DIY Walnut Storage Bins with a Mid-Century Modern Feel

The bedside tables in our bedroom were welded at the same time my Grandfather made the headboard I designed.  We had some leftover materials and he just whipped them up!  We had glass shelves custom cut, but the whole project was really inexpensive.  I loved the airy look of the shelves, but I hated the messy look of piles of books and magazines that accumulated, so I bought two vinyl mock croc storage bins.  I've never love the look of the bins, but they fit really well - and they solved our storage problem!

Over time, those poor boxes started to disintegrate and I decided that I wanted to make something a little bit more solid.  Wandering around my local lumber yard - looking for supplies for the more complicated slatted storage bin idea I had - I stumbled across a really thin sheet of walnut plywood and fell in love!

Because the plywood was so thin, Handy Hubby and I were able to make really sizable boxes that are still lightweight - perfect for our glass tables. 

The instructions are over at Hello Yellow - you can click here to see the whole process.  Among the supplies required, you will need a kitty, for box approval:

Once the box is completed, it will look really chalky and pale:

I used Danish Oil to bring out the warmth, but I needed puppy approval first (the smell lures 'em!):

The last step was adding hardware.  I wanted something brushed silver, because I am the last person on the planet to favor brushed silver over brushed gold in my home.  I also wanted something oversize and modern, so it didn't look like a kitchen drawer pull.  I found these at Lee Valley - they're 10 5/8" long! 

I just love the scale!

After eight years of living with those vinyl bins (two of which were spent trying to repair peeling vinyl), it feels so good to have something new!  These bins are simple and do the trick, but they have such a great mid-century feel.  I didn't intend to make them quite so tall, but we wanted to maximize how much grain we could show off.

Check out the full tutorial on Hello Yellow, but first here's another look at the finished product!

DIY Abstract Art for the Bedroom

Recently I chatted about wanting to take more time to craft and create, to help work through my grief.  Working in the only room I could possibly call a "studio" (a.k.a. "the fish room" on the lakehouse tour) was a bit counterproductive because it's so dreary and dirty in its current state, so I pushed the dining room furniture out of the way and dragged my easel inside.

It was a good move!  For my first painting, I faced the lake and it was just so calming to dab on paint and watch the water.  It was so peaceful - almost meditative - that I ended up painting two paintings, which I hung on either side of our headboard.

I've always wanted art flanking the headboard - in fact, I originally bought two of my vintage posters (the gal with the tweed and the fellas with hats) to hang above each bedside table but because the lamps block whatever art we hang above the nightstands, it just didn't look right.  I like them so much better as a trio above the dresser.

But I don't mind covering up my own art - I like the layered look.  I didn't want anything that would compete with the posters, and I was also trying to tie in some of the blues from the living/dining room, so I ended up creating two soft, airy paintings that pull together the greens and blues from the poster art and the rest of the home.  I added a soft layer of pale yellow, just for fun.

It was so enjoyable to spend an afternoon painting, but moving the furniture was a bit of a hassle.  Now I'm hatching some plans to renovate that random little room at the end of our house to create a functional, beautiful space to work on crafts or do more painting.  It has a window that faces the lake and it boasts a sink too, so it's a perfect studio space (although it's a bit on the small side).  I'll share my plans soon!

In the meantime, if you want to get the scoop on how I made this easy, DIY art, I'm sharing some step by step photos on Hello Yellow - see here.

I think that I might want to build float frames - like I did for my photo that was turned into an oil painting - but for now I'll see if I like them unframed.  Another option is to paint the edges a contrasting colour (black would be perfect) to create the illusion of a frame.

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New White Glass Sliding Closet Doors in the Bedroom!

Exciting news!!  I'm collaborating with Leon's Furniture on their new blog, Hello Yellow!  As one of the bloggers recruited to create fresh and inspiring content, I'll be chronicling a mini makeover of our master bedroom.  This has been the kick in the pants I needed to finally finish our master bedroom and create a functional, peaceful space.  I'll be sharing all kinds of updates (new curtains, furniture, accessories and art!), but today I'm sharing one long overdue change:



That's right: we finally purchased new closet doors - it only took about a year and a half!  Check out my first post on Hello Yellow to relive the exhausting adventure of removing the broken mirrored doors, which mushroomed into repairing the floors and replacing the closet organizer.

Before

The last time you saw it, the closet has been given a colourful paint job (to appease orange-loving Hubby), and a new closet organizer was in place - but our clothes remained on display.  I'm a fan of open shelving in the kitchen, but I grew weary of having a closet without doors.

