Decorating a Filing Cabinet

A while back, I mentioned that we moved my husband's office downstairs. It has been working out great (he's even keeping it clean! Miracles do happen!). But there a few things that have been bugging me.

One is the side of the filing cabinet, which is in full view from the living and dining rooms. Here's what it has looked like:

Functional, but oh so unattractive.

I had some picture frames in the attic which I wasn't using that I thought would go great with the filing cabinet. And I'd be much happier looking at pictures than business notes. But how to hang them on the filing cabinet?

Then I came across some thick red ribbon at Walmart clearanced at $1.00 a spool. Perfect! I purchased some magnet clips from Staples to hang the ribbons from. What with adding ribbon, I figured I'd "man" the arrangement up a little bit with the metal clips. It is a guy's office, after all.

So, I sat down the photo frames and the ribbon and my hot glue gun and went to town. The result was this:

It was okay, but a tid bit boring. So I went to work again with some green ribbon I already had from decorating the living and dining rooms and ended up with this:

Much better! And much more pleasing to me than looking at random bits of paper.

I have had to promise to make Mr. 31 some kind of bulletin board, but one that can be posted in a more inconspicuous spot. Win-win!

Please check my link party page for the parties I'll be joining!

Rearranging My House

I had a very busy but productive weekend.

Saturday, I decided to go yard saling (that can be a verb, right?). I have a wish list a mile long and a decorating/furnishing budget an inch short, so I decided that yard sales, thrift stores, and Walmart will have to be my shopping destinations for the time being. I didn't find too much on Saturday, though, so it was kind of disappointing. Maybe it was the neighborhood that the block sale was in, or maybe I'm out of the loop with yard sale pricing, but I don't remember ever paying $3 for a paperback book at a yard sale. Sorry. Not gonna do it. However, I did find 3 really good quality frames for $2 total and a stack of really good cloth napkins and a couple of tablecloths for $1, so I guess that made the trip worth it!

Then, on Sunday, my husband decided that we were going to move his office downstairs. His office has been upstairs in a spare bedroom since we moved into our home. But the temperatures got unbearable in that room this summer, so we moved him downstairs temporarily (so I thought). However, once we got the computer down there, he liked the temperature and was actually more productive downstairs than upstairs (he works from home, so productivity is important!). And I figured out that I liked him downstairs too; when he's working in the evenings I can see him from the living room and kitchen, so it feels like we're spending time together more so than when he's sequestered upstairs.

What made the decision easier was the fact that my sitting room had no furniture in it, which sounds strange, but let me explain. A couple of months ago, I came home to discover my sitting room carpet in my driveway. That particular carpet had been a source of nasty smells since we moved in (having to do with the previous owner's incontinent dog and then our cats' assumptions that, since the dog went there, so could they. Argh!!). We laid down a laminate floor during our pre-fourth of July home-fixing-up extravaganza. But, for some reason, the furniture never made it back to the sitting room. I'm not sure why, it just didn't.

So, I spent my Sunday carting furniture and electronic equipment and office supplies from my second floor to my first floor. It actually doesn't look too bad, though like the rest of my house, I hope in the future to replace our during and post-college laminate/particle board furniture with what I am calling "grown up" furniture. Once we get everything set up, I'll post some pics.

After all that hard work, we ended our weekend with some Olive Garden (L-O-V-E me some Zuppa Tuscana!). And what could be better than that?