Big Boy Room!

Richard is going through a lot of change right now. Moving into a new house..... becoming a big brother...... so we knew we wanted to make his "big boy" room very special so it wouldn't be so hard to give everything to baby brother. His room was already painted blue, and I knew I had a primary color palette in mind. This was a huge contrast to the muted earthy colors of his baby room. We wanted his input, and his one request was for Lightening McQueen. I am not a huge fan of licensed characters for decor, because it's hard to change things out when your child decides on another favorite every few weeks. I ended up getting him Cars bed sheets and a "window treatment" find which I will explain later. The more sensible plaid comforter set was exactly what I had in my vision, and he was with me at Bed, Bath & Beyond when I found it to give his approval.

 

Right before the move, we set out to find a twin bed frame and nightstand (and new mattress set). Being set on thrifting / DIYing, we headed to Salvation Army to peruse their vast furniture section. We found a solid (a.k.a. well made, real wood) bed for $14.99 and side table for $9.99. With a little sanding and stain or paint, they were going to be great!

Jon painted the bed red, and added some scrap wood in white to create a "rustic barn" look. I could tell how much he liked making this for his son. 

We had these colorful metal chickens from Pier 1 in our kitchen long ago, and they are another example of something I tried to sell at one point. They didn't really fit in the new kitchen, so I thought they'd still be doomed. Luckily, we tried them in here and just love how well they fit. I suggested we make a shelf out of scrap wood, and Jon brought a pallet home from a selection behind his work. With a few cuts, it was all set. We added Richard's railroad crossing sign to it as well.

The nightstand got painted a steely blue. The vintage metal basket, yet to be filled, I found at the Habitat for Humanity store for $2.00! The little metal lamp was another one of my parents early antiquing days purchases. It has special meaning because we used to go to the same resort in Northern Wisconsin for Summer vacation...... my Grandparents, cousins, etc.... were all there the same week. The owner of the resort ran a little antique store for a while (before my time) and this was where the lamp was purchased. My Dad replaced all of the glass in it.

When Richard turned one, his birthday theme was circus. I had bought this tent for the party, but we never really had the room in our old house to have it up all the time. He loves that it is up now and as you can see it corrals his stuffed animals. He likes to take naps in it or have quiet time. The giraffe was his final potty training reward. The Cars curtain was a rummage sale find for a quarter! It is actually a flat bed sheet, and it was the only piece they had. I washed it up and cut the seams along the top so that a curtain rod could go through it.

His activity corner features a bulletin board, clip boards for current artwork (purchased for under a $1 at some sale..... they used to hang in my studio with necklaces on them), and my "miniature shelf" from when I was little. I used to love to collect little things, and Richard seems to be following in the tradition. He was so excited to fill this up with his most important treasures!

Lastly, his bookshelf is from Pier 1 and it just happens to be my very first blog post from 2008! I can't believe I have been blogging for so long! I sure hope I have evolved and improved since then!

As with the other areas of our house that I have shown, it was fun to pull together a bunch of different pieces that were previously used somewhere else, to complete the look. And, I love that the new pieces we added we were able to "upcycle" and give a new life to!

Front Entry / Office

I hope you don't mind me popping in a home decor post here and there. Decorating ranks right up there with building my wardrobe, and I go about it in just the same way. The hunt..... the bargain...... when something comes together perfectly...... it's a thrill. Because of our recent move, it is a huge part of my life right now. Finding new ways to use what we already have, I hope I can share some good tips that others can use.

 

I've already shared my walk in closet, and seasonal mantle. Today, I am featuring our front entry / office. This was the first area we finished..... and also the one I thought our first fight would occur from. Remember how "involved" my hubby was when staging our other home? I dreaded disagreements that I thought were bound to occur as we settled here, but everything has been going wonderfully! It has been such a great bonding experience!

 

Our old home had a formal dining room..... that we hardly ever used. This area was set up as a formal dining room when we looked at the house, but I knew I wanted to use the space as an office / studio. Jon seemed set on the formal dining room idea, even though we have a bigger eat in kitchen area that will suit our family of (soon to be) 4 just fine. When we do have family or friends over, I am sure we will come up with an eating arrangement. I just didn't want to sacrifice space for maybe 2 meals out of the year! Since we had professional movers, I knew we had to tell them where to put the furniture when it came in. The night before they arrived, we were "camping out" in the empty house and Jon asked how much I had my heart set on making that the office. My heart sighed with relief - he finally agreed.

