I jumped on the Marie Kondo Tidying Up bandwagon.

I admit, I heard rumor about this Netflix show on cleaning up or tidying up or something up and thought "I should see what all the fuss is about." But then there just seemed to be other things to watch and I never revisited it. Then my cousin texted "Have you seen Tidying Up yet!?" Nope. It wasn't until she said "she has a way of folding that will change your life!" 

That little nugget was all I needed to look in to the show. Secretly I was already working up the motivation to clean out my closet. It was overflowing with old clothes, too many shoes (ok wait...that's not really possible. Maybe I should say too many shoes I don't wear and need to make room for new shoes I will!) 

You get the picture. 

So here we go - my Tidying Up experience.

I did NOT...

1. Greet my house. 
2. Thank my items as I tossed them. 
3. Empty my entire closet and drawers at one time. I would have just quit at that point. And we would have had to sleep on the floor. 

However I DID...

1. Hold each piece/item and ask if it brought me joy. That really seems to work! 
2. Organize by category. So that's why I did #3 instead of everything at one time. 
3. Emptied my shelves first and dealt with those. Then moved to hanging clothes then to my drawers. It was definitely a multi-day, multi-week process. 
4. Move on to other closets once mine was done.

This is what I started with...a hot mess. 

And because I hate putting up clothes because I have to force and shove them in my closet or drawers, I end up with this often times.

And I also had to store my scarves behind the bathroom door, which was bulky and a mess.

So once I decided to embark on this journey...because believe me, it was a journey and not one to be done when you only have a few hours...I went over to Bed, Bath & Beyond to see what might be useful. I knew I needed a new over the door shoe holder and a new shoe rack for the floor.  Then it was time to get to work. 

And now...

Do you hear the angels singing!? Do you see those empty hangers!? That means not only do I have extra hangers but I also have SPACE. It's glorious. And this new shoe rack for over the door holds shoes so much better...

I organized by color and style so that my wedges are in the floor rack, athletic shoes and boots on the left side of my floor and then everything else is in this shoe holder. So much easier to find my shoes! (don't judge the volume. I have issues.)

The shelves are also much better. I now have everything coordinated so it's easily seen and quick to grab...

Those clear containers holding my clutches are the other storage items I bought at BB&B. 

Take a look at my fabulously organized jeans. Thanks to the new folding method, I can now fit all my jeans in these recycled china boxes. 

Once my closet was complete, it was time to start my drawers. I had several bedside table drawers, 3 drawers from the tall dresser and 2 from the long dresser. Not to mention the scarves and a plethora of misc. in a basket behind the bathroom door. 

All done! 

And all those scarves? Turns out when you clean out, you have an extra drawer that they can fit in. 

I got rid of bags and bags and bags of old clothes. Some went to donation, some went to consignment and a lot went to trash. 

I can't tell you how much nicer it is to get dressed now. I can easily find everything - I feel more inspired by my clothes (maybe because I can find them now) - and I know what extra toiletries I have (apparently I'm set for deodorant in 2019!)

I've since moved on to a few other closets and have just two left. If you take nothing away but how to fold better, it's worth it! I feel so much more put together now. 

Now remind me of this when we have to tackle the attic this spring. I'm sure tears will be "springing" when that starts! 

Work it...work it...work it, girl!

Oh I just totally said that while sashaying around the room shaking what little bit of hip I have...and I may have done it with an attitude. 

Try getting that image out of your head now. You can thank me later. 

While I like prancing around, that's not what this post is about. It's about work. More specifically where I work. My work space. As I have mentioned, I work from home as an Executive Recruiter (and blog on the side). Working from home is both a privilege and a curse, depending on the day. Most days it's a privilege. 

I still miss the social side of being in an office and dressing up (since I love fashion). Right now I'm sitting here in my workout clothes with dried sweat all over. Yep, still not showered from my workout this morning yet here I still sit. So there are those parts that I loved from an office environment but there are greater benefits to working from home. Like I can do laundry or clean the kitchen or vacuum or any other chores we working moms still have to do. Well at least until my cleaning fairy returns from her sabbatical. Plus I tend to be 10x more efficient because there's no one to talk to. I mean I try to talk to myself but it's sort've a one-sided conversation most of the time. 

