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You all know how much I personally heart a pretty paper project.  Decorative paper can make anything fun and fabulous!  I especially love how it allows you to repurpose everyday items or upgrade inexpensive finds, into something that you want to look at and use.  Aniko, from Place of My Taste, found the most beautiful paper and created sweet and simple storage that she uses at her desk, however, I also envision it being great in an entryway, bedroom or bathroom.  Here she is now to share the details of her quick and easy yet oh-so-gorgeous and budget friendly storage project.


Hello Everyone! It's Aniko from Place Of My Taste and I am so thrilled to be here again today. I am still humbled to be among such amazing and talented ladies on the iHeart Organizing team. Back in October, on my debut here, I shared a wonderful jewelry organizer with you all, and today I will show you how I prettied up a plain $1 compartment container with gorgeous wrapping paper to brighten up my office desk and organize my small desk accessories. When it comes to organizing, I always try to bring in style and color to the space I am working on. Last fall I took the One Room Challenge and was challenged to make over a room in 6 weeks. I chose my really cluttered, unorganized and unfinished office space. I planed every little detail out and I can probably proudly say that 90% of the planned projects were finished.

Here is a quick image for you to get an idea how my office/craft room looks like right now, so you can vision my new pretty desk organizer in my space.


Target is my favorite one stop shop. I know, yours too, right? I think Target was pretty smart to add The One Spot section right at the door. Sometimes I don't even make it further as I can find so many fabulous things there. That is where I picked up this inexpensive, $1 plastic compartment container a couple months ago, saying, "I am sure I can use this for something".  Story of my life!

I also picked up this oh my goodness gorgeous flower wrapping paper while in the store. As soon as I spied this paper from distance, I knew that "she" will come home with me. Loving the colors and the watercolor effect.


Things I used:

• gorgeous flower wrapping paper
• scissors
• $1 compartment container
• school glue
• paintbrush
• pencil

This was a 10 minute quick transformation. First I took off the lid from the plastic compartment container and traced the shape on the back of the wrapping paper. Then, I repeated and cut out 4 little pieces to cover the inside of the container. I applied glue on my paintbrush and brushed the glue on the lid as well as the bottom of the container. Smoothed the wrapping paper slowly with my hand.

That is it my dears!

Quick, easy, inexpensive and gorgeous little container/organizer makeover.


While I was on roll with organizing my washi tapes and paper binder clips to my container, I quickly prettied up my paper binder clips with my golden washi tape. Simple yet very decorative fix.


15 minutes later I had the perfect little organizer container dressed up for my tiny office accessories.



Here is how my darling organizer shows on my desk. What do you think?


If you would like to see more of this office room, come tour my Office Room/Craft Room Reveal.


Well, I hope that I inspired you to create something beautiful for your home, for yourself or for a friend. Inspiration is everywhere! Will be back in a few months... until then come and see what I am working on currently or come grab a yummy 15 minute recipe.  Cheers!




"Hey there. My name is Aniko and I blog over at Place Of My Taste. I am a wife, mother, business owner by day, DIY-er by night, design, decor and photography lover by heart who loves to cook, taste wine, dance for therapy and create all things beautiful. I share all this love over at my blog - at my happy place. Come see me there. xo"

Long time color fanatic here, and I know I am not alone.  Maybe we should start a color loving club?  Do they have those?  I could probably be president.  Pair color with organizing and my heart really goes wild.  That is one of the many reasons I fell in love with Aniko's blog, Place Of My Taste.  She shares that love of color and organization and always knows how to inject happiness into each project she tackles.  That includes some recent bathroom updates she made, which she is sharing with us today.  And not only do we have the privilege of oohing and aahing over her beautiful and bright bathroom, she is also gifting us with some beautiful, free artwork!  Thank you Aniko!



Today I am going to show you how I quickly refreshed our bathroom with a little pop of color. At the end of last year we tackled our bathroom makeover and I haven't really touched anything in there since then. The bathroom wasn't completely finished (and it still isn't which seems to be the story of my life), however, we were so pleased with the how far we came with the it because it is now bright, cheery and definitely more spacious. You can see more of the bathroom remodel here, you may want to see the before picture, it is pretty dramatic.  If you have been to my blog, you know that I am not afraid to use color. Not at all. I found a terrific coral shower curtain at Target, my favorite one stop shop, and it was the driving factor to use coral as an accent color throughout the entire bathroom.

I recently spied a $1 ceramic soap dispenser and soap tray at Dollar Tree, and I immediately put them in my basket.  I just knew that a little coral paint would make these the perfect addition to our space.

I am going to show you a quick tutorial of how you can make your own custom painted soap dispenser. Super easy and no, you don't have to be an artist to do this.


