Before and Afters

I'm not sure if it's been the mess after the holidays motivating me or the New Year coming, or what. 

It's time to organize! Ready to refresh and declutter over here, and about time once again. I'm telling ya, birthday parties help clear things off around here, but without some major motivation the detritus just ebbs and flows around here, it will be partially cleared off until something else needs to be kept from the boys...and up it goes on the buffet. *sigh*

Anyway...it was time to tackle the coat mess in the foyer. It gets out of hand so fast! A huge pile of coats on the floor, bikes, and shoes strewn around. No fun. 

Here's the before and after. Actually, there's no real before! Didn't get one taken before the old hooks were taken down. Boo on me...

Lady Agnew finally moved from her place on the wall in the boys' room. 

The afterwards. Whew, doesn't it feel good to get something under control and manageable? I'm trying to source materials to make a shoe rack, that will be a future project. 

I also decided to get a new shower curtain after seeing one at Target recently. I came to the conclusion that I should stop fighting the cobalt blue tiles in the bathroom and just succumb to them. It's not the color so much as the pattern, random yet planned at the same time and enough to drive you crazy. 

I made this from a flat sheet that was just the right size. The colors went well, but the show-every-smudge background was getting old. 

Behold. 

The material was heavily sized and dyed...should have thought to just iron it and save the washing for later. But I wanted it softened up a bit...and now it looks a bit faded and a tad tie-dyed. Heh. Lesson learned. I know I won't even notice it in another week, and I bet no one else would even give it a thought. 

It's fun to spruce things up! Now I just need to finish painting the trim white in here. Too many projects. 

Happy New Year to you!