So let's explore where I work in the home. Until recently it looked like this: 

And now it looks like this: 

What? You don't see any improvement? Well that's probably because it's hidden BY ALL THE CRAP sitting on my desk. I mean who caught the dirty dish on the left side? Or the Polar Pop on the right? OK, the Polar Pop is a staple regular decor. 

As the days were getting shorter, my old light wasn't providing enough light so I switched it out and raised it on some books to cover more surface. I also took some green file/magazine holders and put them on the desk to help store some of my project work and switched around the plant. Just a few quick changes to make me feel better.  

Before this house, I worked out of an armoire. That armoire has been turned in to my craft work center, now housed in the living room. 

But back to the desk. I would love to have a cute desk with pretty things all around like you see in magazines. You know with gorgeous leopard file folders, pretty dishes to hold your odds and ends, fashion books as decoration. People, that's not realistic. I need post-its and pens and paper clips and all kinds of file folders to keep organized not to mention a wireless headset and phone since that's where I spend the majority of my time. Most of that is not attractive. The only thing leopard is my "mom agenda" where I store my life. 

But I do try to add little notes of cuteness to still make it me yet functional...like the little jade elephant I bought at an estate sale...

Or putting my pens in a ceramic holder and these green file holders to conceal my personal projects I'm working on. 

So on a really good day or when I know we're having company, it looks like this: 

OK but not great. It's still a "work" in progress. For one thing I'm hoping for a better mouse pad. It's currently a green tree frog the Hubs bought years and years ago. Not exactly screaming chic but not something I've gotten around to. Maybe Santa will bring me one. 

I think I might consider not buying the hot pink post-it notes next time either. Bad call. It's like having a zit in the middle of your forehead or a giant booger hanging from your nose. People can't look away from it. 

Since I like having a large monitor, I store my laptop on top of the file cabinet to save space. (it's behind the plant and picture, cleverly concealed)

And my printer is wireless and stored on the armoire behind the door. (evidently I need to ask Santa for a nicer camera too. The point and click camera is not doing a very good job!)

My old desk is now Daniel's since he just likes having a place to keep his laptop, bible and other paper things, but he doesn't actually sit and use it often. Most of the time he's just sitting on the couch. 

It's convenient to have the desks in the corner so it's like an office nook where all our files, both personal and work, are stored and we can both work individually. 

But still have this whole area of the room for movie watching or as it's called in our house "the man room". 

Who knows, maybe one day I'll have my own business planning parties and decorating and can add on an office. I can just picture the pretty now. Fur rug, cool furniture, artistic glam galore! 

OK back to reality. If any of you are an entrepreneur or own a small business and want to connect with others or possibly even gain some added perks, check out WeWork. It's a platform that empowers small businesses to succeed by making them more connected with each other.  

So who else works from home? Anyone have tips on making the office nook prettier or more chic? Know where I can get some leopard post-it notes? 

Organization Puts a Mind at Ease

Maybe it's just me but does anyone else feel like their life is out of control when things are unorganized? Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those that labels every single thing and has it all in it's perfect spot. I mean don't even think about opening up some of my dresser drawers because you could get lost in that chaos, never to return. But in general, I like everything to have it's place. I've lived in a smaller home for the better part of 10 years now so it helps with the clutter if everything has a relatively good place to go. 

So this weekend, I had plans to rearrange our living room. It has never really felt right to me. Just average. And who wants to be average? {cue my favorite commercial right now}

More on that next week once I figure out a few things. It's a process for sure. But one that will not defeat me. 

So after I felt completely deflated and like nothing was accomplished other than cleaning the house, I decided to tackle a smaller, perhaps more satisfying project: cleaning out the art armoire. 

This used to be where I worked in our last house because I needed the ability to close it off. Since moving in to Schrallville, we've moved it in to the living room and I use it for storage, specifically for art supplies, painting supplies and sewing. It's a great way to organize all of our "arts and crafts" as Charlie likes to call them. I keep the kid's puzzles, crayons, markers, play doh, sidewalk chalk, coloring books, etc. in here.   

It was organized at one point and I used tension curtain rods to store my ribbons. But then it turned into this...

Better known as chaos. 

The tension rods were a good idea in theory but they wouldn't stay as well as hoped and were knocked down frequently. Plus they got in the way. Perhaps I have too much ribbon? Nah. No such thing. We'll blame it on the rods and location. 

