I mentioned that I’m participating in Kirkland’s ‘Ace Your Space’ campaign. I’ll be using items purchased from Kirkland’s to decorate Mabrey’s nursery. Before I bought anything, I did some window browsing. Wanna see?

Mabrey was my helper. Since everything’s going in her room, I wanted her to approve.

I’m a sucker for mirrors and Kirkland’s didn’t disappoint. I adored this large mirror with a peacock painted motif on the frame. At $30, it was a steal! It would be perfect in a cottage entry and I can even see it in a white bathroom above a dark stained vanity.

The layered metal frame of this mirror reminded me of fish scales. Who knew metal could be so textural?! This mirror would be great hung above a bed in a master bedroom or above a mantel in a living room. Divine. At $120, it would be a worthy investment.

I thought this mirror looked like it was made from a bunch of giant paper clips. {Don’t mind the rectangular gold mirror behind it.} It’s hard to tell from the picture but it had an ombre effect to it. The center of the mirror frame was dark bronze that progressively lightened up to a brassy gold at the edges. I really wanted to take this mirror home with me but I couldn’t think of a good place to hang it so it stayed high up on its shelf. That mirror is going to make someone happy for $120.

I almost snatched up one of these organizer chests. I think they’d work well in a mudroom or kid’s room. The fabric bins had little tabs on the front to make pulling them out and pushing them in a cinch. At $160, it would be an affordable solution for corralling hats, gloves, scarves, sunglasses, dog leashes, etc. in a mudroom or toys in a child’s room.

I thought the woven baskets of this $150 traditional console gave it a unique, laid back feel. I can see boots and bins camping out on the bottom shelf with slip-on shoes resting underneath the shelf. It’d be a great drop zone for keys and wallets near the front door. It’s slim enough to slip into a hall as well. The black version of this console is stacked on top…that’s not part of the console.

I liked this unique version of a tripod floor lamp. It was $50 and I could see it hanging out in an office or living room.

This seagrass table lamp also caught my eye in the lighting section. I loved the chunky seagrass mixed with the matte black hardware and linen shade. It’d be the perfect textural element in a beachy bedroom or family room.

I was reminded of a Dear Genevieve episode when I spotted this moroccan table lamp. At $30 each, a pair of them on some bedside nightstands could be interesting and budget-friendly in a bedroom boasting a few more nonchalant moroccan themed items. Perhaps a wedding blanket?

Sarah Richardson came to mind when I saw this turquoise and white chevron vase. {Is it me or am I the only one who sees a home decor item and immediately connects it to an HGTV designer?} The picture doesn’t do it justice – it was HUGE! I could see two of them stuffed with raw birch branches flanking a fireplace. Sorry, I didn’t check the price on this vase because I had Mabrey in one arm and was leery of turning over a big fragile vase with the only free hand I had left out of fear of it toppling over into pieces.

Anything with an owl on it is trendy right now. I know. But I thought the glossy white of these owl vases gave them a better chance at standing the test of time. At $10, you wouldn’t be broke if you decided to follow the trend.

Totally wanted to make this textured red bowl my new sugar bowl. It kind of looks like a strawberry but the gold patina that runs throughout gave it a less fruity appearance. And the $7 price tag? Score!

This assortment of labeled wooden boxes was cute. I’m not a tea drinker but that little tea box is practical and stylish enough to be left out on the kitchen countertop. I think the prices here ranged from $2-$10.

I liked the idea of using this lazy susan organizer in a craft room for thread, measuring tape, buttons, etc. Or it could be just as happy living on a desk with paper clips, post-its, rubber bands, your phone, etc. organized in it. It really did spin too for easy access to everything. It was on sale for $17.

I was going to buy this frame with five oval openings {just enough for our family of 5!} for the nursery. However, I slipped out to the car to nurse Mabrey and when I returned it was gone. It was the last one. At $6, it’s easy to see why. Boo. It would have been perfect.

Last but not least were these vintage looking metal arrows. Meant to be hung on the wall {the lights really do light up!}, I thought they were a great industrial accessory for an old warehouse turned loft. I knew my boys would love them for their bedroom but I couldn’t come up with a good place to hang them, so they stayed in store as well. They were $18 each.

So, what d’ya think? I was pleasantly surprised to see that Kirkland’s has evolved and seems to be carrying more modern and less frilly decor. And I just love walking into a store, singling out items and imagining them in vivo. It doesn’t cost a dime. Tune in next week for a related giveaway and find out what did make it into my house.

Find Kirkland’s on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and online.

I received compensation for my Ace Your Space blog post. Kirkland’s partnered with several bloggers like me to raise    brand awareness in the month of August. All purchases and content are on my own accord and reflect my personal opinion and style. Kirkland’s blogger outreach policies abide by the WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.

images: all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

Notice that doesn’t say wardrobe malfunction. That’s a totally different topic. What I’m talking about are the PAX wardrobes in our mudroom.

On Tuesday, I was feeling confident crazy enough to attempt a trip to IKEA with all three kids in tow. By myself. My local IKEA store is about a 25-minute drive away. That might not sound like a long trek but with a two-month-old crying it out in the backseat {Mabrey has yet to make friends with her car seat} it sure feels like forever. The good news is that once we were at IKEA, Mabrey was perfectly happy. I’m okay with that. The girl can detest her pumpkin seat as long as she’s an IKEA fan.

The even better news was that I discovered kids eat FREE on Tuesdays at my local IKEA. AND IT WAS TUESDAY! How did I not know this?! And speaking of other things I didn’t know…I’ve always assumed Småland, the childcare center at IKEA, cost money. Well, it doesn’t moms and dads. You can drop off your potty-trained 37″-54″ children to play for up to an hour free of charge. As if I needed another reason to love IKEA. And here I’ve been dragging my bored kids around IKEA for the past three years. I guess it took a third kid for me to finally drop the I-can-do-it-all-by-myself ball. What?! You’re going to give my kids free food then watch them for an hour so I can shop for house stuff? Yessssss!!!!!! {composing myself…} Yes. Please give me one of those short pencils to sign on the dotted line.

