My Crazy Project Life

Hey everyone! It's time for another project recap. As I was putting this together, I realized there is a lot I hadn't shown you. Apparently I have been a busy bee. So let's get started. I'm going to start with some of the older projects. First, earrings. I did these awhile back for a friend's birthday. She is my biggest earring fan, and I hadn't made any earrings in forever. I made her 2 pair. For the first pair I designed a butterfly, and then colored it to represent the Jamaican flag (That's where she is from).

For the second pair I wanted to try something a little different. I had the idea to do something with a mixed media vibe. I designed a random doodle using an ink pen and tracing paper.

Then I colored it in using markers. Once it was colored, I cut out random pieces and glued them down to the base using Mod Podge. To finish it off, I free handed another design around the cut out. Honestly I wasn't sure at all how these would come out. It was a complete gamble.  

I have to say I am totally pleased with the result though. They're beautiful. I kind of want some for myself now. That reminds me, for those of you wondering when I am going to start making earrings again? You know, I don't know. I have plenty of pieces and materials. I'm just waiting for the inspiration to hit me.

Next up is a piece I designed for my aunt last Christmas. At the time she had just moved into a new place. Unfortunately in her previous home there was lots of wood paneling, and that means she didn't get to hang too much on the wall. So I thought a piece of art would be a great idea. My aunt loves butterflies and the motto "Live, Laugh, Love" so I put the 2 things together. I sketched out 3 Butterflies, and incorporated a word into each one. 

Can you see the words? I added the 3 butterflies to one sheet of paper, gave them a pink border (her favorite color), and finished it off with a frame.

It's now hanging in her kitchen. 

Next let's talk about organizing. After 2 years of living here one of my art supply closets had gotten quite unruly. If you know me then you know that clutter drives me absolute bonkers. So I did something about it. Here is what the closet looked like before.

I also had stuff in an unfinished room next to the closet. 

It was a mess. I didn't know if I was coming or going. The final straw was when something fell and broke something else. So I literally took everything out. Then I assessed the situation. I decided the best way to maximize my space fully was to add shelving all the way up. I added brackets and pre-cut shelving from Home Depot.

Once the shelving was installed, I added everything back in. I made sure to measure how tall the tallest items were to make sure there was space for everything. First rule in organizing, know how much space (height and width) you need for everything before you start. 

I know it probably doesn't look organized but trust me it is.

Now for the before and afters. Often times I don't really do full blown projects. I more so change something I already have. First my jewelry armoire. When I originally built it, I painted it gray to be more neutral. 

As time went by I realized I had lots of neutrals and wanted a pop of color. I repainted it a purple/fuchsia color. 

I love it now! The bright color adds a "KA-POW" in the corner. 

The next before and after came in the form of footwear. Earlier this year I cleaned out my closet. I got rid of what looked like a mountain of clothes and shoes. In that mountain was a pair of white Pumas. 

They were good sneakers, but I barley wore them. I decided rather than throw them away I would give them a face lift. I grabbed my leather paints and painted away.

I personally love them. I've been wanting some bright colorful sneakers. Even better that they didn't cost me anything. 

One of my most recent projects was a baby gift. Well not really baby anymore, more like very cute 1 yr old. My friend's son celebrated his first birthday a couple of months ago. Since I was not feeling very inspired last year, I promised that I would make him something this year. I happened to see an unfinished toy box at Michael's. So I bought it, and put my TM.Original touch on it. 

Now for my favorite projects, PAINTING! Art not walls. It's been nice getting back to drawing and painting. I love using lots of color, especially on things that don't take up my entire garage. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook then you may have seen some of these already. I got this idea while trying to think of art for my closet room. I wanted to design corsets/dress forms, but in the style of different decades of fashion. So I started with a bodice. 

Then I sketched out what I thought each decade represented. This was not as easy as I thought it would be. Some styles carried into multiple decades, some decades had more than one distinct style, and some styles were hard to capture in just a bodice (i.e how to represent bell bottoms without legs). I started with the 80's, and just continued with whichever one inspired me next. 

I know it's hard to see, but here is the completed set. I had to modify my original idea from decades to eras of fashion. Some of them won't make any sense until I color them in. 

I really wanted this to be good quality coloring. I wanted nice dimension, so I used a mix of different materials and colors. I actually bought some new pencils for this project. Well not just for this project, but it was a good excuse to buy fun new art supplies.

