Resolve to: look less like a Schlubb

One of the things I realized that is missing in my life is a sense of fashion, and beauty. I have been neglecting my vanity like crazy and it had been making me depressed. Wearing stinky workout clothes covered in paint every day does not a sexy girl make. Thus! I am working on some improvements in my morning routine to facilitate the 5 minute make-over. If it isn't fast and easy, I ain't interested, basically. Sadly, this is the exact reason that I have been neglecting myself in the mornings: my closet is a holy mess, my bathroom has orange lighting and little storage that is pretty inconvenient as it is. I never wore jewelry because it was hard to find anything, and no where to put it on! Horror!

Not styled at all, I just got this quick shot to show my mom, and then never took another picture, so there you have it.

 So this is how I have (so far) systematically attacked my issues:

1. Closet make over. I cleaned out everything, EVERYTHING that I had not worn in the last year. All of my clothes can fit into a small coat closet now. Good.

2. My dresser inside the closet is hard to get to, too tall to use the top surface, and because it is from Ikea, falling the hell apart. Get a new dresser!

3. Makeup is in bathroom, where I have one deep, small drawer that is very low down and isn't good for my back, or for bathroom neatness or good for accurate face viewing. Move makeup to new area with better light, and mirror.

4. Jewelry collection is growing, but I had only an old clumsy box to store it in, on a dresser so high I couldn't see into it easily. Find convenient placement for jewelry and accessories, near mirrors and so I can see everything at once.

Enter: The dresser. Bought at Kudzu (an ok antique place near me, I go there a lot b/c its near me, and by a lot I mean a few times a year.) I also bought the entry dresser there, and our table.

This dresser is the perfect hight: vanity mirror on the top is perfectly level with my head. I can use the surface but don't have to bend over or take up room with a stool (as you would with a regular vanity situation, or low dresser).

Many shallow drawers! Perfect for being able to see everything you need upon opening said drawer.

Solid wood, in this case Walnut. I like solid wood for the texture. This particular dresser is slightly dorky, but charming and doesn't think too much of itself don't you know.

Making the space work:

I have that white chair that I bought a few years ago hanging out in our bedroom, and its important to me to keep it there. I had only so much space for a dresser, so it had to be a tall, skinny number. I was not willing to lose my ottoman, so it all had to fit by moving the marble side table to the other side of the chair, I hate a crowded table.

To make the space look cohesive I added art. The piece above the dresser is from OKL, the landscape is from an antique store, its a water color from the turn of the century. I painted the frame b/c it used to be light blue and way too 90's beach house for me, now the frame is Mark Twain blue by Valspar (I had it hanging around). The small portrait is an amazing gift from O, and the abstract is by me. I feel like it looks like I framed a child's art, but I still like the colors, and it punches up the potentially old lady feel. O calls it "Full Bear" b/c he says there is a big purple bear on his back, rubbing his tummy.


The floor lamp* is from here, and I say always, always, always use these kind of lightbulbs in a lamp that has an exposed bulb. The twin Chinoiserie lamps are by Ralph Lauren at Home Goods. The size was perfect, I like the pattern, but I want to change the finial to something funky.

You may notice that I just went ahead and painted up the drywall the same blue, Woodlawn by BM, b/c I don't have the patience to think about painting this room again. I don't love the blue because it looks very little boy blue in bright light, although it has the perfect amount of green to it when its shadowy, which is why I bought it in the first place (we had less light in there then.) Lordy this post is long.


Sources: 

Vanity Mirror, I like it because it is dim-able  and easily replaceable light source, I already bought two replacements. Makeup trays, I like that they stack, and are pretty. Jewelry trays. Two of these stack perfectly inside my drawers. I am not crazy about the color and the quality is just ok for the price (I always think these sorts of things are way too expensive), but I wanted it done, fast, and easy. I love how my jewelry looks now, its fun picking out something to wear! Have you noticed that I buy everything from Amazon? Its amazing.

* My mom says she had a pair exactly like this one when she was young. She gasped when she saw it, she said "I didn't know you had those, they are so old, where is the other one."