No- cost room makeover!

So our living room is an odd space, and I haven't been happy with the set up for awhile. Especially after Santi came and his gear arrived with him. We have a window that the couch was in front of for awhile, but Santi is always itching to look out of it. So I decided to see if I could move the couches around and make it accessible to him, as well as not take up too much of the space, and create a designated play space for him.


For reference, this is what our living room looked like before:

I started by moving everything out of the existing space where the television was going to go. In the process I discovered a little issue and a new friend:

 (If you can't see in the above photo, there's a lovely little spider waiting to say "hi" on the baseboard.) And the basket was covered in green, dusty mold. I tried to clean it off, but I think we might just be tossing the basket - mold is something I don't mess around with!

After cleaning everything off, and putting some Super Sliders under the feet of the television table (otherwise there's no way I could move it with the, what must be, 600lb television on top of it!) I started moving everything.

We had to be careful because we have to "folding" shelves (purchased a few years ago at Target on super clearance - I got them both for $5 each!) that Santi isn't allowed to be near since they aren't anchored to the wall. In the old furniture arrangement, we solved the issue by putting them behind the couches where he couldn't reach. But that wasn't an option with the new arrangement.

It took me about an hour or so to move everything and get it all back into place (I did this during Santi's nap time) and once I did - voila!

This is right as you enter the room

 View from our dining area

I was able to keep one shelf our of Santi's grasp behind the couch. You can still see the things on it but it's mostly storage for some knick knacks (all from Peru) on the top and the bottom shelf holds our games.

This is the best space I think. I've since added another row of the letters where Santi can play with his pull and go cars. I wish I had taken a video because after his nap, I put him down and he walked behind me into the living room and the first thing he said was "Oh!" when he saw the changes. It was too cute!

This is the best part - Santi can now see out the window, watch the people who walk by in the complex (there's a playground right out the window so he can see the big kids play, or look at the "wow wows" (which is his word for dog) or the cars just beyond. He's so happy he can see out now without having us hold him up on the couch.

So there you have it - my room "makeover" for no cost!

Spring Cleaning!

So even though I was sick this past weekend, it didn't stop me from thinking of all that needs to be done around here cleaning-wise! I think being laid up in bed actually accentuates what needs to be done because you can't do anything about it! So I decided to make a list - which works best for me - of what needs to be done. This will be combined with de-cluttering and purging/organizing the rooms as well, since that's a spring cleaning item. I'm also happy to say that I've accomplished some of this already!

I'll be updating this every couple of days (along with photos of the areas I'm re-organizing with before and after photos) to hold myself accountable! 

1. Make vinegar cleaning solution (I found this recipe online: Mix a solution of 1 part water to 1 part vinegar in a new store bought spray bottle and you have a solution that will clean most areas of your home.)
2. Clean all glass in the house with the solution (windows, sills, patio door, glass picture frames, mirrors)
3. Dust thoroughly (i.e. pick up items and dust underneath them)
4. Vacuum thoroughly (i.e. move furniture when possible and vacuum underneath them. Also pick up couch cushions and vacuum underneath.)
5. Clean off mat underneath Santi's high chair
6. Clean out cabinets in kitchen and wipe down
7. Clean out refrigerator
8. Clean out cabinets in guest bathroom
9. Clean out cabinets in master bathroom
10. Clean blinds and curtains
11. Wash duvet and all blankets
12. Go through each room and purge items - place on EBay, craigslist and Amazon if they can be sold. Place in donate box if they can't be sold
13. Go through Santi's clothes and pull out things that are too small, worn, etc. Donate what can be donated and save what can be saved
14.Organize extra photos in photo boxes by dates
15. Clean all floors in kitchen, bathrooms and entryway
16. Clean out catbox and wipe down inside and out
17. Clean out Santi's humidifier

What are YOU doing for spring cleaning this year?

Feeling the urge...

To purge! Spring has arrived, even if the weather here in Seattle isn't showing it. I've decided that our house needs a good spring cleaning. Since I don't have the time during the day to do everything, my plan is to tackle one room each day during Santi's nap time. We have 8 rooms in our place (living room, dining room, kitchen, two bathrooms, office, Santi's room and our room.) We also have a storage closet on our porch, a pantry closet and a laundry closet.

So I plan on going through everything - making sure everything is touched, cleaned off, purged if necessary, and organized. I will donate/consign clothes, and get rid of some of the clutter that is in our place.

My plan is to also create a binder for coupons, and create our emergency kit during the next month. We have an emergency kit but it's really just a box filled with stuff, but it's not realistic because we couldn't grab it and go if needed. So I've designated a duffle bag that we have and am working on a list.

Toy storage!

So I was in Target yesterday, and happened to walk by the aisles where they keep the closet organizing pieces. I was so happy to see that the piece that I wanted to get for Santi's toys was on sale for $40! So I snapped it up, and a couple of the cloth bins to go in the cubbies (also on sale!)

So this is what it looks like after putting it together:

And here's the whole room - excuse the balloons, they are left over from Santi's birthday party and he LOVES them so we keep them until they "die". :)

So much better in my opinion! I'm probably going to get some more bins to fill the rest of the spaces, but I like it for now! Next up to get is the entrance bench and shelves, but probably not until next month! So happy, and Santi loves it too!

