12.14.2011

weekly pinspiration

and now a feature film starring tom cruise, demi moore and jack nicholson. i give you, a few good pins:

from ye olde organization board (the playground from my right brain which dreams of iron-fisted control over every aspect of my insane environment):

i've been spinnin' on lazy susans like paulie D behind the decks (i died a little just then) since i realized their amazing potential for maximizing shelf depth. wicky-wicky (that's my turntable record scratch noise...make a note of it).

i have been using a lazy susan to hold all the spices that didnt have a pre-made place in our "official" spice rack that lives on the countertop, but all those teensy bottles and containers were impossible to find easily behind the barricade of their bigger spice brothers. and these little nuggets of flavor are not big or tall enough to merit a place on the shelf floor.

enter the tension rod idea:

it was just a few bucks on amazon, has total versatility and could fit any length cabinet thanks to the little adjustable screw.

i just wedged it above and behind the lazy susan, about an inch from the back of the cabinet, and the little fellas just sit right up there and lean back against the wall until they are called into active duty in a casserole.

"you want them on that wall, you NEED them on that wall" (keeping with the a few good pins theme)

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the next pin we tried was from the same organization board. the idea was using those clear vinyl shoe holders as organization for your cleaning junk in the laundry room (or anywhere else, really, these guys are mad useful).

before, we had a wire rack over on the left side of our laundry closet/nook. it was insufficient and had things stacked and smushed just to fit so that when we had a code red cleaning emergency and grabbed one thing, ten others exploded off of the shelf and came tumbling out thanks to the jenga-like setup.

no more!:

every one gets a pocket to himself. full visibility and maximum grab-ability.

i mounted it with screws and had to cut a few rows off because it was too long (they will be used elsewhere). i also cut out a square so i could access the light switch. perfect! i love this setup SO much more.

on friday, when jesse was letting our massive, wild, exclusively OUTDOOR dogs out of their garage kennels (where they bunk in cold weather). he was taking chopper (the smaller of the two) back to the back yard and clifford was running amok in the garage. judah heard the commotion and decided to open the interior door in our kitchen that leads to said garage. clifford, sensing his once-in-a-blue moon opportunity, blew past judah like one of the bumpus' turkey-marauding hound dogs from a christmas story. it must have been quite an adventure for judah and layla, alone in the house, to see the 100 lb black piggy that is cliff, come storming inside.

he of course made straight for our bedroom and took a massive dump right by our bed. when clifford "bunnies" it's no chocolate mallow peep, but more of a life-sized easter bunny on steroids.

so when i got home and saw the carpet cleaner on the counter and out of its vinyl love pocket (not to be confused with a latex love pocket, which is something else entirely) i asked jesse what had happened. he explained that a code red cleaning emergency had presented itself thanks to judah and clifford.

keight: "judah, sweetie did you order the code red?"

judah: "YOURE DAMN RIGHT I DID!!!!"

(really hoping youve seen a few good men, at this point)

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now a holiday pin and one from the upcycling board. as soon as i saw this pin for a preppy christmas wreath, i knew i would be making it for our door this year. just some yarn and a few ornaments and blammo, an adorable, just-my-style wreath.

and this was also the perfect change to try out this pin for making your own super cheap wreath forms. the idea makes perfect sense, $1.75 for 6 ft of foam pipe insulation from home depot, and some duct tape, and you have 3 wreath forms ready to be cutesified into something lovely.

i usually get the straw wreaths at joann that come wrapped in plastic (which i leave one b/c i dont need to access the crazy straw). they are $3 and i always use at least a 40% off coupon. so $1.80 for one wreath isnt bad, but $1.75 for enough foam to make 2 or 3 would be even better.

i bought my big noodle and headed home to make the christmas wreath.

cue record lazy susan scratching to a halt:

hmmmm, not as traditional of a shape.

so yeah, this was a massive fail. i checked the comments section of the post that the original pin came from, and lots of people had this same problem. the author suggested it was something to do with the diameter of the insulation. i had noticed at home depot that there were several options, but i just picked the one that looked the most like the one in the picture. so i thought.

i might give this another try, making sure to grab the right kind of insulation, but i dont know. the straw ones are so sturdy and dependable, not to mention really cheap already, and i might be a little scarred from the disappointment of this endeavor.

so, a few days deterred, i went for it with my straw wreath form, 2 cheapo bundles of yarn and a tube full of assorted red ornaments from joann.

i stupidly bought the long oval-shaped yarn instead of a nice little sphere that could easily go around and around without a lot of effort on my hands' part. but even still, this was a fast and easy project on the couch while watching 30 rock. i just taped down the first end and then at every color change, tied the ends of the two colors together on the back side of the wreath.

then i figured out an arrangement for my ornaments (i didnt spring for the red jingle bells like the original did, so my bunch is less awesome) and hot glued them in place. i didnt bother to take off the little gold ornament tops, i just pointed them in the most out of sight direction when i glued them down. you can see them if you look hard, but i think it's extra festive that they are real ornaments.

i love it! love the chunky hunter green and cream stripes and the glittery red ornaments. we wont discus if it actually matches or clashes with the front door. bright yellow is a neutral, right?

if i see the red jingle bells on mega sale any time soon, i might buy them to make my cluster more random and varied looking. i like this okay, but wish it wasnt as uniform. i plan to use this wreath every year, whether inside or on the door, so a few more bucks to make it perfect seems worthwhile. plus, think of the happy jingling every time we open the door!

you want the truth? you cant handle the truth! (yes, i am getting a little tired of myself at this point).

okay, maybe you can handle it. as i was making this, i realized that the original pin actually linked to an etsy shop where these were sold, and not a DIY tutorial. i kind of hate feeling like i am ripping off someone else's idea that was meant to make them money. but then again, i wouldnt and don't begrudge anyone who can make the things that i sell in my etsy shop for themselves.

but for those who dont want to or cant do it themselves, i definitely wanted to plug the original shop and say that for only $28, you could just buy the fully fabulous version, jingle bells and all. doing it myself without the bells took approximately an hour and $11...so just pick your poison, i guess. this shop also has a happy grey ornament wreath that i really want to make/buy too!

i might be becoming a wreath junkie.

go forth and PIN, my friends.

6 comments:

  1. I totally laughed when I saw the first "wreath." That is something that would happen to me! Also, I am in LUV with your front door. Yellow is my favorite color and I just love it and the numbers on it!

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  2. Easy wreath fix :) http://gailmade.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-avoid-pipe-insulation-wreath.html

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  3. totally in love with Pinterest. just thought i should get that one out there.

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  4. very cute wreath!!! man that totally (probably very literally) stinks about the doo on your bed. YUCK!
    you've inspired me to start doing some pinterest put to action...thanks!

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  5. Ohhh the tension rod in the spice cabinet is genius!

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  6. I feel like you operate on a 30 hour day, while the rest of us have 24. How do you have the time to do these, work, and run your etsy "sweat shop!?" :-)

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