So, that’s just what I did. We ate lunch then I checked Layne and Everett into Småland. They were very excited to see a ball pit and a movie playing on a big TV. As for me, I felt like I was a contestant on one of those timed shopping spree game shows from the 90′s. Although I was spending money, not winning it. And I had a baby strapped to my chest. Thank goodness for my Moby. I was running around like Alan from The Hangover with baby Carlos in the front carrier. Good times. Within five minutes of fast-paced walking {think mall walkers}, Mabrey was sound alseep with her head falling forward and appendages dangling.

The night before, I had mapped out my IKEA shopping list which included PAX interior storage accessories, a shoe cabinet, book ledges, a crib {!} and wall shelves. I was focused and didn’t stop to browse. Didn’t even hardly look at anything that wasn’t on my list. {Okay, I might have run my hand across a gloss white BESTA storage cabinet.} A kind marketplace employee came to my rescue when she saw me trying to push the stroller and one of those squirrel-y flat carts all while trying to hold Mabrey’s head up on her flaccid neck. Seriously, the girl was lights out. In the one hour of free kiddie playtime, I managed to get everything on my list, pay for it all, load it {with some assistance} and pick Layne and Everett up at Småland with 2 minutes to spare. I was an endorphin mess. I’m pretty sure the boys were close to telling the Småland employees that I wasn’t their mom. No, sir. We have no idea who that crazy, smiling, out-of-breath lady is.

I was quite pleased with myself. Since my Tuesday IKEA trip {oh, yes, I am now an IKEA warrior on Tuesdays}, I’ve been trying to find the time to actually put together the stuff I bought. I started with the PAX wardrobe organization. And by ‘I’ I mean Handy Hubby. I had every intention of doing it myself but being at home alone with two loud boys and no interior doors makes for no baby naps – no free time for me to install a few shelves and clothes racks. We are still living with no doors on any of the bedrooms or bathrooms and I’m not sure how much longer I can do it. Mabrey needs a closed off room away from the boys to nap. And I need her to nap to get anything accomplished.

So, one evening after dinner, HH added the few organizational items I had bought to go inside the wardrobes. Take a look at wardrobe #1 {the wardrobe on the left}…

The links to the shelves and rails are here, here and here. I already owned the few wooden hangers. I wanted to use this wardrobe for storing cold weather outerwear, guests’ coats, the ironing board, kids’ shoes, reusable shopping bags, the kids’ pool bag and several floor cleaning aids. Here’s the wardrobe all filled up…

IKEA sells a bunch of bins and baskets to fit inside the PAX systems but I already had a bunch of bins and baskets of my own and didn’t want to spend the extra money just for things behind doors to match.

The white bin on the top shelf holds winter hats and gloves.

The woven basket on the top shelf holds ear muffs and scarves. I think I may have found one clothing category that my purging skills have no effect on – scarves. I have nine. Some are purely for keeping warm during winter months and others are purely for accessorizing but, really, do I need nine scarves? Nine? We’ve all got our kryptonite. Luckily, scarves are small and don’t take up a lot of space.

I bought these nifty hooks that slip onto the shelf. You can screw them in permanently but they fit very snug so I didn’t screw mine in. I hung all of our reusable shopping bags from one.

I did have to bend the hook part up a little to keep the bag handles from slipping off. I think these hooks are meant to hold clothes hangers but I’ll just bend mine to hang other stuff from them.

Below the clothes rails {one for adults and a lower one for the kids} are two more baskets.

The woven one on the left holds a broom, steam mop and Bona mop {I bought one after you all highly recommended it for our hardwood floors!} and all the removable cleaning pads that go along with them.

The laundry basket holds the boys’ shoes. I’ve had some difficulty getting the boys to take their shoes off when they enter through the garage or back door. It probably has something to do with me telling them to make sure they have their shoes on in the Underdog for the past nine months to avoid a nail in the foot. Now, all of a sudden I expect them to take their shoes off. The basket is working though. As soon as I set it up, I showed them where it was and what it was for. Ever since, they’ve gone straight to the wardrobe to remove their shoes and put them on. Success!

Again, IKEA sells something specifically for shoes in the PAX but I was trying to save money. Plus, the laundry basket will help keep any wet shoes from dripping onto the inside of the wardrobe. If you’re wondering where mine and HH’s shoes are, we keep them in the garage just outside the mudroom. I’ve also got plans to add a shoe cabinet just inside the front door for guests and us should we ever start using the front door more often. {FYI – We now keep a key inside the front door lock for fire safety reasons. Thanks for all your comments on that!}

The ironing board is behind the hanging coats. {You can see a bit of the yellow cover peeking out.} That should give you a good idea as to how often I use it. Practically never! I use it more for sewing projects than ironing clothing. I’m pretty sure I haven’t ironed a single piece of clothing in the past year.

Speaking of sewing projects…

The second wardrobe {the one on the right} holds my sewing machine and sewing basket. Other than a few old towels and the future dining room light {sneak peek!}, it’s pretty empty. Fine by me. That means we have room to grow. {Good thing because there are still unopened boxes in the garage.} And I have a plethora of bins and baskets to use on the shelves when the time comes. Btw, the shelves are adjustable but moving them around does require unscrewing then re-screwing. They’re very sturdy.

Things are slowly finding places to live around here and that makes me feel good. I’m sure I’ll be rearranging stuff for a while as we get into a better routine and I figure out what is working for us and what needs improved upon.

I’m off to tackle the last of the moving boxes. HH and the boys are going camping this weekend, so it’s girls’ weekend at the Underdog. And you better believe that more organizing and some cleaning are on the schedule, along with some cuddling and patty caking. Happy weekend and happy birthday to my beautiful, smart, strong sister, Rihana, today!