I decided to move the ribbon to the laundry room. I had this space below our shelf and behind the washer/dryer that was empty. We thought about putting another shelf there but haven't really gotten around to it. 

So that big blank space was perfect real estate for the ribbon. I bought eye hooks to hang from the wooden shelf, which just screwed in. 

Once I put up the eye hooks, I used zip ties and dowels to hang the ribbon. 

I actually tiered down the dowels so I could have access to all of them at one time. This was easy because I just used extra zip ties to make it longer. I love a zip tie. I could technically use string or ribbon but the zip ties hold the dowels better in my opinion. 

So now the laundry closet looks like this...

And my Art Armoire looks like this...

And the best part? The project was CHEAP! 

$1.57 per dowel ($4.71)
$1.18 eye hooks
$7:35 zip ties (but it's a HUGE bag because I was out)
$13.24 Grand Total (assuming you don't have zip ties)

Not bad for an hour of work. Seriously, it really helped me feel like order was placed back in my life and I could proceed with the holiday weekend. 

The laundry closet still has tons of real estate I can use with additional shelving but I'll get around to that later this summer. In the meantime, anyone need a bow or a present wrapped? 

P.S. yes, I totally organized most of it by good 'ol ROY G BIV (the top two rods)

I'm a big kid now!

I had high hopes of the boys sharing a room when we moved to Schrallville. I thought for sure they would when we purchased the bunk beds. What kid doesn't love a bunk bed? 

My kid. That's who. 

Charlie has for months slept in the guest room. He claimed the guest room one night when they were being too rambunctious and we had to separate them. He apparently loved the double bed (mine from when I was a child) and has claimed it ever since. I tried and tried to ignore the inevitable but when he said "mom, is it in my room or Cole's room" I realized it was time. Time to give up the guest room and let it be his room. 

It was a little emotional for me. Partly because I was hoping a third child might join our family at some point and that would be their room. It could still happen but I decided I can't stop living our life for the "what ifs". In the meantime, we can fully utilize the spaces we have. After all, who knows what will come and I'm sure God already has a plan for that and I just don't know about it yet. 

The room started like this when we bought the house: 

Then we took the closet and flipped it in to the hallway so we could add a washer/dryer closet and we took the coat closet and flipped it in to this room's closet. You can see that here and here.  Perhaps having something to reference for scale will help...(that's our friend Todd laughing that he can't fit in the closet)

Then through time and paint it settled in to this: 

I used the curtains from the boys' room in our old house for color (which also inspired the paint color on the walls) and a mishmash of other furniture and bedding we already had. Truth be told this also turned in to our junk room. One small challenge in a smaller home is that you don't have a place to set your "stuff". You know, the Easter eggs you need to stuff or the fabric you need to use in a few days to make pillows. That kind've "stuff". So the guest room was it. 

On Sunday we finally rearranged the room (it wasn't the best use of space) and I used some curtains from our old bedroom. I loved the colorful ones but they were 8 inches too short and the fabric is discontinued. So in rearranging and making the most of what we had this is what I came up with...

We also lucked out - Hobby Lobby was having a huge sale on their metal artwork which was 100% boy. We snagged a few pieces and even let Charlie pick some out. He was super excited to get Spider Man and Batman (and so was his dad). 

I also bought a quilt, pillow and side rugs at Target, also on sale. The pillow shams are from Bed Bath and Beyond and incorporated all the colors in the room. I thought about buying the quilt to match but it was $130. Not something I could justify. The $20 one from Target. Much better on the 'ol purse strings! I was surprised that even the couch matched once it was all put together. 

Perhaps my favorite thing is that I had extra curtains and a rod so I hung it up in front of the closet to hide the winter clothes hanging in there. It's hard to tell but the curtains are a Nate Burkus design and are a grey/brown linen sheer that is also found in the couch and pillow shams. 

I still use the dresser, closet and night stands for storage. The boys get dressed in Cole's room and most of their toys fit better in there too. Charlie doesn't care. He loves that he has "his own room" even though he only really uses it for sleep. There is a basket of toys in here but they still prefer to play in the other room most of the time. Oh who am I kidding! They prefer to play with sticks, water, a large box or whatever else they can find outside most of the time!  

This room should be able to grow with him yet still be a place our guests can stay and not feel like they are sleeping in Toy Land (or on bunks!). I have to admit, it's nice to have it a bit more organized and functional. In time we'll add more artwork and other personal items so that it becomes more and more "Charlie's room."

