Hi! Thanks for joining us on this episode of Trash Can Confidential, with your host, Samantha James! The latest beauty is this little locker, which I spied on the way home from dinner the other night. It was super light, so I picked it up and carted it home. One handed. (In the background, you can spy another recent find, that white table on its side. It's positioned that way to keep West confined. But I digress). This is not, actually, a makeover post, though that's a comin'. It's a post about trying things on for size. Sometimes, you have ideas, plans - dreams, even - about your space. But will those dreams pan out? Is there a dress rehearsal for this stuff? A way to arrange a trial run? When it comes to organization, I constantly preach a period of living with a system before breaking out the fancy labels, and I think it's great if you can work out ways to do that with other burning home questions. Especially when you consider that so much of this stuff requires a pretty serious investment, of money, time or both, it makes sense to see if you can finangle a way to try things risk-free. Well, I'm the midst of a bunch of trials at the moment - furniture, storage, curtains galore. Here's how I get an approximation of my ideas before I go bashing into walls and sending my life savings to Crate and Barrel.
1. Do a rough cut. You don't have to go all in when you want to see if something works. Take the locker. This is currently pulling a shift in West's room, to see how it works out. In this case, I did some prep work: I didn't put the rusty thing in there as it was, of course; I painted the inside with a heavy duty primer/paint in one, and scrubbed down the outside.
That's better, right? I also put some stuff in there; nursing supplies, spare sheets and the like. But, as you may note, I didn't spend any time making it pretty or fretting about the best organization. I'm just trying it out. I also didn't paint the outside. In this case, I got lucky, because if I do move it in here, I would probably paint it green, so the fact that there's some green in this (hideous) existing paint job helps me visualize. You may also notice that it's next to a chest and rocking chair that used to be in other parts of the house. I've been pining after more storage, most probably through a little stand alone wardrobe unit, but I'm trying these all out to see if they work. If I decide I want them here, I'll paint the locker and paint or reupholster the chair, and attach the locker to the wall (or, as mentioned last week, I'll throw the whole thing out the window and switch Lou and West's rooms, at which point all bets are off). While we decide that stuff, let's see what's happening elsewhere.
Let's start with the biggies. Recognize that cream love seat? It used to take the space where the rocking chair and toy chest are currently. It's a pullout sofa, and we had in West's room because that seemed to make sense. My sister slept on it all summer, and other guests have as well as they came by. But it was losing utility once West moved into his own room, and I was starting to think of it as solely a large, space-intensive way to store a spare mattress. Meanwhile, in the family room, I was toying with the idea of adding more seating. Remember that love seat I was lusting over? Rather than keep turning it all over in my head, looking at little love seats online, and trying to figure out if they would make sense in here, I decided to bring this guy out and see if he made the room better or worse.
Looks-wise, I wouldn't say we're winning any awards. But when in it comes to comfort, it's crushing it. It's super nice to be able to spread out to work or watch movies at night, especially while my sister is back with us for the next several weeks. I feel like Oprah: You get a couch! You get a couch! Everybody gets a couch! It's great. This little couch also just happens to be absurdedly comfortable, so it's extra great. It's pretty much convinced me, in my eternal internal struggle between small couch or two sleek chairs/recliners, that couch is the way to go. I'll hold onto it in here until we have the budget for a new one - one better proportioned and a little sleeker - but I've got some ideas.
Meanwhile, you probably spy experiment number three behind the couch. The curtains are a pair we already had, which we used in the office before West came along. As much as I liked the airy feeling of the linen sheers, I thought it looked a little unfinished, and they were turning really yellow. So I thought I'd see if these guys would work. I hung one up, and to my surprise, I did! (Striped curtains! Who would've thunk it?). But I only had one set, and zero hope or inclination to find another, so I next I clipped up a panel folded in half to see if that worked, before I spent the time cutting and hemming the panels length-wise.
Yep, still dug it. Seeing this convinced me that it was worth it to hem and hang the curtains, so I did!
On a roll now, I also wanted to see if I would like a new valance in the kitchen. I had this Turkish towel, and I thought the reverse white and blue stripe situation might be cute in conjunction with the new family room curtains, so I folded it over the rod and used binder clips to hold in place so I could get a visual without cutting into the fabric.
This one's pretty meh - it looks like I threw a towel over the curtain rod - and I think I want something less match-y with the other curtains. But hey - that's good to know! Back to the drawing board. I think I want something graphic with gray in it, so I'll probably clip up a table runner I have that fits that bill and see if I'm right.
Wall-mounted wire bins.
And finally, the wire bins. These are $3 knock off Target imitations of Land of Nod's much pricier versions. I've been hemming and hawing with what to do with our fruit and veg storage, and I thought these might be the ticket, but believe it or not, I don't drill into my landlord's walls lightly. I propped these up using nails we'd had in there for picture placement, to see if I thought the whole concept was a go. I would hang them differently, but that's the idea, and I think it's a keeper. I frequently stage things on the wall using nails or tacks, or if I can't do that, tape up a paper cutout the size and shape of my proposed wall hanging, because, really, drilling into walls is no joke.
So, that's how I feel things out before committing. A little muscle, some thumb tacks and some spare fabric are great ways to figure out if the picture in your head is syncing up with reality. Do you ever try things out before you commit? Thanks for reading!