Click here to see who won this week’s artsy giveaway! And even if you didn’t win, you can score 25% off any Tenth Floor Decor purchase now through Sunday, June 24th by using the discount code HOUSETWEAKING.

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

Check one thing off our to-do list. Closets. Organized closets. At least in the master and boys’ bedrooms. I drew up a little sketch of what setup I wanted in each closet and Handy Hubby made it happen. I’ve always admired wooden shelving and solid drawers in walk-in closets, but since our closets’ contents will eventually be hidden behind fabric curtains {we removed the closet doors for good!}, we went with the less attractive but less expensive wire shelving option. Specifically, we used ClosetMaid wire shelving.

I got the kids out of the house for some summer fun while HH tackled the closets. That’s the only way things happen around here anymore. One of us wrangles the kids while the other tackles a project. HH was kind enough to take some in-progress shots for you.

You can read all about ClosetMaid installation here. Basically, HH screwed the top {horizontal} hang track into the wall plate then hung the {vertical} standards from that to get proper spacing before screwing them in as well.

HH found that hanging the standards from the hang track before screwing them into the wall helped him to get the exact spacing needed for the wire drawers and to level the shelves.

That’s the boys’ closet all organized. I didn’t clean up for the pics or style anything. This is what it looks like on a normal day. I’ve mentioned in the past that I am constantly editing our stuff. I probably make two dozen trips to Goodwill every year. Maybe you didn’t think I was serious. But I am. I only keep toys that aren’t broken and that my kids play with on a regular basis. My boys don’t have a lot of clothes either. It keeps me on top of laundry and we save money by not hoarding a bunch of unnecessary clothing. They tend to want to wear the same shirt and shorts over and over and over anyway. Here’s a breakdown on their closet contents…

Honestly, the Legos bin is usually on the floor but I got tired of stepping on random pieces the other day so I threw it up there. Clothing that’s not in season is stored in the attic. Otherwise, I end up with two boys in sweatpants in the middle of August.  Yes, those really are all their summer clothes. I wasn’t behind on laundry when I took these pics.

One thing I rarely get rid of are books. I don’t think kids can have too many books. But if they’re missing pages or not age-appropriate then I get rid of them. I also had a firm talk with the boys about the shelves not being ladders.

There’s a little nook within the boys’ closet. It’s perfect for less frequently used items. Although Everett wears a costume just about every day. The kid loves costumes. If he gets grounded from them {which happens more than I care to admit} he will create a costume out of his regular clothes. Undies make a good face mask, you know.

I stashed them in a hanging organizer at a height where they’d be easy for him to get out and put away. So far, so good. Before their closet was organized, Layne and Everett were leaving their clothes and toys strewn about all day and night. I was going bonkers. But it really wasn’t their fault. They had nowhere to put anything. If you give kids an easy system, for the most part, they’ll use it.

I’m thrilled their things have a place now. For the first time in 9 months, we’re finally back to our nightly routine of cleaning up before bed. That makes me happy. I know I’m probably coming across as a bit prude here but I firmly believe in toys not taking over our house just because kids live here. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. My kids focus better and play better when there aren’t a million options to distract them. It works well for us.

Now onto the master closet.

Our closet is shaped a little differently than the boys’ with two nooks on either side. HH and I agreed that they would be great spots for hanging items since we both tend to be ‘folders’ and prefer to have folded items front and center.

HH placed two hanging rods on either side of the master closet with some added shelving above. Here’s our closet now…

Those are all of our clothes. Even out of season items are stored in our closet because {unlike our boys!} we know which clothing is appropriate for which type of weather we’re having. Although, HH has been known to wear shorts in the dead of winter. Weird.

The closet is split in half. Please notice the Steelers garb encroaching onto the top shelf of my side. Ahem. No, really. I can’t reach that shelf without the aid of a chair anyway. I want to get a clothes folding board so our folded things will look nicer. We’re folders but I never said we were good ones. I’d love to have all wooden hangers someday too but the plastic ones work fine.

My favorite part of our closet are the slide-out laundry hampers. HH surprised me with those. I kept saying they’d be nice but HH kept leaning towards floor-to-ceiling shelving and I was okay with that. I about peed my pants when I came home and saw them. They are an organizing girl’s dream!

I’m trying to teach Layne and Everett the difference between lights and darks. Everett’s not quite getting it. But, Mama, those red pants have white polka dots. That means they’re light.

To the left {HH’s}…

HH still needs to find a way to organize his ties and hats. Or maybe I need to find a way for him.

To the right {mine}…

You’ll notice that there aren’t shoes in any of the bedroom closets. That’s because I want to come up with a way to store them elsewhere…somewhere close to the front and garage doors. We follow the ‘no shoes in the house’ rule. Right now, they’re just piled in baskets in the mudroom.

The closet lights pass through the wire shelving better than if they were solid. We like that about the wire.

In case you’re wondering, it cost us ~$500 to add the wire closet organization to the two closets. Money well spent if you ask me. Especially when there’s plenty room-to-grow involved. And the shelves can be re-adjusted as needed when and if our wardrobes change. In a closet, I’m all for function. It doesn’t have to look pretty, just has to work.

Which brings me to another tangent topic. Pretty.

There are so many pretty pictures on other blogs right now. It’s starting to bring me down. Normally, I’m inspired. But today I feel as if our house will never look pretty. I don’t say this to prompt ‘hang in there, girl!’ comments. I say this to let you know that I’m human and that I don’t always like what’s going on in my house. Renovations are taxing. Moving is hard. Unpacking is even harder. Throw in two kids, a newborn and a sleep-deprived Mama and you’ve got the makings of an emotional roller coaster. Please don’t ask me how I do it all. I don’t do it all. I feel like I’m always sacrificing something. Sleep. Time with my boys. Time with my baby. Time with my HH. Time with my blog. Time with the unpacked moving boxes in our garage. Time with my friends. Time with myself. Time with my inbox. Time with projects.

