Now, I promise that I won’t give the play-by-play on every piece of art I include in my new entryway gallery wall, but several of you expressed an interest in doing your own wall and commented or emailed that you didn’t know what art to use.  So, I thought I would share some of the ideas I am using, all of which fall into the categories of cheap and DIY.  This first one cost me three cents.  No really.  It did.

My photography makes this look like three boring pennies.  But in reality they are three boring pennies that each represent a different birth year…one for me, Chris and Ike.  Amazingly, I found all three very quickly in our loose change jar and promptly glued them to a piece of cardboard wrapped in white linen.

Then there are my maps.  I spent a few dollars on each of these encyclopedia maps of Vermont and New Hampshire from the late 1800s, which I found on eBay.

Why these two states?  I was born in Vermont and Chris was born across the Connecticut River in New Hampshire.  I’m really creative like that.

I may do an extended post on these next pieces.  They were originally small, hideous hangings from Goodwill.  I Mod Podged them to represent our house number: 318.

Just wait until I show you what was originally under those numbers.

You’ve probably been wondering about the puzzle, right?  When a few of you mentioned that missing pieces would add character and conversation value, I twisted my own arm to take the easy way out and frame that thing sans pieces.  It’s really not that noticeable.

The only frame I could find that was big enough is black and plastic.  I’m still undecided on whether or not it will stay this way, or if the frame will get some sort of treatment.

Some time ago on Pinterest I saw gloves framed in the entryway.  I thought that was pretty smart for that particular space, so I took a sentimental variation on the theme by framing the little blue hat that Ike wore home from the hospital.  I should have taken a picture of me trying to fit it on his head more than a year later…good times.

I have many more frames to fill, but I am definitely making progress.

Does this spark any ideas for your own gallery walls?  Can you think of something entryway appropriate that I should try?

Yes, my closet has feelings.  Here’s how it feels on any given day with its average mix of hangers.

On my recent trips to two different TJ Maxx stores, I saw boatload of nice hangers in a variety of colors, and finally I added them to my cart.  It was meant to be, right?

I chose all black, because my clothes like to look skinny even if I don’t.

Then on a random evening after Ike went to bed, I got busy on switching out my hangers.  Now, I know you’re not really supposed to hang sweaters, but asking me to keep a neatly folded pile of sweaters is just too much.  So I hang them.

Here is how a sweater shoulder looked with the old hangers:

Pointy shoulder alert!  Pointy shoulder alert!  And now, with my new hangers:

Ahhh…let’s all breathe a sigh of sweater relief.

So what is the moral of the story about these new hangers?

Yes, they help keep my sweaters looking good and, yes they stack neatly and look tidy, but perhaps most importantly…nothing slides off the hanger any more.

And get this.  Chris asked if we could get some for his closet.  He thinks, and I quote, “it could be a nice little change in my life.”

Our life is really exciting these days.  Now what to do with all of these old hangers…

There must be some good DIY project I can make with hangers…hmmm…

Have you tried matching hangers before?  Do you fold your sweaters or hang them?  And does Goodwill take my old hangers, or what?

So I decided to try some gingerbread of my own.  My take?  A spicy gingerbread cake with a lemon cinnamon glaze.

Not too bad considering I totally forgot to add the egg.  Whoops.  Oh, and the glaze was good and all, but not as good as whipped cream and strawberries.

I got the recipe from King Arthur Flour and I definitely recommend it.  It is super easy (you can make it in just one bowl) and it smells great while it’s baking.  If you’re looking for something super sweet, take a pass.  If you’re looking for something different, dig in.

Again, the whole recipe is here, but I’ll break down the quick easy steps.  First you just dump in all the dry ingredients and mix them well.

Then melt some butter (I melted in a glass measuring cup in the microwave).  This recipe taught me an amazing trick…if you melt butter, then add molasses, the butter rises to the top and you can keep adding molasses until you reach the right measurement (in this case, 3/4 cup).   And the best part is…the butter loosens the thick molasses so that it comes right out of the measuring cup like…wait for it…butter!

After you mix in the butter and molasses, the batter will look good enough to eat.

Next you add some buttermilk, water and an egg (unless you are like me and omit the egg accidentally).  Oh, and don’t peg me for the type that has buttermilk lying around.  Want in on a secret?  If you have lemon juice and milk, then you have buttermilk (this awesome blog has a few additional substitutions and beautiful photos).

I was a total rebel and used my fancy-pants bundt cake pan (also seen here, here and here) instead of a standard cake pan.  A girl just has to break the rules from time to time, right!?

While the cake baked at 350 for about a half hour, I whisked up some lemon glaze (confectioners sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon mixed to your favorite texture and flavor).

And then I dug in.

Chris turned his nose up at the cake (he is skeptical of a fancy-looking thing like gingerbread) but Ike loved it (he also loved it at my friend’s house).  So, Ike and I enjoyed a piece after dinner.  And maybe for breakfast the next morning.

