Outdoor Bar Cart Makeover

It mustn't be just me, because I see the bar cart is getting to be quite popular lately - like they were 40 or 50 years ago! I really wanted to find a bar cart, but wanted a vintage one that I could update and make over. We hunted all over the place, looking in thrift store after consignment store after antique store looking for something that would work. I found all kinds of bar carts - metal, plastic, big, small, short, tall. But, I had one in my mind and couldn't get that one out of my head!

Welcome to my Organized, Colorful Home

I haven't updated my home tour in awhile so I thought it would be fun to share how my house looks right now, since doing my new kitchen and a few other areas this year. So, I'm going to walk you through the house! If you want to now specifics about that room, just click on the link I provide for each room. 

Welcome to our home!

Our front yard got overhauled last year and is now completely drought tolerant and all native. Go HERE to read more about it. 

How to Freshen Up an Outdoor Candle

Summer is just about here and spring has been especially good to us this year - we've had a little bit of rain and lots of amazing weather. Well, living in Southern California, we've usually got good weather, but we also get lots of dirty smog and it can make things outside look awful! I have these lovely plastic, outdoor candles that I like to have on my deck to look pretty. But, they don't look so great! So, I made them pretty again!

Gardening Ideas for Earth Day

One of my favorite things to do is to be in my garden and get outside and just enjoy nature and soak up some sun. My mom has an amazing garden in her central coast home and so I probably have just grown up watching her tend to all her beautiful flowers and enjoy it too. 

In my southern California home, I've had to learn to adapt to our rather dry climate. We don't get a lot of rain. So, as I mentioned in my last post, we ripped out our front yard and never regretted doing that one bit! Today I wanted to share with you some of my past gardening I've done around here and abroad to inspire you. Plus, it's Earth Day, and why now celebrate with getting some earth under your fingernails? I am such a "nature" girl and love anything homeopathic, natural, and hollistic so it's fun to get outside and enjoy some gardening. So, I wanted to share some of my passed gardening posts with you to enjoy! It might get you some 

How to Label ANYTHING

So, you finally get that one spot super organized in your house and you want to keep it that way! So, what's the best plan? Perhaps you should LABEL! Yes! That's one of my favorite ways to keep things organized. Labeling is essential in a home with more than one person - and, let's be honest, I'd need it even if I lived alone because I'd forget where to put it! I've come up with a list of ideas for labeling just about everything and how to make those labels, too! 

The Perfect Stylish Storage Solution + Giveaway

This post is sponsored by Otto Storage Stools, 

but opinions about their product are completely mine!

Don't you love a good deal? Or when you find something you can't wait to share with others? I have both to share with you today. Otto Storage contacted me a couple of months ago and shared their product and I loved it right away. We gave away FIVE of these products on Instagram in July and I really had wished I got to try one out for myself...and now I'm able to share it with you and give away FIVE more. But, I have found the perfect, most stylish storage solution and I can't wait to show you!

Summer Tour of Homes {Organized} 2015

Welcome, if you are new here! 

Today I have the privilege of joining a whole lot of amazing bloggers for home tours of all our homes - and you may have just come from seeing Donna of Funky Junk Interiors, who has such an amazing way of making rust look beautiful, and a big thank you to Gina of The Shabby Creek Cottage for hosting this awesome summer home tour.

I'd like to say that I feel that I have really created a home that is truly my style, after living in this home for nine years. I hope you enjoy my colorful,  slightly "modern with a vintage twist" decor. I'm not afraid of colors or patterns. Our home was built in 1947 and I love the character, the built-ins, the closets, and all the vintage that comes from having a home from that era. Hopefully you'll also gain some ideas for an organized home too!

I want to start with the front of my home and welcome you to our beautiful, Southern California yard - all native plants, drought tolerant {we're really into green living here, if you are new here}. 

Our Cute Playhouse Updated for a Tween

Our backyard has been so much fun to have and use for all kinds of things - including entertaining of adults and kids. We recently got rid of our kids swingset, since they are now {almost} 16 and 11 1/2. They really didn't play on it anymore and we have a big RV parking pad there now! But, we DID keep the cute, little playhouse. I plan on keeping that around awhile. It's had a hard year, what with all the kids and people over that it sits under two large avocado trees that think it's fall in the summer and shed leaves all summer long...among other stuff. We never really finished the floor well when we made it over a few years ago. It shows!

Well, I came up with a {cheap} idea to keep the inside a little cleaner and found another cheap way to make the floors look amazing. 

