Feng Shui for Romance

Feng shui is the ancient Chinese art and science of arranging one's environment to be in harmony with nature's energy. My feng shui instructor emphasized the importance of improving the "wealth" and "marriage" areas of her clients' homes. She explained, "Few people ever complain that their marriage is too perfect or that they have too much money!" Valentine's Day is a great day to spend a few minutes improving the feng shui of the "marriage/relationship" corner of your master bedroom.

To start, locate the marriage corner of your room. Stand in the doorway so that you're facing into the room. The far right corner is your marriage corner:

Take a look at your marriage corner. What's in it? Is it piled to the ceiling with clutter or dirty laundry? Is it home to your video collection of every episode of "Divorce Court" that ever aired? Is it where you showcase your prized prickly cactus or your pet piranha, "Jaws"? I once worked with a client who discovered, much to her dismay, that her marriage corner held two overflowing garbage cans! Think about the symbolism of the objects in this part of the room. If it doesn't represent love and affection--and your current relationship--it doesn't belong in this corner.

So, what does belong in the marriage corner of your room?

• Photos of you and your partner together--wedding photos are wonderful here!
• Thriving live plants
• Fresh flowers (Silk flowers are OK too, but dried flowers are a feng shui "no-no" because they are technically...dead!)
• Candles (pairs are best)
• Framed love letters or framed quotes about love
• Pairs that represent love to you (for example, two "lovebirds")
• Heart-shaped objects
  
• Your marriage certificate or framed wedding invitation

The colors that are said to enhance this area are red, white, and pink. What a coincidence: Valentine colors! Pink can be tough to incorporate into most of today's color schemes, but red and white are good candidates. You may be able to repurpose a few of your Valetine's Day decorations here year-round. Maybe a silver heart-shaped dish to hold the necklace that your hubby gave you for your anniversary?

Be creative and have fun! Happy Valentine's Day!

This post has been linked to Works for Me Wednesday and DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land.

Copy Cat: Look-Alikes For Less...and the Giveaway Winner!

My husband recently pointed out to me that--although he likes the concept of my Copy Cat posts--I have a tendency to pick on Pottery Barn when I feature look-alike products. I had to admit that he had a valid point, so I will do my very best to pick on other retailers in the future.

...In the meantime, I can't help but share this Copy Cat that my sweet client, M.C., sent to me. (Note: In case you're wondering, none of my clients are professional rappers. I'm using initials here, silly!)

She spotted the Tanner Cube table at Pottery Barn for $249 (left photo), while the JC Penney Metal and Glass Bunching Table is currently on sale for $119 (right photo). After purchasing her tables from Penney's, she reported that the tables looked great and she felt that they looked exactly like their Pottery Barn equivalent. If the photos are any indication, I'd have to agree!

Glass tables like these are great for small spaces; they provide the functionality of a table without taking up too much visual space.

On another note, I'm excited to announce the winner of the Prairie Storms Prints Giveaway. The winner, picked by Random.org, is Michele P., whose comment read, "I like the Dancing Fools Step One... the vibrant colors and energy in this piece is amazing!" Congratulations, Michele! I will contact you via email to get your mailing address. Thanks to all who entered!

This post has been linked to Finding Fabulous. Stop over to see lots of frugal finds!

Prairie Storms Prints Giveaway!

I once heard a neat quote in a creative writing class. It said something to the effect that anyone who ever had a childhood will have enough material to write about for the rest of his or her life. I would add that anyone who is friends with Mary Storms has enough material to fuel a seemingly infinite number of blog posts. I shared a tour of her amazing farm house in this post. Her pumpkin centerpiece was the subject of this post around Thanksgiving.

Today, I’m excited to introduce you to Mary’s wonderful artwork and invite you to visit her Web gallery and her Etsy shop, Prairie Storms Prints. Mary has also just joined the wonderful world of blogging with her first--funny and informative--post on her brand new blog, Prairie Storms Blog. To celebrate, Mary has offered a great prize to one lucky Red Chair Blog reader: either one large print or two small prints of your choice from Mary’s Etsy shop, which offers open edition fine art prints from original watercolor paintings and mixed medium collage. Large prints are valued from $20 for a 10 x 10 to $24 for an 11 x 14. Small (6x6) prints are $10 each.

Whether you are drawn to warm tones or cool tones, haunting landscapes or fun, whimsical pieces, there is truly something for everyone in Mary’s shop. Prints are professionally printed with archival paper and inks on an Epson Stylus Pro 9800, and each print is titled, signed, and dated. I’ll be quiet for a minute now and let some of Mary’s pieces speak for themselves:

One lucky winner will receive either one large print (10 x 10 or 11 x 14) or two small prints (6x6) of his or her choice from Prairie Storms Prints. You have an opportunity to earn up to five entries! Here’s how to enter:

1. For one chance to win, visit and browse Mary’s Etsy shop, Prairie Storms Prints. Then come back here and leave a comment with the name of your favorite print.