What was Cole doing during all this time you ask? He apparently was walking around with my camera when I wasn't looking...

Anyone else have kid's rooms doubling as guest rooms? How did you handle it? 

Let's get close in the closet

Anyone ever feel like they LOST space after they moved to a BIGGER house? Somehow that happened to me in the form of closet space. Both houses were built between 1950-1954 and both had his and her closets. Somehow our his and her closets shrunk in the new house. Hello closet issues. 

I've managed to fit most of my things in my new closet but it was just not efficient. And you know me, I live on efficiency and organization in a small house. I just couldn't take THIS anymore: 

I mean how is a girl supposed to be inspired to look cute if it's all crammed in there like this!?  I kid you not I found a box of wallets and clutches when I started emptying this sucker for a makeover. I've searched for them practically since we moved in. They were buried deep. Deep. 

The picture above is actually after I cleared some things out as I started the project...

Oh and I should also mention it's after I donated a bunch of stuff when we moved in. I had a little "come one come all" Facebook post that offered extra shoes, bags and accessories to anyone who wanted to come by. I also donated all those clothes I haven't worn in over a year (OK let's say 2 years...one year seems so short). Plus after working from home for the past 3 years I don't need as many work clothes so no need to keep them. 

I of course enlisted the help of one Anna M. for this project. It killed two birds with one stone 1) kids could play together (all 5 of them) and 2) we had a fun project to tackle! 

Here's a little preview of my bedroom after we emptied the closet out. SCARY! Good thing Daniel wasn't home. This would have sent him over the edge. I can hear it now "Anna Schrall, see this is why you don't need another accessory! Is this going to be cleaned up before tonight? Oh, I gotta go." (or something along those lines)

sorry about the blur vision! Camera was in overload!

The first order of business was to raise the top shelf. I'm a tall person and the closet has tall ceilings. I needed to capture as much space as I could get. Then we moved the clothing rod back. It was placed in the center of the closet so there was all this space in the back being wasted. Here's me getting started with the tiniest screw driver while striking a pose. 

We realized that we didn't really have anything to hang our shelf so we searched outside. To be sure I had some spare wood from previous projects...oh wait. That would be at our old house. I haven't actually done any woodworking projects here yet. Hmmm...then Anna M had a brilliant idea. We used spare wooden stakes from the yard sale as our shelf ledges. Not pretty but it works! We at least put the pointed edges facing in so you don't see them (you can see them in the top right corner holding the shelf). 

The walls are plaster so it was a bit of a mess trying to pre-drill holes and then getting giant screws in the walls. Plus let's face it, the Anna's aren't much on measuring. We are more the "fly by the seat of our pants, eye ball it" kinda gals. Not going to lie...the first rod might have been a little crooked on our first attempt. At one point both of us are trying to stand on one small stool so we could put up the top shelf. If only we had someone to capture the picture! 

We tried to use as much of our old materials as possible. We took an extra board from the top shelf and turned it in to a fourth shelf for the side. Here I am using the circular saw to cut the notches to fit around the molding. (Anna M is standing on the board to hold it still...stand back. We're women with power tools and we're not afraid to use them!)

In the end, after I put back all my items and donated this stack...

I heard ANGELS SINGING! No seriously...I open my closet door and hear beautiful organizational angels singing each and every time. 

Here's the new and improved version (keep in mind it's small so pictures are hard to come by)...

Here's how we improved it: 

1. raised the top shelf to better use the height of the closet (used for baskets of small purses and other larger accessories)
2. moved back the top clothing rod and added another below it for more hanging ability
3. added an extra shelf, again to better use the height 
4. added a shelf underneath (removable) to hold the green cubes where I store flip flops and sandals, plus it's handy to put additional shoes underneath
5. moved the shoe rack to the other side so I can now use the top rack for boots (I put old magazines in them to keep them standing upright and they used to be underneath my bed)
6. added hooks to the top left to hold belts and larger hand bags

I'd say not too shabby to have done this in less than 2 hours while watching 5 kids and feeding them lunch! 

In case you're wondering, I organize my clothes by style (sweaters, jackets, sleeveless, etc) then by color so it's easy to coordinate outfits. I do my shoes the same way (wedges, boots, flats, etc)

Do you hear the organizational angels singing?