Losing the Entertainment Center

Hey, just-marrieds!

Since we got married, our apartment has been a constant work in progress. It is adorable, and we love it, but there is still a lot to do. We purchased a smaller flat screen TV with our abundance of Target gift cards a little while back, planning to eventually mount it on the wall. Until we purchased a wall mount, we made do with an entertainment center. Life got crazy, and the entertainment center became a dresser-nightstand-desk-entertainment-center mess. It looked something like this.

It worked, but it looked pretty bad. I was so excited when Austin mounted the TV (see his post about that adventure here), we were both thrilled! It looked great!

But there were wires hanging everywhere, and the DVD player's cords couldn't reach anymore. Not to mention the piles around the bedroom from moving the entertainment center. We were in a bit of a dilemma.

This is just a small pile of what was on the entertainment center.

We needed to find something fast. While I was at Bed Bath & Beyond buying the shoe organizer from my last post, I also found the solution to our problems. I had gift cards and 20% off coupons for both items, so I was pretty pleased with myself. I think it cost a little over $40 after the coupon.

This cute nine-cube shelf seemed like the perfect fit for our room. I was able to put it together all by myself in about an hour. (And I'm terrible at this kind of stuff, so if I can do it, you can too!)

The DVD player fit nicely on one corner.

Here is a picture of the final product!

One of my favorite things about it is that each little cubby can hold something different. It's kind of fun. :) 

I put books in one.

Austin's watches, gym gloves, and
such got their own organizer in another.

I'm still working on filling it up, but I'm loving it so far! Wish me luck! More posts soon to come. :)

Oh! One last thing. Just to show where the entertainment center ended up. It is loving its new home in the living room. :)

Talk to you soon!

10 Minute Closet Fix

Greetings to my fellow just-marrieds!

I have been busy around the apartment, organizing, painting, and putting things together. I can't wait to blog about all my adventures!

Marriage comes with lots of gifts! Our friends and family were very generous, and we are still finding uses for many of the gift cards. There are many things that newlyweds have to slowly acquire, and the extra money is incredibly nice to have around during the early months. Lately, when I have a project to tackle, I see if any of the gift cards can help. 

Project Number One:

Shoes. I have a lot of them. Austin married me in spite of my slight obsession, but they made quite a mess in our apartment when we dumped them all on the floor of the closet in the second bedroom. (I honestly have too many to put them all in our closet.) I left the pile there for a while, but it was always a chore to find a matching pair, and I hated the mess. One day, when I realized how many Bed Bath & Beyond gift cards we had, I decided it was time to find a fix.

There are many options for shoe organization, but many designs are more suited to about 10 pairs of shoes. Maybe a few more. I have at least 30 or 40 pair, so I knew those weren't an option! After some searching, I finally found one that was bigger. It said it could fit around 30 pair, so I decided it would be a good place to start. It wasn't overly cute, but the assembly looked easy, and it fit the budget. So I bought it and got to work!

I wish I had a picture of how the closet looked before so you could see the difference--but it is unbelievable how much better it looks now!

The final result!

My boots wouldn't fit on the rack, so I just put them on either side.

 I absolutely love it! The closet looks so much tidier now, and it couldn't be easier to find the matching shoes!  More to come soon! Thanks for reading! :)

Hello! Welcome to my blog.

Hello to all you just-marrieds out there!

Welcome back from the honeymoon! Like you, I am a newlywed. And I love it! But there is so much to figure out about life once the honeymoon is over. Cooking for two, running your own home, planning (and using) a budget, and all the other aspects of marriage can be difficult to figure out. In this blog, I hope to share some of my own findings, projects, and advice for my fellow just-marrieds out there. Look for blogs soon about organizing your home, DIY projects, decorating on a budget, and fun dates for two!

-Malia