Organization: a new resource inspires me to organize my way

Today I cleaned, cleaned more and then continue to clean. I like having a clean, organized, clutter free home. Unfortunately, my home is rarely the way that I like it. I have three small children and a husband that are all home for the summer. I feel like I am a maid and if I quit no one really cares, but me. I am the only one who cares because I am the one that wants a clean, organized, clutter free home...the rest of the family just makes messes and either doesn't really care what condition our home is in or expect that it will get to me and I will break down and clean. Unfortunately, the latter is usually what happens. I have tried to let it go. I am always telling myself, "Relax, just let it go...enjoy life...this too shall pass." The problem is it I really don't enjoy life with a messy house.

So since this is my problem and right now the real thorn in my side is the laundry, today during my workout warm up I was searching for videos on organization, specifically laundry and all that goes into it when I came across Mandie's vlogs and blog called Organizing Your Way. I instantly lit up and made an important connection. After watching a few of her videos and doing a more intense workout without my phone I looked up her blog on my computer. She has an amazing blog with very helpful tips. Her home is very clean, organized and decorated in a modern functional style. I am so impressed with her blog and her home. She is doing something right. It is difficult to believe that she has four kids ages five and younger. Plus, her philosophy to organizing is that it has to work for you or you won't do it and maintain it. I have tried other organization methods that all sound great, but they have not truly stuck because they don't work for me. Recently a friend commented on FB that I am always posting on cleaning and why don’t I follow such and such online. I try, but such and such just didn’t fit my organization/cleaning style.

Here is her introduction video. She shares what she is going to create with her blog and videos. I found it to be refreshing and I love her approach on making it work for you.



Here is Mandi's laundry video. I really like her system, but unfortunately, we don't have room for a family closet in our laundry room and our laundry room is not off of our kitchen.




Things I learned from her blog today that I plan on implementing this week:
1. She does a section rags and organization. I am so excited to use her system of purchasing new rags for washing hands and faces every six months and then placing the old ones in the wipe up rag drawer. I love the little three drawer organizer as well. I am hoping to find one that will fit sideways in my pantry. We will see. Tons of great ideas from that one entry.
2. I learned several principles for streamlining laundry from a link that Mandi has on her site for The 365 Day Organizer. I am not sure I will be able to make the laundry basket work for my three kids, but I like the idea.
3. I moved an Ikea chair into my office that has been sitting in our master bedroom for quite a while. I figured it will be nice for my husband to have a place to sit in there and we won't be tempted to use the chair as a clothing organizer if it is no longer in the bedroom. I will try to post a picture soon.

I am exhausted and so this post will have to be in two segments. I am enjoying getting back into blogging though and hope that you will continue to read my blog.

Warmly,
Jen

This Weekend…

Well not a lot was accomplished for this ambitious, nesting mama of soon to be three kids under three, but at least some progress was made. I don’t know about you, but I am a list person and just love to cross things off of my list. Looking back is the best when so much is crossed out.

I was able to get a few things completed and a few other things started throughout the weekend. The main project that I completed was covering these stools.



I should have taken a picture of them before (but I may not have wanted to post it even if I had taken one). We have had these stools for four years almost and the cream fabric that was on them had definitely seen better days. I had used our carpet cleaner (SpotBot) to clean them, but they still had stains from the kids and who knows what that were stubborn and not coming off.

On Saturday, I went to the fabric store and scored this great fabric for 50 percent off the normal price. All of their upholstery fabric/home decorating fabrics were on sale. (I also picked up some fawn colored silk for my ribbon board, but that is a separate post and all I have is the ribbon and fabric right now for it). I purchased 1.5 yards of fabric, knowing that I would have some left over and I could make pillows for the adjacent family room. Although, I really want to use the fabric to cover our kitchen table chairs, but the hubby wants to wait since our kids eat on those daily and they still have some wear and tear that we get out of them.

So getting to the point…it was really a simple project. I cut three large squares of fabric out, making sure it would fit around the diameter of the stool pad. While I pulled the fabric tight and so there were no creases my husband stapled the fabric to the back of the stool. It was much easier with two people, but I am sure one person could do it. The total time not including the fabric purchase was twenty minutes. I am very pleased with the results. I would love to hear about your do it yourself projects if you care to share leave a comment with your project or your blog post.