 

I should also add, that before we moved I tried to sell our formal dining room set (a corner cabinet, hutch, table & chairs) so that we could use the money for other things we wanted. But I am now glad it didn't sell as I am using the corner cabinet and hutch. But I'll get into that more later.

 

Our style is turning more and more into old things...... vintage...... worn....... character....... tells a story....... antique....... thrifted...... upcycled. This area ended up being a mix of pieces from our old studio, dining room, living room and upstairs loft. The desk and cream rug came from the studio. As well as the printers cabinet, dress form and assorted peacock suitcases and trunk (which were added to the studio after my initial tour post). The patterned rugs came from our upstairs loft.

The baby buggy is my Grandpa's (he turns 95 on the 15th). My Boyd Bear collection lives in it and it used to be in our dining room. The bench used to sit on Jon's Grandma & Grandpa's porch, and we stained and refinished it a few years ago. We had it in our upstairs loft. My parents bought the stained glass window in the 70's and let us have it a few years ago.

The skinny corner cabinet was in our living room, and I bought it at an antique store before being married. My Dad's first toolbox is on the floor.

The Kalamazoo Dairy crate I bought at Battle Creek's Charitable Union gift shop. The old duck decoys I got for Jon for his birthday last month, purchased at an antique store in Marshall.

A better shot of the printers cabinet (which houses all of my beads) with a family of wire peacocks on it. The trio of shadowboxes I made was posted here. The desk chair is a chair I bought in my single days as well and has a needlepoint seat.

The dress and shoe forms were a Christmas gift from Jon (he got them in Marshall). The wire peacock feather was found at Hobby Lobby for $7. It was a bright teal but we painted it a bronze color to fit better. See how simple it is to completely change the look of something into what works for you?

Since I still needed storage for our good dishes, using the corner cabinet from the dining set was a last minute decision. The original plan was to store the entire set in the basement until we could try to sell it again. I ended up using the hutch in the eat in kitchen area, so there is another tip : don't fret about "splitting up" matching pieces to suit your needs. At the end of the post, I will show how I changed out the knobs on the cabinets to give them an updated look.

Window seat detail. Peacock pillows in browns. Old laundry wringer.

We have tall ceilings in the front entry, and knew we wanted to find some large items to display. The weekend we were moving in, there was a sale up the road where Jon was able to pick up some old farm equipment really cheap. He got a saw, sickle and push lawnmower for about $30. If you price these things in an antique store, they are much more! That's the thing..... we have found so many great deals over the years, that it's hard to even think about paying more. You really have to be patient sometimes. Hitting up garage sales is your best bet. Antique stores (and even Flea Markets) know their prices. Just look at the show American Pickers (which we love)...... you see how much they pay for their items, and how much they are going to mark them up to make their living. We were really excited to go to the salvage store in our new downtown. It takes up the window fronts of 3 buildings! I thought for sure we would walk away with some things, but the prices were crazy.

 

Anyway, getting back to these farm items..... I wasn't too keen on hanging them inside the house, as much as I appreciate their coolness, but figured I would let Jon do his thing. I did ask him if he was taking out an extra life insurance policy on me, in the event that a hook didn't hold and I was accidentally beheaded. That's our sense of humor with each other, just so you know.

The lawn mower is outside on our front walk way right now.

Okay, so here is the update on the cabinets I reused. The picture on the left was one I took for trying to sell the set (this is the piece in our kitchen now). The knobs have always been a wood, where the stain didn't match. The ones on the drawer were larger, and left quite a mark in the wood when I took them off. So trying to find a large and small option that matched one another (and covered the marks) was a bit of a challenge when looking at Menards, Lowes, Hobby Lobby and a few online places. Sure, there were tons of cool ones out there - so many it can make your head spin and rethink your decision a million times! I ended up finding a great option at an independent hardware store in Marshall during the Witches Night Out I posted about. Not only was I glad to support a local business again, but the gal offered up a great suggestion of using a curved pull - rather than a knob - to cover up the marks! I have always admired this style of pull and was glad to finally find a use for one. The brand had a knob that matched so I was sold. Investing about $30 for a total of 2 pulls and 8 knobs for the two pieces of furniture was not bad at all considering how much is changed the look. You can see the comparison when I was changing them out in the middle, and the finished result on the right.

