What I Did Today

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This client is living in a share, and has one room for all her things. I'm not only teaching her how to organize, but styling the room as well. By using her existing bins and boxes in a new way, she is spending the money she had put aside for this project towards a new rug and upholstered bench for the room. More pics to come...

Coat Closet: Before + After

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This closet was organized re-using things this client already had, with the exception of the shiny new closet rod. There are 2 small pieces of luggage stacked behind the shoe rack. The red basket in the front holds her canister Miele vacuum (my favorite vac), but was in use when I took the pics.

What I Did Today

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(after)

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I want to share more of what I do, but sometimes what I do doesn't need lengthy explanations, or have big lessons. Sometimes it's just a new closet. So here's the first of the new series 'What I Did Today' (ok, technically I did this on friday but you get the point).

The only closet and main storage in a small, minimalist studio now has a new Elfa system, and we installed a few new hooks for the entry.

Jewelry Cabinet

We're getting very close to finishing this apartment. The latest thing to tackle was her jewelry, including her mother's pieces that she hadn't looked at for many years. Using muji acrylic drawers and cork boards this chinese cabinet formerly holding a mish-mash of stuff is now the jewelry cabinet.

We sorted everything into:

- sentimental, but wouldn't wear (stored separately)

- donate

- sell

- give away to friends, family

- pieces to keep

For her mother's pieces, which are pretty fabulous, I helped her make them her own; I'm quite familiar with her wardrobe, so suggested how and what to wear them with.

The Library: Cable Management

The amount of cables for this television and its components is pretty ridiculous! Though the table top has a hole in the back to allow cable to pass through to the plug underneath (pic 3), it doesn't help the cables that are connecting the components together.

There are a number of products out there to contain and to minimize the look of the cables but I generally try to avoid having to buy any of them. Hiding them behind something usually works just fine.

Here I cut a hole in the back of a black cardboard box (the client already had it, I think a fancy candle came in it) and placed it under the component on the right to tuck the remaining cables in (pic 4 + 5). Most people, including her husband, didn't notice the box until we pointed it out.

Last, I pushed the components as far back to the wall as possible to keep the cables in place and with the television mounted as it is, the cables are really not too visible as you're standing in front of the table (pic 1). Now, if this client wasn't happy with this, I would push it to the next level and maybe make some kind of cover to rest atop of the back of the components to completely hide them. Most likely using a piece of colored cardboard.

GMAIL Hates Me...

Just a quick note to anyone who has or will email me. For some reason some of my emails go to the recipient's spam even if I'm responding to a message they send me. So please, if you email me and you don't hear back within a day please check your spam.

Thanks!

Cool Hooks On Sale

Caribou Wall Hook

Velocity Art and Design

$40.80

Question Mark Hook

Anthropologie

$7.95 ea

Five Alarm Hook

Anthropologie

$7.95 ea

Canteen Hook and Knob

MoMA Store

$29.95 ea

Jeeves Coat Rack with Mirror

DWR

$206.25

The Library: Television

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The library has a TV hung over a table with an open bottom. They thought of having doors installed below, or replacing the table with a closed cabinet. My instincts lean towards the quick, easy, and inexpensive solution so I simply draped a fabric they already had over the table. The fabric is a bit wide, the excess is tucked behind the left leg (near the bookshelves). I used double sided tape on the right leg to keep the fabric neatly in place.

I draped the fabric without talking to them about it first. Sometimes it's better to show someone something (if it's easy enough to do), rather than having them try to visualize it and find a reason not to do it. I figured if they didn't like it we could do something else, but they not only love how it looks but that it's done and without cost. The money saved will go towards finishing the room; painting and buying an area rug.

The small basket in the second pic holds the remotes. I thought the two figures were a funny representation of this couple, watching them while they hung out here.

The Library: Details

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Just a few detail shot of the center bookshelf. The books are organized by topic, then arranged how they look best. My favorite are the birds. I thought they deserved a shelf all their own.

The Library

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Before, this room was the dumping grounds of the apartment for things this couple didn't know what to do with, or didn't want to deal with. After they did a few rounds of editing on their own, I organized the remaining books by topic and styled the shelves with their existing decorative pieces. There are a couple hidden bookends in there too.

The room is the back to being the library/television room, stayed tuned to see what I did with the television....