Gift Wrap Closet

I feel like this next sentence is the most grown up thing I've written in awhile....

I, Courtney Shearer have a gift wrap closet. I mean, how luxurious does that sound? HA! I really do have a closet that is now dedicated to all things gifts - cards, paper, boxes, bags etc....and it was fairly easy to get. I simply cleaned out a closet in our guest bedroom and utilized the space for something specific instead of another place to just shove all the things. Earth shattering I know, but I'm pretty excited about the end results monetarily and organizationally speaking!

So, the closet is in the Guest Bedroom we have been making over. It was actually one of the first things we did in this space before we started selling furniture and trimming out walls. Here is a shot of the before:

As we have slowly fixed up various rooms in the house I feel like our junk piles just get moved from room to room and closet to closet. This particular closet was out of control. You see I had to pull out junk just to get one of the doors to completely open! From clothes to sell, to Lot's jump-a-roo and everything in between this closet was FULL and I prayed for any guest who needed to actually hang something in the closet. Good luck to them.

With the closet cleared out you can see what we were working with. A single wire shelf. 

The space is not deep front to back, but does have some length to it, so we wanted to add more function and actually utilize the space we did have. Now, we could of gone all out here, I mean I do work around some amazing closet designers and we all know Brent can hold his own when it comes to building out some cabinets, but for this space we decided to go the fast, in-expensive route and just stay with the wire shelving. The game plan was to keep the one shelf we had and add 3 more shelves underneath. To maintain some long hang we got the 3 additional shelves in a shorter length to leave 32" open for guests to use.

Brent spaced the shelves 12" apart and he got to work setting the new shelves in place.

It was a relatively quick process and that was with two little people "helping".

Next, I went to work selectively loading the shelves. One of the great things about a project like this is the opportunity to purge. When you have a new cabinet, a new shelf or a new room you don't want to fill it with junk, you find yourself more inclined to thoughtfully go through items and either donate, relocate or throw out. I knew I wanted this closet to house guest room essentials like extra pillows and blankets and beyond that it would house seasonal throw pillows, my giant dressing-making bowl that won't fit anywhere else, and our gift wrapping supplies. 

I have two large containers full of wrapping paper which I pushed all the way in the corner. I also stacked an assortment of boxes back there too.

For the front section I got little baskets to house ribbon, tags, tissue paper, etc...I even found a box to store all of our cards. I labeled each section per card type - birthday, get well, congrats and thank you.

And finally I used 3 hangers to hold all of our gift bags!! It's like organizational heaven. Extreme I know, but it feels so good and fresh and organized and honestly it couldn't come at a better time because with the holidays upon us and gift wrapping about to ensue, knowing where all of my supplies are is going to save me time and money! Hallelujah for that!


All photo are my own. 

Guest Room Progress + A Light Paint Matched to a Skirt

We are rolling right along over in our Guest Bedroom Makeover. This past weekend we finished up the trim + paint, installed the bed AND switched out the ceiling fan for a chandelier. 

I found the chandelier on Facebook Market Place for $40. I drove to get it last week and was excited about the elegant factor it was sure to add to the space. We got it hung Saturday morning and the room instantly felt elevated.

Next, Brent put together the bed we purchased from Wayfair and guys - this bed was $146.75. Such a good price for a king bed and we were really pleased with the look and quality once it was set up. The only negative....the bronze color of the bed was fighting with the brassy/bronze color of the light. While we liked the color of the light we knew from the beginning we may end of painting it so we started tossing around paint color options - white, gray....plum? HA - one of these is not like the other but believe it or not Brent and I almost instantly agreed that a dramatic deep purple/plum color in a semi-gloss sheen could look really great in the space. The inspiration - a faux leather skirt of mine. Brent took the skirt to Home Depot and color matched it. Pretty spot on, right?

Next, Brent set up a make-shift paint booth out by the shed so he could spray the light. 

I have to admit it was a little scary watching the light turn from a pretty brassy color to plum, but we kept reminding ourselves it was just paint and if it was hideous we would just re-paint it. 

It took a few coats and we let it dry for several hours before bringing her back inside to install. 

Photographing this light was a beast. Daylight savings has not been my friend when it comes to capturing the true colors of the space, but the shot above is the best I got to really show off the color. Overall, we think we like it. I especially love how the glossy deep purple hue accentuates the details of the chandelier. We purchased these candelabra sleeves also from Amazon for each light so the electrical wires would be concealed. The color definitely feels good in the space, but I knew I needed to see the whole space come together with bedding, etc...to know for sure. I found these sheets on Amazon, another great deal - $29.70  for a King Sheet Set. There are 62 THOUSAND reviews raving about these sheets so I gave them a whirl. I got the white, and so far, they are super soft and nice. We got the bed all made up last night and things are feeling really good. Next up - nightstands, lamps, art....you know, more pretty. Excited to get this space wrapped up soon, just in time for the holidays! 