My learning experience from this move, and lifestyle in general, has been to use what I have available to me with little or no money spent. I was one of those girls who started their "hope chest" really early on and then add in 12 years of accumulating stuff while married. I've always been a collector..... some might even accuse me of hoarding. I've always been of the thinking that even if you are not using something right now, you may use it someday. This often conflicts with my moods of purging / selling / getting rid of whatever I can when I feel overwhelmed with stuff. True, it is good to keep things at a good level - you don't want to end up on one of those TV shows! But I am so glad now that I still have a lot of the stuff I once tried to sell. It is a really good feeling to use them again. Styles and tastes change. But always think about how you can reuse something. Can you paint it? Change out hardware? We are bombarded with TV shows or websites that show us new and interesting ideas for furniture and objects.

 

A phrase I picked up from a blogger I follow is "shop your house". As you redecorate a room, or even if you are just changing up decor for the season, odds are you have a stash of stuff in your basement you can pull from. Check out your options before running out to the store. I never have been, and probably never will be, the type of person to walk into a furniture store and buy everything I need for a particular room. It is much more fun to curate a space by collecting pieces over time, and makes for a much more interesting home!

Reason to Dress Up

Last Thursday, I had a reason to break out of my jean/tank/sweater "uniform" and dress up! Not just dress up, but sort of get in the Halloween spirit too! Fall/Halloween is my favorite, but it seems the days of obsessing over couples costumes and going out to hit up contests are long gone. Now, the focus is on my little one and doing all sorts of fun activities with him!

I've noticed that lots of little towns around here have a monthly girls night out event. For October, the one in Marshall, MI was named Witches Night Out. Being in between where we used to live and where we now live (although, closer to where we used to live), meeting up with some friends after work was a no brainer. Especially not knowing how much longer I will be getting out (a new baby in Michigan Winter can put a damper on such things). Dinner and some light shopping was great!

It was surprisingly easy to match up my olive green witch hat. I've had it for several years and I love having it on hand every season. I got it at Meijer, and was drawn to its satin material, netting, rolled fabric roses and feathers. I added in my own peacock feathers to match my skirt.

The Massini black cowl neck tunic I am wearing is also from Meijer (get a better look at it on their style blog). It is long and goes over the bump, but today I tucked it into my skirt.

The feather/animal print skirt was found by my Mom - she got it at Steinmart. It is stretchy, like all the skirts I have worn during this pregnancy.

Jean Jacket - TJ Maxx (to pull out some of the blue in the peacock feathers)

Boots - Zulily

*Note, all pieces are non-maternity*

I am at 36 weeks here.

Linking up with The Pleated Poppy

Live, Work, Create. Local.

Our lifestyle is changing. We went from a City to a Village. There are a lot of differences I will talk about as I continue to unfold our move here, but today I want to talk about supporting local businesses. This is something I always strive to do no matter where I am. But it seems like I have even more opportunity to do so in our new area.

We have one small grocery store in town, and it closes at 9:00 p.m. It houses a lot of our favorites, and we did find out that if you ask for something specific they will order it if they can. Nice!

We've only tried one (immediate) local restaurant so far - the diner downtown - and it is excellent! Mostly breakfast items, but very delicious!

We are close to one of my favorite little towns - Chelsea - so I was already a bit familiar with it before moving. We explored a little more last weekend and here is what makes me happy over there:

The Common Grill restaurant - award winning. Need I say more? We didn't eat here that day, but have eaten here many times previously. It's one of my favorite places to go!

Where did we end up eating? Zou Zou's Cafe. First time there. Loved it!

We went to an Amish furniture store to look for a dining room table set. Currently, we have a pub style table that only has 2 chairs. This worked while Richard was in a high chair, but he has long been out of that and we will soon be a family of 4. We opted not to have a formal dining room like we had at the old house (and never used). So we want to invest in something that is built well and will last. We have a set picked out to order once we close on our old house, and I am glad to spend my dollars at this business.

Another eventual plan is to replace the kitchen appliances. We walked by a local appliance store and saw in the window they had the brand/finish we plan to get (which was seen at a big box store). So when the time comes for that as well, I'd love to give them our business.

Santa got some early Christmas shopping done at 2 toy stores (while Richard wasn't looking). The local toy store we always supported in Battle Creek recently closed due to the owners retiring. I am glad that we have these new options close to us!