2. If you’d like a second chance to win, blog about this giveaway and come back and post a link to your blog post in a comment.

3. Want a third chance to win? Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter, then come back here and include your link in a comment.

4. If you’d like a fourth chance to win, link to this giveaway on Facebook, then come back and include your link in a comment.

5. For a fifth chance to win, visit Mary’s brand new blog, Prarie Storms Blog. Leave a comment for Mary, and then come back here and tell me which of the many funny things she said made you laugh.

Giveaway ends Saturday, February 6^th, 2010 at 11 pm EST. Winner will be selected using Random.org. This giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada only, please.

A note for email subscribers: If you are reading The Red Chair Blog via email, please click here to be taken to my blog site in order to leave your comment(s) to enter the contest.

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED. THANKS TO ALL WHO ENTERED!

How Do I Love My Chalkboard Table? Let Me Count the Ways!

I know. It's deja vu all over again. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you're probably groaning, "Enough already with your chalkboard table!" After all, this is the third time you've seen the little chalkboard table that sits on my front porch. You saw it on the Fourth of July:
You saw it when it displayed my Christmas topiary:
After Christmas, it looked like this for a little while:
And now, here it is again in amorous mode, sporting a pair of flower-filled toddler-sized rain boots:
So why, you may ask, am I showing you this little table yet again? Well, a number of readers have emailed me to ask about it, so I thought I'd share a bit more about it so you can make your very own chalkboard table and we'll all sleep better at night.

The truth is that you can turn the top of any table into a chalkboard table quite easily. This little table started out as a $7 flea market find. It was painted forest green when I found it, but I could tell that someone had made it by hand, and I liked the unique shape of the legs, so I brought it home.

To make a chalkboard table... just paint two coats of chalkboard paint on the top of a table! Depending on the existing surface, you may or may not need to prime the top first. There are really only three things you need to know about chalkboard paint:

1. It's best to use a foam brush so the strokes don't show.

2.You need to let each coat of paint dry for a full 24 hours.

3. Once the second coat has had 24 hours to dry but before you write your first message on the table, you need to condition the chalkboard surface by rubbing the side of a piece of chalk over the entire surface once. Rub clean with a soft cloth, wipe down with a damp rag, and allow to dry before you write on it. This will prevent the "ghosts" of previous words from haunting you after you erase them.

That's it! I love the versatility of this little table. Not only can I change it with the seasons--or just on a whim--but I can also welcome my visitors by name, which always makes them smile.

New here? I'm hosting my first giveaway! Stop over here to enter to win fine art print(s)!

This post has been linked to: The DIY Show Off, Tatertots and Jello, The Stories of A to Z, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Beyond the Picket Fence, A Soft Place to Land, It's So Very Creative, Twice Remembered, Cottage Instincts, Between Naps on the Porch

A Free, Printable Decluttering Tool

Magpies are known for picking up shiny things to take back to their nests. My friend and her husband used to joke about magpies; whenever one spouse wanted to buy something that might clutter up their home, the other spouse would call out, "Magpie! Magpie!" This reminder helped the couple keep impulse buys to a minimum.

In the spirit of simplifying your home, I've created The Magpie List, a free, printable de-cluttering tool that you can use to help you when you're clearing clutter. These are questions to think about when you are deciding what to keep and what to purge. Read the questions when you're on the fence about something and see whether one of the questions gives you just the answer you need. Some of these questions were inspired by a list in The One Minute Organizer, Plain and Simple by Donna Smallin. The rest are my own. To print the list, double-click the image to see it full-sized, and then save it to your hard drive. From there you can print it on your printer or send it to your local 1 hour photo shop. Enjoy!

A Note for Bird Enthusiasts: Yes, I know that the cute little round bird in the image looks nothing like a magpie. Its beak isn't "beaky" enough and its tail isn't long enough. If this bothers you, just assume that the bird in the image is the Bluebird of Happiness. Or the Turquoise Bird of Happiness. Something like that.

This post has been linked to Fireflies and Jellybeans, We Are That Family, A Soft Place to Land and The Girl Creative.

A Great DIY Laundry System for Small Spaces

Blogger's note: This post was originally published in January of 2010 and was edited in June of 2015.  Among other updates, new photos have been added, more details have been added to the DIY instructions, and product names have been changed due to manufacturer name changes.  This post contains affiliate links.