New obsession

I have a new obsession. Window shopping for items for my house. Currently I'm obsessing over two pieces that would help a lot (aren't necessary, but would help a lot!)

1. Toy storage - we have a lot of toys for Santi. There are things that we haven't even opened for him yet that are in his bedroom closet waiting for a rainy day in the future to pull out. Right now, we have three baskets, but there are a few toys that are larger and don't fit in bins. I love organization, and I also love things that can be hidden (i.e. organized behind closet doors, or bins, etc.) So I would love to get something for Santi's toys that will hold them all, leave room for growth, and allow our living room to not look like it's taken over by our child.

Currently, this is what his space in the living room looks like:

 

I'm looking to get a storage shelf with cubbies (which I would buy baskets for to store the toys in and hide away) to fit into the area to the right of the fireplace. Originally, I was looking at the Expedit bookcase from Ikea, but it's a little too tall for the space (I don't want to have to move the shelves above that area)

 So a close second is this version from Closet Maid which I have found at Target. It's about $50 and you can purchase canvas boxes to go in the cubbies. I'm not sure about that and might try and find square baskets with the same dimensions since I like the basket look better than the canvas boxes.

 

2. My second obsession is an entryway bench with storage for shoes. The entryway area we have is small, so we're limited on what we can put there. This is what the area currently looks like:

We have a shoe rack and then a coat rack (not directly above the shoe rack.) This works ok for what we need, but since Santi is bigger, what would be better is that when we come in the door, I have something to set him down on, like a bench, but with storage underneath for our shoes too. Currently, I've found these two pieces on Amazon.com which are front runners. I can't do a three cubby bench because the space is so short (a three cubby bench would run into the area where the door opens.)

Prepac Twin Cubby Bench on Amazon. Currently it's listed at $79 down from $171.

 

Prepac Twin Entryway Bench  on Amazon.com. Currently listed at $74 down from $227.

I'd also like to get a new coat rack with some storage above it for gloves and hats, or little toys of Santi's, my purse, Tito's wallet, etc. I would hang it directly over the bench for a look like this:

 So I'm looking at this piece:

 

Fremont Entryway Cubby Shelf on Amazon.com. Currently listed at $59, down from $165.

So I've got some budgeting to do! Hoping we can add the toy storage piece first (and soon!) because it's driving me crazy to be able to see every toy from the moment you walk into the livingroom.

Guest room closet mess

In the last post, I mentioned that I had two closets I wanted to reorganize since I'm now at home full time with my son. The first I showcased in the last post. The other closet was in our guest room/office.

Part of the closet has always been my craft space since we moved in. I like to scrapbook and do paper crafts, so I need space to store all of the items I have (and I have MANY!) Since I'm not afforded a room like some people I know, I have claimed a closet for my shelves and things. I'm hoping in our next space I'll be able to have a desk and a corner of a room if not a room itself.

The other half of the closet was used as a guest closet when my father in law stayed with us for 6 months to help with childcare and my mother in law was here for two months for the same reason. I didn't want them living out of a suitcase for that amount of time so we shuffled some things around to give them space. We also used a portion of this side though as coat storage and miscellaneous storage for things like my wedding dresses and one of our undegraduate caps and gowns (why, oh why do we have this?) and a few other random things. And the shelf on the top holds the 4 bins of Christmas decorations we have (yes, we have 4 bins - and I could probably add a 5th now but I have nowhere to store it so I cram everything into the 4 still.)

So here is the closet before:


Please note the random things in this closet, including, bag of gift bags, computer case with no computer, speakers to a computer that don't work (I have no idea why we are holding onto these but I'm under strict instructions not to get rid of them), fans (below) and a roll of wrapping paper.

On my craft side, things just basically began to be shoved into here, since someone was living in the room for 8 months, I wasn't able to get in and craft. So anytime I had something I'd want to add to a scrapbook page, I'd just shove it into this closet. Also note, crammed in between the bins above are the overflow of Christmas - a tree skirt and three new Christmas stockings for next year (embroidered with our names on them and ordered for 50% off from Pottery Barn after Christmas 2010.)

So I did the same thing and took everything out of the closet to see what could go where. I then went through it all and got rid of things that either didn't belong in this closet or I wouldn't use anymore (although I wasn't able to get rid of those dang speakers!)

My goal was to make what was the guest half of the closet into our linen storage, since our sheets had been stored in my son's room (logical place, right?) and our towels were stored partially in the guest bathroom and the other half along with cleaning rags, were stored on the top shelf of our pantry which is a tiny broom closet in our hallway. (Did I mention we have little to no storage in this house so I really have to be creative with finding places for things!)

So I got all of the linens and towels from around the house and arranged them all on the white shelves. I also added a two-shelf shelf to the far right of the closet, pushing it all the way in even to where it can't be seen. On the bottom shelf I put the odds and ends that couldn't go anywhere else (eh-hem, the speakers) and also the bag of gift bags and wrapping paper supplies. On the top shelf I put the extra guest pillows and two rolled up egg crate mattress pads that we use for our guests.

