Gussying up the Guest Bath- Again

You may want to go out and get yourself a week long emergency chunk- a- chocolate supply because your big hunk- a- man is going to be a little put out after you see this post! He may want you to stop heading over to Pretty Organized Palace... that's when you grab the chocolate and hide in the ugly bathroom- he'll have to haul out his tools to take the door off to get you out... might as well put them to work! The honey do list may stretch because....Hmmmm... don't you just want to redo that bathroom?

Okay, so have ya'll caught on that I've been whisked away by the hubby for a weekend of cooler temperatures? So, until I get back... enjoy the re-post!

Like this one?

You could do this in a weekend... right dear?

It'll take us a quick afternoon... really. I won't even complain about the football game... why don't you invite a few friends over and I'll fix ya'll something!... just a quick bathroom facelift before the guests come... please?

Ladies, if you can't get your men folk to agree this really isn't too hard.

See those neat looking cabinets?

2 hour time... not including dry time of course. Cabinets were originally walnut color... glue on a few wood decorative pieces (Home Depot, Lowes, Michaels, JoAnns, Hobby Lobby), slap some paint on the cabinets, sand some off to reveal the ugly wood underneath, give your little lady some new jewelry... (hardware) and if you love that sealed look... seal it. Ta-Da... your Saturday project!

This beauty was easier than it looks...

The cabinets were jacked up and given some high heels and an eye catching drawer pullfor the carved wood look... you should see the cabinet they "faked Frenchy" with MDF.(see website below) Lighting on the bottom is rope lighting... yeah- after Christmas Sale item! Cabinets were 1970's cabs painted black and whitewashed with thinned down paint. More than a water closet now! Check out HGTV.com's Rate my Space best rated bathrooms for more pics! All these bathrooms are there!

As long as you have the excuse of guests coming, you might as well finangle a way to make a few capital improvements right! Now, go Pretty Organize your Palace!

Conquering Kids Clutter Party!!

Oh yes, you've been waiting. Welcome to a "Pretty" Organized home.  Not an organized home.. just prioritized... read the link above for more info. Hopefully you're all sitting with a fun drink and a hunk of chocolate in hand while you tour homes for inspiration.  Thought I'd start out with my bathroom towel organization... a creative idea born out of desperation.  We have 8 in this family and I was sick of trying to figure out who's towel was on the floor!
Lucky kids got towels for Christmas.... I sewed ribbon on for easy hanging...
I also attatched their assigned birthright number... (used for count off, chores, dinnertime seating... more to come on that in my new series Hassel Free Homemaking).  Each kiddo is assigned a hook, and that's where their towel goes... now I can always tell who's towels on the floor.
I keep bedroom doors open... (so I dont' have to see the ugly stuff behind them)  3m hooks are as miraculous to me as hoverboards are to my kids and orbiting space is to my husband.  I'm easy to please.
Desperation idea 1103:  Why the heck didn't a builder anticipate a family of 8 to live in this house?  We need a place to hang kids backpacks.  I finally resorted this year to screwing double hooks into my garage door. It's solid wood, sturdy for those middleschool weight backpacks and in the right spot.  Worries over!
Can we all bow our heads in reverance for this next picture... (while I bow mine in shame)?  This was the first lamp I bought when I got married... mothers intuition that I'd have a future need to hide clutter... these little drawers have been great for bedside treasures of my kids... wish the toothfairy figured it out earlier:)  Now the lamp has a broken neck and is awaiting spinal repair surgery when Mr. Fix is is out of school (THURSDAY!!!!  WhooHOO)

Toy room closet... notice the ugly, not matching storage. Priorities remember?  

I salvaged this dresser (you can still see where the drawers are supposed to go) from my neighbors bulk trash.  Didn't even bother painting it... meant to.  Mr. Fix it cut shelves, fit them into the existing drawer runners. Whalla!
Games in our house MUST go on the top shelf.  That desperate rule has come after many a game piece strewn throughout the house... I still have a zip-lock of dice, timers, and playing pieces to show for it.
They are neatly organized in none other than Xerox paper boxes and another shelf deep box.  Now they don't all topple.  When I'm 55 and my kids are all out of the house, I'm going to cover those babies with wallpaper to make them a little more sightly.

