I love interior design books. I love the nice hardback covers and pretty photos of gorgeous spaces. It’s especially awesome when you come across an interior design book that not only has pretty pictures, but is filled with simple DIY projects and practical ideas for everyday living. Last week, I picked up a book such as this! Living in a Nutshell by Janet Lee.

First of all, a little bit about Janet. She’s an Emmy Award-winning television show producer and has styled and produced for leading home decorators, entrepreneurs, and designers such as, my favorite, the one and only Martha Stewart. She started out as a home décor producer for Lifetime Television’s Our Home and spent ten years as a senior producer for The Oprah Winfrey Show (while working closely with another favorite, Nate Berkus!). Janet blogs over at livinginanutshell.com and lives in New York City.

Janet’s book, Living in a Nutshell, is a super practical DIY guide of decorating ideas that trick the eye into believing a small living space is larger and more glamorous than it’s four walls. Even if you don’t live in a tiny space, these style-infused and oh so clever ideas are sure to inspire – especially if you have a love for modern style with a dash of urban quirk. This book comes complete with an illustrated survival tool kit as well as extensive listings of off-the-beaten-path design resources and a buying guide. Lucky for us, Janet is here on the blog today to share some of her favorite tiny, skinny storage solutions! Without further ado, here’s Janet…

I’m a small-space nester living in over a dozen petite pads in the past 20 years. I am in a constant battle with clutter and each space along the way has become my personal decorating lab where I road-test storage solutions that look cool out in the open, maximize vertical as well as horizontal real estate, and are super easy to maintain.  I need instant gratification when it comes to my storage and organizational systems or I won’t keep it up. I am not naturally neat and tidy by nature so these skinny storage ideas will give you the motivation to stay the anti-clutter course!

Every small space dweller fights the good fight against clutter. These skinny storage solutions and décor ideas won’t take up valuable real estate and are more a pleasure than a chore to maintain.

Shoe Bar. Lightweight polyurethane molding lets you display your favorite pairs of heels while freeing up valuable closet space. Removable  picture hanging strips keep the design chic and portable. No need to hammer nails or put screws through the wall.  Ideal for renters.  (p. 81)

Stretching Your Storage. Keeping clutter at bay is a stretch for most of us but with inexpensive rubber boating straps you have a hip catchall space to store keys, bills and sunglasses maximizing valuable vertical real estate. (p. 125)

Skinny Coat Rack. A removable wall decal affixed with Command clear hooks is transformed into a 3D hard-working coat rack strong enough to hold an umbrella, coats and hats without taking up valuable real estate.

Shoe Chair.  A flea market chair, with the seat removed, can hold up to 20 pairs of high-heels. Add a few removable hooks and you’ve the perfect place to display and store hats and handbags.

Gallery Frames.  Oversized art frames can cost more than the art itself.  Inexpensive doorjamb weather stripping has a soft rubber side to keep artwork unharmed and a pre-drilled metal side that attaches to the wall with decorative thumbtacks. (p. 147)

Double-Duty Shelves. Talk about a shelf with benefits! Industrial C- clamps can double the storage and style potential of ordinary shelving. Now this shelf can hold books, an umbrella, coats, sports equipment and more. Just twist each clamp and you’re done. (p. 136)

Shrink-Wrap File Cabinet. Couture is only a blow-dryer away.  An old file cabinet gets a designer makeover with removable vinyl adhesive that hugs every curve with the heat of a hand dryer. With a wink to the Louis Vuitton original, personal initials “JL” playfully stand in for the iconic monogram.  (p. 42)

Standing Lamp Only. If you don’t have an inch to spare in your cozy nook, these easy-to-make standing lamps from a wall decal, a lamp cord and a flashlight holder won’t leave a footprint. (p. 109)

And the Oscar Goes to… Plastic trophy heads attached to the wall with picture hanging hooks stylishly hold scarves, ties and lightweight handbags maximizing the vertical storage potential in your space.

I’m really digging Janet’s fresh approach to slim living and stylish organizing! Regardless of whether we live in a space of 500 sq. ft. or 5000, we can all appreciate the art of using our spaces wisely.  And when it can be done with such fun, originality and finesse, thats always a home run in my book. Oh, and I love the text on the floor mirror in the decal lighting photo, don’t you?!  What’s your favorite project of Janet’s? It’s so hard to choose, but I’ve got to say that ever since reading this post, I’ve been keeping my eye out for trophies at the thrift stores, ha!

I’m rounding off week one here in sunny California and loving every second of it! If you didn’t catch the where, who and why, check out this post here. I’m having so much fun hanging out with my fam and getting to see all the things I’ve only seen in magazines, movies and online. Any other TMZ readers out there? haha! On the other hand, I terribly miss Greg and of course, Bentley. I’m constantly saying things like, “Oh, Greg would love that!” or “Aww, Bentley would love taking a walk here”. On the plus side, Greg and I are already making plans to come here during NAMM early next year. Can’t wait!

This week has consisted of getting acquainted with the area around the apartment (which I love!), hanging out, relaxation, a smidgen of shopping and a bit of house-stalking. To be honest, I was kind of nervous about flying so far (I hadn’t flown that far since I went to Australia a while back), but the six-hour flight wasn’t too terrible and luckily I had my mom and Abram with me for the ride. There was waaaay to much laughing going on during the flight. Fortunately, the people sitting around us found it amusing. It’s a good thing!