Being a creative person, I was thrilled to find USArt Quest! Here is another site for them, as they hand make about a million varieties of paper! I felt very welcomed when we stopped there. They offer lots of classes and fun events - perfect for organizing a bunch of my friends to come over for something fun to do!

Lastly, let's get to my new bag which inspired this post..... I got a mailer from Dayspring Gifts and fell in love with the recycled canvas totes they showed. So I decided to check their store out too while we were over there.

And, for the rest of my outfit, yet another jeans, tank, wrap "uniform". I swear, I can come up with tons of these combos!

Jeans & Tank - Motherhood Maternity

Striped Wrap - Meijer

Lenora Dame Starlight Mesa Necklace - Anthropologie

Minnetonka Mocs - TJ Maxx

See Biscuit peeking out the window? New neighbors were moving in across the street and the dogs were losing their minds all day! I must say, I do miss our fenced in yard!

And Mocha is faintly in the window here. They are getting used to their new lifestyle too, just like we are.

Peacocks for Babies

When I was pregnant with Richard, of course I thought about what kind of peacock items I could get for babies/kids. I found a good variety, but most things were geared toward girls. Which sometimes to me does not make since, because the male peacocks are the ones with the pretty plumage. When we found out he was going to be a boy, I had to scratch a lot of things off my list....... nursery bedding sets........ frilly clothes. But I was still able to get him some plush toys, as pictured below. One plays music and the others have all sorts of rattles, crunchies and squeeky things. The Palmer House one he got when he was older on one of our overnight trips to Chicago (the peacock themed hotel we love staying at).

This time around, I wondered if I would be able to indulge in all those girly things. When the ultrasound revealed another boy, I had about 2 seconds of sadness and then I was over it. I love being a Mom to boy(s), so let's see what else we have that is more of the male peafowl type.

 

Jenni of Gnome Lover gifted me this cute onsie from Etsy seller Crawlspace Studios. I can't wait to see the baby in this!

Richard was a peacock for his first Halloween (see original post here). I just found the costume the other day when I was unpacking the baby totes, and I wondered if I will use it again for baby brother. We'll have to see if it fits in 2015.

But, out of everything, the most peacock items I seem to find that Richard enjoys are books. His daycare has a "Raising a Reader" program where we "check out" a bag of books every week. Our best surprise was when we got the book below and it had a peacock AND a railroad crossing sign! I have a huge train lover on my hands and railroad crossing signs are pointed out during every car ride. At our zoo, the peacocks seem to hang out by the mini railway as well. Must be a thing that peacocks like trains???

Limelight Larry is a book we discovered at the library, and we loved it so much I ordered it from Amazon. It is a great story/lesson, and the artwork is so beautiful!

This is the best page, when we both yell "Take up the whole page and show off!"

Three Hens and a Peacock was another add on to an order, and it is a really cute one as well.

Same with The Golden Peacock. I find that if I am coming up short for free shipping, I will add on a book. Our routine is to read 4 books at bedtime. We've created quite a nice collection of all kinds of books over the last 3 years and it is wonderful!

Inside graphics on some of the books..... swoon! 

I got Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? at my shower for Richard. What a surprise to see a peacock inside! After I had him, I was looking at books at Target for a friend's shower and saw the book was made with sound buttons! I just had to have it and it is hilarious now that Richard can imitate a peacock (among other animals, of course).

Richard knows that peacocks are Mama's favorite. It has been fun to collect these things for my kids, and I can't wait to see what I find in years to come. And by no means to I mean to sound like I am strict on gender things........ the other day, Richard saw a preview for My Little Ponies on a DVD he was watching. I told him that I had those when I was little and that they were packed away in the basement. He requested I find them...... and I did! He has his Dad's old Hot Wheels....... It's great to share your own childhood loves!

One Month

Today officially marks one month until my due date! I had a doctor's appointment, and am now going every week. I don't have anything exciting to report (like, I'm dialated already). Just a good report of "everything is perfectly normal". However, we are in the mindset that this little guy could come anytime now (same as we were with Richard). Meaning, I am getting my bag packed and will have it in the car with me at all times. I will start to wonder with every outfit post, if it will be my last pregnancy post. Richard was 5 days early, not that it means anything this time around.

