2013 House Goals

I really enjoy setting house goals for the year.  It's kind of sick how much I enjoy it and think about what I want to do to our little nest.  In fact, I've gotten so into it, I have already thought some about a few goals for 2014.  Crazy, I know.

So, without further ado, this year's goals:

1.  Give some love to the master bedroom (!)

Not everything in the master bedroom needs attention.  Our furniture is really quite lovely.  And the curtains are pretty new.  But we have totally neglected this space while focusing on other parts of the house.  Now it is time to create an oasis.  We need...

• new bedding
• artwork on walls
• a monogram over the bed
• a bookshelf
• a reading corner (upholstered chair and ottoman or chaise)

I'd also really love to paint the room a darker color, but I don't know if it will happen.  Jim said he would love to add crown moulding, but that isn't officially on the list.

2.  Change and improve the master bath

Our master bath is such a pain.  We knew it would be when we chose the floor plan for this house.  We tried to figure out ways to remove square footage from our huge bedroom and add them to the bathroom, but there was just no good way to do it.  So, we are always banging into each other and locking each other out when using the facilities.

We would like to...

• add a pocket door to the toilet area
• change the light fixtures and fans accordingly
• paint
• add artwork

3.  Get new lamps / lampshades for the family room

These lamps and shades are super dated and the brass ones are a bit stuffy.  It's time for a change!

4.  Finally redo Brennan's curtains

So, Brennan's curtains have been too short since we moved into this house.  I bought another pair from someone who was selling some last year, but they are too short also.  I plan to piece them together somehow to get the right look and length but just haven't done it yet.

5.  Hang a new family photo in the family room

I've never been really happy with this sign under the shelf.  I want to replace it with one of my favorite photos from our recent photo shoot.

6.  Make barn wood artwork to go over the living room sofa

I loved the artwork I made for my in-laws so much I am planning to make one for our house, as well. I'm still trying to figure out what it will say.

7.  Fix up Cora's curtains and window seat

Last year we were able to score a new bookshelf from Ikea to put under the window in Cora's room.  Now I want to:

• upholster a cushion
• make/buy throw pillows
• either shorten the existing curtains or get new ones & move the rod to better frame the space

8.  Make the craft room a functional, organized space 

I am so grateful to have a craft room.  With a door.  However, the space doesn't really work for me.  I end up with piles of paper all over the floor, I have to do all of my painting, assembling, and glueing at the kitchen counter because there is no workable table space, and I am using valuable space to store items I will realistically never use.  I need to:

• purge old inventory and scrapbooking supplies
• get more closed door storage
• get more workable table space
• purchase some paper sorters so I can quickly grab all of the papers I use for my orders
• contain my fabric stash in a more compact, useable manner
• add/improve lighting

These goals are probably lofty (as usual,) but I'll do my best.  Now that I have three kiddos and a small business that's taking off, I don't have as much time as I used to.  I hope to at least make a good dent.  Here's to a beautiful 2013!  :-)

Organizing Tips and Tricks for Life with Little Kids

I have always loved to organize.  When I was a teenager, I used to combat stress by cleaning and organizing my walk-in-closet.  I guess it's how I'm hard-wired.  Now that I'm an adult, I still love to organize, but I have a lot more real estate and more people to think about.  I always ask myself, "Will this make my life easier, make my kids more independent,  or make our family happier in some way?"  I'm always looking for simple solutions to accomplish those goals.

If you have little kids and are looking for some organization strategies of your own, here are four things to think about:

Think about height.
Little people are... well... little!  They can't - and shouldn't - be expected to thrive in an adult-sized house all the time.  Of course, you can have step stools all over your home, but how much easier would it be to just bring things to the kids' level?  In our house, we've done that in a few key areas:

The Bathroom:

Instead of hoping that kids will fold and rehang their towels on a towel bar, we moved the towel bar over the toilet for guests to use and gave each of the kids their own hook at an age-appropriate level.  (I specifically chose to have the bead board go high enough to make the towels fit on it and not puddle on the floor.)

We also removed stress by having custom towels made with built-in, embroidered hangers, so the towels don't keep falling on the floor.

The Kitchen:

We special ordered sliding drawers for a low cabinet close to the kitchen table, giving the kids independence in getting cups, bowls, and plates.  It was expensive, but hear me say that it was worth. every. penny.

