Pretty in Pink—Closet Makeover

Once upon a time, there was a girl (still is, really) who loved pink.  Just ask her friends and family, they’ll tell you how she was mad for pink!  Pink clothes, pink shoes, pink blankets, pink mixer and kitchen tools, too, just ask her husband about that!  Basically, if it came in pink, she had to have it!  However, she was (still is) married to a man who loathed pink.  So, she had to secret away her pink addiction, stowing it in her sewing room, clothes closet, and kitchen cabinets only to steal glimpses now and then of her beloved pink.  Then one day, she realized that even though she couldn’t bathe her house in pink, with pink carpet and pink couches, paint the living room pink or the kitchen or the den, there was one room in the house that was hers alone to do as she pleased—her walk-in master mistress closet!  And so, she decided to paint it her favorite shade.  Here’s her story:

When Glidden did their free quart of paint giveaway this year and I had to choose a color from the rainbow for my free quart, I knew that choosing a color from the computer screen was going to be difficult.  There was one color, though, that no matter the shade, I knew I would be happy with… PINK!  So, I gleefully ordered a quart of “Fresh Pink Lemonade” with plans to use it to paint my little walk-in closet. 

So, one day last week I set to work clearing out my closet and removing the shelves.  The baseboards were dirty, old cream and the walls some shade of ivory, but a fresh coat of semi-gloss white brought the trim and shelves back to life, while the walls got two coats of pink pink pink!!  Though it may have looked pale in the can, in a small room with no natural light, that pink came to life and sang on the walls.  It was so bright that it was bouncing off the walls and making the white door glow pink.  Frightening even for me, a girl who lives for pink!  Luckily, when I reinstalled the shelves, and stuffed my wardrobe back inside, most of the pink was covered except for the back wall, and the bright glow faded away to a serene pale perfect pink.  Now, with a backdrop of fresh pink lemonade, all my clothes look pinker. hehe.  See for yourself:

While I had all my clothes piled up on the bed, I decided it was high time to reorganize things a bit.  So after culling through and donating a bunch of things I no longer wear, I hung everything up on white plastic hangers.  It is so neat and organized now!

The OCD part of me really wanted to sort my sweaters by color, in a rainbow of pink and black (it seems those are my favorite colors for sweaters) but in the end I sorted them by how well they would stack in the cubbies together and then by color.  Real compromise, huh? ;) 

I love this rack of my jackets, all neatly hung on matching hangers and organized by color.  Makes me long for cooler temperatures.  But I know as soon as fall gets here, this side of my closet won’t stay so neat and tidy.  :)

I’m in love with my newly painted, newly organized PINK closet!

Here’s your parting glance at the transformation:

Think the next person to buy our house will smile when they see this closet, like me? 

Or perhaps you agree with Michael that I had better keep the door shut to hold the Pink at bay….

Let’s talk Lighting…

La-la-la-la-lighting.  It’s how we manage to get matching clothes on in the morning, prevent repeated toe-stubbing incidents, read fine print and what brings us cheer on dark winter days.  Basically, you need it… to see by.  :)

Lately, I’ve been pondering a few new lighting situations in my home.  A.K.A. Window shopping, daydreaming, and generally planning more ways to spend all our money on light fixtures. :) 

First up is the master bedroom closet—my semi-walk-in closet that is soon-to-be-painted pale pink.  Woot!  Here is what is currently lighting up my wardrobe:

Blech.  Jar light.  That’s just not the first thing I want to see in the morning. 

How ‘bout we replace it with something liiiike this!

Can’t you picture that in my future little pink closet? Love.

Moving on to the bedroom itself.  We have one overhead fixture in the center of the room, and I don’t like it (shocker!).  Besides being about the plainest light fixture in the world (other than a bare bulb with a pull chain) it doesn’t really put off that much light.  Exhibit A:

Sort of an interior overhead UFO.  Here’s what I’m dreaming of to replace it, since I know Michael will never go for a chandelier over the bed (le sigh.)  He did, however, say this light was “okay”.  Sounds like a yes to me! :)

We’re window shopping for the office, too, since it sports the same light fixture as the master bedroom.  Flying saucer.  We’ll need a masculine (since I’m decorating it for Michael—no butterflies allowed!) ceiling fan for cooling off the hottest room in the house (unless you count the kitchen when we’re cooking).  These computers sure do make a lot of heat.  This ought to do the job, and it has “roman” right there in the title.  Score.

Last but not least, we cannot forget the den, which is the room that started it all.  The room that is the most light-poor of all the rooms.  These (there are two of them in there) are what light my workspace:

I repainted them from a brown wood color, and added three 100-watt fluorescent bulbs, as if that was going to make some difference.  (It made it slightly brighter, but still just as ugly.) :)

These are what I want instead of ugly:

La-la-la-lovely.   Now, you know what to get me next time you’re looking for a gift idea. hehe

This concludes our session of light fixture window shopping… I have redesign dreams for the kitchen lighting, too, but they are half baked and will have to wait. :) 

What do you think of my lighting choices?  Are you crushing on some fancy new light fixtures, too? 

Spill it.

Full Sun Mailbox Bed Update

Back in April, I told you about how we enlarged our only full sun bed up by the mailbox.  Well, since then, all kinds of flowers have sprouted alongside the tomato and pepper plants we added.  I wanted to take a minute to share the progress so far!

You may remember the big reveal after we enlarged the bed and rearranged some flowers to fill it in:

Well since then, we’ve added five tomato and two pepper plants, as well as a few more perennials.  And of course, the butterfly bush has re-sprouted since it was unintentionally “trimmed” by a falling tree.  Not to mention the veritable carpet of crabgrass among the plants that I weeded out this morning!  Yikes!  Things are looking much better now:

As promised, we also added a bit more to the left side of the bed to accommodate more veggies!  They seem to like it here, but the bug population is also enjoying the new additions!  Grrr!

And of course, the coneflowers and black-eyed susies are going crazy this summer, too!

While we are out in the yard, let’s have a look around at some of the other summer flowers that are putting on a show!

 

I hope you are having a beautiful summer!

Happy 2nd Birthday Blog!

Yep, July 4th has come and gone, and we can officially say that “It’s a Horvath’s Life” is two years old!  Wahoooo! Happy Birthday Blog!

Since it’s inception (conception? birth? whatever) this blog has logged (lol) many hours of me sitting here staring at the screen searching for just the right word and pictures.  I’ve published 146 posts detailing this life of ours here at the Horvath house.  Thanks for coming along with me!!

In the spirit of celebration, here are a few photos from our Independence Day, which we spent in Columbus, Ohio with Andi and Nick!     

     

 

     

Hope you all had a