Yum.

Happy baking!

My memory quickly recalled the summer a couple of years ago when I purchased this puzzle, perfect for someone living on the coast of Maine:

(Yes, I like to do puzzles.  And yes, my husband asks me, “how old are you again?” when I get the puzzles out.)

So then I had recalled the annoyance I felt when I was nearly finished with the puzzle and realized a few key pieces were missing.  That was a bummer.  But fear not, this demanding consumer contacted Heritage Puzzle and they sent a whole new set of pieces in a plastic bag.  That bag remained in the closet until this weekend when I decided that it was worth rearranging my gallery wall to make room for this big ol’ piece of free puzzle artwork. I even bought some Modge Podge to use as glue to hold the pieces together for framing.

Now, picture me bleary eyed after about 2.5 hours of puzzle wrangling.  I was happily snapping in the last pieces (which always go together so nicely) when I started to put two and two together.

I clearly didn’t have enough pieces to finish the puzzle.  I couldn’t believe it…not only did puzzle #1 not have enough pieces, the replacement (on which I just spent precious baby-sleeping time) did not have enough pieces.  And it’s not just one piece…

…it’s three.  Three missing puzzle pieces.

I was furious at first, but then I had a moment of clarity.  I had a whole set of the old puzzle pieces that were still in the box that I never threw away.  I came to terms with what it would take to find those four exact pieces, and started digging.

That’s when I made a devastating realization.  I took a clearly identifiable part of the puzzle (the urchin) and confirmed the sad truth.

These two puzzles were not cut the same…each piece was different.  I couldn’t swap pieces from one puzzle for pieces of the other.  Sigh.

Now that more than a day has gone by, I am becoming more and more convinced that I can still find a way to salvage the puzzle for framing…somehow.  Clearly I am not going to write to the company again, for fear that they would send me a third puzzle for missing pieces!  All of the missing pieces are edge pieces, half of which would be covered by a frame.  I must be able to use the old puzzle pieces somehow, right?  Maybe paired with a little wood filler?  (I’m kind of not really kidding with that; it’s a real consideration).

What do you think?  Should I just scrap it?  Or should I save it?  Have you ever framed a puzzle?  And are you a puzzle dork like me?

Really, there are so many scary things about gallery walls.  Will I space things too close or too far apart?  Will I choose the wrong frames?  Will the end result meet my way-too-high expectations?  Will my husband ask, “What is a gallery wall?” once I’ve gotten too far in to stop?

The answer to all of those questions is probably yes, but I went for it anyway.  Why?  Because all of my inspiration photos just couldn’t be wrong.  Right?

So, instead of stressing about pulling together all the right pieces, I just went frame crazy.  I dug unused frames out of our closet, then raided Goodwill (I think I spent less than $25 for about 15 frames!).  I ignored what was currently in the frames and got busy laying out just one wall (there are four small sections of wall space above our new entryway coat racks that will eventually be covered!).

That clock that is featured front and center is my inspiration for the whole gallery wall.  It is actually a tide clock with a map of the island in Maine where we live.  It was a wedding gift from my sister and brother-in-law.  I love it and I’ve been trying to find the perfect spot for it in our home for years, but the clock has two things that are rarely found in our house…a natural wood colored frame and a coastal theme!  Seriously, every other frame in our house is black or silver, and I’ve tried to keep our house from screaming Maine…but not anymore.  The entryway is going to represent warm wood tones and a coastal Maine feel on behalf of the rest of the house.  I’m excited to mix it up a bit.

Anyway, once I laid my one wall of frames on a  piece of brown paper the same size as the wall space, and measured and marked where each nail would go, I taped the paper to the wall, hammered away, and then pulled the paper off.  Thankfully I had snapped a picture first because I was having a hard time remembering what went where!

I am going to pick something to go in the empty upper left corner, but it’s okay for now.

I was feeling so energized by my progress that I attempted wall 2 after Ike went to bed.  I used the same measuring and placing method, and ended up with this:

Remember, the artwork is not final…it will all be replaced!  And ignore the 9 p.m. lighting…it doesn’t do anything for the hideous Goodwill artwork.  This whole hot mess will look SO different once the frames are filled with the right things.  I promise.

Can I make a confession?  I put these pictures in Polaroid format with captions just in case someone pins them on Pinterest.  I don’t want anyone to think this is my final result (gasp!).  Isn’t it funny how Pinterst has changed how bloggers think!?

So, this is where my gallery wall stands.  Chris is totally skeptical and I am still scared.  But I am encouraged.  Hopefully next weekend I can finish the other two walls, and then I can focus on pulling together all the various art to go in the frames.  But let’s be real…they may stay empty for a few months!

If you’re interested in my inspiration photos, just check out my entryway board on Pinterest.

