Blog - Graceful Order

Organizing Nail Supplies

October 6, 2014 · by Maria · 5 Comments

Before I had kids (you know this will be a good post when it starts like this) I always had my hands manicured. Nowadays, I rarely get my nails professionally done because the polish won’t last for more than one day. I start cleaning and doing dishes (cue for the mice to start singing the Cinderelli song) and there went the perfect manicure. So for the most part, I fix my nails at home.

If you are fixing your own nails and you are not organizing nail supplies in one spot, chances are you are going through drawers looking for a file, then the polishes are in another spot and you may not even use them unless you see them. If you have a lot of nail polishes, like me, I love this tiered nail polish organizer that I purchased about two years ago. Mine holds over 60 polishes and it is full. If I feel compelled to buy a new polish, I give one away that I am not using. Not that it’s anything to brag about to say that you limit yourself to 60 nail polishes! But the organizer does keep them all in one spot.

See how it is tiered so that you see all of your polishes? Love that.

If you only have a few polishes and a minimal amount of nail supplies, I love the idea of using these Command Brand bins that simply adhere to the inside of the cabinet. I found these two sizes at Target but you can also fine them on Amazon here.

Here is an example of the smaller caddy at work inside my cabinet. I don’t use it for this purpose but I wanted to show you how the small one fits a few polishes, a nail file and a cuticle cutter. I actually use this caddy for my floss picks.

Purchase a little acrylic divider (they sell these at Walmart, Target and sometimes at Homegoods) to place the rest of the nail/foot care supplies. Here you can fit your files, toe separators, cuticle oil, cuticle and nail cutters. I place this little caddy next to the polishes in my bathroom cabinet.

Of course you can also put together a little bin (even from the dollar store) or a small cleaning caddy and place all your nail supplies in there. This is a great idea because it makes it portable and you can take it with you wherever you do your nails. In my case, I keep it in my bathroom which is where I do my nails, so portability is not an issue.

The mice are almost done with my dress, gotta go!

~ Maria

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Stress Free Holiday Tips

October 2, 2014 · by Maria · 3 Comments

Are we talking about Christmas in October? Yes, indeed we are. We know it’s around the corner. The holidays, a time for joy, family, food, togetherness and a sprinkle of stress. Is that ok to admit? The holidays can be a little hectic. We really want to savor the moments but it’s hard to enjoy gift wrapping, baking, and parties when everything is last minute. I want to share with you some stress free holiday tips that will help you be in the moment, when the moment comes.

My first suggestion, is to order Christmas cards early! Pictured below are my cards for this year, they are from Tiny Prints. I normally order my cards in October, which leaves me plenty of time to address and send them out. Maybe even with a glass of chardonnay and a little music…now were talkin’!

Photo christmas cards are my favorite to send and to receive. I can never bring myself to throw them out after the season is over, so I just file them away with a post-it marking the year. I also prefer the message to be printed onto the card, this way the only thing I have to do is write the address on the envelope. This year, I even had our return address pre-printed on the envelope. I only wrote the recipient address and it was actually fun to write these out, in peace, no rush.

Another tip is to order gift tag stickers. What a time saver! I have so many gift tag stickers, with different themes to use year round. It already has our name on the sticker and I only have to write the recipient’s name. This year I will be using the ones with the antlers (how cute are they?) which are also from Tiny Prints. Erin Condren also makes beautiful ones that I use for holidays or birthday gifts (the ones with the “Enjoy” message). You never have to worry about the tag falling off because they are stickers.

Wrap presents ahead of time and create a stash. I only place the gift tag sticker on the gift and I skip the bow. This allows me to stack the boxes without the bow getting in the way. When I am ready to bring the gift out, I place a pretty bow on it.

Have a Christmas Gift List. Do this in order to avoid last minute shopping because someone just slipped your mind. Also, keep track of what you are spending.

Here is a FREE CHRISTMAS GIFT LIST PRINTABLE (the one pictured) that can help you track your gifts and spending.

Stock up on baking items that you will need. Holiday baking and cooking can be so much fun, so be sure to have the essentials at hand. Butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and then more butter. 🙂

If you have kids, this is a good time to sort through their toys and donate items that they no longer need. My little one plays with most of his toys so I just have to ask myself if he really needs 5 firetrucks. I make space for the new toys that he will receive.

Choose recipes that are tried and true for any holiday party that you will be having. It’s already a hectic season and you don’t need to add unnecessary stress over whether a soufflé will rise and hold. Read here about how I plan for Christmas morning.

