Perfect Drawers

First . . . please excuse my photos I forgot to charge the battery on our camera so these are phone pictures . . . phone pictures in low light.

I LOVE unexpected pops of pretty. Like when you open a closet door and it's painted a fun color inside or a jewel box powder room. Our cutlery trays were at one point a splurge item for us. They are wood and while we snagged a good deal on them, I would still consider them a splurge item. So almost 5 years later they are seriously showing some signs of wear and tear. But structurally they are still great (if a cutlery tray can be structurally sound??).

I thought about giving them a coat of spray paint but I didn't like the idea of our cutlery touching the paint and all of the chemicals that go along with spray paint. I thought about painting them with a more natural no voc paint or even a chalk paint . . . but I didn't think they would hold up to the abuse, from all of the metal utensils.

I thought about shelf liner . . . easy to clean, easy to install. So I went to Target . . . (p.s. I couldn't be more excited there's a target in Canada now!!) I looked at the pretty liners, but then I saw the cork one and cork in cutlery drawers just made sense. The utensils would slide around as much when the drawers were opened and closed! And for less than $10! Perfect.

The only Piece of advice I have about installing it, is:
Cut with scissors not an exacto knife . . . for some reason the cork doesn't appreciate the cutting blade approach, it kind of crumbles around the edges.

The drawers are in way better shape now . . . I was able to get rid of some extra bits and bobs, and most important make room for a recent gift . . . my new Sophie Conran measuring spoons and cups!!!

Once the battery is all charged up I will take some much better photos for you . . . but I hope these will do for now.
If you follow us on Instagram you would catch a couple photos of my new Sophie Conran dishes. I am so so so excited! When we first got married I wanted to much to register for Sophie Conran dishes but we decided that the fact that we could barely afford food at the time . . . having fancy dishes to eat off of seemed a little extravagant. So I waited and waited, finally 7 years and an amazon gift card later I have them!!!
So I am doing a major cupboard overhaul . . . probably as you are reading this. I can't wait to share!

The Nose, knows.

Well at least my nose knows. It knows everything!!
I have terrible eyesight. Like really really bad eyesight. I haven't seen the time on an alarm clock first thing in the morning since I was 10.
But what I lack in the eyesight department I more than make up for in the smell department! I smell everything, cigarette smoke from 4 houses down, fabric softener on the person behind me at the movies, or the perfume on every overly coiffed woman at the mall. 

Home Fragrance is something that I tended to avoid,  I was from the school of thought that NO scent is good scent . . . but that's not entirely true. Cookies, for example, smell amazing . . . as does fresh lemon. It wasn't until I started making my own Soy Candles using essential oils that I realized I missed a light scent around our home. 

I cannot stand the smell of plug-in air fresheners, or aerosol air fresheners. I wanted something really subtle, but more importantly I wanted something NATURAL! Our natural soy candles are great, but they aren't powerful enough to infuse a whole house full of scent.

You've probably seen the recipes for the "William Sonoma Scent" they are all over pinterest (probably because William Sonoma smells amazing). But I decided to try it out for myself . . . it's awesome! LOVE IT!  I let it simmer on low and when the water runs low I just add a bit more. It gives off an amazing subtle scent.

The last party we threw I simmered a pot on the stove and we had more than one comment on how good it smelt! And I also had one Fed Ex delivery driver tell me my house smelt nice. But it was an early delivery and I was wearing some pretty sexy flannel pajamas and no makeup so he might have been hitting on me. ;) just kidding #flannelpajamasaren'tsexy

4 Steps to an Organized Coat Closet

I set out to organize our coat closet . . . it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. In fact it was pretty simple.
First we installed a simple wire shelving system, you can buy packaged systems, rubbermaid makes a good one. Or you can buy the individual pieces like we did, from stores like Home Depot and Lowes.
I usually don't like the wire systems but I chose one for our coat closet for a reason. Because our coat closet on the main floor is where we keep all of our "everyday" shoes. There are no high heels, or men's dress shoes in our main coat closet, just runners, and boots, shoes that Lee wears to work (a cross between hiking shoes and dress shoes), and flats. Our everyday shoes get dirtier than our dress shoes, and if I had chosen solid shelves (either wood or MDF) they would get muddy and dirty and I would have to clean them off. Wire shelves don't leave a lot of surface space to get collect dirt. The wire shelves also allow the circulation of air around the soles of the shoes drying off wet bottoms.

After we installed the wire shelves, I was able to organize the closet in 4 steps:

 

Step 1: Hooks

Every well organized closet needs a couple of hooks. The back of the door would have been wasted space. I usually have a tote bag and a scarf hanging from them

Step 2: Seasonal Storage

I think all coat closets could use a basket or box for seasonal items. In the summer we keep our snow boots, and all of our mittens and toques, knitted scarves . . . and a couple of Max's winter sweaters (don't laugh he's very tiny and needs a little sweater, the fact that it has a monkey on it is just for fun). In the summer we keep our flips flops and sunscreen in the basket . . . because we live in Canada and there is NO need for flip flops in the winter unless you wear them with socks . . . so classy.
*basket is from Michaels.

Step 3: Baskets

These two little baskets are from The Real Canadian Superstore. They are the same baskets from our townhouse bathroom. They are the perfect addition to our coat closet. They catch all the hats, and mitts, and toques, all the essentials for a Canadian winter. In the summer we use them to hold a cotton scarf or two, sunscreen and our ball caps.

Step 4: Somewhere to store re-usable shopping bags

We all try to use our re-usable bags and storing them can be a bit awkward around here. I use to store them in the car . . . which was great but while they were in the house they would always be sitting on top of the front hall console, or in the mudroom on top of the machines. They aren't the prettiest of things and I didn't like seeing them on the counter or table tops.
This little wire basket is meant to work with the wire shelving systems, and we use it to hold our shopping bags! Because I have to go into the coat closet to get my shoes before I leave the house . . . I never forget my re-usable bags!

Your family is probably different than mine . . . so your coat closet might have different needs . . . for example you might need extra hooks, or extra baskets. You might need two or three baskets/boxes for your seasonal storage. But I really do think that these are the 4 parts that every coat closet needs.

Bonus Step 5: Matching hangers

Ikea sells hangers for amazing prices, grab a couple packs . . . spend less than $10, and wow yourself with your pretty closet! ;) haha

Bonus Step 6: Key Hooks

We have our key hooks beside our front hall console, but if you don't have a console a couple of small hooks in your coat closet would be very useful!

Anyone have any other Coat Closet organizing tips??? I would love to hear them!