Again I started with the 80's. I knew exactly how I wanted it to look. 

Then one by one I completed the rest. I did have to modify some of them to get the best look. I would say it's more so my interpretation of the era or style. They are in order of time though. 

Renaissance Era, 20's, 30's and 40's

50's, 60's, 70's

80's, 90's, and The Future

After they were all completed I added the stands to the bottom of each form, and added a frame. The frame I made from some moulding I had lying around. It's an odd size so buying something wasn't an option. I painted it rose gold with paint I got from none other than Target. They have recently added a small craft section to their stores. Very EXCITING! Just adds to my love for Target. 

Next project was a remix of an old project. Years ago I painted this.

I love the painting, but the color didn't go with what I wanted. So I had an idea to remix it. I sketched the same image creating a black and white drawing. Then did a colored design around the edge.

The last piece of artwork was something I just did a week ago. I needed a piece of art for one of my gallery walls. I had the canvas, but no ideas of what to put on it.  I did have an idea of color with a black and white contrast. I tried a couple of things, but they ended in FAILS. Then some how I came up with this. I'll be honest this isn't what I was going for when I started. It was more of, I started with one idea, and then just went wherever my creativity took me. 

I'm quite ecstatic about the end result. Some of my best pieces emerge from a state of "I have no idea what's going to happen here". 

So, where did all of this art go? They were all for my new Gallery Walls. I've noticed (don't know why I'm surprised) that I have quite the mini art collection. I have a mix of pieces I have done, pieces I've bought from stores, and pieces I've bought from other artists online or at festivals. Gallery Walls are all the rage these days, and I decided to create a few to showcase my own small collection. 

The top floor has one in between my bedroom and my closet

You'll notice 2 of the pieces I just did. The others I bought. Below is a painting I did a few years ago combining black and white patterns. 

Here's my dress form art on the wall along with a few other pieces. The photograph is of a Wizard of Oz store display in London, and the Marilyn picture I found at Homegoods.

The second Gallery Wall is heading down to my office. 

I like graffiti art. The 2 large prints I actually found at Ikea, and the smaller one I got from an artist at the Dogwood Festival here in Atlanta. 

To the right is more a collective of random things. 

So that's it for the round-up. That was actually more than I thought. This makes me look a lot more busy than I actually am. I guess that's the life of an artist. Your brain is always working, and no idea is off limits. Hope you enjoyed.

Until then...It's on to the next project!

Welcome to the Dollhouse

I am a girl who LOVES fashion. I can not deny it.  I love clothes, shoes, bags, hats, all of it. I guess I get that from my grandmother. Let's talk about a lady who always "stepped-out" going to church. One of my dreams in getting a house has always been to have a giant walk-in closet...and when I say giant I mean like CRIBS big. Those amazing Pinterest boards filled with celebrity closets, that's what I was going for. Sadly I did not get it. It was one of the things that I had to compromise on. Though my closet is a pretty decent size (by normal people standards), it doesn't work for the amount of clothes, shoes, etc that I own. Oh and before someone says anything, I am not trying to be on the Minimalist Journey. Nope, not for me. 

2 1/2 years ago when I moved in I had no thoughts on what to do with my extra bedroom. Naturally the thought was to put a bed in there and make it a guest room, but it was such a big room I figured there had to be a better way to utilize it. Then one day a friend of mine said, "You should make this a dressing room". I thought to myself "What?!, that's so obnoxious". Secretly though I actually kind of liked the idea. So I went for it, and a couple of weeks ago finally finished it. 18 months in the making, and it's one of my favorite rooms in the house. I realized though I blogged a lot of the projects in here, but never the full tour. So here we go. Here is what the room looked like originally.

See, I told you it was pretty big. The last owners had it as their daughter's room. It was actually very cute. This is what it looked like post my move in. It became the catch all storage and shoe room.

I know, before you say it...apparently I've been told that I have a lot of shoes. In my personal opinion it doesn't really seem like that many. However, I guess that's all a matter of public opinion. The shoes are actually what prompted the need for the closet room. I like everything to be in one spot. The actual closet was large enough for clothes and some accessories, but the shoes were definitely not going to fit. 