But now, you won't know that I hang my sweatshirts like a weirdo, or that I've been to a Coach Outlet store one too many times:

It was surprisingly easy to find modern sliding doors that we liked (we purchased ours from The Home Depot).  I was immediately drawn to the white glass, which felt light and airy - perfect for a lakehouse.

(I think that I deserve a serious round of applause for backing away from the aqua in the bottom row):

Door Options

While the aqua was certainly tempting, I like the white glass because it's neutral and even though it reads as the softest, palest green, it works well in our house.  If you look around the lakehouse, I've chosen many light reflecting surfaces, like the ceiling fan, the floating credenza and the wall unit.  I wanted to carry a gleamy surface into the bedroom to help create more cohesion between the spaces.  Plus, it's my nod to living lakeside.  I don't do literal lakeside decor (paddles, buoys), but I pick finishes and colours that remind me of beach glass, polished stones, the water - even the choppy ice that forms in the winter. 

We opted for frameless doors, for a more modern look.  Our metal options were limited with the frameless style, and I couldn't get the brushed nickel I wanted, so we opted for white metal.  I think the white ended up looking better, anyway, because it blends in with the white trim and walls.



We chose a triple by-pass door so we can keep the closet configuration we like (with a centre bank of drawers) and still access everything with ease.  You can see more photos on Hello Yellow.



We're so thrilled!  We've had these picked out for awhile but kept putting off the purchase because of the price tag (just over $800 - having three doors instead of two added a bit to the price).  I'm happy, though, that we waited, kept saving, and upgraded from a "Builder's Basic" style - that's a definite perk of small space living!  Because we only need one set of closet doors, we could pick something we really, really love.

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The Puffy Coat is the Fashion - Framing Vintage Posters as Art

When I purchased my 1960s posters from Hungary - which first found a home in the townhouse kitchen, and then moved to the master bedroom in the lakehouse - I intended for the poster with the girl in the tweed suit and the poster with the green hat to hang side by side.  When a weirdly high outlet threw a wrench in my plans to hang two posters side by side in the kitchen, I ended up hanging all three posters together to hide the outlet. 

 
Quite frankly, I didn't look at them all that much because normally I had my back to them while I was cooking.  When we moved to the lakehouse, I hung all three together again - almost out of habit. 

Once the posters were positioned across from the bed, I looked at them a lot more.  Every morning and every night, I contemplated the arrangement.  I no longer liked the three together because the two figural ones really competed for attention.  But two alone seemed too skimpy (I like big art, or big groupings of art).

I started casually shopping for another poster.  Then, a few months ago, I received an email from the seller from whom I bought my posters when I was in Budapest.  He was having a sale and some of his posters were marked down.  Lo and behold, a poster I had admired while I was in Budapest - but had deemed too spendy - was 50% off!  I thought it would be the perfect piece to shake things up, so I ordered it and had it shipped here - much to my Mom's chagrin (it was one of her favorites too).  When it arrived, I had to wonder why I didn't scoop it up in the first place.  What was I thinking?  The design is so cool and the colours are really vivid - plus I still love a good houndstooth.

I recently got it back from the framer - was it ever tricky trying to find the exact same frame as the others - and I'm so happy!  I am really quite besotted with the new arrangement.  Each one has a really different scale and style, but the styles seem to jive better than the previous arrangement, and the colour green unifies them all.

Here's a better look at the new addition.  It says, "The Puffy Coat is the Fashion". 

For now, please ignore the new furniture.  I've mentioned that some bedroom changes are on the horizon and I'll spill the beans soon - you know how one change sometimes has a cascading effect?  For now, here's one sneak peek at what's to come. 

One small detail I overlooked: where to hang the displaced gal with all of her parcels??? 

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Rubbermaid Configurations Closet Organizer Review

We installed a closet organizer in the orange bedroom closet and it's incredibly satisfying to simply pull out a garment, instead of rooting around through heaps and boxes.  We loved the maple-look closet fitting in the townhouse because it matched the floors nicely, but we didn't find any wood closet systems to match our lakehouse floors.  After some questing, we found a grey version of the ubiquitous white wire closet organizer that we thought looked kind of smart.

Rubbermaid Configurations Closet Organizer (in Titanium) Review:

We purchased the Rubbermaid Configurations Closet Organizer system because it promised to be cheap and easy, but it didn't look cheap (to us).  When the dust settled, it turned out to be kind of pricey because we added Rubbermaid Slide on Baskets.

