You guys. May is busy…

Source: laceandlacquer.com via Lace & on Pinterest

[Sorry...had to. Thanks, Pinterest]

I am doing lots of projects. I am working out like crazy. I am writing for 3 different blogs. I am changing my life in secret ways I don’t want to talk about on the fiber optic webz. I am traveling every weekend. I am hanging out with friends. Oh and that man-piece I keep mentioning…I guess we kind of hang out a lot. Thusly, I have no time to fully complete or fully document projects and other things I’m doing. And thusly, this blog is suffering.

I just used “thusly” twice in a row. Bam.

Because of all of this, I’ve decided I’m going to take a blog vacation for the rest of the month of May. It is the Month of Sara Improvement. The Month of Focus. The Month to Finish Things I Have Promised to Other People. To really focus on these items, I have decided that I have too many things on my plate and something’s gotta give. Or go. Or at least wait a while. And that thing is my blog.

Source: jonesdesigncompany.com via Whiterock on Pinterest

But don’t be sad. I already am. But there are lots of projects happening, apartment improvement, possibly blog improvement, shop improvement, and a few design projects for people other than me going on. I will share all when I return from blog hiatus.

Source: gallery.apartmenttherapy.com via Sara on Pinterest

In conjuction with Month of Sara Improvement, May is also the Month of Sara Birthday Preparation, which is closely followed by Month of Sara’s Birthday in June, or Birthday Month, for short. You might not know this about me, but I love birthdays. Especially mine. I find it is a perfect excuse to spoil myself, have a party or two or three, go to concerts, and in general celebrate for a whole month. And I can always answer the “what’s the occasion” question perfectly. Also I love that birthdays and birthday parties are often a perfect time to reconnect with people and have a little reunion action. I miss my friends who are far away, and often use my birthday as an excuse to make plans, depsite not needing an excuse.

So. If you need me, you know where to find me. If you need some bloggy goodness in the mean time, check out some of my favorite posts of yore:

• Recent Gallery Wall Completion
• Sofa Reupholstery Adventure
• How to Make Pillows with Old Sweaters
• How to Makeover a $15 Target Ottoman
• Renter Solutions: Carpeting + Rugs for Any Budget
• Chair Reupholstery Adventure

In the mean time, you can find me writing a couple posts over on Southwest Raleigh (my most recent post found here on The Cupcake Shoppe) (also some great info about things going on in Raleigh, obviously), in this fun interview with my pal Cristina, or on the floor of my apartment with glue in my hair. Alternatively you can find me locked in my cubicle doing the work that pays me. Depends on the time of day, really.

Source: flickr.com via BrownPaper on Pinterest

…I wish. …If only. …In my dreams. Pick your favorite wishful thinking catch-phrase.

Happy May, friends. May (haha) you enjoy the end of Spring and the beginning of a humid and happy Summer! See you in June for more budget-friendly home improving, design fun, Raleigh goodness, and a little life recapping.

If I must clarify, the title of this post is definitely with tongue firmly in cheek. Because I built a bookcase for my shoes using cinder blocks and the reviews have been mixed.

Here’s the story.

Remember in this post when I complained about messes with shoes everywhere?

I had this idea, I drew a couple sample bookcases that I wanted to build. I figured it’d be easy. Owning a power drill makes me think I can do or build anything. Haha. Even though that’s not the case. What I wanted was a 4 shelf bookcase, the bottom two shelves would be 9 inches tall to accomodate my heels (which I premeasured to ensure that they would all fit – 9 inches is the max height needed for me, but if you have bigger feet you might need more), then the top two shelves would be just 6 inches tall to accomdate flats and sneakers and flip-flops. The whole thing would be about 6 feet wide, and only about 10 to 12 inches in depth (again I have small feet so I didn’t need anything super deep to accomodate big feet).

I presented my idea to my super smart daddy when I was home for Easter, who raised an eyebrow and asked me how I was going to get a 6 foot long bookcase from Richmond to Raleigh in my Mini Cooper. “Duh,” I said, we’d just make it so it came apart easily. Or something. It would be fine. Haha. His eyebrow remained raised and there was smirking involved.

Later in the weekend, Poppa D remembered some cinder blocks sitting in our side yard leftover from years ago that he wanted to get rid of. He suggested I use the cinder blocks, and pick me up some wood planks and just build a bookcase out of that. It was portable and even better, free.