A close friend of ours picked us up from the airport and where was the first place we headed? The infamous In-N-Out Burger! There’s a special not-so-secret code when ordering, so I let Abram order for me. A Double Double Animal Style. I don’t know if it was because I hadn’t eaten in 10 hours or the animalness of it all, but it was delicious! With all of it’s cheesy, messy goodness, I’m surprised it’s a favorite of Paris Hilton’s. Haha!

Even though the apartment is basically a temporary living arrangement, my mom has done a super awesome job at making it feel like home. I’m planning on taking some photos of the apartment before I leave! On top of that, the location is out of this world perfect. Everything you need seems to be within walking distance… Trader Joe’s, a pharmacy, Urban Outfitters, the movie theater, Pinkberry, Ikea (I know!) and any type of restaurant you can imagine  - Thai, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Hawaiian, and the list goes on.

My favorite feature of the apartment (aside from the location!) is the good-sized balcony off the living room. It really makes me want to fix up our carport/patio when I get home. The weather is so freakishly perfect here that the sliding glass door stays open for most of the day. And there are no mosquitoes like there are in Virginia! The balcony has a surprising amount of privacy,  looks out on Downtown Burbank, surrounded by palm trees and magnolias and has a great view of the mountains. The above Instagram photo doesn’t do it justice! Between this balcony and my mom, I’m being completely spoiled. For instance, we just finished having breakfast out on the balcony – turkey bacon, whole grain toast and fried eggs. The toast was made with fresh baked bread and the eggs were farm fresh eggs. Both were purchased yesterday from the Burbank Farmer’s Market that sets up shop every Saturday morning from 8AM to 12:30PM. And like everything else, is only 2 blocks from the apartment. More on that next week. Now I’m sitting here with the laptop getting some [much needed!] sun while I write this post. Yes. Spoiled.

I can’t do a LA trip update without mentioning the celebrity sightings you’ve all been asking about! Around here, celebrities definitely blend in – so sometimes it’s hard to recognize them. They are normal, everyday people going to the grocery store, pumping gas and eating dinner with friends. However, I have noticed a few here and there so far. The first “sighting” was on the plane from Atlanta to Los Angeles. Jack from The Secreat Life of the American Teenager (Greg Finley) sat right behind us. He was really nice and had just bought a pair of the new Micheal Jordan shoes. We saw Ashton Kutcher at Chateau Marmont. He’s taller than I expected and goes up stairs three at a time. We’ve also seen Jane from Jane by Design (Erica Dasher) going into Trader Joe’s. She has gorgeous hair! And as for my favorite celebrity sighing so far… we saw “him”. Ryan Gosling. We saw “him” walking down the street with a friend in Beverly Hills. Yes, he’s just as good looking in person. We also saw Howard Hesseman taking a walk in the Toluca Lake area. That man knows how to power walk!

Since I have an obvious love for houses, we’ve done a good bit of house stalking as well – though we plan on doing much more this next week. I love seeing houses used in movies and TV shows. My favorite so far being The Brady Bunch house! Yep, I was that girl singing the theme song in the car with the windows down.

As far as shopping… do I have a place to share with you guys! It’s an amazing antique store in Los Angeles called Tini (which stands for “This is not Ikea”). The outside alone yelled “Blog post!”. I’m going to put together a post with tons of photos for next week. It’s so awesome, you’re going to want to book a plane ticket. Promise.

We also did a little shopping at a thrift-store like place called It’s A Wrap. They have two locations in town and each one is filled with nothing but actual wardrobe and props used in movies and TV shows. Each item in the store is tagged with a show code. For instance, PP is Paramount Pictures and GEN is General Hospital. They have everything from vintage to couture. I scored a big “Vegan leather” bag that Jennifer Aniston used in Just Go With It for $45 (!!) and Abram got a really cool Ralph Lauren seersucker jacket for $50 that was worn by one of the Jonas Brothers. Holla!

This week we’re planning on doing the Warner Brothers Studio Tour, taking a day trip over to Malibu and hitting up some of those restaurants you guys have been recommending. Keep them coming – I’ve had fun adding them all to my list!

How does one end a post while laying in the sun on a balcony in sunny California while drinking iced lime water? Like this…

Hey Girl photo found here.

While going through renovations (or just everyday life) walls are bound to get nicked, scratched and scuffed. For this reason, we’ve been finding ourselves frequently lugging cans of paint in and out of the attached storage shed (which is insulated, and therefore safe for paint storage).

While I was at the grocery store the other day, I spotted these cute 4 oz Ball Jelly Jars. Being on an organization kick lately, I figured I’d find something to do with them and they were only $8 for 12 jars. So in my cart they went! When I got home, I immediately knew what we’d use them for. Touch up paint!

We “canned” the paint colors for each room in the house (which only totals up to three paint colors) along with the paint we used for the trim, front door and the kitchen cabinet touch up paint that Lowe’s gave us when our cabinets were installed.

Even though the jars are clear and you can see what color the paint is without opening it, I labeled each jar with the important information including the color (and the color code if it had one), brand, finish and where in the house we used it. I didn’t have any sticker labels on hand, so I just printed the information on card stock then traced the lid around the information and cut it out. Then placed it between the lid and the metal screw band. I actually like this option better than stickers because I can easily change it down the road if I need to for some reason rather than dealing with annoying sticker residue.

They’re almost pretty enough to display, aren’t they?! But for now we are keeping them in the laundry room tool drawer. It’s so nice to have the paint easily on hand. I’ve even been finding myself looking to scratches to touch up! : )