Here's a look at the organized installed.  I really hate when people stage closets for photos, so I hope you don't mind that these photos reflect what it actually looks like, day to day.

First I want to address the cost of the Rubbermaid system.  Admittedly, the basic kit is only about $150-200 dollars, but we ended up spending a lot of money on the baskets (online they are about $45, but we paid $55 in store).  When all was said and done, after we bought every little bit and bob necessary, this cost us around $500!

But, everything is organized and in it's place - and that's priceless, right?

As customize-able as Rubbermaid claims this is, you're a bit limited with how you can place the vertical tracks if you want to add shelves or baskets, or any of the other add-on pieces.  We also couldn't put the bars (on the right side) at the height we wanted them because the baskets use the same tracks to clip on to.  That's why the baskets ended up unevenly spaced, and Hubby's shirts just dust the floor.  We might need to fuss with this some more.

Happily, the wire shelving is smooth and doesn't snag or catch (although the basket brackets are a little sharp). 

The spacing limitation has also left us with another problem: the baskets slide out, which is great, but now we can't install double sliding doors.  If we move the baskets over to the right, they bump into the frame and won't open. 

Despite these small installation issues, I'm really happy with the closet.  I think we really maximized the space - I even added larger versions of my shoe bins to store winter boots and make use of that awkward space under our longer items.  I also love that my purses all have their own space on the top shelf.

The colour still makes Hubby smile (I like it too!) and I'm really happy we took the time to swap out the dated light fixture for the cutie one I love so much. 

Certainly, it's a far cry from before:

UPDATE: We purchased absolutely gorgeous, triple pass glass sliding doors.  Take a look here!

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How to Stage Bedrooms for Sale

As you've seen, we made some changes to get the townhouse ready for sale.  The laundry room was finally finished  with curtains and fun turquoise floors.  The main floor powder room was freshened up and a few cosmetic concerns were fixed.  The living room was decluttered.  There's a few more things to show you, but today let's talk about the bedrooms!  If you remember from the townhouse tour, we actually use the master bedroom as a guest room.  It's large enough for a chair so guests can escape from me under the pretense of catching up on some reading, and the attached powder room is convenient and private.  We, in turn, took a smaller bedroom that actually has bigger windows and a superior view of our lovely treed backyard (complete with lilacs).  But our king size bed dwarfed the room, so we swapped them back.

Our bedroom looked like this . . .

. . . but now it has the guest bed (a queen) and armoire in it.

A smaller teak side table and the thrifted lamp (with a simple drum shade from HomeSense) do their best to balance out my giant armoire.  Frankly, I hate it.  I never loved the layout of the guest room and I could never make that maple armoire work.  As much as I love the piece, it definitely won't fit in the lake house, so it is finally going to be sold (I swear).  This room is plainer now, but that's not a bad thing for selling, especially because I took some liberties with turquoise floors and walls elsewhere.  It shows that a queen bed, mammoth storage unit and table fit in here with plenty of room to spare.  If this was for us, I'd hang paintings over the bed again or make a fun headboard but the realtor says it shows well because it's bright, spacious and fresh (and not too nutty that it would turn off Plain Janes).  Plus, my DIY triptych is still opposite the bed, adding a little colour and interest.

The former guest room looked like this . . .

. . . but now our king size bed tucks in nicely with our side tables.  Our bed and tables are huge but look proportionate in here.  It's evident that if someone has a queen, there's oodles more room.  Under the windows we kept the minty chair and table but removed the lamp and clutter for a more stream-lined look.  The next owner can see that a dresser would fit easily there too. 

We had an open house on the weekend and have two very interested potential folks, but they both need to sort things out with the sale of their homes first, so we'll see how that unfolds!  Everyone think "bidding war!" ;)

My tips for staging a bedroom for sale?

• De-clutter personal items, but leave a little bit of colour
• Make sure bedrooms showcase the space - avoid furniture that is the wrong scale
• Adding lighting if you don't have it, so every room has overhead and softer accent lighting
• White bedding looks crisp, clean and hotel-like, plus it makes a space seem larger!
• Open windows, wash linens and floors for a fresh, clean feeling and smell

P.S. Here are the photos taken by our realtor's photographer for the listing - I seriously want a wide-angle camera for blog photos!!

I've removed this armoire since the photographer took these photos - it just looked odd.

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