First thing was to get rid of the paneling and paint the wall. I woke up one morning, and with the permission of my uncle (because no serious demolition takes place without his expert OKAY) I tore that sucker down. Luckily the paneling was not done professionally, so it was not that bad to take down. I patched up the holes and loose pieces that I had ripped off in my excitement of destruction. For the paint color I went with a warm off-white. I liked the blue color, but it was not a good backdrop for clothing.

Now, I will say I am not the biggest fan of the color. I really wanted it to be a bit warmer. However, this room was not easy to paint and since it was going to be covered with clothes I just left it. Next I designed the space. This room only has 2 empty walls. The other ones are filled with windows and doors, so that limits my options. I tackled the shoes first since they were in need a of a permanent home. I thought about several fancy solutions but the one that made the most sense was just to go up the wall. Click if you want to see the full blog. Shoe Wall

Next I added clothes racks. I measured out everything so I knew exactly how much space I needed for each group of items.  

I went with wire closet racks instead of built-ins. If I was renovating an actual closet I probably would have went that route. Being that this is a room, I didn't want to go full scale. I wanted to stick with something that could be taken down or repurposed if need be. I also used adjustable shelving, leaving myself the option to change the setup or height if I needed. For longer items I bought a rolling rack from IKEA. In between the racks I added a BILLY bookcase also from IKEA to use for folded items. For the full blog click Closet Install.

That was a year ago. Today this is what it has turned into. 

I am absolutely in love! I affectionately call it My Dollhouse. This closet is amazing. Surprisingly it has really helped me keep my clothes buying in check. Since everything is so out in the open, I can see just how much of it there really is. I find myself less inclined to feel like I don't have anything to wear. Instead I just look for something I haven't worn in a while, and at times try to wear it in a different way.

My shoe wall is still intact, and having them set up like this makes me feel like I'm shopping every morning. At the very top I added my fedoras. I love a cool fedora. Until recently they were stacked on top of each other, so I would always forget them. I decided to utilized the empty shelf and spread them out. Oh and don't laugh at my step stool. When you're vertically challenged such as I, it's very necessary. 

I function best when I can visualize and see everything. If I can't see it, then I forget it exists, and thus never wear it. So you'll notice everything for me is on full display. My clothes are organized by item, and then by color or style. That's what works best for me. I am also really organized. So my OCD comes out heavily in this room. The left side are my blazers and tops. 

The right side are my dresses, skirts, and pants. The rolling rack to the right side of that has longer dresses and rompers as well as my warmer dresses. On the bottom I keep my sandals. 

The shelving in the middle is where I put my pants and t-shirts. I like my items to be a little more flat so I went with the deeper shelving. 

I did well in my planning because I haven't had to redesign anything...yet. 

To give the room a little "Fancy" I added a chandelier. This one I purchased from IKEA. Shout out to my wonderful electrician uncle for guiding me in putting it up. Underneath that is my fancy pink ottoman. Which my best friend Fatima would be upset if I did not mention that she helped me tuft the buttons. Full blog post here Pink Ottoman 

Next to the rolling rack are my belts. I had a really hard time trying to figure out how to organize these. With minimal wall space I had to get creative with some items. One day while at a festival, one of my friends said those magical words "Tanaira, you can make that" and the light bulb went off. Full post here - Belt in Boxes

In front of one of the windows is where the island ended up going. I built this piece to hold my bags and some other random accessories. Full blog post here - My very own Island

I free handed a design on the top. I have definitely contemplated the glass display look, but the painting is one of a kind.

The far end is where I put my guest area. I originally was going to build a small day bed, but then I realized  how far it would actually protrude in to the space. Luckily for me I just got a new couch, and since the original couch was pretty deep I decided to just move it upstairs. It splits apart into to 2 pieces, so it works out perfectly. When someone comes to stay I can just pull it out. 

I made a few pillows to dress it up.  

The scarves are the newest thing. I originally had these hanging on a door, but with the reconfiguration of the bed/couch it opened up space on the other wall. I actually like them better over here.

So that's it. The Dollhouse revealed. Hope you enjoyed. My closet room is one of my favorite places in the house. It makes getting dressed so much fun every time. I also realized I'm pretty good at organizing and designing closet systems. It's the only room I haven't had to change. A giant plus, considering I have changed every room in this house at least once, and in some cases several times. So it's nice to still LOVE this room. You know, I may have found my calling. Hmmm.... Well, I guess it's on to the next project!