Portrait Display

I hadn't gotten the kids' pictures taken for three years!  I do not have a fancy dancy camera, so really all of the pictures I have of them are on my phone/computer.  I actually cherish the candid shots I have of them, but I really wanted to get some "real" pictures taken.  Our good friend, Kristi, is a professional photographer and was having a "mini shoot" day, so I jumped on that.  I just wanted a few before Addie actually got her senior pictures...that's only two years away.  Let's not even go there.

It was a cold, blustery fall day.  The week before it was 70+ degrees. Go figure.  But, boy did she get some great shots of them.

I wasn't sure how I was going to display them, but I new the hallway wall was where I wanted them. I looked around online for some shelf ideas.  I wanted it to be very simplistic and I found a picture of a plain, floating shelf.  I showed it to Shannon and so he went out to his shop, found some wood and went to work.  He asked for my measurements and just like that whipped it up for me.  

I wasn't sure what color stain I wanted.  I knew I didn't want it painted white or black because I wanted it to be a bit different than the woodwork and frames so it would stand out a bit.  I also didn't want to go buy a small can of stain just to do this small project.  

Yes, I am cheap frugal. 

I scoured his shop and found some stain from our old house.  We haven't lived there for over 9 years. So, yeah, it was old, but we opened, stirred and wiped it on.  It worked just fine for this project and it was free. Really free, because it was left by the previous owners of our old house.  Okay, it may have been REALLY, REALLY old. We stained it, went out to eat, and then Shannon hung it for me that night.  

I am so happy with the color of the shelf, because it looks so pretty with the fall leaves in the pictures!

I just love the simplicity of the look and of course, love those sweet faces smiling back at me!

Rainbow Book Shelf

Addie had been mentioning how she wanted to arrange her bookshelf in rainbow color order.  She looks at a lot of online posts/pictures of bookshelves.  She loves pictures of bookshelves and libraries. The girl LOVES to read and has since she was 3 years old, no joke.  Her nose was in a book for so many years.  It still is from time to time, but now its more in her phone!  In her defense though, she reads a lot on her phone too!  

So, check out what she did one morning on Thanksgiving break.  I walked in and it was pure joy! There is just something about rainbow order that is so pleasing to the eyes.  God sure knew what he was doing with that rainbow, didn't he? :)

Yeah, I filtered this picture a bit to make the color pop!

School Memories Organization

Okay, this makes me so happy!  Morgan over at MorganizewithMe breathed new life into the way I had the kids' school stuff organized.  My mom kept a little school memories book for all of us girls when we were younger and I loved it and still do!  It's in my memory box right now!  So, I have always kept a school book for my kids, but they were starting to look hilarious with all of the stuff pouring out of the pockets.  And then, of course, I had other tubs to store other random school papers that wouldn't fit into the overflowing pocket.  I so should have taken a picture of those books before I saw the light!  It was pretty laughable.  And really, they couldn't enjoy looking at it at all or writing in it because it was so hard to manuever!  Here is what I did after Morgan got ahold of me.

First of all, thank you Lord, we were heading to Bloomington for a movie that night and so I could justify running into Walmart (right next to the theater!) to pick up these file boxes and colorful folders.  Then I set to work pulling out papers from the overcramped school memories books and placing them into folders.  Their books still have their school pics, report cards and notes that they jot down each year (friends, fave classes, height/weight/goals, etc.) but this file system is much more manageable for cards, invites, awards, newspaper clippings, etc.!  I decided to organize by grade and then at the back are file folders for school journals, essays, tests, art, and portraits.  

Don't they look fantastic??  The school books fit right in the front!

These baskets house the papers from the current school year.  That way, I don't need to open up the file box every time something comes home or is in the newspaper.  My old system was to throw it in the top of the living room closet and then go through all of it at the end of the school year.  This looks much better, don't you think? ;)  No, I do not keep every paper, test, essay. But I do collect all of it and then purge at the end and keep what I think they would like to see later.  Honestly, I don't give them a lot of say in this area, because neither of my kids would take much time or thought to go through it all.  Addie does like to take some of her stuff and stick it to her bedroom wall.  

Here is how I store it for now.  It still goes in the top of the living room closet, but boy, does this make me happy and peaceful when I open the door!  

After I had put them altogether, I showed the kids.  Addie sat in the living room and looked through hers and told me several times how much she loved it and how thankful she was that I had all of this stuff for her!  It is just the right amount of stuff for them to see how much they have grown, changed, or not changed!  She was laughing because she wrote a little essay in second grade about singing and dancing and how happy it made her.  As of now, she really wants to be in musical theater someday, so not much has changed there!

