After last week’s blush-worthy drawer makeover, here’s a less intimate organising project.

The top drawer of my dressing table is where I store the rest of my bling that isn’t suitable to hang on my jewellery rack.

As you can see from the top photo, I was already separating some of the jewellery using cheap plastic trays but the headbands, fascinators and other miscellaneous objects (my lifetime supply of my favourite discontinued perfume, for example) were all floating around in the other half of the drawer. The trays worked really well for the chunkier items such as bangles and necklaces but smaller items such as earrings and brooches could easily get lost or damaged.

(For eagle eyes who have spotted my embarrassingly juvenile jewellery box, that will be the subject of another project coming up soon.)

I picked up this tray from Howard’s Storage World which was perfect to organise all the smaller sparkly things. I love the adjustable dividers to customise the spaces and the sliding tray on top to provide extra room.

Meanwhile the existing trays work well for the larger pieces like hair accessories. Boxed pieces and gloves easily fit into the gaps around the edges.

I love that the like-items are all kept together now so it’s really easy to find what I need. Plus the smaller compartments mean no more losing those itty bitty gems.

How do you store your jewellery: hanging out in the open or hidden in drawers?

This post is sponsored by Target.

So we haven’t painted the bedroom as discussed (yet) but I did do a mini update on the weekend.

It’s always nice to freshen up your linens with the change of season, don’t you think? Not only are you likely to be nesting down for the cooler months but the stocktake sales are on so it’s the perfect time to update those faded, threadbare sheets.

We still love our quilt cover,  but the mattress protector was literally falling to pieces so I picked up a nice thick Target mattress protector to replace it. The previous one had the elastic straps at the corners which never kept it in place so the new one is fitted so it doesn’t bunch up underneath the sheets.

The sheets, which had been purchased to go with a different quilt cover, were off-white so I also grabbed a crisp white Target Essentials sheet set. Such a simple update but I feel like I’m staying in a swanky hotel!

The nights have been getting very chilly (just ask The Man who has to deal with my freezing cold feet) so a colourful chenille throw rug was a much-needed addition to cosy up the bed. I love the bright aqua which ties into the colour of the existing quilt cover and cushion.

Finally, I had my eye on Betsy’s retro style but when I spotted this funky lamp (sorry, no link available) I changed my mind. The Man loves it too and he couldn’t believe it when I told him it wasn’t from some trendy designer boutique.

Next weekend I think I need to schedule some me time curling up in bed with a good book and a cup of tea.

I adore fresh, clean bedding as a little everyday feeling of indulgence. How about you?

What are your tips for small changes that seem much more luxurious than they cost? Share them in the comments!

When I was digging through my files to find our house floorplan the other day I came across the ‘before’ photos of our house. (These were saved directly from the real estate agent’s website so they are shown with the previous owner’s furniture.)

Living area:

Dining area:

Main bedroom:

Second bedroom (now my studio):

Bathroom:

Courtyard:

Communal garden:

Here are a few more angles that weren’t covered by the agent’s photos (excuse the terrible photography – this was pre-blog and were only intended for my own reference).

Landing:

Laundry:

Kitchen:

The only room that hasn’t changed at all is the bathroom, which we will be remedying soon.

I still can’t get my head around the fact that this was over five years ago. It’s fun to look back and see how far we’ve come!

I can’t believe I’m actually publishing this.

But I know how much you love a good organising before & after so I am putting aside all modesty (sorry Mum) and sharing my newly organised smalls drawer with you. The things we do for blogging!

It’s only a little drawer of my bedside table and it was so overflowing so badly I could barely close it. I chucked out anything that didn’t pass the ambulance test (you know how your mother always told you to wear your good undies just in case…) which immediately gave me more space but it was still a total jumble.

I took out the tights and pantyhose as they kept getting snagged on the wood (I’m bad enough causing runs with my fingernails and jewellery so I don’t need my storage to add to the problem!). They’re now being stored in a spare tote bag but I may think of another more permanent solution.