Office/Craft Room Re-do

So I took a little blogging hiatus after my two week stint of blogging daily. It has been nice, but I am exciting to be posting again.

Old Living Room

Now an office/craft space...the doors were eventually painted.

The new space as I moved all of the clutter into it with no organizational system.


A few weeks ago I posted about my office/craft space and the lack of closed storage. Well yesterday and today I re-organized, re-arranged and basically revamped my office. Check out the before and after photos below. My office used to be our old living room. We never used it and it was fairly inexpensive to convert the space to something else by adding a wall and French Doors.

The view from entering the space



Well this week my hubby picked me up this table off of Craigslist originally from Pier 1. It is an actual craft table. I love that it is pretty much counter height and that I can use it solely for scrapbooking and cardmaking. Now I won’t have to clear off my desk and move the keyboard to the side. I have plenty of space right there. My kids love that it has two stools, perfect for them to sit at and color if mommy is on the computer.

My New Craft Table



So after getting the fabulous craft table I had a dilemma of how to organize the room. I need as much storage as I can get. I used to have a sofa in here, but it was pretty cramped with the addition of the new table. I decided to take the sofa out and re-arrange the space with the bookcases all together on one wall, the desk moved to the right a little bit and the craft table against the window so I can look out as I scrap. It was difficult to figure out a layout that worked. Originally, I thought I wanted the craft table in the center. While that would be nice, it just wouldn’t work in the space that I have with the other furniture that I need. Unfortunately, I also decided to store my sewing stuff in a closet in another room. I really just don’t have the space for it.

The revamped bookcases with no closed storage, but boxes make it look neater, more orderly.

It feels fabulous to be organized (as I am pregnant and very much nesting). My amazing hubby insisted that we go to Target yesterday and get some much needed closed storage for the bookcases. I didn’t really want to spend any more money than what we had spent on the craft table. Well he wouldn’t take no for an answer and insisted that I get some storage and do it right. This is the outcome. As you can see, there is a big difference from the before and after. I already had a few storage components, but nothing that was unified and not enough. Now I won’t have any excuses to be unorganized. Fortunately, Target had the brown containers on clearance, along with some of the blue cubes. They matched what I already had perfectly. I just love it when that happens.

Room view from the corner


Overall, I am thrilled with the space and I can’t wait to have some time to scrapbook and make some cards in it. It has been a while in the making and I am so thankful to my wonderful husband for making it happen. Now it is onto creating some unique artwork and a ribbon board for my revamped space. This along with a bazillion other projects I have on my plate before this third baby arrives. 

Jen D.

New Spaces

We moved into our home new about three years ago. We love the neighborhood. We have wonderful neighbors with lots of kids about our children's ages. It is a nice neighborhood walking distance to a lake and our town still has that small town vibe. We have beautiful views from the backyard and upstairs bedrooms. Although we are grateful for our home and enjoy it a lot we have thought about moving a few times for a several reason. The first and main reason is the space layout of our home, starting with it being three levels (basement, main level and upstairs). Plus the house only has three official bedrooms (on the top floor); however, it has two bonus rooms one in the basement and one the main level. Plus an additional living room and family room. We decided to improve upon our living space in our current home instead of going through the hassle of moving. About six months ago we started the process of finishing our lower level basement (adding a bathroom, a rec room space, a kitchen and turning the previous bonus room into a bedroom). We also decided to build a wall to create a hallway and a closed office where our living room used to be. Here are the before and after pictures of the office. I am so excited that the space is finally completed. We are about 90 percent finished with the basement and I will be posting pictures of that project soon as well. I feel incredibly blessed to have this new space and use it daily.

The new wall being construct.


Now the new wall is complete, the doors are painted and my office is already moved inside. Here Big A and the dog are standing in the newly constructed hallway. What a difference!

Here it is with the French doors open. You can see all my craft stuff on the shelves.. I am still working on organization with only open shelving. I wish I had some closed storage, but overall I am very happy with my new space.