16 Our HGTV Urban Oasis Experience

Did you all see that this year's HGTV Urban Oasis giveaway house is located right in my backyard? That's right! This year it is located in Minneapolis, MN and you are going to want to hurry and enter to win this beauty!

Photo Credit: Tomas Espinoza for HGTV

I know many of you come here for our organizing and house projects, but this quick story is just too great not to share! And I would be beyond thrilled if one of my readers happened to win this amazing home (and then invited me over for chips, salsa, and margaritas).

25 Extra! Extra! Organizing Reads!

I hope you all are having a beautiful week!  I have been seeing a lot of back-to-school pics on Instagram, so I hope that your transitions have all been good ones.  We head back in a few weeks, and we are trying our best to squeeze in as much family time as possible before that happens.  Savoring the final summer days is a must because before we know it there will be dew on the ground each morning, then frost and then snow!  Yikes!

It has been a long while since I have stopped in to just chat about blog related items so I thought I would do that quick today. 

As many of you know, I also contribute to Better Homes & Garden's Style Spotter's Blog so when I am not writing here, I can be found writing there.  It is always such an honor to partner with my favorite publication and I always jump at the opportunity to write about organization whenever possible.  So if you are looking for more storage eye candy, you can find quite a few new articles I have written linked below.

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A few months ago I had the incredible opportunity to head out to NYC and partner with HomeGoods.  I worked with them to create a happy home office space utilizing only products found from their stores and showcased the space in a beautiful city loft.  Once the room was created, I met with a variety of publications and editors and also filmed some really fun videos for HomeGoods.  Definitely a highlight of my entire year!

During the event, they also scheduled us to film a segment at The Better Show!  The segment is now live on their website here.  Although I have no plans to go into television (this girl is made for blogging), it was so fun to be part of and I soaked up every last second of the surreal experience.

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In really exciting news, I have been asked to join the famous HGTV Property Brother duo to cruise the beautiful seas and talk DIY and design.  And we want YOU to join us!

I have never been on a cruise before, so I don't know what I am more excited about; the tropical adventure or the opportunity to schmooze with some incredible HGTV talent.  Being that we just took on our biggest home project yet, I have a billion and one things I can think to ask these experts.

Some famous HGTV guests include Jonathan & Drew Scott, Jason Cameron, Jillian Harris, Amie & Jolie Sikes, Kim Myles, JD Scott and Brandon Lay

This design lover's experience will offer the opportunity to sip on piña coladas by the pool, dive into fantastic nightly entertainment, soak up helpful insider tips from Jonathan and Drew and attend really fun design sessions.  I will be also joining some of my favorite blog friends in a couple of panel discussions and recapping the experience with all of you.  So if you have any burning questions for the famous brotherly duo, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

The cruise sets sail on November 16th departing from Miami, and will head to Key West and Cozumel!  I would love for you all to come with, but I am not sure how many of you can squeeze into my suitcase.  But if sailing the seas and chatting home and design sounds like your dream vacation, Premier vacations is offering iHeart Organizing blog readers a “buy one, get one” deal. By using code IHEARTORGANIZING, you pay for one person to cruise and the second person sails free (only paying port fees, taxes and gratuities).  You can snag all of the cruise details here.

Although I may need a colada or two before I sing any karaoke, I can't wait for every last second of sailing fun!

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If you are not a sea person, I am also scheduled to speak in Seattle at the upcoming Bloom Bash in October!

This absolutely gorgeous workshop is created from the hearts of Michaela Noelle and Ashley Slater, and it is one I can't wait to be a part of.  Registration for the event is now open, and it will provide the opportunity to learn so much about the business of blogging.  Although I am coming up on my 6 year blogging anniversary, I know I still have so much to learn and can't wait to participate in the wide variety of sessions.

Over the two day retreat, they will have in-depth teaching sessions on blogging, social media, photography, styling, design, florals, calligraphy and more. Through an amazing team of talented speakers, local partnerships and a beautifully styled photo shoot, attendees are sure to leave inspired with a new found love for what they do and knowledge to aid them in doing it even better.  From what I have seen of previous workshops they have hosted, it is sure to be a stunner of an event.

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Finally, I just want to say it again, because I can't say it enough... YOU all are THE BEST bunch around.  When I found out you sweet readers had nominated iHeart Organizing for the Better Homes & Garden's blogger awards, I was filled incredible amounts of warmth and joy.  You know I am a softy, so things like this mean the world to me.  Seriously.  You all voted and WE WON!

