From San Diego to Chicagoland

Hello and welcome to our new home!

It is hard to believe, but it has been almost two years since we moved from San Diego to Chicagoland. After two moves in 18 months and a full year in our new home, life finally feels settled again, and I can give you a home tour.

You can read about our process of leaving the Navy and transitioning to civilian life here, and check the before pictures of our new home here.

I am still working on several small tasks, but the bulk of the work has been completed. We completed all the necessary repairs, painted the house both inside and out with some gorgeous colors, and now it’s time to enjoy the new season.

I hope you enjoy the home tour and come back often. I will update this post with photos from all other rooms as we complete them.

Tell me in the comments what’s your favorite thing! I would love to know.

The Living Room

SHOP THE LOOK

As soon as you enter the house and step into the foyer, you’ll see the living room to your left and the dining room to your right.

The Dining Room

This is the first view you’ll have of the dining room when walking into the house. The French doors you see in the back are the doors to my office. It used to be a sunroom, but since we don’t need another sitting area in the house, I’ve claimed it for my home office.

Addie and I have always shared an office, and it’s nice to have one each now.

SHOP THE LOOK

SHOP THE LOOK

The Family Room

These windows….

I was the only one to say no to this house. It’s a large home and I knew it would require time, energy, and money to keep it clean to my standards. But these windows and all the light that comes through them all day long convinced me to move here.

The house we lived in for the first 8 months here in Glenview was very dark, and I had a terrible first winter there.

SHOP THE LOOK

The Backpack Landing Spot

SHOP THE LOOK

Until we remodeled our laundry room/mudroom, this was where the boys would land their backpacks after school. It worked great, except that I prefer not to see all that mess. 😉

New post Why We Chose This House – New Home Tour on A Personal Organizer by Helena Alkhas

Styling a Cart and Being Ready to Entertain

As the weather starts to warm up and we all begin to venture out of hibernation, it’s time to start thinking about entertaining guests again. And what better way to prepare for guests than by stocking and styling a bar cart in your home?

Bar carts are wonderful because they can be personalized for any decor style. They’re more than just a functional place to store your cocktail accouterments; they can really contribute to a room’s overall design and become a signature piece in your home.

If you’re putting together a bar cart for a warm-weather get-together, read on for some tips on styling your piece perfectly!

The Essentials:

Every bar cart should be stocked with certain tools, no matter your drink preference. Things like a cutting board, ice bucket, and shaker are almost always must-have items. These items are also a great way to start infusing some of your style into the design; this beautiful cutting board would add plenty of character to your cart.

Next, of course, are the glasses to hold your drinks! Depending on what you’re serving, you may want to put out wine glasses, beer mugs, champagne flutes, shorter tumblers, or even copper Moscow Mule mugs. Displaying a variety of glassware of different sizes and shapes will help create visual interest in your cart.

Finally, we can’t forget the actual cart itself! There is a bar cart to match any style, whether you want something glam and gold, wooden, or acrylic. Personally, I would gravitate toward something simple so I can add touches to my personal style.

BARS YOU CAN STYLE

The Beverages:

This one is totally up to your preference, but I’ll tell you what we would stock our bar cart with. We drink scotch, red wine, and prosecco, so those are all must-haves. I also always try to make sure to have a good red wine on hand when hosting guests.

It’s unnecessary to have every liquor under the sun available; you only need to stock what you like to drink. However, if you want to please everyone at a larger party, a good list of basics to start with are vodka, gin, rum, tequila, and whiskey.

From there, you can build on and add common mixers like juices, club soda, bitters, and garnishes like lemons and limes.

Bonus tip: Display your mixers in glass carafes for a really luxurious touch. Building your liquor collection can be fun, and the different-colored bottles make for a great focal point when arranged on your cart.

BARS YOU CAN STYLE

The Fun Stuff:

Now that you’ve assembled your barware and beverage components, it’s time to add your personal touch. The online interior design service Havenly has a fun blog post on this topic that should inspire you to style your own bar cart.

A floral arrangement is a good way to add some height to your cart, and hanging a piece of art above the cart will give your guests something to chat about while they fix their drink. You can also express your personality with fun drink accessories like cute cocktail napkins, swizzle sticks, and a tea towel draped over the cart handle.

Finally, try adding one interesting piece (I’d go for something like this patterned vase) that’s purely decor-related to really tie in your bar cart style with the rest of your room. With these last few touches of your personal style, your bar cart should be perfectly stocked and ready to serve your guests!

Do you have a bar cart in your home? Are you planning on putting one together for the upcoming warm weather? I’d love to hear your styling ideas in the comments below!

