Temporary organization

In August of 2010, my hubby, boys and I moved approximately 2 hours from where we were living.  We left our 2400 sq ft house that we had built to our new home of 1800 sq ft that we're renting!  I know you're thinking "Why?" We had actually been trying to move for a few years but with the economy the way it is and the price of our house it was difficult (well actually it wasn't in God's plan at that time)!!  Anyways, my husband works in the city we now live in and he was traveling at least 2-3 days a week from our other house!!

The issue with "downsizing" is that you have to find room for all your "stuff"!!  As you can imagine ALL the rooms are smaller in our new home and so are the places you can "hide" your "stuff"!!

 Our master bath room in our old house had a BIG floor to ceiling storage closet (miss it alot)...our new master bath has this little cabinet above the toilet!!

 This little cabinet doesn't hold very much as you can see below!!!  The plan is to build open shelves like the ones in the living room (Living room shelves) above the toilet. 

Until we get those shelves built we have some temporary storage/organization in our master bedroom!  I took plastic baskets and organized all of our items that would normally be in the bathroom!

I have it next to our dresser in a corner...it's driving me crazy but I will make due with it until we get the shelves built!!

I am linking to my mom's (Gail) weekly Creative Organization Party!  Come over and join us...show us your creative organization and hopefully you'll get some great ideas too!!!

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what I am up to...I am trying to balance blogging, mommy, wifey, and school girl all at once...thanks for being patient with me!!!  Love to hear from you so leave me a comment!!!

Always a work in process....

Somethings are always a work in process...like our master bedroom!!

Just to fill you in...I have changed my colors in my house too many times to count.  You know what it's like...you decorate but then you see something else that you like so you get it and then it doesn't go with what you have so you start to change your accessories!!  Oh my poor husband...he has been SO patient with my constant changing of things!  He's never sure when he leaves in the morning if our home will be the same when he comes home that evening!  5 years ago I found MY colors...the colors that no matter how I feel I still LOVE them...brick red, golden mustard yellow, sage olive green...all those warm Tuscan colors!!!  So FINALLY our home is complete, well all the rooms except our master bedroom!

Our master bedroom has been such a struggle for me...I see pictures of bedroom's I like but I just haven't found the one that makes me say "I have to have that room"!  Well, as some of you know Gail over at Big Horn Mountain Creations and Decorating my Tin Shack is my mom and an amazing person to decorate with even if it is via the Internet!  She is also a great quilter so last year she told me that she was going to make a quilt for our bedroom.  She had me look through some of her quilt books for a pattern that I liked and she started purchasing fabric based on the colors of my current bedroom!! Bless her heart, I changed my colors AGAIN!!!!!!!!!  We talked about the colors I liked and what I had in my room and how I could change it.  We found that I needed to deepen the colors that I was decorating with...instead of pastel colors, go for the jewel tones!!!  When she was out for Christmas we purchased fabric to go with the main fabric she had already purchased!!  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these colors and can't wait for my quilt to be done!!!

 Here are my fabrics...the bottom middle is the main fabric, it will be in the middle of each square!  The other colors will be in the squares too and they will go from light to dark however there is going to be a light side and a dark side of each square!  The bottom right picture is my accent fabrics...I will use these for pillows and some plaques in the bathroom, bringing the 2 rooms together!!!

Here is a picture of the bed wall...our lamps and shades are black!!

I just created the arrangement above the bed.  The candle holders have the teal color that is in the fabric!!  I am still deciding on the wall color it will be some shade of the tan colors that are in the fabric for the quilt!!

 Here is a close up of the arrangement!

 Across from the bed is our TV cabinet, hamper and my jewelry box (and the print bag is one of my school bags with my "Project" sitting next to it).  I currently created the arrangement on top of it too!

 Here is a close up of that arrangement!  The stitchery is from my mother in law...she is an amazing cross stitcher!!!  I have several stitchery's from her!! (See the pink in this stitchery...I am not a huge fan of pink but since it's in here I thought I would come by and link up to Pink Saturday)

 On the bathroom wall (doorway to the right of the dresser) we have our dresser.  I am in the process of creating a candle arrangement for on the dresser.

 Here is a close up of what I have so far...I want to get cylinder candle holders for the tan (vanilla) candles too, I just haven't found the ones I want.  They too will have the glass beads in them like the teal candle!  I am thinking that I will attach something to the bottom of either the tan or teal candle holder to make it look different than the other ones...like a taper holder, use it as a pedestal!!

 Across the room from the dresser is our window.

 The window has a small window seat!  I don't like mini blinds...I took them down in ALL the windows, except the boys rooms!!  However, I want to maintain the privacy so I purchased sheers and put them in the window, close together!

 Here is another stitchery from my MIL...this one too is in our bedroom, it hangs on the other side of the TV cabinet!! (Hard to see but there is some pink in this stitchery)

We also have our wedding picture in our room!  To me our bedroom is about "us".  I have TONS of pictures of my boys and the rest of my family ALL over my house but not in our bedroom!  I want it to feel comfortable and luxurious!!!

So girls...what do you think?  Tell me your ideas, comments, and suggestions...I would LOVE to hear from you!!!!  Remember this is still a work in process so PLEASE help me create a perfect haven for my hubby & myself!!!

I am linking to How Sweet the Sound Pink Saturday!!

Living room shelf make-over...DONE

SNOW DAY...well...BAD WEATHER DAY today!  We have ice covered with a shallow layer of snow.  Pretty slick out there!  My school isn't opening until noon and my class is over at 11:45, so no school for me today.  The boys school is closed also, too dangerous for the buses to drive on the streets!  So I thought today would be the perfect day to update you on the living room shelves!!! (To see before pictures stop by Living room shelf make-over)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THE FINISHED PRODUCT!!!!!!!!!!

