Originally Posted by HighlyFavored1

Yes, please post before and after shots of your wonderful woman cave! I have this in my closet now for my scarves and I love that it looks like a purse! http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/1/1/...organizer.html

yes bbandb has some really great organization tips and ideas...love that store!!

Originally Posted by lacey_stiletto

That is awesome - I love the wristlets hanging from the tension rod!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by HighlyFavored1

Love the organization and display!!!

Thanks! After doing it I realized I may have too much Coach!! Lol

Whatever could be in there waiting for me to unpack??? Let me think ...

Originally Posted by lacey_stiletto

Attachment 1794317 Whatever could be in there waiting for me to unpack??? Let me think ...

ohhh i think I can guess but I wanna wait and see!!!!! This is so exciting!

Progress update... Room is hmmmm 60% complete ... Desk and shelves installed... Furniture fiddled with till layout satisfactory. Dollar store raided! Crafty projects under way. Cosmetic storage still a bug-bear but I have new idea. Must return to Ikea and also find a fabric shop... Possibly complete in 2 days!

A good side benefit of this is I am discovering how to bargain hunt in Oz.

OKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK... I'm not going to call it "finished" but here are my results so far.... I will upload a few photos but if you want to see the whole project, I made a Facebook public album with lots of pics at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...3197824&type=1

Here goes!

Living in a house full of MEN, I was in need of some estrogen therapy of the nesting kind. Fortunately, we had a spare bedroom I could claim as "Sally Land" and give myself a girly haven.

However, I did have some constraints -

1. The budget was limited, ideally under $500.
2. The room has to function as closet, storage, vanity area and workspace.
3. Couldn't paint or use any screws or nails!

The objectives -

1. A workspace area for my laptop
2. Vanity and makeup storage that allowed me easy access, was neat and organized and took up the least possible amount of space, all things considered!
3. Storage and display for my handbag collection
4. Storage for craft and office supplies
5. Clothes storage in a house with very few closets!

The room is fairly small, and since we are likely moving to a larger house in the next few months, hubby declared that no permanent alterations could be made (boo!) So that meant I couldn't paint, wallpaper, nail or screw much of anything.
The room was a catch-all, with luggage and "man stuff" just tossed in there.

Step 1 - locating a desk and storage that would work for my vanity/workspace.
Step 2 - planning out the room to accommodate existing armoire and dresser, the new desk and shelving and possible extra clohtes storage.
Step 3 - assemble all the bits!
Step 4 - organize and decorate!

The biggest problem I had - where to find stuff in a foreign country? If I was in the US I'd have located all the items I needed in a day but here... took me a while to figure out where to go and how to ask for what I wanted!

Fortunately, Ikea and various dollar stores to the rescue!

Ikea purchases -

Expedit shelf unit (16 cubbies) ($139 AU)
Expedit desk ($180 AU)
Kvissle letter trays - 2 ($35 AU each)
Lennart wire cart ($20 AU)
Cork board ($10 AU)
Scarf hanger ($10 AU)
Cotton Curtains ($20 AU the pair)
Rolling clothes rack ($20 AU)

Dollar stores

Storage boxes ($2.50 to $3.00 each)
Bathroom caddy ($4)
3 floor mats ($12)
Cupcake stand ($6)
2 trays ($10)
clip on lamp ($12)
stickers and craft items ($20)

Total spent thus far $513 AU

Now for the results -

I found 3 little floor mats at the dollar store - the mod looking pink/yellow floral rubbery ones I used as a runner on the dresser, and the cotton stripe as a mat/mousepad on the desk! The cotton one works a treat, it's great for keeping the desk clean when doing my makeup and works beautifully with my laptop and mouse.

I had to trim a bit off the runners so used those as edge trim on the cork board, along with some butterfly and flower stickers from the dollar store, and then hung my keyfob collection on it. I used a floral melamine tray to hold my fragances on my dresser. My Coach umbrellas ended up hanging from my armoire doorknobs. Moving along, I had a rolling metal clothes rack for extra clothing storage - but it's ugggggggggggly so I used a pink and white floral cotton curtain from Ikea to just drape it.