I haven’t been able to find a good rhythm since Mabrey was born. When I’m being a good Mama, I feel like a bad blogger. When I’m being a good blogger, I feel like a bad Mama. I know it will get better. For cryin’ out loud, this is my third time around! You’d think I’d know not to try to do too much too soon. And yet, I still find myself thinking about things I could be doing. Should be doing. I need to let those thoughts go and know my limits. I know where I want to take House*Tweaking and my house, but I also know that it’s going to take time {and sleep!} to get them both where I want them. I also know that there are other people out there with much more serious {health, financial, marital, etc.} problems than my wanna-do-it-all-and-do-it-now-and-do-it-great! mentality.

Sometimes, I need to remind myself of why I started this blog. As much as I enjoy looking at pretty things, I like to see real things. A real house where a real family with real kids lives. Oh, and there’s no real nanny or real cleaning lady. And that real house doesn’t always look pretty.

Okay. Good talk. Thanks for listening.

On a lighter note, we found this fortune in our Chinese takeout three days after we moved in…

It’s hanging on our fridge and it makes me smile.

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

Our Underdog is livable {yippee!} but by no means is it finished. There are a few pressing issues that need to be addressed to make our house safer and more functional.

Here are the top 9 projects on our to-do list in no particular order:

1. Finish unpacking and clear out the garage. Self explanatory. I think the picture says it all.

2. Install register covers. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. Our house is built on a concrete slab with a down flow furnace which means ductwork to all registers runs within the slab. All but three of our floor registers open up right at perimeter walls. During renovation, we opened up the walls to add insulation, tore out the old termite-ridden baseboards, laid engineered hardwoods and installed new, thicker baseboards. That left us with less room for a standard register cover.

Since we can’t move the registers themselves {because the ducts are within the concrete slab}, Handy Hubby thought about trimming down a standard cover to fit. It turns out all of the covers we like would have to be trimmed so much that it would destroy what was left {i.e. the open parts of the cover would be cut into}. The normally simple task of installing register covers has become quite a predicament. HH is now talking about cutting into the bottom of the baseboards where a register pops up to squeeze in a cover then caulk around the baseboard-register cover seam. Good times. I will say that our boys have been surprisingly good about avoiding the open registers. No one has stepped into a register or lost a toy down one yet. {I’m probably jinxing myself.} I think it has more to do with the registers’ placement along rooms’ perimeters and less to do with Layne and Everett following orders.

3. Hang interior doors. Have I mentioned we have no interior doors at the moment? Say what?! All bedrooms, hall closets and our one finished bathroom are doorless. Good thing no one in our family is too modest. As a temporary fix, I have blackout panels hanging from tension rods in each bedroom’s doorway. {The one on Mabrey’s room is actually two shades I had made for our interim apartment safety-pinned together.} The closets and bathroom are bare. The panels are okay for now but I’m constantly telling the boys to be quiet when Mabrey is sleeping. I’m anxiously awaiting the day when I’ll be able to close a door between my sleeping baby girl and my two rowdy boys. Ahem, HH.

4. Organize closets. The original closets {save for one hall closet} had one hanging rod with a shallow shelf above it. We removed the hanging rods in the master closet and boys’ closet during renovation because we wanted to optimize storage in those two larger closets. Now that I’m unpacking our belongings, it’s difficult to find a spot for anything.

Currently, my hanging clothes are in Mabrey’s closet and HH’s are in one of the hall closets. The boys’ clothes are folded in a linen closet and their toys are piled up on the floor in their bedroom closet. Obviously, this temporary setup is NOT working.

5. Organize PAX wardrobes. This goes along with the dysfunctional closets. Right now there’s just a bunch of stuff lying in the bottom of each wardrobe. IKEA sells complementary storage accessories for the wardrobes and we’ll be implementing those.

6. Find a rug for the boys’ bedroom. Boys will be boys and mine like to wrestle around with each other on a daily basis. That’s hard to do on wood floors. They need a soft place to play. I’m considering Flor tiles {expensive!} or having carpet bound into a custom rug {less expensive but not cheap!}.

7. Design a workstation along one wall in the boys’ bedroom. I’d love for Layne and Everett to each have their own workspace. It’s not so much a priority now {Layne’s finishing up 1st grade and Everett’s in preschool} but will be in the years to come. I’d love to have it done way in advance so they can take advantage of it sooner rather than later. Not to mention, we could use the extra storage.

8. Do something with the flippin’ front door. Do you detect any hostility? The door, I like. How it functions, I do not like.

To unlock it from the inside, you must use a key. Do you know how many times I’ve resorted to sliding open the front window to talk to a visitor because I can’t find my key right at that moment? More than I care to admit.

The door also has ~2″ gap at the bottom so we must keep the old aluminum storm door on the outside to keep critters from getting in. The storm door is bent and doesn’t close properly. And it’s LOUD. And it’s UGLY. It’s UGLY LOUD. {That’s a new term I’m going to start using.} It’s not the first impression I want to make.

9. Get the TV working. Mind you, if I was single, this wouldn’t be on the list. {However, if I was single, then this list wouldn’t even exist because I’d still be trying to knock down walls.} The TV is all HH. We aren’t big TV watchers but HH has this thing about installing electronics right away in new places. I think it’s the engineer in him. Or the upcoming summer Olympics. As is, the TV is hung but not functional.

Those are our pressing projects. Notice none of them include painting the french doors, hanging new light fixtures, installing tongue and groove around the TV, hiding the washer/dryer, etc. Rooms have to work for me before I can even think about making them look pretty. Otherwise, it’s like putting deodorant on dirty armpits. Okay, I have no idea where that analogy came from.

That’s not to say if we have a lapse in between projects that I won’t be tempted to, say, paint a crib or something.

Check here to see who won this week’s giveaway!

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

I mentioned in my latest recent purchases post that we bought a few cabinets – freestanding and wall versions – to use in the mudroom for closed storage. Well, Handy Hubby was busy, busy, busy this weekend assembling and installing them…among other things.