I loved the idea. He even power-washed the cinder blocks for me to remove years of dirt, mud, spiders, pill bugs, and other super yucky things from them. Yay.

The cinder blocks finally made their way up to my bedroom, and I went to Lowe’s where Man-Piece helped me pick out 2 sturdy 2″x10″x12′ wood planks that might have been intended for decking (I really don’t know) and we were in business. The super helpful men at Lowe’s helped us cut the 12 foot pieces in half, giving me 4, 6-foot shelves. Are we seeing where this is going?

[Daddy, you might not want to look at this picture...lots of shoes involved.]

I got home and designed this (enjoy it from afar, we’ll get close in a minute):

[Yeah, the ottoman looks awesome, doesn't it!] And had SO much fun putting all my shoes on the shelves. Turns out I have more heels than flats so I needed 3 heel-height shelves and only one for flats.

Of course, this does not house ALL of my shoes (*scoffs*), since my winter shoes and boots have since been stored in a closet for the Spring and Summer. And I sort of dropped that block on the top shelf there and it broke. It’s…artful?

I love how the height of the cinder blocks is almost exactly the height I needed for heels and also for flats. It is perfect. Fate. Serendipity. Happiness. And no more tripping over shoes in the dark. And when I win the lottery and get myself a TV for my bedroom, this jank is the perfect height to watch TV from bed. Serendipitous INDEED.

[Side note: apologies for the lack of variety of photographs...my room is not up to my standards to photograph too extensively so this is all you get for now.]

Now let’s actually step back and analyze. “Ew,” you might be thinking. “Why would anyone put cinder blocks in their room?” you might be asking. “That is the ugliest thing ever,” you might actually be saying out loud. I know. It’s not perfect. And I certainly don’t want cinder block furniture in my room forever. But let’s look again:

Don’t the cinder blocks kind of fade from view with all the bright colors of the shoes shining through? Is it just me? Man-Piece thought it looked weird and couldn’t get past the cinder blocks. I was thinking that eventually I’d paint the shelves and make them super glossy (black? white? grey? green? pink? can’t decide), and maybe even give the cinder blocks a spray of something to help them blend in more?

Eventually, in my dream world when I own more drills and saws and stuff, I will actually BUILD a legit bookcase made out of wood and screws and stuff. But that day is not really coming soon, so this is it for now.

What do you think? Needs color? Spray paint? Love it? Hate it?

I’ve had a mirror and a little piece of homemade typography sitting propped on my entrance table for a long time. I finally decided how and where to hang these things and got out my hammer and nails, and most importantly, the level. An embarrassing number of minutes later, here we have a “done” entrance foyer vignette.

And now I explain myself, because I’m sure some of you are looking at this and saying, “My jeans are my life? What?” When I was about 12 or 13 – the height of hormone-induced drama and ridiculously strong feelings about ridiculous things thanks to puberty, I was having an argument / confrontation with my father (or both parents, I don’t remember – it doesn’t matter), at the end of which I memorably screamed / whined “But my JEANS are my LIFE!” Followed by much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

NEEDLESS to clarify further, I have never lived this moment down. As such, I decided to embrace it and use it as a reminder to myself that nothing – or at least, most things – are not life or death, to remind myself to chill out and calm down, and to attempt to be rational and reasonable whenever possible. Going through life with the emotions and drama of a 13 year old girl would probably be EXTREMELY exhausting.

You might say it’s the Sara version of the classic but [in my opinion] over-used “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster.

To briefly defend my younger self, I still remember the pair of jeans that were at stake. They were the PERFECT fitting pair of “low-rise” (on the “hips” of a 13 year old, let’s remember) bootcut jeans with the perfect amount of fade, hitting the ground JUST right over my footwear of choice (sneakers? That part I don’t remember), from the coolest store of all time, Limited Too (which I think is now called “Justice”…totally dumb). All women know how hard it is to find a good pair of jeans, so I’d say it’s not that insane to be distraught at the thought of losing the perfect pair, though certainly not worthy of yelling or stomping feet – both of which may have been involved. Sorry Daddy.

MOVING on. My welcoming display is made complete with a mirror to help with the light in this space, a collection of favorite [mostly home decor and design] books, and some other fun random treasures of the week.

I’m loving the slight change and permanence that actually hanging things does for the space, and really enjoy switching up the display when it strikes me.

Anyone doing any home improving this weekend? Do any of you have any embarrassing puberty-induced art? Or maybe just stories?