The shelves remain white however I painted the wall around them the same color as my kitchen (still need to post pictures of the kitchen)!!

 Here is a picture of the shelves with a view of the kitchen through the opening!

 This is the left side of the shelves!!

 Here is the right side of the shelves!!

 Another view of the shelves, where you can see the dinette on the left side of the picture!!

 Picture of the living room from the hallway by the boys bedrooms!!!

 This is  picture...for the left side...(that I created in PowerPoint) shows where I plan on putting flowers...once the flowers are added the shelves will be complete!  Just waiting for them to be on sale at Hobby Lobby!!

Same as the picture above however it is for the right side!!!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my new entry!  Please leave your comments or suggestions...I am always open to ideas!!!!

Living room shelf make-over

So it's back to school for me tomorrow!!  I am taking 12 credit hours this semester.  I will be in school everyday of the week...thankfully not all day!!  Anyways, I am still working on my living room...finishing it!

We have these wonderful built in shelves in the living room.  They're on the wall that separates the living room from the kitchen.

This picture is from when we first moved in...I was trying to figure out what to put on the shelves!

 Here is a view of the left side shelves...before

 Here is a picture of the right side shelves...before!!

I have re-arranged these shelves several times to try to get them to look the way I want them too...The first time (in the above pictures) they didn't seem to have enough on them so I added more...then they seemed to have too much!!! 

As some of you know my mom (Decorating my Tin Shack) lives in WY and I live in OK so we do ALOT of decorating via the internet...so this last week I added and subtracted items from my shelves, sent pictures to my mom via email to get her opinion and I have finally got them perfect...minus a few flowers I am still going to add!!

 Left shelves...now!!!

 Right shelves...now!!

Both shelves...now!!!

(and our sweet Alvin sitting on the couch)

So this week I will be finishing these shelves...I will be adding some off-white and red flowers on both sides (Left side will get red flowers in the brown vase-3rd shelf and off-white flowers in the red pot-2nd shelf...right side will be getting red flowers in the red vase-3rd shelf and off-white flowers in the green vase-2nd shelf)!  And if you look through the opening into the kitchen you can kind of see the wall color...I am going to be painting the walls around the shelves this color (Toffee Bar Behr paint from Depot) and the shelves will remain white!

Come back next week to see the finished project!!  Have a GREAT week!!!

Thanks for stopping by...please leave your comments or suggestions!  I am always open to ideas!!!

Creative Organization

It's 2011 and we all want to be more organized then we were in 2010...at least I do.  My wonderful mom is hosting a "Creative Organization" link party over at her blog Decorating my Tin Shack.  Come join us in getting organized and have fun doing it.

This is the entryway at our house...Yes that is a baker's rack, no room in the kitchen or dinette for it!  I have 2 baskets on the bottom for my boys (a third one is on waiting for me at Hobby Lobby).  I got decorative luggage tags and put stickers with their first initial on it. 

So now when I find they're things laying around the house, instead of yelling at them to pick it up, I put it in their basket and when they're looking for it they can look in their basket...when it is full I have them take it to their room and empty it!

Next is our laundry room...I think this is a key room to keep organized as it can get VERY out of control fast!!  As a mom I feel it is my responsibility to teach my children (especially because they're boys) that mom is not their maid!!!  So we also have totes in the laundry room...one for each boy!  I do their laundry, fold it and put it in their basket then they can come get their basket and put their clothes away!!  Most weeks I have to remind them to return their baskets to the laundry room!!

When I was scrapbooking I wanted to keep my stickers organized so that I knew exactly where to go to find what I was looking for...my stickers are still organized even though I don't scrapbook anymore but we still use the stickers for other projects!  I took the expandable accordion files, labeled them and then placed my stickers in them.  They're SO full that I can't close them however I bent the cover back and hooked it with the tie to keep it open!  Then I set them in an open crate to keep them upright!

As with EVERY mom you get tired of constantly telling your children what they need to do EVERY morning and EVERY night...Well I created a "To Do list".  I broke down their responsibilities by morning, afternoon and night, I also added bonus chores in which they can choose to do or not.  Then I put rewards at the bottom of the page IF ALL they're to do's are done!!

I expanded on this by creating a weekly chores list for each one of my boys...I listed ALL the chores that they need to do for the week.  I divided the chores between the 2 of them so if it's not their week to do the chore it is blacked out!

It is always hard to organize open shelving...well I decided that any organization was better then no organization!!  So I got closed and open totes to hold the items we needed stored!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my organization...some of it isn't very creative but....I hope it will help inspire everyone!!  REMEMBER TO STOP BY Decorating my Tin Shack AND LINK UP TO THE CREATIVE ORGANIZATION PARTY!!!!

Feel free to leave comments or suggestions...I love hearing from you all!!!

Quick First Post of 2011

Happy 2011, my friends!!!

Boy oh boy, I am still VERY busy...however it's not from the holidays it's preparing my kids for school tomorrow!! So I wanted to make a quick post and tell you all about the link party over at my mom's blog!

She thought since we all want to keep organized as a new year begins that she would do a "Creative Organization" link party!!

This is her first link party and I would LOVE to see it be a big hit...so PLEASE help me make it a great one for her by joining in with any and all your creative organizational ideas!!!

Come join us at Decorating my Tin Shack to share your creative organization!!  I will be posting tomorrow!!!