I then used one of these drawer dividers to easily separate the socks and undies – no more rummaging around to find the pair you’re looking for.

It’s the small things, right?

It just occurred to me that in three years I’ve never shown you a floorplan of our home! So here it is, to give you an idea of how the space is laid out.

As you know, it’s quite a compact little townhouse with two bedrooms and a courtyard. The wall on the right is shared with the neighbouring townhouse but we never hear them (unlike the previous tenant, who had a fondness for screaming matches with her family and boyfriend). Along the other exterior wall runs a shared walkway where we keep the bins.

We have a small patch of grass and a carport out the front but it’s all open as a communal area (we’re in a big unit block) so we don’t use the front ‘yard’. Unfortunately we’re also not allowed to do much with the exterior of the building, hence the 10+ year old coat of blue paint flaking off the woodwork.

The layout is pretty typical of a townhouse of this age (mid-70s) in our city although some of them have an extra toilet in the laundry which we sadly don’t have. Having guests go through the laundry to access the courtyard isn’t ideal of course (again, typical of the time) so we try to keep it tidy and I decorate it with art and potplants to make it feel less utilitarian.

Downstairs is all floating timber floorboards, except the kitchen and laundry which are tiled in white (but we do plan to replace them with matching floorboards at some stage to help it flow better). The landing and bedrooms upstairs are carpeted in a neutral beige colour.

The kitchen and master bedroom are both of a good size. The living area feels a bit cramped but that’s more due to our oversized furniture (we bought with future homes in mind) than the actual size. The second bedroom (my studio) is very small which can get a bit frustrating since I spend about 50 hours a week in there so an airy, spacious studio is high up on my future home wishlist!

The fill colour is the wall paint of each room. It looks truly awful when you look at it like this though! I think I’ll have to add in other swatches to give a better idea of the overall colour palette (which is much less 70s forest-y than the plan indicates) including furnishings and accessories. (I couldn’t get the shade of brown in the bedroom quite right either, it’s much greyer and less poo-coloured in real life, I promise.)

I figure the plan is fairly self-explanatory but let me know if you have any questions about how the space works.

Have you ever had a decorating epiphany?

Sure, I often get ideas for the house but they’re usually after the realisation that there is actually something wrong with the space, followed by careful consideration. It’s never before come as a bolt out of nowhere.

The other day I walked into our bedroom – which I had not even been considering redecorating – and it hit me: These walls should be navy.

It came totally out of nowhere and now every time I’m in there I think, yep, this would look so much better in blue. With gold accents please.

I still really like the actual wall colour we chose – and I adore how dark it is – but now I think it’s a bit too much brown with all the timber furniture and brown curtains. I’m not in love with our bedroom furniture (the bed in particular I would definitely not choose now) but I think the honey tones would look lovely against a dark blue wall.

I have zero time to repaint right now (The Man doesn’t even know I’m considering this – um, surprise!) but I can’t shake the idea. It wouldn’t take nearly as long as it took to paint the first time because the hard work (surface prep, ceilings, trim) is still all fine.

Apart from the effort involved, my other hesitation is that I’m worried it’s a bit much colour since most of the house is bright green. In the not-too-distant future we will be moving on from this house and I was conscious of trying to give the whole house a more neutral and cohesive colour palette – not less!

The photos above are from a little while ago (too dark to take photos right now) but apart from switching up a couple of accessories it looks the same now.

So what do you think? Am I crazy to be considering repainting a room that we only painted a couple of years ago or do you reckon I should go for it?

And if the latter: what do you think of my colour choice?

I went to a couple of my favourite antique shops recently – oh my, how I have missed it!

Granted, I was actually shopping for props for a photo shoot, but it was still lovely to browse the gorgeous vintage wares.