The PAX wardrobes were a two-person job. HH tried assembling them alone but they’re just too big to lift upright during assembly without some help. Luckily, HH’s dad came out to lend a hand the following day so HH could get ‘em done.

The wardrobes will act as much needed closet space for us. And let me tell you, these babies are deep! I have plans to fill them with everything from a steam mop to winter coats to shoe bins.

For now, they’re empty. Once we move in and I get a better feel for what organization we’ll require, I’m heading to IKEA for complementary inserts. I love that we can customize them to suit our needs.

The only problem I see so far is that the doors closest to the walls hit the baseboard and wainscoting trim. I think I can easily remedy this with a few strategically placed rubber bumper pads. You know, the kind you typically use on the inside of cabinet doors to keep them from banging against the frame.

I love how the paneled doors mix well with but don’t perfectly match the horizontal plank wainscoting.

We still need to add handles {in matte black?} to the doors. Down the road we may add some molding around the tops of the wardrobes for a built-in look. We’ll just have to wait and see how the room takes shape. Speaking of which, I finally found a pic of a dining space that better illustrates what kind of setup I’m wanting.

The casual dining area in this house tour features a petite settee, round table and dining chairs. The exact combo I had in mind for our dining room/mudroom!

But, wait a second, we’re talking storage. Oh. Right.

The wall cabinets in the laundry nook are up now, too. But not without a little snafu. HH first hung them about 5″ lower than what you see in the image above. I stopped by with a load of moving boxes afterwards and kindly hinted that I thought they’d look better hung at ceiling height. HH wasn’t happy about rehanging them {love you, HH!} but, once it was said and done, he agreed that they looked better hugging the ceiling. I would have loved open shelving here but, realistically, some closed storage is a necessity. I can still add a shelf or two between the cabinets later if I want.

The wardrobes and wall cabinets are our solution for a house lacking closet space, a separate mudroom and a real laundry room. Continuously editing our belongings will be key in avoiding clutter. But I’m pretty good at setting aside time about twice a year to purge items we no longer use, need or want.

What about you? How do you tackle storage shortcomings in your home?

images: 1-6 & 8) Dana Miller for House*Tweaking 7) Janis Nicolay via The Marion House Book

Moving day is quickly approaching so most of our recent purchases have to do with function. We need a few rooms to work for us right away. Decor and styling can wait.

1 – PAX BERGSBO This wardrobe is typically found in bedrooms acting as a freestanding closet. The Underdog is seriously lacking closet space so we purchased two of these to use in the mudroom for extra storage.

2 – Kashmir white granite We’re having the same company that installed the {Absolute Black} granite in our previous house install this granite along the perimeter of the Underdog’s kitchen. We considered butcher block, concrete and other solid surfaces for the perimeter but kept coming back to granite as we liked it so much in our last house. It’s a light gray granite with bits of black, garnet and gold mixed in.

3 – Walnut butcher block The kitchen island is getting topped with a walnut slab. We want the island to feel more like a table and gathering place than a food prep area so we like the idea of a wood top. To save money, we bought an unfinished slab that we’ll finish and install ourselves.

4 – Vigo stainless steel faucet We never regret spending a little extra money on a high quality kitchen faucet since it’s something we use many, many times on a daily basis. It makes the mundane feel less so.

5 – Kraus undermount single bowl sink Ditto – what I just said about the kitchen faucet. In addition, I like an extra deep, single bowl for washing up large pots, pans and the crockpot…things we use frequently.

6 – Liberty hook with porcelain knobs The master bathroom will be the only functioning bathroom we’ll have when we move into the Underdog so it needs a few finishing touches to make it work. We don’t have the wall space for a traditional towel bar so I picked up two of these hooks to hang our bath towels on.

7 – AKURUM LIDINGÖ Two of these cabinets in the 18″ x 39″ size are going in the laundry nook above the washer and dryer. I love the look of open shelving in a laundry area but we need some closed storage. I plan on pairing the cabinets with an open shelf or two as a compromise.

8 – Alexandria towel ring This towel ring is for the master bathroom. It has a touch of porcelain and should tie in nicely with the hooks in #6.

A few other items we’ve purchased in anticipation of moving that are worth mentioning {but not worth showing a picture of} are:

*Levolor room darkening shades for all the bedroom windows. I had them cut in-store to fit within the window frames. I’ll be adding other treatments to the windows in the future and these will remain to block out light.

*Shower caddy for the master bathroom…self-explanatory.

*Over-the-tank toilet paper holder for the master bathroom. It holds four rolls and, after I tried it out, I discovered it’s too big for our teeny bathroom. It won’t fit between the toilet and tub. I’m exchanging it for something else.

I think that’s it. I still haven’t nailed down lighting fixtures for the master or boys’ bedrooms. We might have lone lightbulbs in place until I make up my mind. Not the end of the world. I’d rather wait than hastily buy something that I don’t like later.

Alright gotta run, baby’s crying.

images: Polyvore collage by Dana Miller, linked within

Monday was the launch of H*T’s new design and I was hoping that my post on the evolution of H*T would help you better understand why I chose to change H*T’s look. To me, it was the natural next step and something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. The first time I tweaked H*T, I wrote a post about my thoughts on blog changes:

“I know when other blogs I read do some sprucing up, at first I’m apprehensive just because I’ve gotten used to seeing the same home page day after day. You know, that whole ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ saying. I’m always leery that somehow changing the appearance of the blog may change the content. In most cases though, after a few posts my inclinations are proven wrong and I happily discover that the changes really are positive. So, I know change is hard but I hope you’ll stick with me and see what comes next. It’s still the same old me…a suburban mom and wife with 2 rowdy boys, a Handy Hubby, a creative side, and a passion for home decor, design and DIY. Oh, and I like chocolate no bake cookies…fresh and gooey straight from the pot…eaten with a spoon so I can’t gauge how many actual cookies I’ve consumed.”