The Closet:

Command hooks are your friend.  Your children aren't going to be able to hang things on hangers high up in closets, but they can be expected to hang up coats or bags on hooks at their own level.

Think about where you use things.

Keep things close to where you actually use them.  If you always get a glass out of the cupboard and pour a drink, don't keep the glasses across the room from your refrigerator.  The same goes for kid and baby items.

All of our bedrooms are upstairs, and I have no interest in trekking upstairs every time I need to change a diaper.  Instead, I set up a diapering cupboard in our family room, and probably 80% of our diaper changes occur right here on the floor (on a changing mat, of course).  I have been changing diapers in front of this cupboard - in multiple houses - for six and a half years now and my whole extended family knows just where to find spare wipes or clean diapers when they come visit.

Think about reality.
I wish my stairs wouldn't always have stuff on them, but they just do.  It's reality in a house with five people.  Instead of denying it, I decided to embrace it and buy stair baskets.  We have one for each kid and one for Jim and me together.

(Someday I will actually print and laminate the name labels for these baskets!)

Another reality I have embraced is that my kids do not outgrow their clothes all in one night.  They gradually outgrow them one item - or several items(!) - at a time, and I don't want to keep hanging them back up and forgetting that they are too small.

In each kid's closet I have a large Tupperware container.  When someone outgrows something I fold it and move it straight into their container.  When the container is full, I label it with the clothing size, put it in storage, and start a new container.

Think about routines.
Sometimes having places for things make no difference if you don't train your family to properly use them.  In our house, we have lots of routines.

I have a few routines just for me that help me to stay sane.  One is my laundry routine.  I don't always do things the same way, but what I have found works best for me is when I put a load of laundry in right before bed, move it to the dryer first thing in the morning (I'm talking maybe seven or eight hours in the washing machine... certainly not enough time for mildew to grow), and fold it as soon as possible.  Sometimes I don't actually get to put it away until after dinner, but at least it's clean and wrinkle-free.  If I do a load this way every day it takes minimal time and keeps me from doing ten loads on weekends.

Speaking of laundry and routines, I have a great system in Brennan's room for his clothes.  I bought one of these hanging closet things, and I put his clothes in it for six days at a time.  He knows he should always take from the top and work his way down.  I thought about labeling each one with a day of the week and doubling up weekends in the last one, but so far it hasn't been necessary.

If we have a special event or soccer practice, I put the uniform/swimming trunks, etc. into the right slot along with his clothes, and it helps to remind him that things are coming up.  The best part of this system is Brennan doesn't come in my bedroom when I'm bleary-eyed to inform me that he has no clean underwear or to ask me, "What matches my blue shark shirt?"  He can just get dressed with no fuss and no problem.

I am also trying to get better about packing lunches in advance.  I'm bad about this, but I think that when dinner is cleaned up and the kids are in bed, the last thing I want to do is make another mess or prepare another meal.  Anyway, when I can get motivated, I sometimes make several lunches at one time.  I use these awesome Ziploc containers and stack them in the refrigerator.  They fit in the kids' lunch boxes, and the compartments individually seal, so things don't get soggy!  If there is something I can't add until the morning of, I put a note on the container.

So, I promised a little sneak peek into my organization tricks, and now you've seen a few of my favorites.  I want to give a little disclaimer and say that I don't think a single thing I do is original.  I don't think I have brilliant, creative, one-of-a-kind strategies, but then again, does anyone?  I mean, don't we all just kind of take the things that work for us?   Anyhow, I can't give credit to everyone whose ideas I have stolen because half the time I don't know where I have gotten them, but I don't have some crazy notion that I'm just so smart.  I'm only sharing this stuff in the hopes that it will help someone else's life to be a more efficient or a little less stressful.  Let me know if you adopt any of these strategies in your home!!

House Goals for 2012

On Monday I recapped how I did at achieving last year's house goals.  I said how much I loved having goals to refer to all year, and I really did.  I am excited to prioritize the things I want to do for my house this year so I can start saving and scheming.  It is going to be a "tight" year, considering we need a new vehicle that will fit three children in the back seat, and I have to pay for a c-section with a huge deductible.  Plus, I really want to save my money this year for a great camera, which I have put off for a long, long time.  But I'm praying for a few people to hire me again this year for decorating and party planning so I can accomplish a few things in my own home!