My Secrets to Making {Summer} Entertaining EASY!

If you've ever followed me on Instagram, you'd notice that we have people over - a LOT! Like, we have people over weekly, sometimes several times a week, depending on what's going on and what time of the season it is. And, we have people over year round on our outdoor patio. We can do that since we live in a place that has such great weather. But, no matter where you live, your can still get some ideas from me on how to make things easier when entertaining. Sadly, after asking on Facebook, many of my readers tell me they NEVER have people over! Oh, you are missing out on so much when you don't. It's so great to share your home with others. 

Our {Americana Themed} Outdoor Patio Decorating Updates

Spring is here and undoubtedly you are either already outside as much as possible or you're getting ready to be! We are definitely enjoying the spring weather and our outdoor patio is officially spruced up! I'm so excited and can't wait to show you my decorating updates!

Disguising a Big, Ugly Object in Our Yard - the RV Journey

While I'm thrilled we bought a "new to us" RV motorhome a couple of months ago, it's easy to get tired of looking at this ginormous beast that's sitting in our backyard and realize that it's just ugly! I'm planning lots of DIY on the INSIDE of the motorhome, but first I wanted to do a bit of camouflaging of the beast on the outside. What do I mean?

My Best DIY Projects Ever!

I LOVE to do DIY projects. I LOVE spray paint. I LOVE to decorate and transform spaces in my home, especially. Do you? I was looking back through all my projects I've done over the last 4 1/2 years and I know that you might enjoy seeing what I've done. Perhaps you've never even seen them since you're newer to Organizing Made Fun. But, I'm a spray painting queen! Ha! I love that stuff. And, I like changing things up - I love color and patterns!

25 of My Best Organizing Hacks!

What is a "hack" - as in organizing hack? It's modifying or customizing everyday {organizing} ideas to improve their functionality. So, I thought that showing you the best organizing hacks that I've ever done would be a fun way to start the year! Here are 25 of them!

Homeowner Woes!

Well, as much as I absolutely LOVE living in an older home, it DOES come with some problems from time to time. We got to experience that recently. I thought I'd share this with you as we are getting ready to make some changes and I hope to blog more about the DIY and updates on that, too. 

We are hoping to purchase  a used RV this year. In anticipation of this, we are putting in an RV "parking area" in our backyard. We have the perfect spot - the kids play area. Now that the kids are older, they aren't using that anymore. So, we decided that this would make a great place to park our future RV. 

Colorful Home Updates

If you recall, I shared with you our native, drought tolerant front yard landscape six months ago. It was a bit sparse - since it was newly planted. Our drought here in Southern California has only gotten worse, so it has already proven to be a smart decision for us to "go native" and we've seen a ton of growth in our front yard in the last six months! I've also added more color to the front yard and other places around our house I'd like to share with you...

Two Social Outlets!

If there were a couple of social places you may want to catch me, it's on Hometalk and Facebook! Yes, Pinterest too, but I can actually interact with more of you on Hometalk and Facebook than on Pinterest. I wanted to share with you why...why go on Hometalk? Well, I like finding all kinds of ideas for my home and then asking the people who did those projects questions about their projects! Yes, real people. Or if I have a home question, I can go on there and ask it and have others help me out, too! 

Our Outdoor Fireplace Ready for Entertaining!

Growing up in Northern California, I remember many nights eating outside on the deck that my dad built, especially in spring and summer. It was one of my favorite things to do - to eat outside. There is something so special about being outside in the evening, just enjoying family. I've now lived in Southern California since I went to college and then married my college sweetheart, who grew up here, for almost 25 years. When we bought this particular house in 2006, it was special to us right from the start. My husband envisioned a deck right outside...

Weekend Project - Outdoor Lighting!

 My next project for is a weekend project and I knew JUST what we needed around here as we look to get some things into shape.

A Southern California Outdoor Christmas Party

There is something wonderful about living in Southern California - don't get me wrong, I look fondly at your cold, snowy weather this time of year and think it would be marvelous to enjoy that. But, I'm a native Californian {grew up in Northern California Bay Area} and have a grown to love our weather and advantages. If you've never seen our deck and outdoor kitchen that my husband built go HERE to see more - this is where we had our party.

Update on our energy saving solar panels!

It's been over six months since we had our solar panels installed on our home. I told you about this and how they worked here. I posted a picture recently on Instagram of our current electric bill and many of you had said you were curious about whether we were actually saving money.