My thoughts then are my thoughts now. {Except we’ve added a baby girl to those two rowdy boys.} I know it’s probably felt a little strange coming here this week and not finding the same header and background. It’s been strange for me too. It’s like getting a new haircut. At first, the change is striking but after a week it feels like it’s always been that way. Soon, it will feel familiar. I hope you’ll hang around until then.

You all probably know your way around a blog but I thought I’d point out a few of the changes and talk about them in more detail. Care to take the tour?

One big change is the header and it was probably the most difficult part of the redesign for me. I knew I wanted something simple and fresh with no frills. I played around with the idea of using a sketched house icon somewhere in the header but it felt too literal. I came up with an idea to switch out the asterisk in House*Tweaking for a sunburst and it felt more ‘me.’

Another thing I’d been thinking of changing for some time was House*Tweaking’s tagline. If you’ll remember, it was ‘…a blog designated to tweaking all things house and home.‘ There were a few problems with it. First, it wasn’t grammatically correct. You wouldn’t believe the number of emails I’ve received over the years from readers – some obviously quite upset – about my unproper improper tagline. A correct version would have been ‘…a blog dedicated to…’ or ‘...a blog designated for…’ The other issue with the old tagline was that it was redundant. Of course a blog called ‘house tweaking’ would be about tweaking your house – duh! It was the tagline I had quickly typed into Blogger a few years ago that fateful night I brought H*T to life and somehow it stuck.

The new tagline ‘…because home doesn’t happen overnight‘ better sums up my take on making a house a home. {And, from what I can tell, it’s okay grammatically. If not, I’m sure I’ll hear about it!} Whether you’re renovating a fixer-upper or making simple upgrades to builder finishes, making your house reflect your style takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight nor should it. It’s a process and an ever-changing journey because real life gets thrown into the mix. And that’s what this blog is all about.

I really needed to update H*T’s social media buttons. I think before I just had Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and RSS buttons. Now you can easily follow me on Pinterest and Instagram too. The mail button is a link to my contact page where you’ll find my email address…an email address that HH is pushing me to change. Hotmail is so 1998. I know, I know. But I have tons of different accounts set up with my email address that it would take me a full month just to switch everything over. I know some bloggers use one email account for bloggy purposes and another account for personal emails but I prefer to group it all together. Ah, maybe one day I’ll get around to switching things over to gmail or something but, for now, you can find me via hotmail.

Beneath the social media buttons are all the pages that used to be in the navigation bar. I updated each page, so if you get a chance to check them out you should. It’s not all the same old, same old. I plan on adding an Underdog house tour to the ‘see my house’ page once the house is tour-worthy.

You can now subscribe to H*T via email if you like. Just type in your email address in the ‘subscribe’ box and you’re good to go. This feature was added due to popular demand.

I also have links to credible mentions and my work elsewhere: Apartment Therapy house tour, Bob Vila Nation, and Houzz. I hope this section continues to grow.

Share buttons are located at the end of each post if you ever find a post to be particularly inspiring and want to tell the world about it.

None of these features are anything ground-breaking in the blog world. I just thought that pointing them out and talking a little more about them would help you to get acquainted with the new look. I encourage you to click around and see what has changed.

Speaking of the new look, it would have never been possible without the help of a graphic/web designer. I’ve taught myself some HTML coding over the past few years – enough to get by. But I’m by no means capable of overhauling an entire site. I worked with Breanna ‘Bre’ of Breanna Rose Design to bring a fresh, modern look to H*T and I can’t say enough about her. She was a gem to work with and worth every penny.

If you ever find yourself in need of a site {re}design, I’d highly recommend her. The girl knows her stuff and has a keen eye. She’s opened my eyes to a few aesthetic issues concerning H*T that I need to improve upon. For example, keeping all my images the same size for cohesion. {That’s why if you look through some of the archives you’ll find small and/or off-centered pictures. Sure, I could go back and edit all those posts but then I wouldn’t have time to sleep, feed my kids, shower, or write posts.} From here on out, it’s something I’m going to be aware of. Probably not perfect at {as I just realized I cropped all those screen shots above to the margins instead of to actual text/images…oops!…I’m learning!}, but aware of nonetheless. Hopefully, it will enhance your reading experience. Thanks, Bre!

One other major blog change that isn’t visible is H*T’s new host. Previously, H*T was hosted on BlueHost. H*T’s traffic has increased so much over the past year that the site was bogged down. I was having problems just writing up posts because my server was down frequently. I’d heard good things about Liquid Web from other bloggers and decided to switch hosts. So far, it’s been a good fit and I can always upgrade within Liquid Web if necessary.

That’s it, I think. Was that enough change for you in one post? Too much? Not enough? Oh well, I can’t please everyone. Welcome to the-new-and-improved-but-kinda-the-same-old House*Tweaking!

images: 1-7) Dana Miller for House*Tweaking 8) Breanna Rose

I’m working with Apartment Guide to dress up and organize our apartment for the holidays. It’s part of the Holiday Home Organization Blogger Challenge that they’re sponsoring.

I’ve been sprucing things up over the last few days and today I’m sharing my holiday decor with you. That means you also get a mini tour of our apartment. Let the festivities begin…

SPACE SAVING CHRISTMAS TREE

Square footage is precious in our ~900 sq ft apartment, so I picked up a live tabletop tree but chose to use it on the floor flanked by two side chairs.

I placed the petite tree in front of the patio sliders so it can be enjoyed from the inside and outside. A larger tree would have jutted out into the room too much and blocked much needed natural light from the sliders.

Our Christmas decorations are in storage but I did manage to coax Handy Hubby to hunt down one Christmas tote {mainly for the Elf on a Shelf for the kids} and was able to reuse some of our past tree dressings: lights, ribbon, bead strands. The rest of the items I picked up at various craft stores.

As much as I like natural light photos, there’s just something about a glowing Christmas tree at night that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

The tree came with a small stand and watering bowl. I propped the stand up on a box inside of a metal bucket that I already had on hand. {It was previously corralling rolls of toilet paper in a closet.} I disguised the base with our traditional tree skirt from storage.