All photos are my own. 

Guest Room Makeover - The Before

Wanna hear an embarrassing story about our guest bedroom? Shortly after we moved into this house (4 years ago - crazy!!) we had a house guest. In my mind it was a last minute thing, but honestly, it may of been a planned thing, I can't remember. Regardless he ended up having to go to the store to buy his own soap!! T H E  H O R R OR! I mean honestly, could I be a worst hostess? After that I made an oath to be better. The first step was obviously to stock up on the essentials and the second step was to make a cautious effort to make our guest room has comfortable as possible. Since then we have done our best with what we had to work with, but anyone at the beginning, middle or end of making your house a home knows it is a process and certain rooms/projects just tend to take priority over others for one reason or another, but it is finally time for our Guest Bedroom to get some attention.

The first step in making over this space was to remove some of the furniture. Like a lot of guest rooms this space was outfitted in furniture from times past. From my past specifically, it was from my childhood bedroom. I loved it, but the truth is guest rooms just don't need SO much furniture. We had a dresser, a chest and a nightstand in addition to the obvious bed. Guests just don't need all of that stuff. Regardless of how long a guest stays they never move stuff into the drawers, so most were completely empty or worse stuffed full of stuff we didn't even know we had. Anyone else? What is it with our human need to fill any and all spaces we have!? So, I sold most of the items in a weekend and suddenly the room was feeling a lot more open and inviting.

In a perfect world we really wanted to incorporate a king bed into this space. I know this statement is full on diva, but once you sleep in a king bed, it's so hard to go back to a queen, but sadly a king just wouldn't fit on the wall.  Then, last Friday something amazing happened -  Brent said what if we moved the bed to the window wall, so we flipped it around and....BOOM:

Not only does this orientation just feel better, but now there is plenty of room for a king bed! So I listed the bed on Facebook Marketplace it was gone by the afternoon. Now, with an empty room we were ready to add some details and get the space prepped for new finishes.

The goal was to try to elevate this space to match the adjacent guest bath that we did last year, remember that space? While I know I haven't shared the full reveal of that space yet (coming soon - promise!) it's on the fancy-ish side and I wanted the room to have the same vibe. The game plan was to add trim to each wall. We tossed around adding a chair-rail and wainscoting but ultimately decided to do a fairly simple series of rectangles on each wall using a dainty trim piece.

Like all DIY projects these days it's a family affair, so Brent and Croix got to measuring :)

All of the trim cost a little over $100 and Brent got the pieces cut and installed in a matter of hours. 

We are painting the walls white - White Dove OC-17 (same color as most walls in our house) because A. it's a good color and B. I have a ton of the paint on hand so it just made sense. I got started on painting all of the trim on Sunday but Brent ran out of trim for the last little sliver of wall and of course every Home Depot in the area was out as well, so we are hoping to get our hands on another stick or two today and finish up the painting tonight, but look how pretty it's looking so far....

If you follow me on Instagram stay tuned this weekend because we ordered a bed and I found a light on FB Marketplace all ready to be installed as soon as we can finish up this paint + trim I will be taking you through the whole process on stories!

All photos are my own. 

A Birthday + 2 Goals

Yesterday was my birthday! 

I don't care how old I get a birthday never ceases to thrill. I've always had a false sense of reality and or confidence in regards to my birthday. For years I honestly thought people were so jealous of my birthday because it was only 2 days after Halloween and in the same month as Thanksgiving. I mean, what a gift right? Haha.....I was a weird kid and I have to say some things never change.

We  kicked off my 34th with a fun weekend in Highlands with family. We had a fire, we saw beautiful fall colors and we got to watch the Georgia Bulldogs WIN! A Great day!

Anyways, I thought my birthday week was a good time to let you all in on a few goals Brent and I set for ourselves this summer... Goal #1 - 40 Countries by 40. We both love to travel and we're always up for a good adventure. I went on my first, big across the ocean trip in 2010 and have been hooked ever since. So far, I have been to 16 countries and Brent has been to 24. We definitely have a lot of work to do, but we are excited for the challenge. Brent turns 34 in January so we both have about 6 years to reach our goal.

We have a few trips on the docket for 2020, one of which is Tanzania where we are going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, otherwise known as goal #2! Well, that's the plan anyways. We are currently in training mode for that big adventure, but we're not getting any younger over here so we felt like 34 was as good a year as any to try our hands at conquering that 19,341 ft beast.

Have any of you been to 40 countries?  Climbed Kilimanjaro? Would love any advice or country suggestions you have!


All photos are my own.