New post Tips To Perfectly Style Your Cart on A Personal Organizer by Helena Alkhas

How We Decorated & Organized Our Small Powder Room

Organizing a small space will give you a quick sense of accomplishment and energize you to tackle what’s next. With that in mind, when we first moved into our new home, organizing and decorating our small bathroom was one of the first items on my long to-do list.

This post contains affiliate links, and I may receive a commission at no cost to you if you use these links and make a purchase.

This small bathroom is located on our first floor, next door to the laundry and adjacent to the living room. This powder room also serves as a guest room and holds our utility closet in what will eventually become a shower.

As we plan to fully renovate that bathroom and make it into a “real” guest bathroom with a shower stall, I initially wanted to keep that closet empty to avoid moving things around over and over.

However, where should we place everything that we frequently use if the laundry room next door doesn’t have adequate storage for bulky items like vacuum cleaners, brooms, or tall cleaning product bottles?

I didn’t want to store these items in the basement—too far! nor in the garage—too cold! As we didn’t have the budget to renovate the laundry room/mudroom right away, this future shower was the most convenient place to store all cleaning supplies, tools, and other items I’ll show you soon.

Another important consideration is that this is the official “powder room” of the house, and I wanted to tie it in with the living areas. So, the least costly and quickest way to do it was with a can of paint and some small changes.

Powder Room Color Selection

As I shared in this post, we wanted to try something completely different from our previous home in San Diego. That house was beige with white trim from head to toe, and we were ready to try something more exciting. We decided to use Indigo Batik as the main color in some areas and as an accent color in the adjacent rooms.

Considering that this is such a tiny bathroom, only 24 square feet, I thought any choice would be low-risk and easy to change if we didn’t like it. So, we went for it!

We had the wall painted in Indigo Batik, a dark but rich, almost velvety blue. We paired it with pure white trim and the ceiling in Simple White.

Another important decision was regarding the hardware. The original hardware was all gold or brown, including the door handle, the faucet, the toilet flush handle, the towel holder, the door stopper, the hinges, and the air vent. It was also old, and in many cases, it was chipped or rusted. It was time for a change!

We decided to go with rubbed oil fixtures; the contrast between the white and the blue is gorgeous.

To carry the colors in the decor in the living areas of the first floor, I used a metal candle holder with delicate, small gold dots, a beautiful trash can, and a gray hand towel—all from Target. When we have guests, I light the candle, and it looks so delicate!

The framed art is another great find from Home Goods.

There are many rubbed oil bronze fixtures on the market these days. Research a style that matches your taste, but also consider the quality and budget. If you plan on renovating anytime soon—even if it’s two years from now—don’t invest in the most expensive ones, as you may decide to change the sink or toilet, and the fixtures may not match the new ones.

In our case, changing the sink and toilet didn’t make sense as we will renovate this bathroom down the road, so we just wanted to spruce it up.

Accessorizing The Guest Bathroom – Less is More

I tend to hang less stuff on the wall and have less decor around the house these days.

Maybe it’s a change in taste, as I enjoy having “white space” in our home, or maybe it’s wisdom -I know how much work it takes to keep everything clean. The fact is that I haven’t felt the need to add anything above the toilet tank, as you’ll usually see in other homes.

I also skipped changing the mirror because I haven’t found anything striking, and I know that down the road, we’ll renovate the space to include a vanity and a new mirror.

So, I’m keeping it simple with the abovementioned items.

Organizing The Utility Closet

The space for the future shower is small, and we hope to find more space in an enclosed area next to it. We have a small closet with wire shelving and good lighting for now.

It has 2 feet 6″ x 3 feet, so it works quite well for a utility closet.

However, because it’s located in our powder room, I wanted to make sure it’s not screaming “cleaning supplies” when guests open that door.

Again, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money here, so I invested in these gorgeous baskets by The Container Store to store cleaning supplies and bathroom items like extra hand towels, toilet paper, and a basket with convenience items I keep for our guests.

I used Elfa shelf liners to line the floor and protect it from spills or scratches.

I still have to install wall hooks to hold the broom, mop, and other items, but that’s coming soon.

Here is a list of what this small bathroom closet holds. As you can see, it has an important function in our home!

I couldn’t be happier with the transformation of our powder room. It’s a pleasure to walk by it and see the beautiful colors and details, and it’s also a pleasure to find everything we need for cleaning and maintaining our home here. I love this mighty space!

Want to organize your bathroom? Download this checklist and get started!

Do you have a bathroom that needs a little TLC? Have you recently organized your small bathroom? Share your thoughts with me in the comments below!

New post Organizing A Small Bathroom Packed With Function on A Personal Organizer by Helena Alkhas