There aren’t any ornaments on the tree. Instead, I bought 10 of the glittery ornamental wands from JoAnn’s {crazy cheap!} and stuck them throughout the tree for some more shimmer.

The topper consists of a few glitter wands zip-tied together with a trio of peacock feathers. {I have plans for gift wrap that will pull the dark teal color from the peacock feathers.}

I fell in love with the feathers at the craft store. When HH saw them, the first thing he sarcastically said was, “Peacock feathers just scream Christmas.” I could have kicked him. I didn’t.

I like the way the feathers resemble the plume of tall ornamental grasses used in landscaping. Maybe it’s just me. Layne and Everett told me feathers don’t belong on a tree.

The budget {assume anything not included was available on hand}:

• tree & stand – $15 {Lowe’s}
• peacock feathers – $3 {Hobby Lobby}
• 10 glitter ornament wands – $4 {JoAnn’s}
• pack of 100 zip ties – $4 {Home Depot}

TOTAL: $26

I had big plans to create some sort of hanging tree out of wire, fabric and lights to hang from the blinds’ rod above the patio sliders. But once I realized that the wire I bought wasn’t sturdy enough to support my creation without being all lopsided and my boys frowned at me saying, “It doesn’t even look like a Christmas tree”, I returned everything and resorted to the petite live tree. Sometimes my ideas stay that way…as ideas…for a reason.

LIGHTED BREAKFAST BAR SKIRT

Previously, the breakfast bar in the apartment was just one big mess of chaos. I brought two counter stools from our old house to put at the bar but they were far too low to use for eating at the bar. In the last 3 months, we used them once. More often than not they became a dumping ground for coats, backpacks and bags, and they took up precious traffic flow space. I don’t plan on using them at the Underdog, so I donated them to Goodwill {made sure to get a tax receipt!} and got to work redefining the area.

I placed a wing chair and side table in the nook as a place to sit and put on/take off shoes. I put the kids’ school stuff on the chair the nights before school days to make mornings run a little more smoothly.

I sewed a custom skirt/tablecloth for the bar and attached it to the kitchen side of the bar with removable velcro. It serves as a dressy holiday backdrop for the seating area.

For added ambiance, I hung a string of white icicle lights behind the skirt.

I simply tapped a few nails into the underside of the breakfast countertop {making sure not to tap them in too deep to the other side!} and attached the lights with zip ties. The white lights look like little stars at night and give off a warm glow.

But the skirt is not only decorative, it’s useful too. The shorter side of the breakfast bar looks unassuming enough…

…but pull back the fabric to reveal storage.

I relocated this shoe rack from the coat closet to free up closet space for hidden holiday gifts and any guests that may come visit over the holidays. Originally, I had wanted to create a wrapping station here but I came up with a no paper/no tape gift wrap idea that I plan on using for Christmas this year instead. Hence, no glamorous wrapping station is necessary. Still, this space behind the skirt has so many possibilities: wrapping station with hanging wire baskets, boot tray, hanging storage with Command hooks, mail collecting station with hanging organizers, etc. I added a removable hook behind the wing chair and skirt to store gifts until they are wrapped. No peeking!

The budget: {assume anything not included was available on hand}

• striped fabric – $14 {JoAnn’s}
• paisley fabric – $18 {JoAnn’s with coupon}
• gold ribbon – $3 {JoAnn’s}
• velcro – $2 {JoAnn’s with coupon}
• icicle lights – $9 {Home Depot}
• trio of 3M Command hooks – $6 {Home Depot}

TOTAL: $52

My favorite part about this project is that we actually use the space but it looks less cluttered now. The kids love the glowing lights at night.

GLITTER WREATHS

Nothing says ‘Happy Holidays’ like a wreath. I found two of these gold glitter wreaths at a local craft store on sale. I suspended one wreath by green ribbon in front of canvas artwork.

The sparkle is a shimmery contrast to the matte painting. At night it looks warmer…

I hung the second wreath from a standing shelf in the living room.

I like the circular shape of the wreath against all the straight lines of the bookshelf and bins.

I suspended the wreath by a green ribbon tied directly to the top shelf of the bookcase.

It’s just the hint of Christmas cheer that the corner of the room needed. It glitters at night beneath artificial light.

The budget: {assume anything not included was available on hand}

• gold glitter wreaths – $18 each {Michael’s on sale}

TOTAL: $36

My wreaths are store bought but you could easily DIY something similar with a plain stick wreath and gold spray paint.

HOOP PENDANT SHADE

Remember the gold chandelier that hung too close to the ceiling? I hated it. Wanting a cozier, more intimate and warmer feel for the holidays, I finally did something about that chandy.

I DIYed a 24″ high fabric shade and hung it over the existing chandelier.

The new shade diffuses the light from the chandelier in a lovely way.

The oversize scale of the pendant helps connect the once too-high chandy to the dining table.

I can’t keep the light off at nighttime now.

Due to lack of time and energy, I didn’t add fabric to the bottom side of the shade.

I hung the shade from the existing chandelier’s chain with fishing line…it’s strong but virtually invisible.

The budget: {assume anything not included was available on hand}

• large embroidery hoop – $6 {Hobby Lobby}
• fishing line – $6 {Target}

TOTAL: $12

Could it be that my favorite holiday decor project is the one the cost the least? Yes! I plan to post the DIY specifics in a future post.

Keep in mind that all of these projects are completely temporary and easily removable – great for our temporary living situation. Thanks to Apartment Guide for sponsoring my holiday projects. I probably wouldn’t have put too much effort or thought into our apartment’s holiday decor otherwise. But now that it’s all done, I’m feeling pretty good about our warm and cozy interim housing. It was definitely worth all the time and effort put into it. My hope is that someone is inspired to make their home {whether permanent or temporary} an organized and inviting place for the holidays.