 We are just plugging along and in a nice routine. I do still plan to do some posts about the move / decorating as we have been having so much fun settling into our new home. I am preparing for my last day of work on November 7th, after being with Kellogg's for 10 years. But right now, I commute into the office every other day (an hour drive one way from the new digs) and work from home the other days. The drive has been peaceful and enjoyable, however the weather has been cooperative. I don't think I'd want to be that far from work long term because if you so much as have to stop at the grocery store on the way home, it seems to throw your whole evening off. All of a sudden I look at the clock and it's like "what the hell happened?"

 Things are getting more "real" as the days go on when preparing for the baby. We added the baby seat back into my car and put Richard on the other side in the backseat. After getting him out of the drivers side for 3+ years, it is SO WEIRD to get used to getting him out of the other side. I am anxious about getting around when I am by myself with 2 little ones. Richard is independent in so many things, but depending on his mood he still will demand help for things he knows how to do. I realize this may worsen when baby brother comes. I am sure that he will have days of being super helpful and others where he wants his Mama to dote on him. I know it will be an adjustment for all of us. The worries you have when you are having your first, like pretty much how to care for this little life in all aspects and what if, what if, what if....... pshhhht, I wave my hand at that. Even though all babies are different, I feel pretty confident in those aspects. So now the concerns are, how to handle a toddler AND a newborn.

 I've commented that my "uniform" the first 2 trimesters was dresses and skirts. So if there is a "uniform" for this last one, jeans with a tank/tee topped with some sort of loose kimono, cardigan, sweater, wrap, shawl, poncho type thing is it! This will be documented in my 3rd trimester review I am sure. I do feel a bit burnt out when it comes to getting dressed, which I know is normal. I think mostly because my footwear selection is limited. I have to plan outfits around the few pairs of options that fit my hobbit feet.

 Today's outfit is no exception. I am sporting a new shawl. When Jenni posted about Mara Hoffman's Eye Shawl earlier this year, I thought it was pretty darn cool. Anthropologie had sold out of them and it was hard to find elsewhere. I have long admired Mara Hoffman's designs (right now only owning this piece here). She is known for tribal designs with some collections leaning towards a specific culture. There have been quite a few pieces with Egyptian influence which is what I would categorize this as because of the eye. Being totally drawn into the tribal trend the last few years AND liking Egyptian history, this piece drew me in. Plus, it's unique color combination (neon pink, cornflower blue, mustard yellow) was like nothing else I had in my closet. I could not find the true Mara one, so this one is a knockoff that you can find here.

 I am wearing it with my all time favorite maternity jeans (Motherhood Maternity) that I seem to wear most every day, a non-maternity black top from Meijer (love the thumb hole detail in the cooler weather), and boots from Zulily. This last trimester "uniform" is going to be a great recovering Mom go-to outfit as well! Comfy and classic with coverage for nursing. I know I will be posting more of these combos!

Linking up with The Pleated Poppy

Walk. In. Closet.

I am so excited to finally be able to show my new closet! I should start by saying that I have wanted a walk in closet since I was a little girl! My cousin had one, and ever since I saw it I thought it was the greatest. I used to try to make my closet (a traditional bi-fold door type deal) into a walk in closet. Don't ask - it's hard to explain - but my parents always made me put it back the way it was. Being that I am so passionate about fashion / jewelry, this space makes me so very happy. Out of all the houses we looked at (I estimate about 20) this was probably the nicest closet. Maybe there was one other that was better. I love everything about our new house, and this is just the icing on the cake. I wish my pictures would have been better, but with a window and a light, it was hard. Also, my nicer camera is the one that got the scratched lens a few weeks ago. This is the view looking in:

BUT! Before we get to the new, let's compare the old. I took these pictures before we moved. We lived in a house that was built in the 30's, so closets were very small. Being that it was also a cape cod, the upstairs ceiling slanted which decreased space even more. This was my closet in the master bedroom....... there was another closet in the upstairs living area that Jon graciously used.

To say that my closet was "packed" would be an understatement. It went back deep, but it was hard to get things in and out. I had a low bar with a shelf on top, a corner shelf structure, hooks on the wall, and a shoe hanger on the door. Any space between the hanging clothes and wall was taken up by shoe boxes and bags. Clothes would constantly fall off hangers and/or be wrinkled. No matter how hard I tried to purge things and reorganize, it was never good. I think even the movers (4 guys) were surprised by how much I actually had in there. Heck, even I was surprised once I saw it all out!

And here is a view into Richard's little closet, where I stuffed hung all my dresses since the bar was too short in my own closet.

Again, not ideal.