Here's a riddle. How can you store 2 loads of dirty laundry without taking up a single foot of floor space? With my favorite laundry solution for small spaces: hanging laundry bags! Household Essentials (which acquired Whitney Design in 2010) makes an affordable cotton canvas laundry bag designed to hang on a doorknob. If you hang two bags on double hooks--one above the other--either on the back of a door, or on an inconspicuous wall, you'll have a great place to toss dirty laundry.

I love these bags.  They're sturdy, affordable, easy to carry with one hand, and each bag holds a full load of laundry. The hook at the top of the bag comes in handy for hanging the bag when you're transferring clothes into the washing machine.

As of June 2015, I have owned my laundry bags for over 6 and a half years now, and they are holding up great!  In my former house, I hung the bags one above the other on the back of the bathroom door as seen in this photo from 2010:


The system worked beautifully.  The only problem that I noticed over the years was that when both bags were completely full of laundry, they threw off the alignment of the door a bit due to the weight.  This problem corrected itself as soon as the bags were "reset" to empty again though.

After moving to a new house that has a bathroom layout without space behind the door, I decided to use drywall anchors to hang the bags on the interior side wall of my master bedroom closet.  Though the closet is tiny by today's standards--less than 4 feet wide and just over 3 feet deep--the bags fit right in.  Here's a photo to show placement:

See how well my laundry bags are holding up, 6.5 years later?!  The bags are sold plain, but you can easily personalize your laundry system by adding words in a fun font to the front of the bag. Here are instructions for how to create your own personalized laundry system:

Materials

• Two hanging laundry bags
• Two double hooks
• Drill and/or screwdriver
• Drywall anchors (if hanging on drywall)
• Tape measure
• Computer/printer/paper
• Carbon paper
• Ballpoint pen or dull pencil
• Masking tape
• Black acrylic paint and/or black laundry marker
• Teeny tiny paintbrush (if using paint)

Instructions
1. Type your chosen words in a word processing program using a large font. I chose to type the words "Lights" and "Darks" using Palace Script MT font in a 200 point size.

2. Print out your words.

3. Trim your paper and cut a piece of carbon paper to the same size as the trimmed paper.

4. With the black part of the carbon paper facing your laundry bag, layer the carbon paper under the word and tape it onto the front of the bag. I placed mine 4.5 inches below the top edge of the bag and centered it on the front of the bag.

5. Remove the bag from the metal hanging frame, and tape the bag in a single layer to the corner of a work table so that you have a flat surface on which to work. (The photo below shows a later stage after the word has been painted.)

6. Use a ballpoint pen or dull pencil to trace the printed letters on the paper. Push down hard to make sure that the carbon paper leaves a mark on the fabric.


7. Using your teeny tiny paintbrush and black paint (or a combination of this and a laundry marker), trace your carbon letters. Allow the paint to dry completely.

8. When the paint is dry, place the bags back on the frames.

9. Use your tape measure to plan where to place your double hooks so that your laundry bags will hang one above the other, and mark your screw locations with a pencil.  In the photo at the beginning of this post, the bottom edge of the top hook is approximately 78" from the ground; the bottom edge of the bottom hook is 45" from the ground.

10. If you're hanging your bags on a wood door, use a drill and/or a screwdriver to screw the double hooks directly onto the back of the door.  If you predrill your holes, select a drill bit that is narrower than your screws.  If you're hanging your bags on drywall, you'll need to use drywall anchors due to the weight of the bags when full.

11. Hang your new laundry bags on the hooks, and enjoy your new, pretty, functional laundry system!

This post has been linked to My Backyard Eden, We Are That Family, Today's Creative Blog, A Soft Place to Land , and Thrifty Decor Chick.

Five Organizing Books in Five Minutes

Blogger's Note:  This post was originally published in January of 2010 and was updated in January of 2016.  

One of the perks of offering organizing services is that I have an excuse to read--and own--lots of organizing books, each with its own unique perspective and strengths. Today, I'll share one nugget of wisdom from each of five organizing books. (I plan to share additional books in the future, so stay tuned!) These nuggets aren't intended to summarize the books or even to offer the author's main message; they're just helpful tidbits.  Links are Amazon Affiliate links, but these books may also be found in your local library!

Conquering Chronic Disorganization, by Judith Kohlberg
Ms. Kohlberg shares a fascinating concept that she calls "kinetic sympathy".  Here's the idea: if you touch something, you are less likely to discard it than if someone else holds the item when you are deciding what to purge. Take home message: enlist the help of a buddy when it's time to declutter!

Taming the Paper Tiger At Home, by Barbara Hemphill
Ms. Hemphill explains the distinction between action files and reference files. Action files hold papers that require a specific action on your part (a phone call to make, a bill to pay), while reference files contain papers that don't require further action now but may be useful in the future (your medical records, bank statements, etc.) Filing actionable papers keeps them from piling up!

