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Entryway Organization

October 23, 2014 · by Maria · 5 Comments

“Hon, did you see my keys? Mom, where is my bike helmet?” Sound familiar? Everyone stop and go hunt for the keys, the helmet (and my mind, for that matter).

We all need a landing pad. Ideally, a mudroom would be a great place to store all these things. However, I live in Miami and mudrooms are not really popular. Some people do have large foyers that they can add storage to, and create an area to “land”. But if your home is like mine, there is no foyer, no mudroom, and when you walk in, you are in the living room.

To read the details of how I use my small entryway as a landing pad, click on over to A Bowl Full of Lemons, where I am sharing my Entryway Organization. As always, let me know what you think in the comment section!

xo,

Maria

Easy Thanksgiving Gift Idea

October 20, 2014 · by Maria · 9 Comments

Easy Thanksgiving gift idea that is also inexpensive! This is a great idea for teacher and neighbor gifts during this time of the year where we want to reach out and say “Thank you”. Since you probably have more than one neighbor and your kids surely more than one teacher, these little jars of sweetness are perfect.

To make them even sweeter, I found them at Target in the dollar section. They even included the black and white string and the tag.

These fall M&M’s are all the color you will need for this little project.

Just fill up your jars, close them up and place a sticker on the lid, or use the tag that is provided. Either way, it will be appreciated and you will be able to show greatfulness, in a cute, simple, easy and inexpensive way!

If you are still in the fall mood, you can also read about my my fall porch and my fall mantel, if you missed it a few weeks ago.

I am grateful for all of you! I would give you all a jar full of M&M’s if I could. Maybe they would be missing a few by the time I deliver them. I am only human.

xo,

Maria

Adding Fabric Loops to Towels

October 16, 2014 · by Maria · 4 Comments

Today we are adding fabric loops to towels. Why? Well, earlier this week, I shared my mini-project about adding hooks to the boys bathroom so that their towels wouldn’t end up on the floor. Well, it has been a success but I found a way to make it even better. Even better than cake. Well no, not that much better, but you will still like it.

The boys were doing a good job hanging up their towels but they still didn’t look tidy and at times they would slide off if the weight of the towel wasn’t distributed right. I added loops to their towels and now I can say that I love the result!

I sewed a piece of fabric at the horizontal center of their towels. It was quite easy and it was only time consuming because of the amount of towels. But not more time consuming than picking up towels from the floor, thats for sure!

This is how they looked on the towel hooks.

I even did it to their hand towels. (I found these nautical towels at Homegoods, just in case you are interested)

A small project that makes a big difference! Love that!

One more thing, IKEA has some towels that already have a sewn-in loop for hanging. I have not purchased them or checked out the quality, but it’s another option.

Do you struggle to get your kids to put away their bath towels? Maybe this is a good solution for you too.

xo,

Maria

Bathroom Towel Hooks

October 13, 2014 · by Maria · 7 Comments

Bathroom towel hooks for kids are an absolute game changer. It is a constant battle in our home to get the boys to put away their towel after bath time. It is always on the floor and if it gets hung up, it is shoved into the towel holder and probably would have looked better on the floor. So I could either keep telling them the same thing every evening or I could I could change the system since it wasn’t working for anyone involved.

In comes the hook idea. Maybe if all they had to do was “drape” the towel over a hook, they would do it. This way it is easier and requires no folding of the towel, like with the towel bar. I have shown you their bathroom before when I painted it earlier this year. I needed some hooks that had a shelf since I knew that removing the towel bar would damage the wall and I wanted to cover that up.

After I found the right size shelf with hooks (at Homegoods), I got to work. I didn’t know how difficult or easy it would be to remove the existing towel bar, but it was surprisingly easy. I just placed a flathead screwdriver behind the porcelain piece, and I hit it with a soft mallet. You should wear safety glasses and be careful because there is a possibility that the porcelain could shatter and hit the floor.

In this case, it came off with very little effort and intact. I just went around the piece with the screwdriver and the mallet until I felt it detach and then I gently pulled it off.

Now the other one.

Now you can patch up the hole but you don’t have to worry about making it perfect if you will be placing a shelf right over it. The first thing I did was take out the level. I used a level because it seems to be the only thing that my husband really cares about when I do any solo DIY project. “Did you use a level?”

Me – “Honey, I remodeled our whole bathroom while you were at the office!”

Husband – “Yeah, but did you use a level?”

So I did, and here is proof!

After drawing the line with a pencil, I decided to also use a stud finder to make sure that I wouldn’t run into a stud while installing the shelf. Yes, there are times in life when running into a stud is a really bad thing.

So I marked where the screws would go and proceeded to add them on either side.

And then the shelf and a few accessories, of course!

This has been a total success so far. No more towels on the floor.

I put up a shelf by myself, I used a level and avoided a stud. Not too shabby.

xo,

Maria

Organizing the Kitchen Sink Area

October 9, 2014 · by Maria · 18 Comments

Let’s talk about organizing the kitchen sink area, shall we? Does the area around your kitchen sink get a little messy “looking” at times? I say “messy looking” because sometimes you need all the items that you have out on the counter, so they are not technically out of place, but it can look a bit cluttered.

My first solution for organizing the kitchen sink, is to place all your sink necessities on a narrow plate or small platter. Once items are grouped, they already look neater. The second solution is to buy matching bottles. Find one cleaner that you like and buy all the items from the same brand. You can even refill the bottles later if you decide to change brands, make your own cleaner, or if you buy the product in bulk sizes.

In this case, I am using cleaners from J.R. Watkins, but sometimes I use all Honest Co. products, Shaklee products, Mrs. Meyers or Method products. (Most of those are available at Target unless I added a link). Those are some of my favorite brands and they all have cute packaging. Cute packaging isn’t a must for cleaning but…I take that back, cute packaging is essential, second to quality but essential nonetheless. Especially for our little project here, if it is visible, make it pretty.

Another thing that I notice is that really fancy soap bottles that you are supposed to refill, don’t have the best pumps and get jammed all the time. I prefer the bottles that already come with the brands I like.

Staples for organizing the kitchen sink area:

Baking Soda. I keep a little shaker of baking soda because that is what I use to clean my sink at night. I also use it to clean pots and pans, if they have a little stain here and there.

2 – If the sink needs a really good scrub, or the glass stovetop had a bad spill, or a pot has a stubborn stain, I use this natural scouring paste from Shaklee, called Scour Off. Like most Shaklee products, this product lasts a long time because you need so little of it when you use it. It smells divine!

I use this brush to clean my sink, although it’s really meant for dishes.

3 – I also keep a cleaner for the counter, hand wash, and dish detergent on the plate.

4 – Find the tiniest plant in the world and add a little “pretty” to your sink area. I found this one at Homegoods.

5 – You need to find a plate large enough to hold all your items. I found mine at CB2.

And that’s an organized kitchen sink area!

* In the picture you will notice that my sink has a built in soap dispenser. I use that one most of the time, and if I run out, I use the one on the plate.

I hope this post was helpful! Let me know in the comment area if you already have a similar system.

xo,

Maria

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