Because of the year we have ahead of us, I am going to name just two "big" projects (I define a project as big in that it will cost triple digits to accomplish), and the rest will be little things I can do throughout the year when the money "appears."

1.  Make the baby a beautiful nursery of all his own.

• Paint the walls
• Make and buy artwork
• Buy / make crib bedding

This room really needs to get finished in the next eight or so weeks, so it is priority number one!

2.  Beautify this bathroom!

• Put up bead board paneling
• Add color with paint
• Frame out or change the mirror
• Add artwork

3.  Finally do something with this empty wall in the dining room.

4.  Get Brennan new curtains.

In our old house, these curtains were the right length.  In this house, they have shrunk in the dryer and been hung higher, so now I'm committing a real decorating faux pas.  It drives me crazy every time I go in there!!

5.  Frame a map on this wall in the play room.

Jim's parents bought Brennan a world map for Christmas, and I thought it would be fun to hang it in the play room.  Unfortunately, frames of that size cost $100 - $200 (it is not a standard poster frame).  So, we need to make our own.

6.  Paint unfinished furniture.

• Cora's nightstand
• Toy bench
• Storage for half bath

7.  Fill in the living room.

There is so much to do to make this room more like a part of our home, but it is going to be expensive.  I need a new chair, drapes, and an area rug.  Still, a larger vehicle and a healthy baby seem more important!  For this year, I will settle for:

• Another side table and matching lamp for the other side of the couch
• Secretary desk brought down from the bedroom.
• A lamp on top of the desk.

8.  Get a bookshelf for the master bedroom.

Now that we've had to move all of our books out of the guest room, they are in boxes where they can't be accessed.  Some of those books are just fun, but some we really need to access for school and church, so we need a good place to store them.

9.  Make artwork for Cora's room.

10.  Paint the guest bathroom.

This room has no color, no personality, no interest, no nothin'.  It is purely functional and needs a little boost!

11.  Hang something above the bed.

The room will look so much less "naked" if there is something hanging up there.  Every single wall in this bedroom is empty!

It's hard to stop!  I look around and see light fixtures I want to change, walls that need to be painted, and empty rooms that need furniture.  But I think this list is doable and very realistic for now.

What are your goals for this year?

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I'm linking up to The Nester's 2012 Home Goals Party.

Reviewing Last Year's House Goals

Last January I set nine house goals that I wanted to accomplish in 2011.  If you want to reread them in detail, go here.  Otherwise, to keep this post from becoming overwhelmingly long, I will simply restate each major goal, show you a before picture, and, if I achieved my goal, I will show an after photo.  Here we go...


1.) Finish the coat closet hallway.  

Before:

After:

2.) Work on the family room

Before:

After:

 3.) (Nearly) Finish the play room.

Before: 

After:

4.) Work on the guest bathroom / kids' bathroom.

Before... and After  :-(

 (That's what you get for setting a goal that depends on your husband without consulting him first!)

 5.) Give some TLC to my craft room.

Before:

After:

(Even though it doesn't look really different, I didn't totally fail on this one.  I have managed to keep the room neat and usable for several months now, and that was part of my goal.  I consider it a huge victory!)

6.) Get curtains for our bedroom.  

Before:

After:

7. Hang something on this wall in the dining room.

Before... and After :-(

8. Trim out the chalkboard wall.

Before: 

After:

(Not only did the wall get trimmed out, but Jim installed an overhead light for me so this little "hallway" is no longer dark!)

9. Add more lighting to the formal living room.

Before... and After :-(

And there you have it.  :-)

Mathematically speaking, I accomplished 6 out of 9 of my goals, which is only 67%.  However, I don't feel like I earned a D.  Honestly, I would give myself more of a B for the use of my time and money.  I mean, that play room alone was a massive undertaking and must count for more than the few lamps and artwork I ran out of money to buy, right?!  :-)

I absolutely loved having this goals list to refer to all year.  Each time I would earn extra money for something, I knew exactly how to allocate the money.  It made my decisions so much easier and more concrete, and I didn't feel guilty about spending money on something I had already decided I wanted to do.  

I am looking forward to solidifying my goals for 2012.  I plan to link up to the Nester's Home Goals Linky Party.  Time to start prioritizing and taking some pictures!!