Other side of the closet... yep, another bulk trash item.  A 12 passenger van comes in handy for dumpster diving... ya'll are choking on your chocolate right now and thinking about un-following me.  Hey, I have a degree in classical voice... see, I'm high class in a few areas!

Our first piece of furniture purchased 10 years ago... dang thing won't fall apart and break so I have to keep it. I even gave it to my boys!
This hides more toys... the kind I want hid from the baby.  It also makes a great dress-up dresser.
Desperation idea 1142:  Where do you put all those Imaginext toys?
I covered an old dresser with paper and stickers that were music related and made a great focal point for the room AND it doubles as a toy chest!
Hope ya'll are having a great time at our Conquering Kids Clutter party!  Wendy at the Shabby Nest has been such a dear friend.  Go check her out!

Don't forget to check back here at the Pretty Organized Palace.  If you're not familiar with what this blogs all about check out this post and feel free to check out my past posts.  I'm a mom of 6 who is a complete technological twit but an expert at laundry for 8:)  I'll be sharing my homemaking, managing, surviving strategies here and hope to hear about your successful homaking tips!  Feel free to stop by and introduce yourself!

Love me some patterns on my Walls!

Okay, so I'm a Wallpaper pusher... my new fad.  You're probably wincing because you moved into a house with wallpaper like this... (check out those phones!)
Ya, pretty frightening... and I know ya'll are scared by the removal process.  I've removed plenty of pukey paper in my day... all the while cursing the homeowner who thought orange and lime green flowers were loveable enough to plaster ALL OVER the walls!  But toile... really?  Will toile EVER go out of style... (I'm turning into one of THOSE homeowners! and without shame.)

And how could I possibly paint this look in my bathroom?  

I've already told every reader who could stand to read through my incomplete sentences and elementary grammar that I. Love. THIS. Room.   LOVE IT.  Want it!  NEED IT!!  Can you imagine me hand painting that toile so some homeowner after me could praise my name and just paint over it!  NO!  I'll leave my legacy thank you and paper them.
Woman cannot live on Paint alone... I think that's in the House Beautiful Bible...

Photo credits: first two House Beautiful, Last 3 BHG

What the Doctor Ordered for the Medicine Cabinet.

Here's the greatest idea I've found so far to clean up your medicine cabinet clutter. Anyone have an avalanche every morning of hairspray, tooth brushes, and Chapstick? What? Only Me? Oh, humor me people and PLEASE let me think that some of you struggle with an ugly medicine cabinet! (yes, I'm reposting... lazy me on vacation!)

Well, Marth Steward organized this one in Jan. of 2006. Check out instructions here.


In a nutshell, you remove the shelves, buy sheet metal and have it cut to fit the back of your medicine cabinet. Glue the galvanized metal in place. Use magnets to help store things vertically both on the back of the cabinet and on the door! Great for hair ties, clippers (ours always walk away), medicine, etc.

Notice though... to get your cabinet to look this good, you can only buy Clinique make-up and silver colored bottles... Don't even think of having a colorful tube of CREST toothpaste in your cabinet!!! If you're a matching nut I guess you could spray paint your toothpaste tube each month... I'll pass.



Of course, if your cabinet looks like this... you're laughing at this post. Yours probably comes with luxury parking for your lipstick, a Ben-gay garage, and Q-tip closet... standard... these cabinets hold things and look good.



A drawer? Wow, what a great idea! Carving... Oooo.... Ahhh.... Nope, this Pretty Organizer will have to wait for such luxury. Maybe for the laundry room expansion (questions??? see this post).

If you're looking for those magnetic holders, Cost Plus world market has several in their kitchen storage area... so does The Container Store (paradise for a Pretty Organizer) and I would guess Bed Bath and Beyond.... if you're looking online, this is an option.... I know, dork to copy the whole page... using the hubbys MAC- no clue how to grab an image.

Check out Magnapods

OR you can be ultra cheap like ME! I'd run out and buy a bunch of magnets, glue them on to cheap boxes or old medicine bottles and recycle my stuff to work in my Ultra Organized Magnetic Medicine Cabinet!