Organizing from The Inside Out, by Julie Morgenstern
I already referenced "S.P.A.C.E." in my last post. Another helpful concept is what Ms. Morgenstern calls "the kindergarten model of organization" in which you create "zones" or "stations" for different activities. For example, rather than storing your flour and sugar in your pantry with the pasta and canned beans, you can create a baking "station" in your kitchen where you store mixing bowls, measuring cups, measuring spoons, a rolling pin, flour, sugar, baking soda, etc.

Totally Organized, by Bonnie McCullough
The fastest way to improve the appearance of a room is to work from the largest item in the room to the smallest when tidying. This means that you make the bed in the bedroom, clear the table in the kitchen and dining room, and straighten cushions on the sofa in the living room and family room. This is a simple concept, but one that might not come naturally for everyone.

It's All Too Much, by Peter Walsh
Rather than starting with the "stuff" and determining what to keep and how to organize it, start by imagining the life that you want to live, and work backwards from there. A refreshing approach when you're really stuck!

Photo Credit for top photo: Stock X Change

What's In Your Junk Drawer?

Every January, I get bitten by the organizing bug. After the excesses that can come with the Christmas season (More lights! More fudge! More toys!) I find that January is a great time to pare down and simplify. I know that I'm not alone in my January urge to organize. Witness the massive sales on giant storage bins, plastic shoe boxes, and shelving at the box stores. If January inspires you to organize too, I've got some organizing-themed posts up my sleeve that I'm looking forward to sharing with you as we start a new year.

But first things first. When was the last time you cleaned out your junk drawer? If it's been awhile, you might consider trying it--for the comedic value if for nothing else. I'm not kidding; it's a hoot. You won't believe what you've got in there. You complain that you can never find a pen that works, but do you know how many functional writing instruments you have in that drawer? Seventeen. Seventeen. Well, that's how many I found when I recently cleaned out our junk drawer! I also discovered:

*A slinky
*An ancient "Happy Birthday" streamer
*Garden clippers, dog nail clippers, and a Swiss army knife
*A tiny pink plastic cat
*Part of a microphone
*The guts of an electronic baby toy that used to honk like a car (Hmmm, wonder how that toy "broke"?)
*Two guitar picks, strawberry Chapstic, and a poker chip
*A dryer hose clamp
*The keys to the homes of 4 friends, neighbors, and relatives
*A love note that my husband hid in my coat pocket when we were first dating
*The tag from the first batch of Roma tomatoes that we planted in our garden.
*And one lousy penny. One. Aren't you supposed to find gobs of money when you clean out the junk drawer?

The most amusing thing that I found was a bottle opener engraved with the words "Swiped from L & L Bar, Woodburn, Ind.". This is funny because
1. We're not really bar people
2. We don't swipe things
3. We've never been to the L & L Bar
4. We've never even been to Woodburn, Indiana
5. According to Google, the L & L Bar doesn't even exist

See what I mean? Cleaning out the junk drawer is a blast. It's a great way to celebrate the start of a new year. Way cooler than partying with a lampshade on your head, if you ask me.

Feeling inspired? Cleaning out your junk drawer is a manageable project that should only take fifteen minutes of your time. A great way to tackle a finite organizing task like this is to use Julie Morgenstern's acronym S.P.A.C.E., which stands for: "Sort", "Purge", "Assign a Home", "Containerize", "Equalize". Applied to this project, it would look like this:

1. Sort: Take everything out of the drawer and sort items into categories. For example, put all of the writing instruments together, all of the tools together, all of the coupons together, etc.

2. Purge: Within each category, decide what you can purge (get rid of). "No brainers" would include dried up pens and expired coupons, but you may find (thanks to the sort step) that you have enough multiples of other items to throw away or give away the extras. Really, do you need fifty-seven bread tabs?

3. Assign a Home: Look at each item (or category of items) and decide where that item should "live". Can that extra flashlight be moved to the car? Can those reading glasses be moved to the end table by your favorite reading chair?

4. Containerize: Consider placing some of the items in containers within the drawer to help keep the drawer neat. Select containers only after you've completed the earlier steps so you know how large each container needs to be. In our drawer, I used a narrow, shallow cardboard box to corral writing instruments and another small cardboard box to hold all of the keys.

5. Equalize: Maintain your newly-organized space by periodically assessing how it's working and clearing it out again if necessary.

So what's in your junk drawer? If you want to start the new year with a de-junked junk drawer, go ahead and clean it out and then come back here to share what you found in the comments below.

Here's to a nice fresh start to a great new year!

This post has been linked to DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land.