Huge thanks to Morgan for getting my butt in gear and giving me this great idea.

I LOVE this happy little thing!

Gloria Patri

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

We painted the kitchen and the walls were kind of bare.  I wasn't really looking for something for the wall at this time, but this sign leapt out at me while I was in Hobby Lobby the other day.  I liked the simplicity of it, loved the vintage aqua color and really loved what it said.  Growing up, we sang this as our doxology at church every Sunday, so those words are engraved on my heart and in my mind. And are actually pretty powerful words.  I was so happy to have this reminder in my kitchen...the first room you see when you come into my house!

It had a burlap type ribbon attached to hang it.  I didn't really want it hanging on some random nail, so I thought about what would look a little more substantial, but wouldn't cost a lot.  I found a 97 cent cabinet pull and figured Shannon could figure out how to attach that to the wall.  :)

As it turns out, I used my little noggin and asked if Reece could take the Dremel and remove the head of the screw that came with the knob.  Then I could screw one end of the screw into the knob and the other into the wall.  It worked beautifully!

I love how the finished product looks on the wall.  It is a great reminder for all who enter as well!

Laundry Room Organization

This is my laundry room.  It is small, but serves it's purpose well.  This is where we drop off all of our things as soon as we come in the door.  It is also where the kids wash up and brush teeth in the mornings and evenings.  And obviously, it's where I do the laundry.

Now, for some fun decorating and organizing!  I bought this burlap ribbon at Hobby Lobby the other day (1/2 off, oh yeah!) and it worked so wonderfully to hide all the ugly stuff behind the washer and dryer.  I had a piece of fabric before that was just getting faded. This looks so much cleaner!  The white basket holding all of my laundry stuff was also a 1/2 off Hobby Lobby buy.  I love it so much!

That's my 3 ingredient, homemade powder laundry detergent.  Love it.

Next, a new shoe organizing system.  This was a Walmart.com, Better Homes and Gardens purchase and I love it. I have tried several different things in this area over the years. And, magically, a shoe organizer has been the best bet so far.  Who would have thought??  I had black tubs where we just threw in the shoes, which was easy for throwing in, but when you went to find your shoes the next time, other shoes were being chucked out and over.  Now, we each have four slots of our own.  Only 4 pairs of shoes for each person can be in this room.  It really works wonderfully.  I know, I am a slow learner.  

We each have a hook for our coats/purses/backpacks.

Finally, the closet.  It can get pretty scary in here as this is where the dirty laundry is sorted. Amazingly it doesn't smell too bad.  I stash fabric softener sheets in random spots from time to time, which helps :).   This is pretty much self explanatory.  I did find a great over the door large pocket organizer on Amazon.  It's now an On the door organizer thanks to 3M hooks.  The hooks that came with it were too thick and the door wouldn't shut, but now it's great.  The pockets works perfectly for what I need.  I labeled each section or group of sections so everything has a place.  I also have several containers and baskets labeled within.

Laundry sorter.  Ooooh, I so need to take an SOS pad to that bar.  That is where I draped our dirty rags before I got the new system below!  Also, our basket for magazine and paper recycling to the right of the sorter.

Dirty rags, hats, gloves, bags and all sorts of other goodies!

Lint? You ask?  We save it to make fire starter for our camping trips!

Denny is our beloved beagle.  This stores, his brush, treats, monthly meds, etc.

Well, that wraps up the laundry room!  I actually enjoy this little room now.  You caught it on a good day, of course.  The sink and mirror can get a little disgusting with two kiddos who love to sing and dance while washing their hands and brushing their teeth.  Sometimes, there is a full show going on in there.  Addie just cleaned it the other day, so it looks pretty good for now :)

Custom Blinds!

Okay, so these are FAUX wood blinds.  There are just certain things that I can't spend a lot of money on.  These were pricey enough, in my humble opinion.  But, I LOVE that they fit my windows perfectly in both width and length! I've never had window coverings that fit perfectly!  I ordered them off of ebay from the nicest people and they were custom cut and sent in a very timely manner.

Our very large window in the living room!

Shannon was husband of the year and put them all up for me one evening.  I loved them the minute they were on the windows!  They just look so crisp and clean!

Do you love our "in the middle of remodeling" cabinets?

Our windows, although fairly new, do tend to sweat a lot with the changing temps.  Having these blinds will just make it easier to keep them clean and moisture free.