I know that the Internet is filled with inspiration inducing blogs, and I am grateful beyond words that you all take a moment of your day or week or even month, to stop by this happy place.  I hope I can continue to create exciting, practical, pretty and budget friendly content for years to come, and I appreciate your continuous encouragement and support.  Blogging is filled with ups and downs, but connecting with all of you is always my favorite part of what I do, and your comments always rank as a highlight of my days. #groupbearhug

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I hope you all have time to soak in those final rays of summer sun.  I am currently road tripping with the fam, but will be back and diving into more projects next week.  I am also working behind the scenes on my 2016 planner release, so stay tuned for that as well.  I love how excited many of you have been to get that into your hands.

Happy Organizing!

92 A Happy Home Office with HomeGoods

There have been a lot of really amazing and fun opportunities that have come my way over my blogging years, and with each one, I find myself in awe.  Blogging has gone from a fun hobby to a complete passion and I absolutely love to write about our home journey, document our renovations, share our organizing solutions and connect with the best audience around.  That's what it has always been about, everything else is icing on the cake!

With that, I have always been really selective about the brands I partner with and the opportunities I say "yes" to.  This has allowed me to create really solid relationships and stay true to why I come back here each day, yet some of those opportunities have stretched me and allowed me to grow in many new ways.  Ways that I ultimately get to bring back here!  Sounds like a bit of a full circle moment, doesn't it?

Last week was one of those really incredible moments.  HomeGoods was hosting an event at a loft in New York City as part of their #makehomeyours campaign, and they invited me to design one of the spaces!  

I know right?  Amazing. 

HomeGoods is all about offering beautiful and unique items for individuals looking to create a home that tells their personal stories.  Stories of favorite memories, of travels, of hobbies and passions.  The stories that make your house a home.  They challenged three different bloggers to design a room using only HomeGoods products (as well as a few of our own personal items), to not only portray our style, but to tell our stories.  They really wanted each room to be a reflection of how we live within our own homes.

The other two bloggers?  The talented Gabrielle from Design Mom and Claire from The Fashion Bomb Daily.

Can you tell which room is mine of the three finished spaces below?

OK, I know I sort of gave it away in my post intro photo, but what I love about the images above is that each room is so distinctively different.  You can read about Gabrielle's family room here and Claire's bedroom here.

The space I was challenged to create was a home office!  Love.

Being that I work from home, I spend many, many hours in my home office.  So I was really excited and passionate about creating this space for the event.

There was definitely a bit of prior planning in the days leading up to the event; furniture checklists, color selections and talks about key elements.  When I arrived in New York, I took a trip to HomeGoods and felt like I was on a TV show.   They gave me a cart and said, "Shop until you drop!"  The goal was to have a lot of items to select from back at the loft space to be sure the room would come together in time for the big day.

Monday afternoon the loft was a complete blank slate.  When I arrived, they were putting up walls and panels to divide each room.  A lot of magic happened within 24 hours to pull together each space and prep them for the filming and media visits.

A lot of thought goes into designing a room, it is more than pretty colors and textures.  I started with a color palette that makes my heart smile, and it is pulled from the sea.  Living in a cold and dreary state half of the year, I find so much joy designing with aquas, navys, teals and greens.  Especially because trips to the Florida Gulf have become so special to our family over the past couple of years.  Also found in the south are vibrant pink flowering plants and shrubs.  So, I say yes to pink as well.  It is my favorite color after all.  So yes, even the colors selected for the space have deep rooted meaning.  Here are a few more tips I used when creating this beautiful home office.


FIND YOUR MOTIVATION MOJO

When it comes to both organizing and designing a space, select pieces that inspire you and will motivate you to want to use and maintain the space day after day.  For me personally, I get all giddy inside when I open a drawer and see pretty papers showing through acrylic organizers.  That prevents me from wanting to toss random items and piles in on top.  In fact, acrylic organizers just may be my favorite things ever.  #obsessed

And filing paperwork might feel like a chore some days, but it is a bit easier when you are smitten with the cabinet you are using to hold those important documents.

INJECT YOUR STORY

Feeling at home in a space is all about filling it with things that you love.  For me, my family is my passion, so I brought in framed family photos and artwork created by my children.  I also pinned up my favorite Instagram photos on the memo boards right in front of the desk.  Those memories make the space feel like home to me.

FIND YOUR WOW MOMENT

If you have been reading here for awhile, you know I am big with graphic statement walls.  Our birch tree stencil wall in the playroom has brought so much life to that space and the wallpapered closet nook is about the happiest space in our home.  Oh, and our stenciled dressing room wall is amazing, I still get asked all the time where I found the "wallpaper".  Love that.

