The Almost Perfectionist: Fix It

Ever since we returned home from Mayo, I have been a mad woman on a mission to take care of all the things around the house that bug me or that need attention. I have never been good about finishing things, so this sudden burst of motivation is odd to me. I'm pretty sure something in me snapped and decided that if I can't fix Nolan then I will fix my surroundings.

So I set to work finishing all sorts of projects we had previously started. We redecorated the kids' bathroom, and I'll share that in its own post. Sometime.

We had painted our bedroom and put up pictures and curtains. The last major piece was choosing a bedspread, which has taken me more than a year of browsing for the perfect one. So I finally just bought one. I originally wanted a frosty mint green, and this one is more blue, but I still love it!

I'd still love some decorative pillows and taller lamps, but I'm calling this one done for now.

We donated our dishes to a local charity and bought plain white Corelle dishes. They are thinner and take up less room in our cabinets. They also came in multiple sizes of plates and bowls, which has been a huge plus. I threw out the kids old plastic "kid" plates and bought the divided Corelle plates for them.

You can see that I bought two shelf thingies to help organize the plates. I also rearranged all of our cabinets so like items are together and everything makes a little more sense. I moved the coffee pot to the counter under the cabinet with mugs. I decluttered our plastic leftover containers to just what we use most.

Some of our drawers were already fairly well organized, but three of them were in desperate need of attention. I didn't take "before" pictures because, as previously stated, I was a madwoman on a mission.

We had cute gray placemats that were a basketweave pattern. It was hard to wipe them completely clean because inevitable spills would get between the woven strips. So I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased some laminated fabric. I cut it into rectangles to make my own placemats.

They would have been slightly nicer if I had used my rotary cutter and ruler rather than scissors, but again I plead the insanity defense.

My spice cabinet has been driving me bonkers for years. I pulled everything out of the cabinet and got to work. I ordered clear spice jars from Amazon, and I transferred my spices into the matching jars. I used the labels that came with the jars, and I used my new label maker for the rest of the spices.

I still need to figure out how to organize the new spice jars in my cabinet, but don't you think they're better already? I can guarantee you there will be some alphabetizing involved. :)

I had to run to Hobby Lobby this weekend and I just happened to pick up this cute little sign. I hung it above the hooks where the kids hang their back packs and jackets.

My final project to share with you today is one I completed this past weekend. We recently inherited a piano, which made us quite ecstatic as Griffin has a knack for playing it. However, the piano bench left a little something to be desired in both the comfort and style categories.

So I removed the top by unscrewing the hinges.

I spent for-ev-er pulling staples out of each individual layer: the trim, the white fabric, and the yellow upholstery. My hand turned into a misshapen claw.

I cleaned the piano bench and the naked piece of wood that had been stripped of all old fabrics and trimmings. Pretty sure I inhaled asbestos.

I had purchased some 3" foam from JoAnn Fabrics as well as some gray upholstery fabric. I was looking at fun fabrics but ultimately decided to go with something very neutral since this is a semi-permanent piece. But I did find one with hexagons in the weave! I heart hexagons!

I put the foam on the wooden bench piece, wrapped the fabric around, and used a heavy duty staple gun to afix the fabric to the board. Then I covered the back with a gray utility fabric, and I covered the edges of that fabric with some ribbon trim.