July at a Glance

I decided now was a good time to start doing monthly reviews of all that I share here on Label Me Organized.  I think this will be a great way for those of you who follow to catch up on all the happenings throughout the month in one quick and easy to read post.  If you maybe missed a post or two throughout the month, you can easily catch it to find out what you missed.  And over time, these posts will be a great catalog of all my various projects throughout the years, instead of having to sort through tons of posts in the archives.

I also hope these posts will motivate me, so I can really see all I've accomplished in a month.  Sometimes it feels as though I keep working, but I'm never getting anywhere.  But reading back through my posts I realize that I actually did accomplish quite a lot!  Hopefully these posts will give me the motivational push I need to keep on organizing and DIYing when I hit a little slump.

July was a big month for me, since I celebrated my very first Blogiversary.  To celebrate, I started off by sharing what I've learned through my first year of blogging.  This post includes some tips for other just starting out bloggers, and some things I wish I'd known when I first started blogging.

I also talked about my goals for my next year of blogging.  I can say with confidence that so far I have made progress on at least two of the five goals I set for myself.  I'm hoping to keep improving on those, as well as focusing some more on the other three.

To finish off my celebration, I shared some interesting (and some funny) numbers as related to Label Me Organized.  I definitely had fun gathering all that data, and can't wait to compare those numbers to next year's.  Lets hope the number of Dakota's toys doesn't increase too much by then!

After my blogiversary was over, I shared with you my unofficial theory I have put out into the decorating world.  I call it my Color Flow Theory, and it is all about my way of picking out colors for your home.  I also shared with you a few color palettes I've been playing with for some of my rooms.

On the decorating side of things, I made some small improvements around the apartment, that each make quite the impact in their own way.  I started by hanging up some hooks on an unused (and often overlooked) bit of wall in my entryway.

Next I added a little bit of whimsy to my boring IKEA cabinets under the TV, by adding some colorful knobs I picked up at Anthropology.  They're made with the exact color palette I have in mind for the living room, so I'm convinced it was meant to be.  I talked about how one item, no matter how big or small, can serve as inspiration for an entire room.

Finally, I finished up a project that I had been stalling on for a couple of months.  I had made some decorative letters to add some color and fun to my magnetic spice board, but got stuck when it came time to hang them up.  Then a duh moment hit, and I remembered that my spice board was magnetic.  So I stuck some magnets to the letters and called that project done!

Throughout the month, I also shared with you a variety of my top picks for my Fav Five series.  I started the month by sharing my favorite kitchens, and confessed my obsession with white cabinets.

Next we looked at some beautiful bathrooms.  I shared my love for calm and relaxing bathroom spaces that reflect the feeling of an elegant spa.  There's nothing like soaking in a bubble bath while surrounded by the soothing atmosphere of a spa.

Next up was laundry rooms.  While I don't have a laundry room per se in my apartment, I do have a little laundry 'nook' in my kitchen.  I found some great ideas from the rooms in this post that I can adapt to get the most out of my laundry space.

I also shared my five favorite nurseries.  While I'm still a little while away from needing to decorate a nursery, I figured its never to early to start dreaming and planning.  So when that little bundle of joy does arrive, I can have the perfect dream nursery all planned and ready to go.

Finally, I ended the month with my favorite offices.  Offices are one of my favorite rooms.  Being an organizer at heart, a well planned office just makes my heart giddy.  So much so that in our next apartment, Melissa and I are planning on a two bedroom so we can have a designated office!  So excited :)

And that's what I accomplished in July!  I definitely forget about projects I finished until I read back through my archives and go "oh yea I did do that!"  Such a great feeling.  I'm looking forward to adding months at a glance to my schedule of posts each month.  Hope you enjoy them too!