I wanted to recreate that moment in this space, so I used HomeGoods gift wrap to deck out a wall!  Their papers are so thick and the patterns are always so fresh and fabulous, that you would never know it isn't wallpaper (bonus: each roll I used was only $2.99 for 10 ft of wrap).  A little double stick tape and I had an instant wow moment.  The best part, gift wrap is temporary and you won't feel as bad taking it down as you would painting over a stencil or tearing down expensive wallpaper.

CREATE A SETUP THAT WORKS WELL FOR HOW YOU WORK

One thing I have found to be really helpful in my own office, is having two workspaces that serve as different functions.  I appreciate having a counter height option that allows me to spread out and wrap gifts, write out cards and work on small craft and DIY projects.  And sometimes I just want to stand!  By having the second space, I can leave out my projects and go to a clean desk to sit and do the computing and business side of things.  It is always important to think about how you use your space, and set it up accordingly, yet don't be afraid to continuously tweak it until you find an awesome daily flow.

THINK OUTSIDE OF THE STORAGE BOX

One of my biggest tips for setting up a space, is to be open minded when you are sourcing your storage and furniture pieces.  One of my favorite office supply organizers in this space was actually found in the cosmetic department.  The craft desk is a console table intended for living and dining spaces.  Rolls of gift wrap are stored in an umbrella stand and a planter from the garden department. 

I also used a bar cart to act as a tech station, perfect for docking a computer and/or printer.  Add a few boxes and baskets and you can store reams of paper, printer cartridges and small media.  Seriously, bar carts are amazingly versatile and so gosh darn adorable in any setting.

Oh!  And don't be afraid to put organizers into organizers!  Some of my favorite storage solutions were as simple as placing mail slots and drawer organizers inside of the baskets on the shelves.

FAMILY FRIENDLY OPTIONS

Although I am the primary user of our home office, I welcome my boys into my workspace with open arms.  They do their homework there, they craft there, they live there.  I want them to know that my space is their space, so I keep baskets of their favorite books and toys out in the open to encourage them to hang out with me.  Crafts are always within their reach and I make sure to have enough working surface so they can join me whenever they wish.  I also select kid friendly finishes and products; rugs that hide stains, an easy to clean sofa, soft sided furniture and surfaces that wipe up in a jiff.  A kid filled home can still be a beautiful home.


DECOMPRESSION SPOT

Space permitting, it is nice if you can carve out a corner for relaxation and taking a mental break.  A chair, bench or sofa is not only fantastic when you just want to sit and look at a magazine or write down thoughts in a journal, the seating spot also offers visitors a place to get cozy in your space.

I knew we would appreciate having a bench in our home office, but I never expected it would get as much use as it does each day. 


SIR SURE MIX A LOT!

Truly, mix and match it all.  Although I was only in the space for a couple of days, I fell for it hard.  There were so many elements that I loved, but what I really appreciated was the variety of finishes and patterns.  The variety and combinations really made the space come alive.  I had geometrics on the wall, florals on the floor, damask on the chair and bits of whimsy in the pillows. 

Same story for hardware finishes; a bronze task lamp, rose gold accessories, nickel nail head trim and gold photo frames.

Beautiful wood toned console paired with a clean white parsons desk and a playful teal filing cabinet.  Acrylic pieces galore matched up with woven baskets.  Oh!  And a coral inspired bowl on top of a faux croc tray on top of a linen tufted bench.

Everything in the space is all so different, yet it all works together whether through color, pattern or the story behind each piece.

Over the course of the day, I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with a lot of media.  I shared with them many of these same tips and I really appreciated the opportunity to build a variety of new relationships.

Can you believe that everything in this space, minus my photos and children's art, is from HomeGoods?  Every last basket, organizer, accessory and piece of furniture.  I really appreciated that I was able to create a cozy home office that really reflected the way I live at our home each day.

What is something you are sure to inject into each space you design?  I would love to hear more about how you #makehomeyours. 

Photos by Matt Harrington for HomeGoods.

20 IHeart Organizing is on Joss & Main!

Well friends!  Today is a big, BIG day for this gal!  I was recently invited to partner up with one of my most favorite online retailers, to curate a collection of some of my most favorite items! 

Joss & Main is a daily flash sale site, which requires a free membership to check out their steals and deals, sometimes up to 70% off retail prices!  And once you are in, you are IN!  What I love most is that they bring new items each day, so the variety is always endless.  They provide instant access to home decor, jewelry, travel gear and household products that would be otherwise challenging to track down, allowing you to create a home that has a unique and collected over time feeling. 

