I firmly believe that having the right tools makes the difference between tolerating certain activities and enjoying them, as well as the difference between workmanlike and great results in the same pursuits.
For me, this is most obvious in cooking. Making lemon zest without a zester. Ugh.* But I think it’s true in wardrobe maintenance and use, too.
After years of planning, I finally had a dresser built in my bedroom (our bedroom) in an alcove where a free-standing dresser had previously been located.
Free to design the built-in to fit my needs, I specified several deep drawers on the bottom (but not too deep) for tee shirts and pajamas and a series of shallow flat files on the top for my jewelry and belts.
The baseboard running along the bottom of the dresser is a secret drawer.
Now, instead of storing all my jewelry stacked several layers deep in a massive drawer, I can see everything laid out in several shallow drawers.
As a result, I am seeing things that I had sort of forgotten. Things that I certainly did not see unless I went looking for them. And seeing them is causing me to wear them.
Remember this necklace from my trip to Chile? Beads (possibly acorns) in a nylon tube defined by tiny knots in between each bead? My eyes passed over it last week and I thought, “I should try that dark green with all of my weirdy greens and blue-greens.” Et voila!
I think this necklace looks better looped and knotted in a few spots rather than wound around my neck four times in the manner of an Egyptian collar, as I previously have worn it.
I am not 100% sold on the necklace with the belt. It may be too much activity. If I replaced the leather belt with a simple belt (like a narrow cummerbund) made from a weirdy green organza, that might be Very Effective. Just a thought.
In lieu of the necklace, I wore these rubber PVC bracelets to work. (Bracelets have their own flat drawer! As do brooches!) It’s odd that both the color and shape of these bracelets work with the dress.
I found these bracelets in Venice a number of years ago, when I probably should have been looking at Venetian glass. But this artist’s work — all in PVC rubber — spoke to me.
As many of you know, I don’t regularly wear jewelry. In fact, many of my posts include an admission that I forgot — either in planning an outfit or in executing it — to put on an accessory. So here is The Directrice Challenge: I am going to wear a piece of jewelry every day (Monday-Thursday) for the rest of the year.+
* O.K. Maybe that’s not the best example . . . but it is a pain to grate a whole lemon. I’ve scraped my knuckles, had lemons fly out of my hand, etc. With the zester it’s so easy and you can strip every bit of the lemon rind. Not convinced? How about making whipped cream without a handmixer? Or at least an egg-beater? You really have to want it. And you need a couple of friends who want it, too.
+ I already feel overwhelmed by this pledge.
Directrice, hearing that the deepish drawers are for tees and pajamas makes me wonder: how are you storing sweaters?
The sweaters live on shelves in the closet, stacked like a Benetton store c. 1986! You can see my closet in an old post titled War Drobe. Everything is easy to see when it’s stacked on shelves. I made the drawers of the built-in less deep that the drawers of my old dresser were and that has been helpful too. It was hard to see what’ was in the bottom half of a very tall stack in a deep drawer.
The Directrice’s brooch in the last post seemed timely given the recent attention to Lady Hale. Can’t wait to see what else the Directrice has hidden away.
Hello Directrice! I also believe in the lemon zester. But as the owner of a lemon tree I should also mention that a nice sharp vegetable peeler is also great and much faster for large quantity lemon zest, as in making limoncello.
I am envious of your built-in dresser! Like, madly envious.
I think the weird necklace and belt go together just fine. And I commend you for vowing to wear jewelry every day. The more you do it, the easier it becomes.
Agreed on the necklace & belt combo working well. If you did a fabric belt, it would compete on texture, I think.
And most importantly, there’s space for cats on top of your lovely new dresser.
I’m still pondering the greens theory. So blue-greens can get along with olive-greens and forest-greens? Hmmm. Now I will look for examples of successful fraternization.
My policy is All Greens Go Together. Do with that what you will.
And I just reread and saw the Directrice’s caption. She and I may have discussed this prior.
I like my lemon zests a little bigger so the peeler trick is for me.
I think the circles and squares work well together.
Don’t you always wear the ring and watch? In my book that counts for jewelery.
I do wear a watch (almost every day) and my wedding and engagement rings, Rose AG. I agree that they count as jewelry, but because the rings never change and the watch only changes a little, it isn’t a specific, creative choice. (Although it was a challenging choice to pick rings and watches that I thought would look right with everything.) Anyway, my goal is “one other piece.”
What about those shoulders on this dress?! Can we talk about that for a minute?
I know, Sharla! The shoulders were a topic of discussion when the dress first appeared in the post titled Verdant, a few months ago. They look like shoulder pads that have slid out of place.