I'm a Genius!

I'm a genius!  And I'm not even humble about my geniosity!  Sorry.

I 've been searching for a solultion to my shoe problem.  The rack on the back of my closet door is full.  The cubbies in the hall closet are full.  And still, I had more shoes.  Even after culling them, I still need most of them for this or that outfit.  Gotta have various heel heights and such!

This, alas, was the shoe pile that ineviably grew on  my side of the closet.

{The really neat thing about this photo is that those are Mark's cowboy boots in the upper right corner.  It still hasn't worn off that that cute boy from 8th grade (who looks particularly hot in cowboy boots!) now keeps his boots in MY closet!  It's a thrill every time I see them!  I know, I'm silly.}

I had this crib rail in my garage.  I joined the sleigh-style ends (the headboard and footboard) together and made a queen size headboard out of them.  So the rails were left over and loitering around in the garage.  I knew they were waiting for me to think up something smart to do with them.

And I had these castors.  I don't even remember what they were for originally.  As you can tell, I keep a stash of such things!

I screwed the castors into the crib rail.

And VOILA!  Now I have a rolling under-bed shoe rack that holds 20 pair of shoes!

It even works really well for the high heeled shoes because the heels hang through which keeps them from standing up too high to fit under the bed.

I've got diferent plans for the other crib rail.  Stay tuned!

I Can't Believe It Fit!

Years ago, on a scortching hot summer day much like this one, I bought a table and eight chairs at a tent sale in a furniture store parking lot.  I think I paid $250 for all of it  -- not FREE but not bad either!  The chairs usually cost $100 apiece and the table sells for around $200.  I think the furniture salesman (who was also the manager) just wanted to get rid of stuff so he could get back inside to the air conditioning!  He also further advanced his tent-emptying endeavor by giving me several big framed mirrors for free.

The table and chairs (4 with this table and 4 with another) have been used for staging ever since I bought them.  Recently, I snagged them back for my own use.  The table has a wonderful built-in leaf that expands the top surface from a 6-seater rectangle to a huge square that seats 8.  I had planned to use the smaller setting but, when I expanded it out to full size, it actually FIT in my tiny little breakfast area. 

Now everyone wants to eat at the table!  They can even bring friends now that we can seat 8!

Brace yourself because I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to play with tablesettings and post a million photos of different themes!  If you're lucky, I won't get around to it but it quickens my pulse with excitement just to think about it.  I know, I'm weird.

One more thing.  Gotta brag on my Tesakiah!  After I'd cleared the old table out and before I'd lugged the new one it, Tessa and Sara-Grace tromped downstairs and into the kitchen and plopped down in the two chairs I'd brought in so far.  I asked them, "What do you think?" -- meaning "Can you believe how big this room looks without the table?"  Tessa's immediate reply:  "I think our table is invisible!"

She cracks me up!

I texted Mark a photo to show him what I'd done.  He replied, "I know you. You'll post it.  And you should!"

He was right.