So, back to the new closet. I have room for a chair. A chair! There is also room to lay down and roll around on the floor, but don't ask me how I know that. I've had this funky chair (and matching ottoman) since before I was married. My girly self just loved the print but of course it never really "went" with anything in our house. I am so glad I have the perfect place for it now. It is great for sitting down to put shoes on or lay potential outfits on. Or just taking a rest to decompress and take in this new chapter of our lives.

The room is perfectly symmetrical. I have slanted ceilings again, but there is a window and the rack/shelf layout is the same on both sides. To keep with the symmetry, I put a mannequin on each side as well as a peacock canvas (a matching set I found at Meijer, our one stop shopping chain in these parts). The feather curtain is from Pier 1 and I have had some panels of it for years! Again, they never really fit into the decor but I used them a lot for table clothes at jewelry shows I did. The day we closed on the house, we brought over some things that we didn't want the movers to move. The first thing I did was put this window treatment up! I was so excited to do so! The pillow on the chair that matches is also from Pier 1.



Here is the view looking to the left. This side is all tops, and is organized by button downs, short sleeves, sleeveless, tank tops and scarves. After the break it continues on with long sleeves, jackets, cardigans and shrugs. The top shelf has piles of folded t-shirts and sweaters - not crazy about this section but I can't really purge these items until after I am pregnant and I can see how they truly fit. The shelf in the middle is all jeans and a few baskets - one of socks and slippers and the other of swimsuits. I made room for my jewelry chest which I've had since I was a teen.

Here is a view looking to the right. This side is all dresses and bottoms. It starts with maxi dresses (which slightly touch the floor, but no where near the mess I had before) then short dresses. After the shelves there are pants and skirts. There is a place for our ironing board, and the top shelf has shoes lined up. Probably the hardest part of organizing was the shoes. Some were in boxes, some were not. I debated on making both upper shelves totally dedicated to shoes (and throwing away the boxes) but I needed the space for my folded items on the other side right now. So I ended up just lining up the ones that didn't have boxes, and then stacking the boxed ones under my shorter hanging items. My tall boots are on the floor in the previous picture, and I still need to decide on some gadget to keep them standing upright. I am liking the cut pool noodle idea to stuff inside!

Here's a view of the left upper shelf on the door side. Three of the wire mannequins and the bird necklace rack are from Pier 1. The other wire mannequin I got a Joann Fabrics. All of these purchases were years ago and these have been well used for organizing jewelry as well as show displays. The peacock canvas was a TJ Maxx find.

The other side has a necklace rack that I made (see here), bracelet tree (Pier 1), peacock tin (Hobby Lobby), and an embroidered peacock hanging.

Everything I've used is stuff I've already had, just waiting for the right time to all come together. It is so great to have my clothes AND jewelry all in one place. At the old house, I had some of my jewelry in the closet and the rest in my studio downstairs. This way, I can match things up so much easier! The only purchase I made (so far) is new hangers. This might not seem important to some, but I am so glad I did it! I had plastic hangers in all sizes and colors. I knew I wanted the space saving skinny hangers that have a velvet like coating. As with anything, I did my homework and got the best deal I could find....... boxes of 50 from Meijers were $19.99 and I bought them on a weekend when they had 15% off general merchandise for MPerks members. I choose the tan color. I just love how uniform they all look, and how my clothes are not sliding off of them. I still have to decide how I want to convert my clip hangers which I use for pants and skirts. They are all different as well, and currently hold 3 pieces per hanger. I would like it if each piece had it's own hanger so I am on the lookout for what I like for those.

When I got stumped on organization ideas, I headed to Pinterest. I previously had belts in a basket. I loved this idea of put them all on a mannequin for easy viewing. I am using random peacock plates I have to "collect" things like all of my sunglasses here.

Tank tops - again, I always tried to keep them folded in a basket. That never lasted. This Pinterest idea of looping them all onto one hanger with shower curtain rings is working great! I used a sturdy wood hanger I had though to accommodate the weight.

Here's just a few more views to end on. Jon, again, has a separate standard size closet in the bedroom. Although that didn't stop him from claiming that he didn't have room for his suits and took up a small space behind my dresses for them!?!?!! We have never shared a closet, except maybe when we were first married in an apartment which I can hardly remember now! It feels so good to have this space and be better organized. It houses a lot of my peacock collection, and it a colorful mix of whimsy and funky which I guess best describes my style anyway.