The biggest and most important tip is to go easy on yourself. Do what you can, order items ahead of time, cook ahead of time but if the soufflé deflates, don’t deflate along with it. Enjoy your families and friends, enjoy this beautiful time!

Maria

Organizing Vitamins

September 29, 2014 · by Maria · 5 Comments

Even a good system, won’t work for you forever. You may remember last year I shared how I stored my vitamins right on our counter. You can read about that here. But it just wasn’t working for us anymore because of the amount of vitamins and supplements that we take.

I moved to organizing vitamins inside the kitchen cabinet and they were taking over my coffee station. Remember when I posted about the coffee station? I think my mom was the only one that read that post (thanks Mom!), so you can read more about the coffee station here. I wanted the clean look of my coffee cabinet back, so I found a Turntable that fit perfectly inside and with a height that would allow two tiers of vitamins. This was the one that worked for me.

See how it was a perfect fit?

I placed the larger vitamins in the bottom tier, since I had more height to work with. There are 28 vitamins in here and there is room for one more. What a small footprint for so much storage!

Hope you like this little tip! Where do you currently store your vitamins?

Until next time!

Maria

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Decorating a Fall Mantel

September 26, 2014 · by Maria · 5 Comments

Decorating a fall mantel? I almost didn’t decorate for fall at all. It just feels like so much trouble to get out fall decorations, when I know all the decorating I will do in the Christmas season. But then, I started by decorating the front porch, and sure enough the next thing I knew, I was making pumpkins out of tulle for the whole house. Well, maybe not “making them” and not out of tulle, and certainly not for the whole house. But I did buy two ceramic pumpkins at Target, so kinda the same thing.

I was only going to decorate the mantel, so I stayed within the lighter fall colors to tie into the rest of the room. Keeping the existing color scheme, I purchased some stems and pulled others from my stash in the garage and I already had this wooden bread bowl.

I cleared out the mantel, which honestly is the key in decorating a mantel. It’s easier to re-envision an area when you are not looking at the way it is already decorated. Even professional designers lose perspective in their own homes. You look at furniture arranged in the same manner for so long, that you can no longer think of new placement. So definitely clear out the mantel and begin from scratch.

I left the lamp because I need a lamp in this spot.

Start with the focal point or centerpiece (which is not always in the center). In my case, I decided that the bread bowl would be in the center.

Then I added one of the hydrangea stems to the bowl. I didn’t cut them since I want to re-use them for other decorating projects. I did the same with the other stems, just folded them over.

Then I decided to use the pear and the pumpkin to fill in the empty spaces between the flowers.

And when I was done, it looked like this.

I added a sanded wood grid as another elegant yet earthy touch, to bring the look together.

I left this lamp in the same place because I love the gold underneath the shade. It is such a simple looking lampshade with a little surprise inside.

On the other side, I decided to bring in two vases that were previously in my family room. I didn’t even have to change the greenery.

More pictures of the pumpkins, my favorite part.

And another look.

In the end, I was glad that I decorated (even a little bit) for fall.

Do you decorate for all the seasons?

Maria

Fall Porch Decorating Ideas

September 23, 2014 · by Maria · 13 Comments

It’s fall! Well, I live in Miami, so it’s still pretty green around here. Miami has no idea that it’s fall! I want to share with you how I decorated my porch for fall, so that it would feel like we have in fact changed seasons, even if the coconut trees are none the wiser.

Fall porch decorating ideas 101: add pops of orange! This is an opportunity to mimic the colors that are naturally occurring somewhere else in the world. Let me take a moment to say how much I love this Martha Stewart swing that we purchased at Home Depot a few years ago. The only thing that could have made it better is if it came with a cold glass of sweet tea! We sit there all the time, especially during this time of the year, when the weather changes (in Miami language, that means less hot).

The pillows on the swing are from Target and I purchased the initial pumpkin from Kirklands, three years ago on a mega-after-thanksgiving-sale, those are the best times to splurge on these items.

I added a little pumpkin to the plants that were already in my planter. I considered buying mums or something more colorful but the little pumpkin infused enough color. I then surrounded the planter with some more pumpkins. These pumpkins are not real because pumpkins won’t be available for a couple more weeks over here, but the real ones are beautiful and I will probably switch them out later on. I usually use these to decorate inside the house.

Then the door. I have used these wreaths for years, and as long as they keep their color, I will continue to use them. I love how they pop with the existing brown door.

Then of course, a little rug. The finishing touch to any porch. This one was less than 6.00 at Ross…crazy!

One last look at the porch!

So Miami may not know that it is fall, but my neighbors sure do!

Do you decorate the porch? Are the trees already changing in your neck of the woods?

Maria