My Expedit storage shelves and desk... love. LOVE! Originally I was going to keep my bags in their dust bags on the shelves and find some way to label so I'd know what was what, but it looked so sloppy and not pretty... so I bit the bullet and tok them out of their bags (and keep the blinds closed so as to limit any possible fading from sunlight.) They look SO COOL! The bad news - I don't have room for too many more bags so my "one in, one out" phase may be in the offing! The shelf section makes a great room divider so I have work/vanity area and dressing area separated a bit.

Desk - it is to love. First of all, it's a bit taller than the standard desk so it's perfect for me. It's also deeper, so I can easily put my beloved Lowe's toolchest on it and still have plenty of workspace in front.

The Ikea Kvissle letter trays on top of the tool chest are really quite amazing for Bare Escentuals storage. They aren't particularly heavy duty but they can hold up to 192 regular eye shadows per unit (48 per tray, flat) and have a little storage on the bottom for extra boxes, etcetera. They are cost effective and easily available, as long as you have an Ikea near!

I found pink polkadot cardboard cupcake stand at the dollar store! I haven't really utilized it effectively yet but it was so darn cute I had to have it. $6, so shoot me... !

My favorite purchase of all was the $4 acrylic shower caddy from the dollar store. It's got little holes all over it, so I just removed the suction cups, inverted it and voila, brush storage for all my eye brushes, including those tricky double-ended ones you can never figure out how to store! I plan to get one or two more for eye pencils/lip liners too. You could glue two together by the bottoms - another project! I keep my face primer and foundation as well as brush and swirly bowl on top of my brush holder, that's "Don't walk out of the house without this" look.

The wire cart under my desk holds office supplies in one drawer, tools, baby wipes and palettes in another and my "back ups" of favorite colors and new brushes. I also have a second pretty melamine tray that I keep all my daily use makeup essentials (primers, concealers, Mineral Veil and Clear Radiance, as well as mascaras.)

My makeup mirror from the US and a pink clip-on lamp complete this area. I added some girly stickers on the wall for a little bling.

I found a really cool hanger-y thing at Ikea, for all my scarves. I added a stick-on wall hook to hold it (no screws!) Then on to the back of the door area - I had these elastic strap holders back in the US, but I really didn't want to hang bags on there any more (although they work just fine.) I used it for my wristlets, universal cases, mini skinnies! I honestly think that may be my favorite part of the room to look at.

My chair currently is just an old high back office chair which has seen better days. I don't have a sewing machine here so made a little slip-covery effect with the other rose floral curtain from the pair from Ikea. I'm planning on making a simple swag window treatment, maybe out of hot pink or yellow tulle netting. And I've got my eye on a crystal candelabra for on top of the shelf unit (my crystal chandelier idea got veto'd sheesh!) My jewelry is also all tucked away neatly, and perhaps I will do something with that soon.

Items I still want to add -

1.swag valance topper for window
2.better chair
3.a crystal candelabra!
4.jewelry display (maybe)

Dresser, cork board for fobs and Ikea shelf unit

Bags, bags, bags... and accessories !

My desk/ vanity area... some wall bling and my favourite corner - with scarf hanger and wristlet storage/display

Oh em gee!
What a fun room! It is so flipping cute!
I want one in my house
I adore that you can see all your things, they aren't in a drawer or a closet or in multiple rooms!
I love love love this room!!

I'm sorry, this may sound cheesy, but this room is a work of art. I'm in heaven. I want to "play" in here!

Originally Posted by bagee

Oh em gee! What a fun room! It is so flipping cute! I want one in my house I adore that you can see all your things, they aren't in a drawer or a closet or in multiple rooms! I love love love this room!!

Thank you so much. I didn't realise how happy it would make me feel to actually see all my treasures on display. It's almost as if I'm in a boutique and I can have anything I want . Wait ... I do!

Besides the happy endorphins generated, I really get a good feel for what I might consider adding to my collection. For instance , unless it's the MOST gorgeous bag EVER, I really do not need any more black, blue, gray or parchment/light-coloured bags ( bearing in mind I have a black and two light- coloured bags in their way to me as we speak muhahaha!) however- a true red and a true purple would fit in nicely, as well as a nice brown and another green.

And I'm calling a moratorium on pink wristlets!

Originally Posted by HappySilly

I'm sorry, this may sound cheesy, but this room is a work of art. I'm in heaven. I want to "play" in here!

Thanks very much... I want to play in it too!