Holds 12xs its weight in liquid

While I'm busy being a week behind on planning the house "vision", I thought I'd introduce the newest addition to our arsenal of useful products:

The Shamwow!



Seriously, this cloth is very helpful in cleaning spills, drying wet children, and wiping counters. Don't get suckered in by all the pop-ups on their website telling you "But wait! There's more!" and just buy the 8-pack.

Even the big Beechnut knows to say WOW! every time.

Home Cure

Now that we had a hint of spring, its time to come out of hibernation and get the house back in order. I dusted off my copy of the Apartment Therapy Home Cure.

I think the house is in pretty good shape, but its time for some spring cleaning and general upkeep as well as time to tackle some small projects.

I'm focusing on 3 rooms: Kitchen, Living Room + Front Hall, and the Dining Room.

The first week's goals are: Plan a vision and a budget.

Vision:
I want the rooms to feel fun. Perhaps by painting a runner on the front hall stairs like this:

We need to dress-up the dining room, since it is now the ugly step-sister to the kitchen, by adding artwork and curtains. Maybe hang the art in a fun way like this:
Figure out what to put in the kitchen cabinets after digesting all the comments from AT. I'm thinking of just keeping it simple, like this:



I will probably do some general decluttering and sprucing-up of the living room. It might involve moving furniture around.

Budget:
What's less than $0?

Her Closet Remodel - Planning

I looked often at my inspiration picture to make a plan for renovating my closet. Photo from Domino Magazine. I'm really going to miss it.
Sadly this is the reality of the space I have to work with:

It is built under the eaves of the roof, so the head clearance is pretty low. I'd love to knock out the front and right side walls and make it an open L-shaped closet. What I didn't show in the sketch is a hole in the floor and the ceiling that need to be patched from the old gas-stove chimney that was removed in the kitchen remodel.

I decided this was too small of a project for a gantt chart and a simple list would suffice.
Paint:
Paint colors for Brunettes from House Beautiful was my starting point. I like either this off-white

or this blue:


The walls of the hall will be painted Benjamin Moore's Bleeker Beige (aka light brown), so I want a pop of color to make me excited to look at my clothes.

Doors:
I want bi-fold doors to make the room seem finished. We used to have sliding mirrored doors, but we pulled those off right after moving in, since it hid 1/2 my clothes at all times. I don't want louvered doors, nicer paneled doors are what's talking to me. I'm not sure I'll find them short enough.

Hanging vs Shelving/Drawers:
I have barely used my dresser in the adjoining bedroom, since I almost always get dressed in front of the closet. I know I need some drawers for socks and unmentionables, but wanted to have most of my clothes hanging where I could see them. Maybe a cube shelf system with some baskets.

Lighting:
I desperately need bright lights in this space. Under the lights we have now, its impossible to tell navy blue from black which is an inconvenience when getting ready in the morning. Maybe a fluorescent, but with one of those daylight tubes.

I'm playing around with the design and scouring other blogs to get ideas. I'll post later once I start the actual work.