Naturally, I found all kinds of other things apart from the props I was supposed to be looking for. I was very restrained and only brought one of my finds home with me: this unusual bottle with a marble stopper. It is embossed with ‘J.D. Murphy Crystalworks Wellington’. Since my maiden name is Murphy I had to have it!

My friend brought over the amber jar with flowers when we had her over for dinner (so thoughtful!). I love how the flowers pick up the yellow and oranges of the print behind it.

Do you have any fun decor items with your name or initials on it?

To round out Birthday Month, how about a peek at a very special pressie?!

The Man (whose birthday is 6 days after mine) and I received a coffee machine from his family for our birthdays. Hooray!

My father-in-law was chatting to me quizzing me about coffee makers a few weeks ago. In hindsight clearly doing a bit of sneaky research however I was completely oblivious and thought he was asking for advice to upgrade their machine. How clueless am I?

Regardless, I still managed to convey that in the (to my knowledge, hypothetical) situation of us getting a coffee machine it would need to be a very compact piece to fit in our kitchen. A great hulking appliance was not going to work in our little nook!

I also wanted one that uses pods because coffee grinds can get messy (I used to work in an office that had a regular espresso machine and my coffee was cold by the time I had cleaned up). The bonus of pods is that you can have multiple flavours on hand and they’ll always be kept fresh.

My clever in-laws chose the Nespresso U D50 with separate milk frother. Look how slim the profile is – it fits perfectly in our tea/coffee station and the milk frother stores easily in the cupboard below.

We had been thinking of getting a coffee machine one day – perhaps as a 30th present request next year – but we were very surprised by the generous gift.

Working at home it really is a lovely treat every morning to have a proper coffee instead of the regular instant.

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Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed celebrating Birthday Month with me! I still can’t believe I’ve been blogging for three years. My longest full-time job was three years and I was hating it by the end and I still love blogging so that’s a good sign!

What did you think of this month’s Book Nook Things I Love by Megan Morton? Share your thoughts over on the review if you’ve read it!

June’s theme is going to be bedrooms, so if you have any questions about closet decluttering/organisation, jewellery/accessory storage, bed linens, bedroom decorating or similar please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

I picked up these gorgeous branches from Poppies Flowers for my recent pie buffet photo shoot (more photos of that coming soon). One of the bonuses of doing shoots like these is keeping the flowers (and food!). With the leftover pie well and truly taken care of, I turned my attention to the florals (using that term loosely in this case of course).

I love how the rusty red berries set off against the very neutral (for me) setting. Then I realised it reminded me a bit of something…

My Marimekko cushion! What a funny coincidence.

I don’t normally do a lot of seasonal decorating (people who do: you must tell me where you store everything the rest of the year!) but I think this is the perfect low-key and no-clutter display for what is the final week of Autumn (Fall) here.

Do you switch up your decor according to seasons or a you more of a perennial decorator?

This post is sponsored by Target.

In yesterday’s post I showed you how we The Man installed some new picture ledges. Now onto the fun part – selecting and framing some happy faces!

I wanted to go for a monochrome palette, partly because some of the photos were black & white already but also for a more simple and sophisticated look. I’ve mentioned before how much I dig Target photo frames because the quality is so much higher than their price tag. Prices ranged from $2 to $15 originally, but I picked them up for even less than that at their winter Home Sale.

I used some with regular mats, some with large mats and some without, plus used a variety of sizes and cropping to vary up the look. I mixed three different styles from the Target Essentials range but kept them all simple and white to tie it all together.

I still need to add a couple more family members who are missing from the display – it’s looking rather narcissistic at the moment! But that’s the great thing about using picture ledges and a mix’n'match of frames: it’s easy to add to and rearrange the wall at any time.

It’s so nice enjoying a daily reminder of our favourite memories instead of having them hidden in albums (or worse, on a harddrive) . It’s making me want to print out and frame so many more of our happy snaps.

What’s your favourite way to display family photos?