I recently updated my home tour, and many of my favorite items were sourced from Joss & Main.  So of course when they asked me to partner with them on a collection that was built to represent my personal style, I was over the moon thrilled!

Working with them is always a dream!  I was able to select items from their site that I use in my home, or have on my current wish list, and they built the iHeart Organizing collection from there.  Storage, furnishings, accessories and more storage galore!  So good!

Because this is a flash sale, it will be over in a flash (ending next Tuesday morning)!  So if you are interested in seeing my collection, and maybe even doing a little shopping, you can sign up and check it out here.  You can also check out my guest post on their blog here.

Thank you to you all for your continuous support of iHeart Organizing and my partnerships!  Smooches pals!

13 Extra! Extra! Organizing Reads!

Hello hello!

There has definitely been a lot going on behind the iHeart scenes lately.  My shop has been super busy this month and I couldn't be more appreciative of your sweet support!  To say thank you, I am offering 20% off everything through this Saturday, January 17th (not valid on prior purchases) with code IHEARTYOU20.

We have also been making progress in the kitchen now that the holidays are over!  Woot!  Feels great to finally be getting our hands dirty!  Funny thing is that we are working on it as often as we can, yet really don't have a single project done to blog about.  So, I am thinking I will start doing a kitchen check-in every Friday, just to share progress and stay true to what a blog is really intended for; documenting the journey.  Hoping to get one out this week yet!

With all that we have going on, I have had a hard time adding extra project posts to my lineup, so I thought I would stop in to share where you can find a few more organizing related reads that I have worked on, including my most recent posts on the Better Homes & Garden's Style Spotter's Blog.

Although the holidays have come and gone, you can be create a holiday ready home far in advance this year!

I chatted about my personal goals to get organized in 2015 here, and over at BHG I broke it down even more.

Not all laundry spaces are created equal, and most require you to get creative and truly maximize the space available.

As much as I love organize my home with good basket, there are times when gadgets can make the day run smoother as well!

You can also spot iHeart Organizing being featured at a few fabulous places around the web.  One that may have knocked me right out of my chair is the Elle Decor shout-out, where they shared 15 Storage Solutions to Make Your Life Easier.

My pals over at Good Housekeeping rounded up some pretty fantastic closets, and it was such an honor to be included!

When I first started blogging, I always loved reading a good magazine, but never thought I would actually be featured in one.  I still pinch myself each time it happens and count my lucky stars that big things can happen to those with big hearts.  Whenever I partner with a magazine, I still feel big happy butterflies, become school girl giddy and call everyone in my family.  Every opportunity I have had to collaborate with a publication has come due to all I have learned right here on this blog over the years. 

I kicked off 2015 with a first, which was being published in a UK based magazine, Living Etc!  This magazine looks really fantastic, covering all topics home and lifestyle.  A friend is sending me a copy in the mail and I can't wait to flip through the beautiful pages!  

Remember that one time I surprised a local friend with a top-to-bottom craft room overhaul?  I think it is safe to say that the project has filled my heart with more joy than any other.  Knowing how special the project is made it even more exciting to see it mentioned in the premier issue of Room to Create!

I have a few business bucket list goals, and was able to check one really big box off of my list.  I am not sure if any of you are familiar with the super talented Martha Stewart (of course you are!), but this girl right here may have been asked to offer advice and tips in the February 2015 Martha Stewart Living magazine!  Say WHAT?!

I have looked up to Martha since long before becoming a homeowner.  The work done by her and her team has always left me feeling motivated and encouraged to do great things within our own home.  I love her clean and simple style, her beautiful products and of course her website, magazine and books.  To say I am now a tiny piece of one of those publications gave me good reason to pop the cork and sip some champagne.



This little site of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!  IHeart Organizing was included in this year's Working Mother's Best of the Net for 2015 list!  I am lumped in with so many other sites I admire and love, so I am feeling pretty smitten with the news.  Woot!

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And last but certainly not least, a GIANT thank you to everyone to expressed interest in my 2015 contributor openings!  The response was absolutely INCREDIBLE!  I know I have been doing a lot of gushing already, but I felt so incredibly blessed to have such a talented group of folks write in and share with me their love for all things home and organizing.

I finally have narrowed it down to add a few new fresh faces and am in the process of finalizing all communications.  Contributors start back up next week, so stay tuned for updates to my sidebar and the My Team tab at the top of the page.  I couldn't be more pumped about what is ahead!

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And a very important reminder that this blog would not be possible without my monthly sponsors.  They are each amazing companies that I love and support right back, you can check each of them out below or on the sidebar.

Two weeks are remaining to link up your organizing projects as part of this month's organizing challenge!  Check them out and link up here!