secrets of a stylist: organized chaos.
February and March have been slow months for work so I've been focused on organizing EVERYTHING at my house. From my styling clothes, prop room, linen closet, to underneath my bathroom sink. I don't know if it's nervous energy because "OMG I'm not working" or the "OMG I have to get this done NOW while I have the time" or a little of both. I LOVE to work! I LOVE my job! So not working is NO FUN for me! And it gives my brain a lot of time to focus on other things that cause anxiety which is also no fun. So, bring on the organizing! It's my happy place (I have a few of them) :). I love cleaning things out, letting go of the old, and finding a place for everything. A little organizing goes a long way.
With all this cleaning and organizing going on and my brain on overdrive, I decided that I wanted to have hard wood floors installed in my master bedroom. See what happens when I have too much time on my hands?
A sea of cream carpet.
I added a rug here to define the space and add a layer of texture.
But wouldn't that look so much better on hardwoods?
After chatting with my contractor, it was much more cost effective to get all three bedrooms done at once. Which meant, EVERYTHING from each bedroom has to go somewhere else. And my sneaky little brain decided that since everything would be out of the front spare bedroom, I should paint the walls and ceiling. Makes sense, right?
See that teal ceiling? After four years, it's time for a change!
Which then lead to me think about where everything should be moving forward. Both spare bedroom closets were filled with my styling clothes and I decided they should live in the basement with my other props. They had to go somewhere in the meantime anyway!
Living room area in the basement. I use this space for props too!
I basically have 3 rooms in the basement: a main living room and 2 smaller rooms (one is finished, the other is not). New plan! Move all props to one room and use the other one as the wardrobe room. But the new wardrobe room needs to be painted as well... which also means moving EVERYTHING out of there. This is totally normal, right?
New wardrobe room...still need to fancy it up but it's painted and ALL wardrobe is in there!
The "new" prop room!
I moved everything into the unfinished room except for my neutral dishes. They have lived on a built in bookshelf in the old prop/dish room aka the new wardrobe room. Eventually they will be in the new prop room on the wall where all of the chairs and barstools are. But first, I need to figure out where those will live! It feels like I'm playing a big game of Jenga!
I picked up a couple of shelving units for all the remaining dishes and such and moved them out of the old prop room.
I'm currently living in organized chaos with the furniture from the bedrooms spread out throughout the house. I'm trying not to let it bug me. I think I'm succeeding.
Most of the stuff from the three rooms I set up in the living room behind the grey chair I'm sitting in. So I don't have to see it when I'm hanging out in here!
I put my full length mirror in the spare bath across from the toilet. {Insert joke here}
Using the basement bathtub as art storage!
While making all these changes, I got booked on a giant cookbook job! I had to provide them with dishes, placemats, napkins and 25 surfaces! It forced me to stop and go through ALL of my dishes and clean, sort, and mark everything with my initials. I also was able to take a break and create a few hand painted surfaces for them to use too! So fun!
Here's a sampling of what I pulled for them. My assistant and I delivered everything on Saturday and what a relief that was! Now, back to organizing...
stylist tip: Hire a professional when you need to. I am a lover of DIY but sometimes it makes more sense for me to hire someone to get the job done quickly. I can paint a room, no problem. But is that the best use of my time? I was able to spend my time organizing my props (which will make me more efficient in the future) while a pro painted both rooms in less than two days. Boom.
I used Sherwin Williams paint for both rooms: Alabaster in the basement and White Flour upstairs. I love White Flour...not too warm and not too cool! This pic does not do it justice!
my secret: I totally had buyers remorse after I paid for my flooring! What am I doing? I'm barely working yet I'm getting all this work done on the house!?!? I had to remind myself that I've worked so hard the past 15 years building my business so that I can do what I need: take time off, upgrade my home, or take a vacation. It's feast or famine in this industry and it will come back- just trust in yourself. And voila...April is booking up! :)
Work on the floors begins today and I can't wait to show you the before and after pics! I'm going to make some styling changes, of course. :)
Thanks for reading! Have you made a big purchase and had buyers remorse? Do you live in organized chaos too? Please leave a comment or question below!
Until next time...cheers! xo tina