A little filtering going on, but don't they look sharp?

Coastal Living

I treated myself to a new magazine subscription.  Ahh, Coastal Living.  I pretend that someday I will live near the ocean, or at least in warm locale.  I really just want a palm tree in my yard.  Can we make that happen in the midwest?

I love the magazine so far. It is just fun to thumb through and see cottages, vacation spots, beach decor and fun recipes.  I stack the magazines on the shelf in the bottom of my bedside table in my beachy bedroom.  Fits perfectly and makes me smile when I see them!

Small Random Storage Containers

Fall Cleaning/Organizing strikes again!

Here are a few random things that got a tweaking.

Gift wrap/Bags/ribbons/tags and everything else that was crammed in this box.  It is a great storage box when used correctly.  Before, I couldn't even shut it.  I save every gift bag ever given.  I don't know the last time I bought a gift bag!

Rolls of paper fit nicely in the bottom, along with a few small boxes, larger bows/ribbon.

I got wise and stored all of the gift bags in a larger gift bag which containerized them!

Two little "shelves fit on the top.  This one holds ribbon/tags/scissors/tape.

This shelf holds tissue paper and small scraps of wrapping paper.

The box actually closes now and stores nicely in my basement closet.  Imagine!

My other random container is my greeting card box.  This actually is such a no brainer, but I tried so many different other options over the years.  I love to have cards on hand to send out (Yea! for Dollar Tree...great cards/great price!) I had them in a binder and it just wasn't working, but it was out of site out of mind.  Well, as were strolling through Meijer the other day, I saw this box built just for cards and it was 40% off. So, I snagged it up and came home and joyfully transferred all of my cards over. It is so beautiful! :)  This is housed in my laundry room closet.

Lastly, I had so many random pictures that haven't been put into albums/scrapbooks.  Several are ones that are given to me by other people.  I love looking through them, but they were just shoved in memory boxes or photo boxes that didn't really house them well.  I had looked online for some photo boxes and saw one I liked for $16.99, but that was just too much as I knew I would need at least a couple, maybe more.  

So when I was out and about running errands, I hopped on into Tuesday morning and they had the exact photo box I was looking at for $5.99!!  I bought two red ones and the rest was history!  I brought them home and sat in the living room with my photos spread out in front of me, sorting and making piles.  What I really love about these boxes are that they have separate little boxes within so each small box has a specific category.  I really like that.  If we are looking for a picture or specific frame of time, it's right there.  

I think these are marketed towards scrapbookers to organize as they are making their books, but I really like the organization it provides for my random photographs that have no where specific to go right now!

Here's to the random little storage ideas that make things happier and easier!

Basement pantry

More fall cleaning/organization!

Our kitchen is fairly small, so there is not a lot of room for extra storage.  Soon after we moved to this house, Shannon built some shelves in the basement to store all of our bulk purchase and to be used as a pantry.  It is a great storage area. It houses tons of canned goods among other things.  I really wish I would have taken a before picture.  I need to start getting better at that.

I did have some sort of system for where the cans went and how they were stacked, but because the shelves are so large and kids help put stuff away, cans tended to topple and things got rearranged and then it would take a while to find what we needed.  Now, it is much better!

I went online (yes, again!) and scoured picture after picture.  I found some great, beautiful pantries with canned food storage, but I just knew I couldn't justify buying more baskets/containers for this shelving system that sits in our basement. :)  So, I just started looking around. 

I collect shoeboxes.  Well, I don't officially "collect" them, but I don't throw them away.  I was a teacher once and so the teacher in me always thinks about what could be built or stored in the shoebox. I get made fun of from time to time, but I saved a few fourth graders a couple years ago who needed boxes for their diorama projects!  

Okay, that was a tangent... but you can see where this is going!  Shoeboxes!  They aren't pretty, but man, are they super functional in this case!  I used both bottoms and lids and there you have it.  My cans are contained and it really helps with the boxes and jars as well.  And, things are really easy to find!

I did have a few containers/baskets being used in other places that worked better here, so I brought a few down.  Honestly though, the shoeboxes and lids worked the best in this situation because of the depth of the shelves.  It used the real estate in a more efficient way.

We store other random things down here as well.  Extra office/school supplies...

And bulk/extra toiletries and cleaning supplies...

Umm, the toilet paper spot is empty...that's in my Walmart.com shopping cart!

Can a basement pantry make you happy?  Absolutely.