Things you will need:

• Ceramic soap dispenser and tray (Dollar Store)
• Glass paint (I used Martha Stewart - Coral color)
• Paint brush
• Gold sharpie pen - optional

As I said, you don't have to be an artist to do this. My lines were not perfect at all, but in my opinion, they don't really have to be. I just went on with my paint brush and painted my simple design. For the tray, I used the golden sharpie to highlight the edges.


I re-purposed the soap tray for my rings. I like to take them off before I shower and this pretty tray makes perfect holding spot. The design is so imperfect and that is what I love most about it. It gives these ceramic pieces a super custom look.



I wanted to go further and show you how I keep my bathroom organized and pretty at the same time. I use baskets, small vases and plastic bins to hold things that we use on a daily basis. I love to have everything handy in the morning because I don't have much time to get ready and look for things at the same time. I keep my quick make-up items handy, as well as my facial products, cotton balls, shaving products for hubby, and few wash cloths.



I have a shelf unit that I placed between my two vanities and it has baskets that hold extra hand towels, bathing and hair products. It fit perfectly and they keep everything easily accessible.




To make this bathroom feel a little more summery and beachy, I painted a piece of lobster artwork that I display right in front of my mirror.  I am offering this watercolor art for FREE if you like it.  I have been feeling a little artsy lately (if you follow me on Instagram you can see sneak peeks of my creations) and I have to admit, I absolutely love creating new designs. I am lucky to have talent in my hands from my dad, who also paints wonderful artwork.





Thank you for reading today. I hope you are inspired to run to dollar store and grab a few ceramic pieces that you can custom paint. I will be back here in a couple of months, but until then I would love for you to visit me over at Place Of My Taste where I share lots of fun, colorful projects and yummy recipes, or go check out my shop and my creations over at Society 6.

Cheers for a long and sunny weekend!




"Hey there. My name is Aniko and I blog over at Place Of My Taste. I am a wife, mother, business owner by day, DIY-er by night, design, decor and photography lover by heart who loves to cook, taste wine, dance for therapy and create all things beautiful. I share all this love over at my blog - at my happy place. Come see me there. xo"

My contributors have been bringing it in the Back-To-School department this year!  And good thing, because that is something I haven't even begun to focus on yet.  Time for this mama to get out of her summer coma and get back into the school swing of things.  I am so grateful for the recent inspiration and ideas from Jen, Karen and now Aniko.

Aniko blogs at Place of My Taste, and I admit to stalking her Instagram feed on a daily basis because everything she touches is colorful, fun and fabulous.  So it is no surprise to me that she created one of the most incredible homework stations around.  My little guys are uber jealous of this area that is designed with homework in mind, yet happy enough to want to spend time at.  I have placed a lot of focus here over the years around creating a work environment you love, and that is no different for kiddos.  It's time to get #homeworkhappy!



School will be back with full speed before we know it. I know in some states school has already started, but we still have 3 more weeks to enjoy summer (sigh).  I can't even believe how fast these past 2 months went. It feels like we are always on the go with my boys and with that said the days and weeks seem to fly by crazy fast. I started working on my boys room last year. Wait. Last year? Yeah, it is typical Aniko style to start a new project and getting quickly lost in another project without even finishing the first one. I can't help it, when I have new ideas I have to jump right on that wagon while my creative idea is fresh.  Last year I stenciled an accent wall and did a few smaller projects in this room, but I never got to finish one little corner in here - the homework station. I am sending my eldest son to First Grade this September and he needs his private space to do his homework after school.


I wanted this corner to be fun, colorful and functional where he would happily want to sit down to do homework and practice art. I chose a bright orange and blue combo for the walls when I started working on this room last year. I love these two bold colors together, I think they are playful and fun for kids room. I knew IKEA had great shelving systems and I was confident that I wanted to create this little corner from IKEA. By the way, it's one of my favorite stores. It's about an hour drive for me but I am always delighted to go there shopping. Have you seen their new catalog yet? I am smitten with so many amazing design ideas this season.


I did not have much space to work with in the boy's room as we already had two beds and toy storage, so the corner that I had left was pretty small. I found the incredible shelving system at IKEA which was the perfect solution for my teeny- tiny corner. The shelving system is called ALGOT and let me tell ya, it is pretty awesome. You can build your system as big or as little as you want.

For the desk, I chose the largest and widest shelf that they had available and I added two smaller shelves to hold his file folders and small bins which are great to organize markers and pencils.



I really like the idea of hanging that big roll of paper right above his desk.  I use it for reminders but it is also perfect for my son to draw and write on whenever he would like.  It even works great to list his sight words to memorize.  In fact, I even use this paper to cover my kitchen table during Play-Doh time, when the boys draw their art and even for my own art work which I then display in large DIY Wooden Frames.

Do you assign daily to-do chores for your kids? I just recently started having my boys to do daily chores and it helps tremendously. I like to have my son's daily to-do items visible right in front of him, as I am hoping that looking at those clip-art pictures will help him remember to pick up his toys and get those books in hand. I cut out images of each item and I attached each of them to the paper with some little chalkboard clips from Target.


