Graph Paper: Kicked Up a Notch

Perhaps it's a sign of my inner-nerd (I'm sure some would argue  that it's not so "inner") but, when I created the trick that I am about to share with you, I had to restrain from fist pumping and breaking out into a very exaggerated victory dance. For some this trick may seem trivial, silly even... and maybe the mysterious nature of this intro is an unnecessary lead in to the rest of this post...but (cue exaggeration), I think I may have made the world a little bit better of a place with this one.

I was given the task of redesigning a bedroom with dimensions that are slightly larger than a queen sized bed (60x80).

The redesign had to include the following:

1) Space for hanging clothes
2) Space for folded clothes
3) Desk/Study space (with an area for books and office supplies)
4) A queen sized bed
5) Space to walk ( perhaps the hardest component of this project)

I am a DIYer, not a magician, but I was determined to make this room functional, organized, and feel as spacious as possible.

Figuring out how much space, beyond the queen sized bed, that I had to work on was obviously an essential first step, but simply drawing a floor plan wouldn't suffice. So I DIYed some graph paper in Excel...here is how:

Highlight all of the cells by clicking the small triangle in the upper left hand corner of your workbook (A)

Click the "Format" button located in the Home ribbon to adjust your cells height and width (B)- your row height should be 9 and your cell width should be 1.

And there you have it: Excel graph paper. Awesome, huh?
and your scale? 1 box=1 inch.

This room is tiny and has a awkward shape which makes for quite a bit of unusable space. I wanted to know the exact dimensions of the areas that I could utilize so, instead of simply using lines out outline the floor plan, I used the number 1...it looked like this:

Dragging my mouse along a wall of 1's (and looking at the sum in the bottom right hand corner) told me how much room I was working with- no adding and no guesstimating.

From there, I created shapes (using the "shapes" tool under the "insert" tab) to represent different pieces furniture. I rearranged the shapes until I settled on the final layout. These shapes turned into my shopping list.

Moving? Rearranging? Make some excel graph paper...you won't regret it 

PS: For those of you who cannot get enough of this post (Excel graph paper is a riveting topic afterall), below is an image of the storage system that I installed in the room described above:

Desk? Check

Hanging clothes? Check

Folded clothes? Check

Horrible image quality? Check

The best part is that every piece that you see in the system came from the clearance section of the Container Store. I ended up working with a fantastic sales associate at the NYC (6th ave) store. She and I were literally scouring the store for discounted pieces (basement included). To say she hopped on my "made with pennies" bandwagon would be an understatement. Pauline, this is a shout out to you! Thank you for helping me turn an $800 project into a $192 project! 

Closet Capacity Goes from None to Some

Living in New York has its pains…. paying (incredibly) high rent for an (incredibly) small space, (trying) to catch a cab when it’s raining, riding (read: melting on) the subway in the summer months…Just to list a few.

I have yet to find a solution for the high rent, drenched walks home, or muggy subway rides, but what I have been able to do is maximize space in my (under) 400sqft studio apartment.

Finding an apartment in New York is a feat of its own, I’d reckon that it is near impossible not to feel defeated in the process. I looked at over 15 studio apartments before I “pulled the trigger” on mine. What this really means is that I looked at 15 apartments that were either smaller than my wing span, cost more than a Birkin Bag, or ranked a 10 on the 1-10 Dirty Scale.

So, when I walked into my (now) apartment, I quickly realized that I had to snatch it up…renovated, 2^nd floor, in my price range, and four...yes, FOUR windows…I knew I had found a gem.

One thing that I didn’t think of: closet space.

You must think I am drinking again. (actually, I am…enjoying a nice glass of wine after a hellish Monday) but that is besides the point.

Here is my apartment before I moved in…

I get it, it is not much...but it was like striking gold during my apartment hunt. 

You've already seen the after .... but what I left out when I posted about my new studio in the city was the battle that my wardrobe fought with my closet (or lack-thereof)... if it wasn't for my drill, my level, a handful of screws, and Ikea, my clothes would still be on the floor.

With no real plan in place, I added the following items to my Ikea.com cart:

(4) MULIG Clothes bars 

(2) ALGOT Wall Uprights

(4) ALGOT Brackets and (2) ALGOT Shelves

(2) KVARTAL Triple Curtail Rail ,(4) KVARTAL Cieling Fixtures, and (2) packages of the KVARTAL Gliders and Hooks

As soon as they were all delivered I got to work.
3 Hours later, I had sore shoulders, tired hands, lots of pencil marks on my wall, and a "Custom" closet

  

Overall this project cost me under $100. I had the curtains already, the clothes bars were a mere $4.99 each, and the shelving units came in under $30.

Installation was a pain, but that was mostly because I was impatient and wouldn't wait for someone to help me. It took some acrobatics, and some spiderman-like moves, but in the end I am proud to say that I completed this solo.

New post, no joke.

I was recently asked to share a "fun fact" about myself and responded with: "I write a DIY decorating blog".

As soon as those words left my mouth, I called BS (internally, of course). The last post that I published was about my sister's baby shower...we celebrated my nephew's first birthday two weekends ago.

I, my friends, am a blogger that once was. 

With this said, I have every desire to return to the blogging world....to make things out of love but pay mere pennies to create them. I sincerely miss scouring the aisles of goodwill in search for a gem disguised as junk. The thing is that, despite yearning to make headboards out of shower curtains, my current living situation makes DIYing ridiculously difficult.

So, what's a girl to do? Complain or confront a challenge? My answer: a little of the former and a lot of the latter.

I mentioned in my second ever blog post that I am a big fan of Apartment Therapy... especially the apartment tours. When I started blogging, I decided to create my own tours..those tabs at the top of this page: Boston Studio, Uptown Loft, Tree House... yep, those are them.

Given that this is my second ever attempt to get back on the blogging saddle,  I suppose that it is only fitting that I give you a bit of a life update (what's a blog without some personal juicy stuff) and a new apartment tour.

I have found myself living in New York City... what?! Yes, I am a resident of the big apple, and have been since this past October. Oh, and I work in fashion.

How does one go from living in Boston working in finance, to living in Charlotte working in sports television to living in Manhattan working in fashion? Teach barre, that's how.

You guys must think I am drinking...

You know that I am passionate about decorating and DIYing, but what you may not know is that I am equally passionate about fitness- during the time that I was neglecting Made with Love, Paid with Pennies, I got certified to teach Barre.

One of my regulars took note of my energy level at 6am and took a liking to my rather "intense" personality. She asked me to interview for a position on her team... I told her I wasn't looking for  job. She then mentioned that she was a VP at a fashion company in NYC... you can guess the rest.

See, not drinking.

So, here I am bringing MWLPWP to the big city. Buckle up. The blogging may be sporadic and inconsistent, but I will do my best.

Take a look at my new apartment tour by clicking the  "NYC Studio" tab above.

Enjoy!