The end result was this:



It's not perfect but it's oh so much better. I've come to the realization that we have a lot of towels (and I got rid of some!) and a lot of sheets. But we use them all so we're keeping them until we don't. I put towels on the top shelf and the next two shelves are sheets (in sets) and the bottom are rags for cleaning as well as extra duvets and an extra bath mat.

And for the craft side, I didn't do much, since there wasn't a lot of option as to rearrange things, but I was able to do some organizing.


On the very top I have the ribbon spools, then there are some boxes I've had forever that hold markers, colored pencils and a few other miscellaneous things. Then on the left shelf I've got the first two containers are paper storage, some extra albums, and a tray of tools (scissors, brad stuff, etc.) On the bottom shelf I have some more tool storage, then the plastic bin has stamps arranged by type, and the other bin has ink and my paper cutters are here too.

On the right shelf are craft magazines on the top (along with some overflow of napkins and linen storage), then the second shelf is buttons, ribbon scraps and such (all in glass containers together.) The next shelf down has plastic containers with stickers and brads and embellishments, and punches, and the bottom shelf has an organizer that holds all of my alpha stickers and chip board and the other plastic bin holds photos for upcoming pages.

So once again, not perfect, but it works SO much better. And this re-organization cost me $0 which is even better!

Closet mess

So I consider myself to be an organized person. However, life happens, and even the best organization can turn into a mess. I set goals around the house of things to be re-organized, cleaned out, etc. when I decided to stay home full time with Santi. I figured I could tackle things while he napped. My main goals were two closets - one was our guest room closet which had been used as a real closet for my father in law when he was staying with us for 6 months and my mother in law when she was here for two months. One half was also used as my craft closet, but since I couldn't get into the room to "craft" it became a "throw it in there and I'll deal with it later closet."

The other closet was our bedroom closet. When we lived in our old place we actually had a hallway that led to the master bathroom that had one full sized closet on each side of the hall. I loved it. But when we moved here, we realized we had to share one closet along one wall. And the water heater was in the closet as well, cutting out some space we could have used for hanging. So I took one side and my husband took the other.

And after awhile, this is what it looked like (embarrassingly enough!):

My side


Husband's side:

So it's not as bad as it could be but it made me dread opening the closet doors. So I was on a mission to make us more organized. And to do it on the cheap (i.e. using as much of what we might already have in the house without buying more "organizing" tools.) So I scavenged the house and found a few bins and a rolling plastic dresser thing, and then made a trip to Storables and Target and picked up two more bins and two hanging dividers.I also went to Marshall's and got two pants hangers and two hangers for button down shirts, as well as two tie/belt hangers. I spent about $40 total.


I set aside one morning after I'd put Santi down for his morning nap. I pulled everything out of the closet and laid it on on the bed and floor near it in piles. Mostly shoes, then my clothes and my husbands clothes. We are limited on storage space so the closet, which is very tall, is also used for some miscellaneous storage such as old Halloween costumes, our wedding cake topper (definitely "miscellaneous!" my high school year books and high school diploma and our college diplomas. I pulled it all out and made another pile.

Then I started taking my husband's button down shirts and putting them on the hangers (they are one hanger wide but hold 5 shirts each. I decided to switch his side and my side since one side is all for shirts and dresses to hang and the other side has a shelf in the middle for more storage. I'd originally had the side where everything only hangs, but the water heater is on that side so it was really cramped.

Before putting things back into the closet, I took the opportunity to go through everything and pulled out anything that was too small (my husband had a number of shirts that were too small!) or we just didn't wear anymore. I made piles of donate and consign.

I then put everything back in his closet, and organized his things by type (button downs/dress shirts in one area, dress pants in another, t-shirts in another, etc.) I had room to put his jackets in there as well since we don't have a hall closet for coats. I also took his shoes and switched the shoe racks I'd had and gave him one with more room. I still had to put some shoes on the floor but there was so much more breathing room.

I was even able to add in all of his jackets, and also things like my wedding dresses that were being stored in another closet where there was really no room.

I then tackled my side, and arranged all of the items by type and then by color (I was organized just by color before and often was digging through for certain things.) So I have all sweaters by color in one part, then dress shirts by color in another, then casual shirts in another, and then dresses by color on the far right since I don't wear dresses everyday.

I had space on the bottom row as well so I put all of my jackets, dress pants, skirts and then tank tops down there. And I had enough room to put my two shoe racks in the closet and get all of my shoes and boots in there.

I was also able to maximize the top shelves for sweaters and maternity clothing. And have space below for extra hangers as well. Again, this is not my ideal closet, but it's definitely a lot better than it was!

I was able to only use one of the hanging organizers (sweaters and ski pants are stored in here) and took the other one back to Target. I also didn't use the rolling storage at all, since there was no floor space for it, and it didn't make sense in the closet. So I reused it and it's now in my son's closet and holds his extra diapers when we make big purchases at Costco. It'll eventually be used in his room for either clothing storage or toy storage.

So all in all, a great improvement for my husband and I when it comes to finding things. And I'm also happy to say that three weeks later, the closet still looks like that!