THE STORAGE SAGA

I certainly do not claim to be the guru of organisation. This is infact the source of much frustration to boyfriend as he has a living space neater and more organised than most navy seals. The man practically folds his t-shirts with a ruler. Me, not so much.

If you had to come and visit me, you would clearly be able to see who lives on which side of the bedroom, Boyfriends side looks like it was personally put together by Martha Stewart herself whilst mine resembles more of a 3D Jackson Pollock. You would think that living with the man would have influenced me somewhat in the organisation department but alas it has not. Instead I find myself panicking and putting things away anywhere and everywhere in the fear that he might find something that is not in its place and give me the eyes. I will very sheepishly admit that I have even found socks stashed in my desk drawer (yes, this is true). 


I have decided that since I am spending all this time and effort in sexying up our little love nest I might as well make a concerted effort to start cleaning up my act. The latest issue of Lonny  magazine just came out and the entire issue is conveniently inspired by storage, I figured it cant be so hard. Below I have made a compilation of pretty smart Storage solutions that I intend applying to the flat.

First up is this gorgeous jewelry armoire . I have had countless fights with my fiddly little jewelry box trying to stuff and tuck and compartmentalise all my sparkles so that the damn thing would close. I love the idea of a mini jewelry closet where I can keep all my treasures safe and sound. If anyone knows where I can get one locally I will be eternally grateful. I searched Gumtree and Ebay and I found the most beautiful one on Ebay and got completely over excited but then my bubble was popped when I realised that it is in America so that leaves me armoire-less- sob. I am going to have to befriend a carpenter if I am to realise my armoire dreams.

In the event that I am not visited by the armoire fairies I am going to have to make my own DIY plan. This pic above illustrates the result I want but I am going to have to come up with a cunning plan in order to get there. I intend on combining a wooden box, 3 cutlery holders covered in felt, a slick of paint and a lot of hope that it turns out well. When I get my act together I will take some piccies and let you lot in on the DIY action. 

image from here 

Storing bed linen, duvet inners, quilts etc is such a pain in the a** . They take up so much space. Mine is currently nesting in our top cupboard where I cannot reach very easily so every time I have to take it out I have to climb on a chair and wrestle a sheet, pillow case, duvet cover from the clutches of the huge bedding monster and then quickly slam the cupboard door shut before it pounces down on me. With the addition of a wooden drawer on wheels you can transform the dormant space sleeping under your bed into a useful storage space.

The Clear Box Company has revolutionised my closet. I open my cupboard I browse my sexy shoe library, I slide on a pair that is speaking my language and then I dress from the shoes up. These clever little boxes are available in packs of 3 from Macro .

I love these wicker boxes from Weylandts They are perfect for storing things like handbags and belts and other accessories. The best part is that they have good ventilation so when it is revoltingly hot in the first few months of the year, your goodies wont get all moldy and gross.

THE WORKING PROOF

Part two of my apartment therapy includes a quest to adorn my walls in beauty. During my search I came across the most feel good way of doing this in the form of a very smart organisation called The Working Proof. These smartie pants have created a place where art seeking desperados such as myself can come to satisfy their thirst for beauty and at the same time make a contribution to something meaningful.
The Working Proof seeks to promote art and social responsibility. They pair each print with a charity of the artist's choice and every time one of their prints is sold, 15% of the proceeds are donated to the chosen charity. Clever hu?


* This print was created by Frances Pelzman Liscio it is titled 'Two Dalias'  it features an intricate floral arrangement of dahlias, kalanchoe, violas and Christmas Cactus in various states of bloom and decay

BLOOMIN GORGEOUS

I love the idea of Giant letters Lounging up against my walls. Our Tv room wall has stood naked for an entire year because boyfriend and I cant decide what to do with it. He thinks his word cup picture deserves to live there But I have other plans...

Boyfriend has left me stranded in our flat for a whole month while he is off cavorting with all the Cape Epic lunatics in the windy mother city. While he is gone, I have decided that it is time to revamp our little House. This whole snowball vibe started when I left my window open and went off to work only to return and find my most treasured possession- a lamp given to me by my best friend on earth- smashed on my bedroom floor. So I started the search for a new beautiful lamp only to get completely wrapped up in gorgeous decor sites and an obsession with re-doing the entire flat! If I won the Super-ena lottery, I would import every piece of Blooming-ville and make their catalogue my home.

I love this rose cushion Im sure it would be DIY-able I am going to give it a try:)

WHAT THE HELL

As an ex Capetonian I often find myself fighting off stupid people's judgments about my mightier than thou attitude that, quote, "all Capetonians have." People always talk about how clicky they are and how you can only talk to a Capetonian if you send them a conversation via blackberry chat. I am the first to jump up and tell these stupid uncultureds to relax and actually visit the most heaven of towns first before you recycle a second hand chirp you heard from someone smarter than you. By now you can probably establish that I am a fiercely proud Capetonian and  won't take silly people bashing my roots. This weekend I found myself thanking god that I had the half Durbanite veil to hide under amidst all the Martha hate that was going on.

It confuses me that people are all angry with her for talking about herself. If I am not mistaken, Martha Stewart is a brand worth more than Julias Malema. It is centered around herself-what did you think she was going to talk about?  I found her talk to be completely inspiring. She has got incredible business savvy and is more than happy too share it with any body that has ears. Lots of people were pissed off because she went on about glitter and showed a video about a glittery ham but do you know how much she makes off glitter a year? I bet its more than you make a century. The point of the glitter talk was not to let you know just how much she loves the shiny stuff but rather that if you are smart enough to identify a small somewhat unimportant object, such as glitter, and you put as much energy into it as you do tweeting you can expand it over an astonishing number of platforms and essentially make a lot of money.

Maybe I am the only person in the crowd that found her to be an inspiration. She was engaging and interesting and made me feel utterly empowered. She even gave me a hug when i got her signature:) 

One of the things I took away from the talk was to learn to draw inspiration from the natural things around me. Martha Based her first paint range on the colour ways of these gorgeous Araucana eggs. Below are some of her room treatments in these colours.