And feel free to add in your two cents on this whole thing.  Please.  I need gallery wall therapy.

Because the side door is the way in and is also the home to our laundry area, I’ve been trying to make this space function as a formal entry, a mudroom and a laundry room. And while spending a few years trying to get my husband to put his jacket and shoes in the closet was fun, I’ve decided to embrace the entryway for what it is…a place to hang little snowsuits and monster hats.

(My sister made that hat for our little monster.  It’s very fitting.)

It’s taken me a while to get to this point and I’ve often blogged about ideas that I had for the space (like shoe storage, which I mentioned last year).  But a little inspiration from my entryway board on Pinterest was enough to finally get me moving.

The corner pictured above was formerly the home of a black table where I regularly set up seasonal decor.  I photographed that space two weeks ago (while the table was featuring some nondescript, in-between-seasons garb) and for about a dozen other posts:

But the table never had a functional purpose, so it went to a new location and I installed some built in coat hooks in its place.

And some on the other side of the room, too.  Right now those hooks are sporting my work tote and The Daycare Bag.

It was a pretty inexpensive project.  I had the 1×4 primed boards on hand already, as well as the paint.  I just picked up the decorative end pieces (so that I didn’t have to worry about straight cuts!) and the coat hooks.  I have to admit, this project started bringing me flashbacks of my hallway faux-paneling last year, but was much easier in the end.

First I applied the end pieces with Liquid Nails, and then cut the boards to fit in between, nailing them to the studs as I went.

To make the nail holes invisible, I sunk them with a nail set tool and then used wood filler.  I also hid my bad cuts with a bit of paintable caulking.  It all dried quickly and, after a little sanding, I was painting in no time. Although clearly it got dark in the hours between…

In the morning I added the coat hooks and we were in business!

As if that wasn’t productive enough, I also found time to swing by TJ Maxx for a new rug and Goodwill for a whole slew of frames that are destined for a gallery wall above the coat hooks.  At least I have something to keep me busy for the rest of the winter….you know, other than a living room makeover!

Stay tuned for more to come.

Did you have your power tools running this weekend?  And is your entry way formal or have you embraced the look of everyday coats, scarves and hats?

I’m pretty sure that having six old phone books that date back four years is a little excessive.  Thank goodness for a random Thursday night organizing itch!

Can anyone match my phone book hoarding?  How many do you have in your house right now?!

Happy weekend, and happy dialing!

This next part is going to make me sound really weird, so bear with me.  Before we even had Ike, we had a high-pitched baby voice that we used when we wanted to pretend our dog, Frankie, was talking.  And, well, Frankie isn’t so bright, so in his language he pronounced the word “pillow” like “pee-low.”  Now, out of bad habit, we keep calling pillows by the bad baby talk name.

We’re working on fixing that.  But where am I going with this? Oh, right.  Pillows.

I made some for our living room makeover.  And guess what.  They are a big improvement from the previous mishmash, pictured below (I had to label the photo for fear that someone would pin it on Pinterest and think I was crazy).

Now back to Ike and his “pee-lows.”  As it turns out, he is downright obsessed with these bird-print throw pillows that I made to go on our old red sofas.  He thinks the print is amazing and points at it to no end.

So, they are not going away, just going to a different location.  I tried them on our new sectional, but look, the print is just too wimpy to break up the beige:

But you know what isn’t too wimpy?  The Kasbah print in midnight from Amy Butler.  I whipped up two rectangle pillow covers (using this method) to go over some down-filled inserts and they rock.  Get it?  Rock the Kasbah?  Oh, right.  I already used that joke.  I also made two coordinating navy blue pillow covers, and the white cover from a sweater I found at Goodwill (more on that later.)

I’m pretty sure that this combination is just what the doctor ordered to cut through some beige.  Wouldn’t you agree?

So, tell me.  What do you think of the print I chose?  Too out there for you?  One reader (hi, Angela!) previously described the Kasbah print as looking part Middle Eastern and part Southwestern, which is really kind of true.   Even if you don’t like the print, you have to agree that it offers me a fun new color palette to work with!

Oh, and please tell me there are other people out there who talk for their pets or daydream about teaching their children the wrong words for everyday items!

You can read the whole story here, but to make the long story short, I was done fooling myself into thinking that I would actually organize and file important paperwork in our house.  No matter what filing system I created, or where I put said filing system, I could not actually trick myself into filing paper.  Instead, that pesky, out-of-control pile always remained on the corner of our kitchen counter until I hid it away in a random closet again and again, leaving a disaster at the end of the year.  So I declared war.  And it worked.

(Here’s where the bragging begins.)  This stack represents all of the paper that I have collected in one year’s time:

For real.  No pile in the closet.  No pile on our counter.