IKEA has so many great and functional items. This "BYGEL" rail can hold cute plastic organizer bins that are ideal for crayons.  It also works well for hanging his scissors or other office accessories.


That small plastic container that holds erasers and glue sticks was also found in Target's dollar section.



While I was taking pictures of this corner I asked him to write "back to school" for me... he tried very hard.  #cute

I did not purchase a desk chair but I updated an IKEA Stool this past weekend and placed it next to his desk.  I really love how it turned out.


My son was very happy about his new, awesome homework station. He sat down immediately and started coloring.


As you see I am not afraid to mix and match bright colors as color simply makes me happy. Next to this homework station there is also a reading corner that I created last year.


ADDITIONAL ROOM PROJECTS:

• READ sign
• Painted Stripe Rug
• Stenciled Wall

I think I created a fun, cheerful, happy place for my love to do his homework and I hope I inspired some of you to create something special for your kiddos as well. If you like these ideas or perhaps you would like to replicate it, I listed all the source links for you below. Some of the items, like the blue lamp shade and the green wall light, are no longer available at IKEA but I included alternative options that work just as well.

leg, algot shelf and shelf, algot wall rail, lamp shade, shelf bracket, cord kit, rail, cups, bracket, stool, paper rail, paper

"Hey there. My name is Aniko and I blog over at Place Of My Taste. I am a wife, mother, business owner by day, DIY-er by night, design, decor and photography lover by heart who loves to cook, taste wine, dance for therapy and create all things beautiful. I share all this love over at my blog - at my happy place. Come see me there. xo"

Today I am excited to introduce you to the newest member of the iHeart Organizing contributor family!  Aniko, the brilliant writer behind the blog Place Of My Taste, is no stranger around here.  After two amazing Reader Space features, I invited her to come on board as a regular contributing member.  I adore her to pieces and beyond thrilled she is here today to share her beautiful method for storing her jewelry.  A girl after my own heart, she did a quick and inexpensive project and now she has a way to corral her daily bling.


Hello iHeart Readers, I am so honored to be here and to be part of Jen's amazing team. I was featured here a few times before ( Entry Way - Organized Garage ) and now it is truly unbelievable that I have the opportunity to share my creativity and work with you regularly. I brought a pretty jewelry organizer tray as my first contributor post. It is a very easy, yet lovely little project. Luckily, a new Goodwill store has just opened up few streets over from my house and now it has become an everyday routine to stop for a short visit there. I spied this old wooden tray hiding on the shelf and I could not leave it behind. I am pretty sure if you look closer you will find these old wooden trays in most thrift stores. My love for jewelry developed very early when I was a little girl. Creativity was already there and I loved making my own earrings from wire and beads. However, I am not making jewelry anymore but I am kind of addicted to buying it. I can pick up a pair of earrings every time I run into Target.

So let's jump right in and see the before pic of this wooden tray.


Not so ah-mazing, right?

As you see, this tray was in really good shape and it did not have any major scratches or any other damage to it, so the surface was easy to work with. I sanded the tray just a little bit for the paint to nicely adhere to the surface.

I spray painted the tray with Rust-oleum white (flat) paint and let it dry for about an hour. Once the paint was completely dry, I taped off different shapes on the tray, randomly. Then, I spray painted the taped areas with my favorite gold spray paint (Rust-oleum- Metallic gold). This particular paint dries literally in minutes. So awesome!


Tip: Be careful with the spray paint. Make sure you cover the areas well that won't be painted. I had to retouch on a few spots due to having some small drops from spraying. After spraying the gold, I went on with my raspberry pink color. These colors are present in our still evolving master bedroom and I really thought that this tray would not only be a great organizer, but a wonderful decor piece as well.



I have a lot of jewelry and I absolutely needed something like this to hold my small studs, bracelets and rings. I found myself dropping everything on the dresser and after a few days it was always a huge mess. Not anymore, thanks to this lovely tray.



Not only do I have small stud earrings, but I also have very many longer and bigger earrings as well. I made a nice earring organizer using pretty fabric and an IKEA picture frame that I hang above my dresser. If you have a few minutes hop over to see it on Place Of My Taste.


I hope I inspired you to go look for a wooden tray or a pretty frame to make your own unique jewelry organizer.

This is it for me today, iHeart readers. Huge thanks to Jen for letting me share my project and sharing her wonderful space with me today. See you next time!



"Hey there. My name is Aniko and I blog over at Place Of My Taste. I am a wife, mother, business owner by day, DIY-er by night, design, decor and photography lover by heart who loves to cook, taste wine, dance for therapy and create all things beautiful. I share all this love over at my blog - at my happy place. Come see me there. xo"