CasaSugar

Before and After: Taming a Messy Craft Room

CasaSugar — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:00:19 -0700

Roxy Nova recently posted some inspiring before and after photos of her craft room, and I absolutely love and admire this transformation. She says, "I'm very embarrassed to be posting these [photos] because my house is usually not nearly this messy, but once i decided to redo the room, everything kind of went to hell in a handbasket. it really became a dumping ground."

As messy and daunting as this room may look in this picture, Roxy Nova was able to tame it with a lot of hard work and some smart organizing ideas. To see the glorious afters, read more.

Can you believe the difference? Roxy Nova made sure to create an organized space for her sewing machine, which you can see in this photo. She also took down the closet doors and replaced them with pretty tree-printed curtains. Multiple shelving units provide space for organizing boxes of patterns, fabrics, and other needed craft materials. Roxy's husband hung up organizing units for tools and notions including scissors, thread, and ribbon.

Oh, and as if all that wasn't enough, Roxy also reupholstered this cute chair. I love her use of color and pattern. It really makes the room pop, and seems like the perfect place for sewing, crafting, and getting inspired.

I am seriously feeling some craft room envy right now. Are you?

View 8 Photos ›

Source

Su Casa: Amers230's Closet Solution

CasaSugar — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:30:57 -0700

Su Casa member Amers230 recently shared an inventive solution to her overcrowded closet. She writes, "I recently switched rooms with my sister, and while the room itself is bigger, I lost some closet space in the deal. My bags were literally falling out of my closet and hanging off of my bookcase. I had no idea what I was going to do with them until I got the new Ikea catalog in the mail. Page 202 was my answer. It showed a girl's room with some pan racks hanging on the wall, holding various accessories."

"I also have a small entrance hallway to my room which was just dead space at the moment. I decided to go with three of the Grundtal dish racks because the silver matched other items in my room and it was a bit smaller than the other options. I also ended up buying five five-packs of the matching hooks (which I'm not exactly in love with because the hook portion is actually quite small. I may switch to regular S hooks at some point)."

To hear how Amers230's using her new closet solution, read more.

Amers230 goes on to write, "The angle on the picture is kind of weird, but the racks are centered between my open door and my dresser. I've played around with it for a few weeks now and while I had originally intended for it to hold more accessories (I've had my belts, headbands, and scarves there at various points), I think it looks best just with my purses and tote bags. It's by no means a perfect solution, but it really works for me. My closet is now more bearable and I've even been switching up my purses more now that I can see what I have (and don't have, I never realized I owned mostly black bags!). It also added a lot of color to my plain white wall, which I love. And it only cost about $40, which in my opinion is a big bang for my buck!"

Do you have a cool storage solution or home improvement to share? Join Su Casa!

Su Casa: An Example Worth Following

CasaSugar — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 07:26:38 -0700

Well, I don't know about you, but today's Su Casa puts my own organizational skills to shame. In her very first apartment - where, she says, "closets are a luxury" - Divagwendolyn has organized her shoes, bags, clothes, hats, and seasonal attire on one immaculately ordered shelf. And yes, those boxes are even complete with labels!

What strategy do you use to organize your clothes? Tell me below, or post your own photos in the Su Casa group.

Cool Idea: Garment Dividers

CasaSugar — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:00:00 -0700

About a year ago, I gave you all an in-depth guide to organizing your hangers. If you're like me, your closet is in tip-top shape for a couple weeks, and then it's time to get organized again. Well, I don't know of any gadgets that will keep my clothes off of the floor, but these Simple Division Garment Organizers ($9.99) do seem like they'll help keep my dresses from wandering off into the pant section. The set comes with 60 labels (in English and Spanish) and 12 dividers. But, you can also print your own labels if you want to make them cuter or if you're the owner of a nontraditional garment that needs a unique label - chaps, anyone? These dividers seem pretty handy, but I'm also feeling a DIY coming on!

Hazelnut's Bryan Batt Opens Up to House Beautiful

CasaSugar — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:00:54 -0700

If you're a design enthusiast and a New Orleans fanatic like me, you know Bryan Batt as a co-owner (with his partner Tom Cianfichi) of one of NOLA's finest décor boutiques, Hazelnut. I featured the boutique back in February of '08, and now Batt is set to ink his own home décor book. If you're just mad for Mad Men, you know him as Sterling-Cooper's in-the-closet, recently fired art director Salvatore Romano.

This month, House Beautiful is getting to know him, too. The shelter glossy has the lowdown on Batt's bedroom behavior, from his no-TV rule to his underbed storage, and of course, his bedroom décor resources.

I'm always interested to see where people get their design inspiration. So it was fun to hear about the jumping off point for his bedroom design:

The painting is the whole point of the room. It's by a friend of mine. Suzie Allain, who's a local artist and designer here in New Orleans. She showed some things at Hazelnut, my store here, and I fell in love with this series of bamboo stalks. She did this for me custom and then the room evolved around it.

See more excerpts from the issue.

Do You Use Fabric Hangers?

CasaSugar — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:00:26 -0700

Fabric hangers, in my mind, conjure up knitting grannies and stale, musty closets in country cottages. But they're actually great for protecting delicate materials like silk, expensive lingerie, and fancy dresses. I personally don't own any, but then again my closet may be in need of a hanger update.

Source

How Do You Store Your Shoes?

CasaSugar — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:30:38 -0700

If you're sitting pretty like Blair Waldorf, your designer stilettos are neatly stacked in your custom closet. But, if you're more like Yours Truly, your ballet flats are piled up like Legos and plastic trucks in a kid's toy box.Source

How-To: Organize Out in the Open

CasaSugar — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:00:14 -0700

Sure, you can hide your media materials, linens, and glassware away in a closet or drawer, but what's the fun in that? Check out these ideas for organizing out in the open, and looking great in the process.

View Slideshow ›

Open House: How Do You Ready Your Closets For Spring?

CasaSugar — Sat, 03 May 2008 08:18:55 -0700

Spring is finally here. That means, among some other Spring projects, it's time to examine what's in your closet and shed some layers. So for this Open House, I want you to tell me all about your plans, if any, to update your closets for the change of season. Do you box and store your Winter wardrobe to make room for your lighter apparel? Do you leave all of your clothes in your closet year-round? Do you store your ski gear and bring out the surfboards as the snow melts and ocean temperatures rise? Do you haul your snow tires to the attic? Do you move your wool blankets to the back of your linen closet? Do you keep your out-of-season items in a cedar closet? Do you toss receipts that are so last season? Do you pull out your melamine picnic plates? Do you shed the junk you've collected (and hoarded) during the year? Will you be making a trip to the Container Store to stock up storage boxes? Or, is the idea of "Spring cleaning" your closet of no interest you? Fill me in on your plans by commenting below.
Source

Do You Keep Your Shoes in Shoe Boxes?

CasaSugar — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:30:55 -0700

My closet is the most unruly area of my home, and my shoes are the worst of it. The thought of keeping them all in shoe boxes, clear plastic or not, is actually funny to me; they wouldn't last even a week. But I applaud anyone who can keep up with it. Organization Tips group member PopGal recently spent a rainy weekend organizing her shoes in transparent plastic shoe boxes from the Container Store.
She says, "Not only can I see where everything is at once in a nice, organized way, but my favorite part is how clean it keeps my shoes. I have so many pairs I love, but only wear a few times a year, so it was making me sad to see the dust build up on them." How about you?