 'nother story.  So in an effort to keep myself accountable I'm sharing the entire list here with you.

It just so happens that 2/3rd of our family came down with a nasty cold.  Luke and I have been cuddled up in bed together all day munching on goldfish and watching Lady & the Tramp and Downton Abbey.  After the third time watching the beaver take off Lady's muzzle (hmm...that doesn't sound quite right), I decided to break out the pad and pen and get to writing my Project List - starting with the bedroom of course.

Home Organization: Organizing The Black Hole

Has your home gotten a bit out of control, like mine?  Between all of the home projects we've been tackling lately our house has become somewhat of a hoarder's paradise.  Not quite the rat infested garbage heap that TLC likes to sensationalize, but pretty.dang.close.  It's just that there's so much to do and I just don't wanna do it!  (Picture me crossing my arms, furrowing my eyebrows and stomping my foot.)  You guys feel me?

Even though my choice would be to ignore the chaos for a little bit longer - I just can't.  So, rather than waiting until the first sign of spring for the proverbial spring cleaning - I'm getting started now.  We went hogwild this weekend and finally tackled a few areas that have been quite frustrating.  It all started when I walked into the kitchen and found the under-the-sink cabinet's contents on the kitchen floor.  Apparently, Josh thought it was a good time to try and fix our busted dishwasher.  That man certainly knows the way to my heart - for those of you that don't know, hand-washing dishes is my kryptonite.  So a little mess in an attempt to make me happy was alright with me.

With the cabinet already halfway emptied, I thought it was a good time to finally tackle this organization issue.  I failed to snap a "Before" photo, but this does a good job showing the ridiculous amount of things that were shoved in there - vases, bubbles, cleaning supplies, jars of screws.  I'm surprised a clown car didn't find it's way out of there.

Another Obsession To Add To My Arsenal

Saturday, 7 am.  While every good wife would be in the kitchen fixin' her loving family a breakfast fit for royalty (or in our case, a bunch of lumberjacks), I'm sitting here glued to my laptop.  While catching up on some good ol' blog reading, I came across a post by Nate B. about his Vintage Gift Guide picks from V&M.  Curiosity led me on over to V&M which I hadn't heard of before.  With that one click, the clouds parted, the rains ceased and, unfortunately for my husband, I found my new online obsession. Vintage & Modern is the leading online source for unique vintage furniture, antiques, art, jewelry, fashion and design from around the world.  WHAT?!  Vintage shopping from the comfort of your couch?  I.AM.THERE.

How have I NOT heard about V&M before?!  Or have I?  I'm not completely convinced that this is actually my first visit - I think I stumbled upon it back in the day.   Why it didn't resonate back then, I'll never know.  But, now I'm hooked.

Not only does V&M have a drool-worthy collection of furniture & accessories - like this gorgeous antique gothic arch top window below.  It also has TV.  So, if I'm not annoying my husband enough by spending hours browsing the shops I can skip on over to the READ section (which also includes TV) and really check out.  And just when he's about to match me with some fantasy football "research" I'll just show him the Breweriana section and that's how I'll bring him over to the dark side.

So what about you guys?  Have any favorite online shopping destinations that fuel your home design obsession?

A Little Organization Is A Good Thing

Channeling Ms. Martha Stewart, I get a big urge to organize with the passing of the holidays or the changing of the seasons - whether it's one room, the whole house or this little ol' blog.  Earlier this week I packed up all the Christmas decorations, but as I mentioned before, there really wasn't much to pack up.  There's definitely some organization needed throughout the rest of the house, but that would require me to go to our freezing cold unfinished upstairs.  Not gonna happen.  So with the house out of the question for now and with a little motivation from Katie over at Bower Power, I decided to organize the blog.

I used to have a "Tutorials" page that was just a running list of the project name and a link.  Pretty plain, pretty uninspiring.  If I were looking at any other blog I probably would skip right past it.  Taking from my "get 'er done" resolution, I finally put in some work and updated my project page.  The "Tutorials" page has now been completely replaced by the "Project Gallery" page.

The Project Gallery is a much more attractive reference for my projects.  Rather than a running list of text, it's now a nice gallery of project snapshots that are hyperlinked to each respective blog post.  Not only is it more visibly appealing, but it also shows new readers my style and what this little blog is about, which is pretty much a little of everything...just like my eclectic style.

A New Year - The Same Ol' Resolutions

Setting resolutions, a yearly ritual where we reflect on how awful we are and resolve to be better, may not be for everyone.  But I, for one, love making a list whether it be shopping or a little self-help.  The list part I've got down, but the sticking to it is a whole 'nother story.  I don't know how many times I've made a resolution just to forget about it come February 1st. "Oh, did I say I was going to be a nicer person...Oops.  Guess it just slipped my mind.  I guess I'll just have to try again come January 1st, 2014."

2013 Geometric Calendar available at Revamp Marketplace

This year my resolutions are pretty standard;  stop being so damn lazy, get organized, have more fun and make quality time with the family.  Really they're all subjective so I'm pretty sure that come December 31st I'll be feeling pretty successful.

Oh and did I mention my "get 'er done" subsection of my "stop being so damn lazy" resolution?  With these new 2013 Geometric Calendars that just made their way on to my Etsy shop, I'm well on my way to checking that off the list, plus the "get organized" one too.

So what about you guys?  Have any unique resolutions you'd like to share?