This month I turned the catch-everything closet in Otto and Loretta's playroom into a dress-up closet. But, like sands through the hourglass, so the days seem to have gotten away from me in writing this post up. We have had loved ones visiting and that has been all it took for me to put off this report for a bit. The good news is I finished my project before the end of the month deadline and way under budget. I spent $11 when the budget had been $40, whoohoo!
This was a hard one to photograph all at once, there are more angles below of the mounted hat basket and accessories hooks on the interior wall of the closet.
Project-Per-Month Project HOW IT WORKS... If you want to join in the project project, and you totally should, here are the rules...
- Pick a single, manageable project off your to-do list, just one.
- Determine that you WILL do it, come hell or high water, even if you have to stay up late one night
- Give yourself specific goals.
- Give yourself a deadline: the end of the month.
- Give yourself a budget.
- Do it. Do it.
I can't wait to see what everyone accomplished in August. Now that we are at the six month mark on this thing, I was thinking I'd make a dedicated page on this site to showcase all the stuff everyone has done. So many of you take on way more challenging and exciting projects than me and burying the links to all your projects in the comments seems unworthy of the radness. So I will try to get that completed soon and let everyone know when I do.
One of the joys of this project was uncluttering the playroom by moving all the dress-up gear into a single station. But sometimes clutter has a place, like this "Balerz" sign Otto hung up on the wall with washi tape on the wall outside the closet. He was sounding out "Bad Guys" which is pretty freaking impressive for a 4 1/2 year old! But we mostly love it, Rob and I, because the characters he picked are the least. ballers. eva. Hee hee.
I was inspired by my good friend who grew up so poor in money and rich in love. She told me one of her favorite activities as a kid was playing in her mom's scrap fabric basket. That's the perfect activity, simple, and encouraging creative thinking. So I decided to convert my own fabric basket into some easy dress-up pieces and some scraps along with the kids' existing collection of tutus and dress-up gear... and then moved the rest of my fabric stockpile to a shelf.
I got the printed backdrop from my work as it had become too crinkled to use but was just fine to jazz up this little space. The tension rod cost $7, the hat basket $2, and some elastic I purchased to make silly hats for the kids another $2. Everything else is shopped from around the house and I'll add items to the hangers as time goes by but we aren't in a hurry.
August was a success, and way under budget. For September I am turning the cluttered corner of my dining room that is an old Ikea table stacked high with laptop, bills, things that need filed, camera, and now sewing machine into a corner that has a cute old dresser in it and maybe a plant on top. My budget will be $60 and I'm excited to have just a clean-up and thrifting project as I am a bit exhausted these days and could use an easy project this month. It will make a big difference, though, in how nice our house looks since my junk is seriously junking up the place.
What projects have you been up to or are thinking about taking on for September? I want to see!