FYI – Apartment Guide is owned by Consumer Source, Inc. Apartment Guide partnered with bloggers such as me to participate in its “Holiday Home Organization” Blogger Challenge.  As part of that program, I received compensation.  They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the products used for the “Holiday Home Organization” Blogger Challenge. Apartment Guide and Consumer Source believe that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Consumer Source’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.

Don’t forget to like Apartment Guide of Facebook or follow them on Twitter!

images:  1) Apartment Guide  all the rest) Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

*THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.*

When you start contemplating any renovation, you will hear and read that you should expect the renovation to take longer than your guesstimate. We’re finding that to be true. We had hoped to be in the Underdog {with not every to-do marked off our checklist but just living there} by the end of October/beginning of November. Obviously, that hasn’t happened. Our next ETA was somewhere right around Christmas which looked pretty doable on paper.

However, HH was sent out of state on a trip for work two weeks ago that set us back. And just last week we learned that he’ll be traveling for work for another two weeks in the month of December. All of this was unexpected and makes our Christmas move impossible since the last projects on the list require HH’s DIY skills.

You know what that means? Yep. We’re planning on spending Christmas in our cozy lil’ apartment. So when Apartment Guide asked me to participate in their Holiday Home Organization Blogger Challenge I felt the timing was right. Why not?! My creativity has been so pent up over the last few months waiting and waiting to decorate the Underdog that I need a good crafty release.

Apartment Guide is not only a source for finding and researching apartments, but did you know they also offer useful advice for apartment dwelling? Holiday decor that meets apartment complex restrictions, storage options for surprise gifts and an inviting atmosphere for holiday guests are all covered by Apartment Guide.

{our holiday mantel last year}

I’ve been asked to come up with a few holiday decor and organizational ideas/projects that can be implemented within an apartment setting. So far I have plans for a space-saving Christmas tree, a wrapping station and temporary seasonal decor. I’ll be sharing all my projects with you here on H*T, so stay tuned!

{my holiday gift wrap last year}

Until then, Apartment Guide is graciously offering up a $100 American Express gift card to one lucky H*T reader! Use it to prep your place for the holidays, to help out with holiday shopping or for something totally unrelated to the holidays. It’s up to you. Here are all the details on how to enter:

• PRIZE:  $100 American Express gift card which has a U.S. restriction for in-store purchases but works online anywhere. Should there be an international winner, the gift card may be awarded in the form of an e-gift card depending on the winner’s location.
• RULES:  You must be at least 18 years old. One entry per email address.
• HOW TO ENTER:  Leave a comment on this post proclaiming “GUIDE ME!”
• DEADLINE:  Enter before Thursday, November 24th at 9:00 p.m. EST. One winner will be chosen via Random.org and announced on Friday, November 25th.
• WHILE YOU’RE AT IT:  Share your favorite holiday-related DIY project. Recipes, gift wrap, decor, handmade gifts and snow angels all count! OR like Apartment Guide on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

FYI – Apartment Guide is owned by Consumer Source, Inc. Apartment Guide partnered with bloggers such as me to participate in its “Holiday Home Organization” Blogger Challenge.  As part of that program, I received compensation.  They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the products used for the “Holiday Home Organization” Blogger Challenge. Apartment Guide and Consumer Source believe that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Consumer Source’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.

images:  1) Apartment Guide  2&3) Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

Do you like practical style?  You know, stuff that not only looks great but actually works for you?  I do.  So when Scout by Bungalow contacted me I was more than willing to pass on their freakishly fab and functional goods to you.

{Doesn’t their Atlanta, GA showroom look like a fun place?}

The Scout collection features stylish tote bags, collapsible storage bins, insulated coolers, picnic and party coolers, travel bags, travel accessories and wedding favors.  The best part?  They’re totally wipeable!  That’s right.  With a durable water-resistant surface, any item will have you on your way to Easy Cleaning Street.

Here are a few of my favorites…

1 –  The Stiff One is a modestly sized insulated cooler.  Think picnics for two or BYOB.

2 – Little Draw is a drawstring backpack that keeps your {possibly smelly and dirty} tennies or cleats separate from your clothes.  I’ll admit.  It might even persuade me to workout at times when I’m really not feeling like it.

3 – The Original Deano is a generously sized carry-all perfect for trips to the pool or beach.  For you moms of school-aged children, I could see this bag making its rounds to holiday school parties and toting around all those classroom treats.

4 – This Megah Lil’ Slim fits laptops with a screen size {measured diagonally} of up to 13″.  The water resistant shell keeps your PC safe from spills and rain drops.

5 – How tough would this Junque Trunk look in a boy’s room?  Store Legos, blocks, cars, books and train tracks out of sight and in high style.

6 – If I had to pick one item, the Hilary Duffle would be it for me.  Small enough to fit in the overhead on a flight but large enough for a weekend getaway, this multifunctional travel bag fits the ‘does everything’ bill.

7 – Don’t let the name fool you, this Doggie Bag isn’t brown and boring.  It’s insulated, wipeable, reusable and available in an assortment of colors and patterns.  Eating leftovers for lunch has never looked so good!

But don’t let my picks sway you.  Click over to Scout to find your favorite product in the perfect pattern and color to keep your days feeling cool, colorful and collected.  And maybe if you’re lucky you’ll be able to put a $50 credit towards your purchase!  Here are all the details you need to enter the giveaway:

• PRIZE:  $50 worth of goods from Scout by Bungalow
• RULES:  You must be at least 18 years old and have a street mailing address {no P.O. boxes} within the U.S.  One entry per email address.
• HOW TO ENTER:  Leave a comment on this post proclaiming “SCOUT ME OUT!”
• DEADLINE:  Enter before Thursday, October 27th at 9:00 p.m. EST.  One winner will be chosen via Random.org and announced on Friday, October 28th.
• WHILE YOU’RE AT IT:  Tell me your pet’s/pets’ name/names and how they got their moniker. ‘Scout’ is actually a real mascot in the flesh for Scout by Bungalow.  See his cuteness here.

images:  Scout by Bungalow