This is how I did it:

1. I stopped receiving and sending paper.  I told everyone and their mother to stop sending paper bills my way.  I created online access to every possible account, and I paid every single thing I could through our online banking system.
2. I shredded the paper I received.  Not everyone would comply with my no paper request, so I shredded them their mail.  Electric bill?  I popped it into my bill paying notebook until it was paid, then I shredded.  Medical bill?  Also into my bill paying notebook, and saved just long enough to make sure that I didn’t need to prove its existence to the FSA gods.  Ike’s social security card?  Okay, okay, I saved that one.
3. I tracked online.  I know that you’re all probably chuckling at me thinking I am definitely going to need one of those shredded pieces of papers when we have our taxes filed this year.  But I don’t think I will.  I used our online banking system to categorize every single expense (every debit card purchase, check, and even a payment to our credit card was categorized to represent an area, or multiple areas, of spending).  So now, I can pull a report of all medical expenses, and I can even pull that based on whether or not it was a prescription or doctor’s visit.  I can tell you when we paid the excise tax on our cars, and how much rental income was deposited into our account from the house we still own in Vermont.  And I can do all of that without a single piece of paper.  In case this sounds obsessive, I assure you that it took less than 10 minutes of my time each week to scroll through and categorize expenses online.)
4. I kept only the absolute most necessary things.  If I had to have a piece of paper, but didn’t feel like filing properly, I just tossed it into our kitchen closet/pantry in the designated tray pictured above.  It’s such a manageable pile compared to years past that I could almost cry.

I will admit, there has been a time here or there when I wish I had saved a certain piece of paper.  But, saving it would have only meant that I would be digging through a year-old pile of paper trying to locate one thing.  And if that isn’t maddening then I don’t know what is!  In most every single case, I’ve been able to track down information through an online account or by looking in my bill pay history to answer a question.  And really, in the super off chance that we get audited by the IRS, I bet I can get paper copies of every thing I need, even if it is at some small cost.  Thankfully, nothing in our life is that complicated at the moment—the IRS could probably figure us out in one fell swoop.

Did you try to limit the paper pile up in your house this year?  How did you do it?  Or are you wishing you had?

March 31 of this year will mark five years in our home.  Five whole years, people.  On one hand I can’t believe how much we’ve accomplished in that period of time (you know, finishing a whole second floor to create three more bedrooms and a bathroom, painting three decks, making over a bathroom and a hallway and a kitchen and a nursery and a guest bedroom.)  It’s amazing to think there are many walls and stretches of trim that remain only primed, but it’s true.

And then there’s the living room.  The room you see first when you walk in our house and the room where we spend the most time.  It is a blank, beige slate (yawn), and it’s time for The Makeover.

We do have throw pillows but they aren't staying, so I took them off for full "before" effect.

Don’t you just love the matching lamps!?  (I kid, I kid.)

So in full disclosure, this living room makeover actually started back in September when we said sayonara to the red couch from my post-college apartment and Chris’ hand-me-down, 30-year-old-heavier-than-life sofa that was slipcovered in a not-so-matching red, and traded them both in for this super big and comfy sectional.  And we did trade in my beat-up orange-oak coffee table for a smaller round one that worked with the new sectional.  I also took down some beige curtains and popped in some white roman shades.

And things have been at a standstill ever since.

Here is the thing about this impending (in progress?) living room makeover.  The result is not going to be magazine perfect.  Not even close.  Yes, we could have purchased a nice, clean-lined sofa and a few chairs and threw the TV out the back door, but what we really wanted was a big, cozy sectional where our whole family (dog included) could cuddle and watch a movie.  We don’t have a finished basement or any other room suited for a den-type feel, so this is it and we’re going with it.

Cool?

So, before I show you what I have planned, let me share a few other points of view on our rarely-shown-on-the-blog super beige room.

Even the "artwork" is tone-on-tone beige. Seriously.

The TV gets a whole corner to itself.

And really, that artwork is white paper with designs cut into it.  It really is more than what it looks like, but not really all at the same time.

Okay, so now I can show you what I have in mind.  It’s not much, but it’s something to go on.  I think.

Let me break it down for you:

• White walls (because I want it to be versatile and lighter and bring color in elsewhere)
• Fun pillows in blue, white, and bright prints (remember how I talked about that here)
• Some sort of arc lighting seeing how this room has no overhead light fixture.  Seriously.
• I will have to put some sort of curtains up, but I have no idea what yet.
• I am thinking some sort of tall storage will replace the toy corner that is seen in view 2 of the living room above.
• I need a cute side table or two.
• And I should really consider covering Frankie’s bed to match, but he is usually on the couch.

Now can you see how/why I put this makeover off for so long?  Too bad for me.  It’s happening, and it’s happening now.  Stay tuned.

Have you saved your most-lived-in room for last like me, or did you tackle that right away?  Any living room makeovers to share with me?  I need all the inspiration I can get!